Freedom for Immigrants

History

Freedom for Immigrants was founded in 2010 by Christina Fialho and Christina Mansfield. Originally named Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), the entity served as a national network for the organization of protests against the prosecution and detention of illegal immigrants. ¹

While the majority of the organization’s advocacy is focused on legal and policy work pushing an expansionist agenda, it has also raised funds on behalf of Pueblo Sin Fronteras which has organized caravans of illegal immigrants to enter the United States, ² and has paid bonds to release hundreds of illegal immigrant detainees. ³

Illegal Immigration Advocacy

Freedom for Immigrants is a member of numerous left-of-center advocacy coalitions pushing expansionist immigration policy. The organization is listed as a member of Detention Watch Network, an advocacy group made up of numerous prominent left-of-center grantmaking organizations. ⁴ Other notable left-of-center organizations listed as members of Detention watch network include the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, Amnesty International, Oxfam America, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. ⁵

Freedom for Immigrants also partners with the Global Detention Project, a left-of-center research organization focused on illegal immigration advocacy that is funded by the Open Society Foundations. ⁶ Freedom for Immigrants and the Global Detention Project partnered in founding Freedom For Immigrants’ global organizing arm which advocates for exceptions to immigration laws for visitation of detainees in ICE facilities. The organizing arm also advocates for the abolition of “Safe Third Country” laws, which grant state and federal entities the right to send illegal immigrants back to a country other than the migrant’s country of origin deemed “safe” for processing. ⁷

Freedom for Immigrants helped to raise funds in 2018 on behalf of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a group focused on organizing caravans of migrants to the United States from Central America and Mexico. ²

Policy Advocacy

Freedom for Immigrants advocates for liberal expansionist immigration policy through multiple channels. Pushing the narrative that American immigration law is based on “legacies of slavery and colonialism,” ⁸ Freedom for Immigrants has organized and participated in numerous state and federal policy advocacy movements. Notably, the organization spearheaded the #EndTheQuota campaign which sought to eliminate funding for detention-center beds. The movement resulted in the failed Deutch-Foster Amendment supported by U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and numerous left-of-center organizations. ⁹

National Bond Fund

Freedom for Immigrants raises funds to pay bonds for illegal immigrants housed in ICE detainee centers. According to the organization, the James Irvine Foundation is a large funder of the program, and has donated $900,000 since 2018. ¹⁰ The National Bond Fund has raised $3.6 million since its inception and has paid for the release of nearly 500 illegal immigrants as of 2023. ³

Leadership

Christina Fialho is a co-founder of Freedom for Immigrants. Fialho was the highest paid employee within the organization in 2022 making $198,690. ¹¹ Fialho currently works as a committee member for International Detention Coalition, a left-of-center advocacy group funded by notable left-wing grantmaking organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation, ¹² the Ford Foundation, ¹³ and Open Society Foundations. ^{14 15}

Christina Mansfield is a co-founder of Freedom for Immigrants. Mansfield has a long history of working with left-of-center organizations. Notably, she was a 2018 recipient of the James Irvine Leadership Award from the James Irvine Foundation. Mansfield was also an Echoing Green Fellow in 2012. Echoing Green is a left-of-center grantmaking organization funded by prominent leftist foundations such as Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the MacArthur Foundation, and BlackRock. ^{16 17} Mansfield was one of the highest paid employees of the Freedom for Immigrants in 2022. Despite being listed as an “honorary member” of organization, she was paid $163,393. ¹¹

Grizel Ruiz is a former chair of the board of directors of Freedom for Immigrants. She is the senior managing attorney for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a left-of-center illegal immigration advocacy organization based in San Francisco. ¹⁸ According to FEC contribution databases, Ruiz has made numerous donations to political campaigns through ActBlue, a pass-through organization that funds Democratic candidates and political committees. ¹⁹

Michael Kaufman is the chair of the board of directors of Freedom for Immigrants. Kaufman works as for the ACLU of Southern California, where he leads the organization’s legal advocacy on immigration and other issues. ²⁰

Finances

Freedom for Immigrants is funded by the California Endowment, a left-leaning grantmaking organization chartered by the State of California. California Endowment has donated $890,000 across four grants since 2018. ²¹

Freedom for Immigrants has also received significant funding upwards of $120,000 since 2021 from the Blaustein Philanthropic Group, a Baltimore-based left-of-center grantmaking organization that regularly funds groups supporting expansionist immigration policy. ²²

Freedom for Immigrants received $200,000 in 2023 from the Langeloth Foundation, a left-of-center organization that widely funds entities supporting illegal immigration. ²³