LIMITATIONS OF THE LAW
Centering immigrant voices in the fight to end immigration detention
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Laura Duarte Bateman
Moderator
CCIJ Communications Director
Laura is CCIJ’s Communications Manager. Laura leads CCIJ's communication strategies for social and digital media, public campaigns and other liberation efforts. She grew up in Bogotá, Colombia and has lived in California since 2019. As an immigrant now settled in the Bay Area, Laura is keen to use her Spanish skills and communications background to work alongside detained and formerly detained folks, their families, organizers and legal service providers to fight immigrant detention in California through innovative campaigns and community actions.
Edwin Carmona-Cruz
CCIJ Community Engagement Director
Edwin Carmona-Cruz is the Community Engagement Director at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ). He leads CCIJ's statewide campaigns, participatory defense and rapid response that will help achieve its mission of ending immigration detention in California. Edwin created and co-leads CCIJ's Vaccine Education and Empowerment in Detention (VEED) program that connects medical professionals to individuals detained in immigrant detention centers and provide culturally and linguistically competent information regarding the vaccine against COVID-19. Edwin also is a member of the Yuba Liberation Coalition which aims to terminate the Yuba-ICE contract.
Serafín Andrade is an organizer detained at Mesa Verde Detention Facility. He has been in detention since June 4, 2021 and has been organizing to expose and improve inhumane conditions inside detention for several months. Two of his favorite hobbies are reading and crocheting.
As CCIJ's Legal Director, Lisa oversees CCIJ’s work creating and supporting strategies to fight for the liberation of immigrants in detention through direct representation, litigation and advocacy. Lisa was one of the first attorneys to provide representation to individuals forced to await their asylum hearing in Mexico under Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols program, and has continued to organize regular workshops and remote pro se assistance for asylum seekers in Tijuana and Juarez.
As a person of Black and Latinx descent, Lisa’s own lived experience has taught her that immigration is a racial justice issue. She is passionate about moving beyond a traditional service provision model, to work in partnership with detained people towards their individual and collective liberation.