The below text is featured in the UWCHR 2022-2023 Annual Report. Written by Phil Neff Over the past five years, the Washington state legislature has passed a landmark series of laws aimed at safeguarding immigrant rights, including the Courts Open to All Act (2019), Keep Washington Working (2020), HB 1090 (2021), and HB 1470 (2023). The

Introduction In recent years, local and state governments in Washington have taken important legislative and executive action to protect vulnerable residents from rights abuses. Many of these actions, such as the so-called “sanctuary” laws of Keep Washington Working (2019) and Courts Open to All (2020) Acts, seek to protect the rights of migrants by limiting

This spring quarter, the Benjamin Linder Fellowship has allowed me the opportunity to continue the research into the enforcement of the Keep Washington Working (KWW) and Courts Open To All (COTA) acts which UWCHR’s Immigrant Rights Observatory team began conducting in 2019. Their August 2021 report, Protecting Immigrant Rights: Is Washington’s Law Working?, analyzed the

The first report of the UW Center for Human Rights “Immigrant Rights Observatory” monitors the implementation of and compliance with Washington state laws protecting immigrant rights.

Since receiving the Benjamin Linder Justice Fellowship I have been ecstatic to continue my work with the UW Center for Human Rights and have the opportunity to be a part of this community. My work during this fellowship has centered around a newly instated project titled the “Observatorio,” which functions under the umbrella of the

The University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) has launched a new research project to monitor compliance with state laws seeking to protect immigrant rights. The UWCHR’s “Immigrant Rights Observatory” will use public records research and community partnerships to investigate how local and state government agencies have implemented provisions of the Keep Washington Working