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

On December 3, 2020, members of the Washington State Congressional Delegation wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General requesting an “immediate investigation into the recent allegations of violence against detained immigrants and a comprehensive review of the use of solitary confinement at the [Northwest Detention Center]”. The letter,

The UWCHR has obtained documents that provide a detailed look at the use of solitary confinement (also known as segregation) in the Northwest Detention Center. These documents, to our knowledge the first of their kind to have been released about any ICE detention facility in the United States, permit a deeper understanding of how segregation is used than has been previously available.

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

Cowlitz County Youth Services Center in Longview, WA, and the juvenile Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility (NORCOR), in The Dalles, OR, are two of only three facilities in the nation where immigrant children who are taken from their families by ICE are detained, without access to due process or the protections mandated for migrant youth under the 1997 Flores Agreement.

UWCHR reviews documentary evidence substantiating longstanding allegations of medical neglect at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA.

For the past 18 months, I’ve been working with the University of Washington Center for Human Rights as a communication fellow funded by the Jennifer Caldwell Endowed Fund. This opportunity was presented to me thanks to the University of Washington Communication Leadership Program, from which I will graduate in June. My work consisted of developing

Immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA have consistently reported sanitation issues including spoiled food and dirty laundry, which raise grave health concerns in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In February the Department of Justice sued King County, WA to reopen Boeing Field in Seattle for deportation flights. Later that week, the UWCHR released a video explainer, produced by UW students and alumni, giving background on the ICE Air deportation flight network.

The Benjamin Linder Award/Fund allowed for me to participate in research being conducted with the Center for Human Rights (CHR) at the University of Washington. I had the privilege of working with Angelina Godoy, Phil Neff, and Tara Saleh this summer in human rights work that centered itself on undocumented migrants in our state. Recently,