Writer and activist Pramila Jayapal challenges the mistreatment of people based on their immigration status. As the founder and Executive Director of OneAmerica, the largest immigrant advocacy organization in Washington State, Jayapal has lead the organization of tens of thousands of immigrants around immigration reform, immigrant integration and racial profiling, and achieved significant policy change. In addition, OneAmerica has registered and mobilized over 25,000 New American citizens to vote since 2006.
Nationally, Jayapal has helped to lead the fight for due process and comprehensive immigration reform, serving as Vice Chair of the Rights Working Group national coalition as well as on the Executive Committee of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement. In 2008, she was appointed by Governor Gregoire as Vice Chair of the New Americans Policy Council. Jayapal is an immigrant from India, and came to the U.S. when she was 16 to attend college. She returned to India as an Institute for Current World Affairs Fellow, writing a book about the experience—Pilgrimage: One Woman’s Return to a Changing India. She received her U.S. citizenship in 2000 and is the proud mother of a 13-year old son.
“This is really about all of our rights and not just about immigrants who are here. It’s a debate about what America is going to be.”