OneAmerica lobbies and organizes for left-of-center causes, focusing on immigrant rights, including illegal immigrants in the United States. OneAmerica has shaped national policy on racial profiling and opposes deportation while it supports the acquisition of college financial aid,^[1] driver’s licenses,^[2] labor protection, legal rights and representation for illegal immigrants. ^[3]

OneAmerica was founded by now-U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) as “Hate-Free Zone” after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to combat a supposed “backlash” against Muslims and other immigrants of color. ^[4]

History

OneAmerica, then known as Hate Free Zone, led a campaign to defeat the George W. Bush administration’s deportation order for 2,700 Somali nationals. It further condemned President Bush’s Patriot Act as infringing on non-citizens’ rights,^[5] and helped halt the registration process of thousands of immigrants from Arab countries. ^[6]

Initiatives

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

OneAmerica is strongly opposed to deportations of illegal immigrants and describes ICE as a rogue agency. ^[7] In Seattle, it has joined other left-wing groups to bar local police cooperation with ICE. ^[8]  OneAmerica condemned the handing over to ICE by local police of an illegal alien as unfair. ^[9] It called for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) to fire the state Department of Licenses leadership for cooperating with ICE by handing over illegal aliens’ license plate information. ^[10]

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

OneAmerica lobbies for renewal of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA, a policy giving relief from removal from the U.S. and work authorization to certain illegal immigrants. It has also lobbied for certain illegal immigrants to receive college scholarships, financial aid, and in-state tuition in Washington State. ^[11]

OneAmerica supported allowing a DACA recipient to run for city council in Yakima, Washington. The prospective candidate was unable to run as she is not a U.S. citizen; OneAmerica protested the decision. ^[12]

Washington State Initiatives

OneAmerica supported a $16 billion transportation bill to extend light rail, and create more public housing in Seattle. ^[13]

It sided with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against surveillance cameras in Seattle, claiming their use violates civil rights and drives several privacy concerns. ^[14]

In 2018 OneAmerica joined a group called End the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC) that believes a disproportionate quantity of young people of color are detained. EPIC and a host of community activist groups lobbied against construction of a $200 million youth justice center in Seattle but lost the legal battle. ^[15]

OneAmerica supported the Washington Voting Rights Act, a package of legislation that restricts the use of at-large voting for municipal offices, instituted automatic voter registration, and established statewide election-day voter registration. ^{[16] [17]}

National Initiatives

OneAmerica formed an alliance called Communities of Color for Climate Justice which seeks to replace conventional fuels with environmentalist options. It asserts that communities of color do not have the same access to clean air and are at greater health risk to climate change than other demographics. ^[18]

OneAmerica’s largest funding recipient is the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) which consists of 37 of the largest immigration and refugee organizations in 31 states including OneAmerica. ^[19]  NPNA seeks to unite the 37 regional entities into a national power focusing on assisting immigrants by gaining them government-provided healthcare, education, access to justice, naturalization, deportation defense, voter registration, and political influence. ^[20]

Leadership

Rich Stolz is the Executive Director and previously worked for left-of-center organizations Center for Community Change and Fair Immigration Reform Movement. In 1994, Stolz organized against California Proposition 187, which sought to deny non-emergency government benefits to illegal immigrants. ^[21]

He has characterized Washington State as the “Center of the Resistance” leading the battle of organizations led by people of color to gain many rights against the willfully ignorant to transition from a diverse, broad based resistance to one of power. ^[22]

Stolz was recognized as a Champion of Change by President Barack Obama for his efforts as a liberal expansionist immigration campaigner. ^[23] He joined the opposition against President Donald Trump’s request to add a citizenship question on the 2020 census. ^[24]