Policy

OneAmerica is the largest immigrant advocacy organization in Washington State, working throughout the state and with leading national partners to ensure that the rights of immigrant communities are recognized and upheld in our democracy.

OneAmerica had a key role in advocating for the Governor's New Americans Executive Order that established a New Americans Policy Council to effectively integrate immigrants into Washington State.

OneAmerica is committed to advocacy through policy work that welcomes and upholds the rights of immigrants. OneAmerica actively participates in national coalitions addressing immigration reform including the Rights Working Group and the Immigration Organizing Committee of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM).

Some key issue areas that we work on include immigration reform, immigrant integration, and racial profiling. We publish reports based on thorough and thoughtful research and are integrally involved with the deveopment of local policy by city councils across the state and the Washington State Legislature in Olympia.

OneAmerica board and staff frequently make presentations at events, schools, forums, and conferences. For example, Executive Director Pramila Jayapal spoke at the Urban Poverty Forum in Seattle on Sunday, February 13, 2011 about the systemic causes of illegal immigration and the subsequent problems facing Mexican immigrants who escape abject poverty in their homeland.