Immigrant Support Team

Mission:

Following the 2025 consensus meeting for the Welcoming Immigrants to WA study, LWVBWC members joined together to explore how our local League can implement some of the study’s best practices to welcome immigrants and refugees in Whatcom County. One of our goals is to reach out to state and local organizations that are working with immigrants, to learn more about the needs of the immigrant community and the work currently being done to support this community. We want to educate ourselves and other League members and find ways in which we can work together with these organizations.

LWVWA Position on Welcoming Immigrants

In 2025, the League of Women Voters of Washington adopted a position on welcoming immigrants.

Position in Brief: The League of Women Voters of Washington believes that all residents of Washington state, regardless of immigration status or citizenship, should be treated with dignity and respect. This means that all residents, regardless of immigration status or citizenship, should have access to essential state-funded services, have the opportunity to avail themselves of legal representation in court and immigration proceedings, and have the opportunity to live and work in safety. The League encourages all elected officials and government leaders in Washington to continue to take action to ensure these fundamental rights. It also means that political leaders in Washington have an obligation to condemn xenophobia, discrimination, and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

To read the full position, click here.

For more information about the Study, click here.

Accordion Widget

Executive Summary

Welcoming Immigrants to Washington State Study

While there are many areas where the Washington state legislative, judicial, and executive branches have provided leadership with respect to immigrants, the Immigration Study Committee identified 12 issues impeding the ability of the state to address the needs of immigrants:

Countering xenophobia, discrimination against immigrants, and extreme anti-immigration rhetoric.
Likely need to litigate federal policies that harm immigrants and undermine the benefits accruing to Washington from a safe and orderly immigration process at the federal level.
Funding to ensure greater access to legal representation for immigrants in removal proceedings as well as those applying for citizenship, legal permanent residence, asylum, TPS, or other legal immigration status.
Provisions by state and local governments to provide accessible services to all residents, regardless of immigration status.
Need for a holistic approach to providing immigrants with services that takes into account the interconnected challenges that they face.
Coordination amongst the state agencies that interact with immigrants and refugees.
Working conditions for immigrants, particularly those in low-income jobs.
Access to health and mental health services for immigrants, regardless of their immigration status.
Delays in issuance of work permits, advocating the use of ITINs to access state services, exploring the legality of issuance of work permits or provisional work authorization, elimination or reduction in fees, and streamlining of the overall process.
Funding of programs to ensure greater access to English language classes, civics education, naturalization preparation, and interpretation/translation services for immigrants.
Closure of private detention centers, such as Northwest ICE Processing Center; immediate reforms to ensure the safety and well-being of those who are detained; and abolition of detention of asylum-seekers, except for purposes of establishing identity.
Implementation and efficacy of existing legislation and policies aimed at assisting, protecting and welcoming immigrants.

In addition, the study points to best practices that the LWVWA and local Leagues can adopt to help welcome immigrants and refugees:

Reaching out proactively to immigrants to learn more about their needs.
Forming partnerships at the state and local levels with immigrant led and immigrant serving organizations to advocate for needed reforms.
Enhancing efforts to help immigrants naturalize, focusing in particular on civics education.
Enhancing voter registration programs to include the newly naturalized, naturalized citizens new to the state, and those who never registered anywhere.
Translating election ballots into languages not covered under state or federal law.
Holding forums to help naturalized citizens understand the voting process in Washington state, as it may be very different from what happened in their home country.
Circulating the Leagues’ civic education books to immigrants and naturalized citizens.
Sponsoring refugees for resettlement through the Welcome Corps.

State and Local Groups Working with Immigrants

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), https://www.nwirp.org/

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project promotes justice by defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community education. They have useful information and resources on their website.

WA Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN), Home - WAISN

WAISN is the largest immigrant-led coalition in Washington. WAISN holds trainings on Zoom, including Know Your Rights, Rapid Response, and Accompaniment trainings. They coordinate efforts to respond to and document detention raids. They also have a Fair Fight Bond Fund to support detainees with bond payments: fairfightbondfund.org

**Both NWIRP and WAISN have an option on their websites to sign up for their newsletters and to make donations to support their work.

Whatcom Literacy Council (WLC), www.whatcomliteracy.org/
Whatcom Literacy Council offers free English Language Learner programs and more in Whatcom County. WLC organizes volunteers to teach English in a variety of settings – as a classroom instructor or assistant at Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Tech College, or as a one-on-one tutor. They also partner with the local libraries. Goodwill in Bellingham also offers English classes and sometimes citizenship classes.

Immigrant Resources and Immediate Support (IRIS), IRIS - Immigrant Resources Immediate Support

Norma Suarez is the director. IRIS primarily serves immigrant women and children who are survivors of violence. IRIS responds to the urgent and unmet needs of immigrants in our communities by connecting immigrants with needed resources and by directly providing funding for items and services that are not accessible to this marginalized population.

Donations can be made on their website.

Family Engagement Center / Family Resource Center at Bellingham Public Schools, Family Engagement – Bellingham Public Schools

Isabel Meaker is the Director. The department works to provide support to staff in the areas of communication, translation and cultural competency. The Department of Family Engagement also manages the Family Resource Center (FRC) locations at Shuksan Middle School and Carl Cozier Elementary School. The FRC locations are family support centers that links school families with local resources and human services addressing the needs of the whole child in order to promote student success.

Donations of gift cards to Fred Meyer or Safeway are appreciated

Whatcom Faith Community Immigrant Support team (WFCIS), WhatcomFCIS@gmail.com, is a network of Whatcom County Faith Communities joining to provide crisis support of food and baby items for immigrant families and help them transition to longer term support.

Bellingham Food Bank – www.bellinghamfoodbank.org

Along with 12 other food banks supports families on an ongoing basis

Oasis Because We Care, oasisbwc.org

OASIS emerged in response to the great challenges faced by the migrant Latino community who have made the Pacific Northwest their home, especially Indigenous community members. By providing culturally and linguistically tailored guidance, OASIS supports individuals navigating local services during crises.

A Watered Garden in Everson, A Watered Garden Family Learning Center

Cheryl Brown is the director. They offer English classes, Citizenship prep and GED tutoring, and other services as the need arises.

Community2Community, foodjustice.org

C2C has long been involved in Whatcom and Skagit County efforts to support immigrants and farmworkers

Reading List

Become Better Informed

Books that cover the history of U.S. immigration policy and how it has impacted immigrants and asylum seekers:

Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands by Sarah Towle
Everyone Who Has Gone Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis, by Jonathan Blitzer

Books suggested by board members of IRIS (Immigrant Resources and Immediate Support in Bellingham):

My Boy Will Die of Sorrow by Efrén C. Olivares
The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri
The Undocumented Americans, by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wan
The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla
Here We Are by Aarti Namdev Shahani
La Frontera: El Viaje con Papá ~ My Journey with Papa by Deborah Mills, Alfredo Alva, Claudia Navarro
Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth M. Holmes
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan (children’s book)
The Circuit, Breaking Through, Reaching Out, Taking Hold by Francisco Jiménez
Solito by Javier Zamora