Immigrant Rights in DC

Recognizing that the struggle for worker rights depends on also securing justice for immigrants, KI is deeply engaged in the fight for immigrant rights in DC, especially on issues that impact the District’s immigrant workers.

Immigrants are vital members of our community. At Georgetown, they are some of our most talented students, our faculty and staff, and the workers who sustain our campus. In DC, they are our family, friends, and neighbors. KI is committed to fighting alongside community groups to ensure that DC lives out its promise to be a sanctuary city in the fullest sense.

• As part of the DC Values Coalition, KI helped coordinate and highlight the importance of immigration legal services and the need to expand those services to include universal representation for DC residents who have been detained by ICE. We continue to support immigrant legal aid in DC each year.
• Most DC residents who are detained by ICE are turned over to immigration custody by DC’s criminal justice system. KI is advocating alongside community groups, immigrant organizations, and faith allies to bring an end to cooperation between DC government and ICE and make DC a true sanctuary city.
• During the COVID pandemic, undocumented immigrants faced mass layoffs but were excluded from unemployment benefits or the federal stimulus programs. KI lifted up the voices of undocumented DC residents and other excluded workers such as domestic workers, returning citizens, and cash economy workers who called for and secured cash assistance during the pandemic.