Immigration Hub

In December 2024, Immigration Hub launched Catalyze/Citizens, a political advocacy group to allegedly oppose immigration policies supported by the First Trump Administration while supporting the campaigns for Democrats running for office. ²

Background

Immigration Hub is an immigration advocacy group that claims to support education and training programs to develop media strategies for groups allegedly opposed to immigration reform. ¹

Activities

Since its founding in 2017, Immigration Hub claims to have over 350 member groups and partner organizations. The organization further claims that its staff includes former congressional staffers, previous executive branch staff, and policy advocates.  ¹

In 2020, Immigration Hub published the “Immigration Big Book,” a report offering multiple left-of-center policy recommendations for the campaigns of Democratic Party candidates running for office at the state and national level. The report further claimed that 271 of its policies were adopted during the Biden administration. It released a new edition of the Big Book in 2024. ³

In December 2024, Immigration Hub launched Catalyze/Citizens, a 501(c)(4) organization. ^{2 4 5}

Grantmaking

According to OpenSecrets, In 2024, people associated with Immigration Hub donated $500 to a U.S. House campaign of former Arizona state legislator Raquel Teran (D) and $370 to Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. In 2022, people associated with the group donated $1,000 to the campaigns of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and $500 to Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). In 2020, people associated with the group donated $600 to ActBlue, $360 to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), $180 to presidential candidate Julian Castro, and $149 to the presidential campaign of Joe Biden. ⁶

Leadership

As of December 2024, Beatriz Lopez and Kerri Talbot were listed as the co-executive directors of Immigration Hub and Catalyze/Citizens. ^{2 4}

Kerri Talbot was previously a partner at the Veng Group, where she worked on policy communications for National Immigration Law Center, Deloitte, Human Rights First, and the Women’s Refugee Commission. She previously worked as chief counsel for then-U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). She also worked at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Rights Working Group, the Break the Chain Campaign at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and Physicians for Human Rights. ⁷

Beatriz Lopez is a co-founder of nonprofit strategy servicer CKZ. She was previously the managing director of communications for the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund, the assistant communications director for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the head of labor outreach programs for the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood and Public Citizen. ⁸