Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
“They held me in a detention facility for four years. Immigration is greedy, they have no concern for individuals. All they want to do is send you back at any cost.” Nigerian immigrant Aderemi Adanta explained. “There was a guard who promised me every day that he would send me back no matter what. I started to have health problems with my eyes and they weren’t being addressed by the facility, that’s when I learned about Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP)”.
NWIRP stepped in to help Adanta find medical care, representation and his green card. His story is unique but the problems are shared amongst a large number of immigrants and refugees- the United States stacks the deck against them. NWIRP is here to supply them with attorneys and other necessary legal services. They even help clients find places to stay until they can get back on their feet.
Immigrants have founded or co-founded nearly two-thirds (65% or 28 of 43) of the top AI companies in the United States. Considerable diversity exists among immigrant entrepreneurs in top AI companies, with founders born in 21 countries. Indian immigrants founded ten of the top U.S.-based AI companies in the research, while immigrants from Israel and the United Kingdom were second with three, followed by Canada, China and France with two each. Immigrants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Iran, Kenya, Lebanon, Taiwan, Syria, Poland and elsewhere founded or co-founded a top U.S. AI company.” reports a Forbes article from 2023 (Anderson, 2023).
Many immigrant households have more students that attend public schools than households that are headed by U.S.-born parents (Comarota). They often have a larger number of students from low-income families and speak a foreign language at home. This can create significant challenges for schools in areas that are already having their resources stretched by students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are also struggling to be educated. However, some school districts are trying to pave the way for English as a second language students to be more successful.
Nancy Truitt Pierce was a member of the Board of Directors for the Monroe School district in Washington State when the dual language program was being pitched. It passed and began with the 2010 kindergarten class. Each year they expanded the program to include the next grade so that the students who joined the program in the first year were able to continue attending the program until all grades (K-5) offered it.
“In the morning, it's one language and in the afternoon it's the other language flips, the other group” Pierce explained. “So in the morning, the English-speaking kids are the dominant kids because it's an English classroom. But in the afternoon, the Spanish-speaking kids are the dominant kids because it's a Spanish classroom. And what's wonderful about that is that there's no chance for it to be a one up, right? Half the day the Spanish-speaking kids are the dominant kids.”
Raul Alvarez spoke about his experience with immigration about his work with young immigrants prior to his position at NWIRP.
“From a professional standpoint, I've been working with immigrant communities even before I started working at NWIRP. Prior to this position I lived in Chicago and worked for a company that helped underrepresented students access college readiness materials and scholarships, and I worked particularly closely with undocumented students in that role.”
NWIRPs long term goal is simply to no longer be needed- “we would love to see the United States actually reform their immigration policy such that when immigrants arrive here they have access to attorneys if they need legal representation.” said Alvarez. “The systemic barriers and racist things that are encoded into our nation’s immigration system need to be undone.” This is where support for their organization becomes essential. This work is not being done by anybody else. The individuals and families that are assisted by NWIRP’s legal team couldn’t make it through the system without them.
“When I was being held in the detention facility I was working as a law clerk and I took the opportunity to read cases that I thought were similar to mine. I found an unpublished case that was almost identical and I secretly saved it on my flash drive. This was what NWIRP needed in order to get me out.” Adanta explained.
““I had to leave when my children were 2 and 3. It was very difficult. I would have given up and gone back had my daughter not begged me to stay.” Adanta shared. “Twenty years later I am retired, I collect my Social Security and the pensions from my jobs. This is amazing, if you had told me this was possible when I was still in Nigeria I would not have believed you!” As for his children- “They are both graduating from college. My daughter is going to be a diplomat and my son is starting his doctoral degree. I am so proud of them.”
Adanta will be telling his story at NWIRP’s 40th anniversary gala in April.
