Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) is a non-profit legal services organization in Washington state. NWIRP's mission is to promote justice by defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community education.

History
Founded in 1984, in the context of the sanctuary movement, the project was created to address the legal needs of Central American refugees and others who were able to legalize their status under Amnesty programs. NWIRP has grown significantly in scope and currently serves more than 10,000 low-income immigrants per year from more than 100 countries across Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe and Africa.

King County Councilmember Jorge L. Barón was director of the organization from 2008 to 2023. Its current director is Malou Chávez.

Offices
NWIRP has four offices in Washington State. The Seattle Office serves immigrant communities in Western Washington. The Granger Office (in the Yakima Valley) and the Wenatchee Office, serve the immigrant communities in Eastern Washington. The fourth office, located in Tacoma, focuses solely on serving the 1575 persons detained at the Northwest Detention Center (owned and operated by the GEO Group).

Areas of practice
NWIRP provides direct representation to individuals who are applying for political asylum, family visas, lawful status under the Violence Against Women Act, and naturalization or citizenship. NWIRP also provides direct representation, defending individuals who are placed in removal proceedings (deportation proceedings). In addition, supported by a grant from the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the U.S. Department of Justice, NWIRP provides legal orientation sessions to all persons detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, who are placed in removal proceedings. Additionally, NWIRP regularly hosts webinars and trainings for immigrant rights advocates and attorneys.

Impact Litigation
Apart from representing individuals in administrative proceedings, NWIRP also provides direct representation before the federal district courts in Washington State and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. These are impact litigation cases, designed to affect large numbers of people and bring about meaningful social change through setting precedents.

In 2017, NWIRP filed a class action on behalf of immigrants detained indefinitely without bond. NWIRP won at the district and circuit court levels, obtaining an order that detention without bond hearings beyond six months was a serious due process concern. This case went up to the Supreme Court in 2022 as Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez (142 S. Ct. 2057). There, the court reversed the Ninth Circuit, and held that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1) prohibits lower courts from entering injunctions that "order federal officials to take or to refrain from taking actions to enforce, implement, or otherwise carry out" certain parts of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), including its detention provisions. The decision severely restricted judiciary's ability to require that the executive branch comply with the INA.

NWIRP is also a frequent litigator before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, from which it has obtained dozens of published decisions.

Support for LGBT immigrants
In June 2011, NWIRP joined immigration and gay rights organizations from around the country in signing Lambda Legal's letter to Secretary Janet Napolitano and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in urging the Department of Homeland Security to examine cases of abuse against LGBT people and people with HIV/AIDS in immigration detention. The letter also called for standardized guidelines and protocol for the treatment of LGBT people and people with HIV/AIDS while they are in detention, including assigning improper housing to transgender persons, not providing adequate medical treatment for those with HIV/AIDS, denying medications and hormone treatments to transgender persons, and allowing "rampant sexual, physical and mental abuse of LGBT detainees."

Partners
NWIRP is partnered with several other immigrant rights and law firms in Washington, including Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice (VAIJ), American Immigrant Lawyer's Association (AILA), American Immigration Council (AIC) and the Law Offices of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale, LLP, and the Alliance for Equal Justice. NILA also regularly co-counsels with the National Immigration Litigation Alliance.

NWIRP also trains law students and pro bono attorneys through the Immigrant Family Advocacy Project at the University of Washington School of Law, and refers cases to them. NWIRP attorneys frequently instruct at a joint NWIRP/UW Immigration Law Clinic designed to serve low-income asylum seekers. NWIRP also refers some domestic violence cases to the Immigration Law Clinic at the Seattle University School of Law.

Golden Door Award
NWIRP presents the Golden Door Award to one organization or individual for their outstanding work promoting justice and dignity for immigrants and refugees. Nominees have often furthered the cause of immigrant and refugee rights on a national, state, or local level. Previous award recipients include:


 * 2013 Luis Moscoso
 * 2009 Radio KSVR 91.7
 * 2008 Jana Heyd
 * 2007 Colors NW Magazine: Victoria Cherniak and the Newcomers Resource Project of the King County Bar Association
 * 2006 Annie Benson: El Comite Pro Amnistia
 * 2005 Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney: Jill Dutton
 * 2004 Legal Foundation of Washington: T he Sanctuary Movement: Dr. Richard Kovar
 * 2003 Atieno Odhiambo: David Ayala
 * 2002 Diane Narasaki: Nieves Negrete
 * 2001 Guadalupe Gamboa: Roberta Ray
 * 2000 KDNA Radio: Jay Stansel': Jennifer Wellman
 * 1999 Bob & Gracie Ekblad and Vince Brown: Grance Huang & Rebecca Smith

Amicus Award
NWIRP presents the Amicus Award to a law firm that has "shown exceptional participation and dedication to the pro bono legal representation of immigrants and refugees." Previous award recipients include:


 * 2013 Perkins Coie
 * 2009 Matthew Geyman (Phillips Law Group)
 * 2008 Williams Kastner for its pro bono representation of low-income individuals seeking political asylum.
 * 2007 Professor Anita Ramasastry and the Immigrant Families Advocacy Project of the University of Washington School of Law
 * 2006 Bob Pauw and Bob Gibbs, Law Office of Gibbs Houston Pauw
 * 2005 Cozen O' Connor
 * 2004 Perkins Coie