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.

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

Across Washington state, ICE and Border Patrol are increasingly carrying out immigration enforcement arrests at or near courthouses, raising serious concerns about access to justice for all Washingtonians.

Report on barriers to access to information regarding immigration enforcement, presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C. on December 5, 2018 during the Commission’s session on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders of Migrants in the United States.

Last year, in response to requests for partnership from local immigrant rights organizations, our research team began examining the human rights implications of contemporary immigration enforcement in Washington state. This work continues to grow, in both depth and urgency: at a time of heightened concern about immigration, it is more important than ever to understand

On September 21, 2018, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its two sub-agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The lawsuit aims to hold ICE and CBP accountable for failing to respond lawfully to twelve requests for public information filed by Center researchers since 2017.

Documents released to the UW Center for Human Rights by Customs and Border Protection suggest that asylum seekers are being arbitrarily denied the right to make credible fear claims on the northern U.S. border, predating Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ “zero tolerance” policies.

On May 1, 2018, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal wrote a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stating her support for the UWCHR’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) research: “As an organization established by the Washington State Legislature, CHR relies on data collection and research to achieve their mission… I support this educational pursuit as well as the need for research and data collected by CHR. I urge the timely release of the FOIA information to the extent that the law permits.”

In early 2018, videos of Customs and Border Protection agents questioning and arresting passengers on Greyhound buses went viral on social media. Border Patrol forms obtained by the UWCHR via a Freedom of Information Act request document the detention of 9 people in bus searches in Washington state during the five month period from January through May, 2017.

This research memo represents the first in a series reporting results of UWCHR’s new initiative on Human Rights at Home, which we hope will help increase transparency and inform human rights advocates, the public, and our elected leaders on immigrant rights issues in our state. As part of this effort, UWCHR has requested information from