AHRI for Justice

Background

AHRI for Justice was founded in December 2019 by a group of community organizers and activists. It focuses on support for illegal immigrants and communities in the southern California area. It has claimed that “immigrant families encounter inequities imposed by systemic barriers that limit their quality of life.” According to the group, “Ahri” is a Korean word that means “paving a new path.” AHRI for Justice is also known as AHRI Center. ^{1  3}

As of May 2026, AHRI for Justice was a project of Beyond Impact, ² a left-of-center social welfare organization focused on the creation, financing, and consultation of various left-of-center groups. Beyond Impact once described itself as an organization to “build power and advance progressive policies that center equity and justice.” ⁴ Other organizations that Beyond Impact fiscally sponsored at the time or previously include Dream Defenders, Flip the Vote, the Movement for Black Lives Action Fund, and Voices for Progress. ⁵

AHRI for Justice is a member of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, an advocacy coalition of left-of-center Asian American advocacy organizations including Asian Americans for Equality, Asian Law Alliance, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, Hana Center, and South Asian Network. ⁶

Its Facebook page is administered by the San Francisco Chinese Progressive Association, a left-wing activist group focused on “Building collective power with Chinese working-class immigrants and families.” It fiscally sponsors ten projects, including Black Futures Lab and San Francisco Rising. ^{7  8}

Work Areas

As of 2026, AHRI claimed to engage in policy advocacy, voter engagement, community organizing, and legal services supporting local southern California communities. Focus areas include support for illegal immigrants, racial activism, and left-of-center gender advocacy. ^{9  10}

It has described the populations it serves as “domestic violence victims, human trafficking survivors, individuals who are not in legal immigration status, individuals with criminal histories, juveniles, lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender.” ¹⁰

As of 2026, AHRI for Justice was composed of a legal services team and an organizing team. ¹¹

The AHRI legal services team aims to provide direct legal services to low-income community members, with a focus on illegal immigrants. The team is staffed with authorized immigration attorneys who provide legal assistance for naturalization, asylum, green-card renewal, and DACA renewal applications. It educates illegal immigrants on how to respond when stopped by ICE or Border Patrol and provides information to illegal immigrants on how to apply for a driver’s license. It provides information and resources for in-state tuition and higher education for undocumented students living in California. It provides legal services in Spanish, Korean, and English. ^{12  3}

As of 2026, AHRI had published two resource guides. The “Resource Guide for Undocumented Immigrants” provides illegal immigrants with resources and information such as how to obtain California identification cards, drivers licenses, and access to housing, and food. ¹³ The other resource guide, “Financial Resource Guide for Undocumented College Students,” provides information for illegal immigrants on higher education opportunities in California and financial resources to pay for them. ¹⁴

Its organizing team claims to have built relationships within the community and to have provided community and political education as well as leadership development training for local youth. It claims to have supported and helped the communities organize through campaigns and civic engagement. As of 2026, AHRI was running civic engagement and advocacy programs for college age youth as well as voter registration, phone banking, and canvassing efforts. ¹⁵

Building Leaders Organizing Our Movement (BLOOM) is a five-month youth leadership development program for LGBT and immigrant youth to become successful activists and community organizers engaging in federal, state, and local politics. ^{3  16}

Advocacy

As of 2021, AHRI was promoting a pathway to citizenship for all illegal immigrants in the United States and was organizing phone banks to call state and federal representatives to support citizenship for all. ¹⁷ In 2021, it was urging Congressional Democrats to include a pathway to citizenship in a budget reconciliation bill. ¹⁸ In 2022, it urged permanent protection for immigrants through a registry update in the Build Back Better Act, a social spending and tax proposal. ¹⁹

In August 2021, AHRI urged voters to vote against recalling California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), ²⁰ claiming that those supporting the recall wanted to “turn the clock back on Civil Rights, deny that Climate Change is real, [and] protect the profits of the wealthy corporate billionaires that fund their campaigns.” ²¹

In 2023, AHRI urged voters to support California SB846 which would introduce automatic voter registration for the state’s unregistered voters. ²²