OIRA Archives - The Seattle Globalist

A family talks with a volunteer about any potential red flags regarding their citizenship application at a 2016 citizenship workshop held by the Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. (Photo by Alabastro Photography)

Seattle kicks off Trump era with legal help for immigrants

by Agatha Pacheco

As Trump gets sworn into office on Inauguration Day, volunteer lawyers in Seattle will be helping local immigrants plan for an uncertain future.

Liliana Caracoza takes the oath of citizenship at a ceremony in Tacoma in September 2014. (Photo by Alex Stonehill)

City of Seattle planning big push for citizenship Saturday

The Office of Immigrant and Refugee affairs is hoping to help 250 green card holders with their citizenship applications Saturday, with more events to come.

Keeping the door open for refugees

by Seattle Immigrant and Refugee Commission

Seattle should lead by example and remain a city open to refugees.

How to be more like Canada: upcoming events on bringing refugees to Seattle

by Forrest Baum

So, wanna be like Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau? Two upcoming Seattle events will discuss how to welcome refugees to the state.

Seattle's new Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Director Cuc Vu (center) flanked by Mayor Ed Murray and outgoing Interim Director Aaliyah Gupta. (Photo by Kamna Shastri)

New boss for city’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs

by Kamna Shastri

Tuesday morning, Seattle Mayor Edward Murray introduced Cuc Vu as the new acting director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA). Vu will be taking the place of Interim Director Aaliyah Gupta.

Magdaleno Rose-Avila addresses the crowd at an immigration rally in Seattle in 2006. (Photo courtesy of Rose-Avila)

We are Seattle, we want to be free: Rose-Avila on Mandela and MLK

by Reagan Jackson

With his tenure at the city’s Office of Immigrant Refugee Affairs ending, Seattle activist Magdaleno Rose-Avila is back at his typewriter to carry on a life-long struggle for civil rights.

Seattle’s Smartest Global Women: Sahar Fathi

by Hannah Lu Marie

A international lawyer turned policy analyst, Sahar Fathi, is a powerhouse of social change on a mission to shakeup how city policy is made.

New citizens celebrate Flag Day as Obama promises to end youth deportation

by Sara McCaslin

Refugee and immigrant community organizers gathered in the country’s most diverse neighborhood, on Wednesday to redefine how Seattleites celebrate Flag Day. Immigrant rights organization OneAmerica put together the event in a Columbia City park to provide citizenship information, voter registration and other resources to new immigrants and refugees. Organizers said they hoped to revive the marginal holiday, which […]

Rose-Avila named director of Seattle’s new Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs

by Allison Barrett

Immigration advocate and former director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project Magdaleno Rose-Avila, was named director of the Seattle’s new Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA) this week. Rose-Avila grew up in a Mexican-American farm worker community in Colorado, and has a long history of organizing for progressive causes. He’s worked for the United Farm Workers, the Peace Corps, Amnesty […]