Published on April 4, 2024
Originally reported in The Washington State Standard by Grace Deng.
Ask Catalina Velasquez anything about queer, feminist immigrant rights. She’ll have an answer.
Velasquez heads Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, which is the largest immigrant-led coalition in Washington, alongside Brenda Rodriguez Lopez. A refugee from Colombia herself, Velasquez was the first transgender Latina appointed as a Commissioner for the D.C. Office of Latino Affairs.
Her work at WAISN includes advocating for immigrants at the state Legislature, which recently granted $28.4 million to expand health care access for immigrants without legal status, $25 million to support newly arrived migrants and $7.5 million to King County and the city of Tukwila to provide housing support for new arrivals. Lawmakers also passed bills removing immigration status requirements for professional licenses and funding dual language and tribal language education.
Aside from her experience in the immigrant rights space, she’s held leadership positions at various progressive non-profits organizing for reproductive justice, sexual assault survivors and more. Currently, she’s finishing a Ph.D. in Feminist Studies at the University of Washington, where she occasionally teaches trans and feminist studies classes.
The Standard spoke with Velasquez to learn more about why it’s important for queer, trans people to hold leadership positions in the immigration rights movement and what Washington has done — and still needs to do — for its migrant population.
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Catalina Velasquez heads Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, which is the largest immigrant-led coalition in Washington, alongside Brenda Rodriguez Lopez. A refugee from Colombia herself, Velasquez was the first transgender Latina appointed as a Commissioner for the D.C. Office of Latino Affairs. Velasquez is a PhD candidate at the University of Washington.