Through Civic Engagement
Call on Congress to Restore Access to Asylum
Over a year ago, the Trump administration used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to deny all access to our asylum system for the vast majority of people under an old public health law referred to as Title 42. Under this policy, immigrants arriving at a U.S. land border without documents allowing them to enter – including asylum seekers - are immediately expelled without any screening about their fear of returning home. More than a year later, it is time to end the policy, and restart asylum at the border.
We are joining American Immigration Council and other partners across the country in calling on Congress to urge the CDC to rescind the Title 42 directive.
Through Translation or Interpretation
Become a Translator or Interpreter for NWIRP
If you are multi-lingual and would like to help NWIRP, we would love to hear from you. Please click here to send us your contact information. We seek volunteers who can both interpret conversations with clients and help translate written materials. Please note that your name will be added to our list but that you will not be contacted directly by NWIRP until our staff has a need for translation or interpretation in the language you offer. We prioritize interpreters who do not charge for their services.
Through Writing
Write a letter to someone who is in deportation proceedings or who is currently in immigration detention.
Locally – for those detained in Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center.
Nationwide – for those detained in detention centers throughout the US.
Through Confronting Oppression
Learn more about the immigration detention system in the United States and how you can visit a detention center
The Detention Watch Network has a robust collection of resources on the history and impact of immigration detention in the United States. Learn more at their website about the practice of incarcerating immigrants while they await a determination of their immigration status or potential deportation.
Freedom for Immigrants, a not-for-profit organization based in California, has compiled helpful guides and resources for those learning about the immigration detention system in the United States for the first time. You can access these resources at this link.
Learn about the racial history of US immigration law
Racism has always been at the center of United States immigration law. Learn more about this country’s racial history of immigration with this guide from the ACLU of Washington.
Join the resistance movement
Get involved in an upcoming protest, rally, vigil, or community event organized by La Resistencia. Different activist and grassroots groups from around the Puget Sound area and beyond organize solidarity days on Saturdays throughout the month to stand with detainees and their families and show constant resistance to the private company that owns the detention center, the GEO Group, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE.
Donate to NWIRP
Our organization has been humbled and honored by the generosity of this community. Due to the legal nature of our work, our direct services can only be administered by attorneys or legal representatives who have received extensive training in order to ensure our clients are getting the best representation possible. Supporting NWIRP through donations allows us to hire more staff. In the past three years, we have been able to nearly double the size of our legal staff thanks in large part to the generosity of individual donors. Make a gift here.