Spring is an opportunity for reflection – on what has taken root, what is just beginning to emerge, and what still needs tending. At Columbia Legal Services, this season finds us holding all of those realities at once.
This season, we saw a meaningful example of persistence paying off. The Court of Appeals allowed key claims to move forward in our challenge to how people are disciplined inside Washington prisons, reviving a case after it was initially dismissed. Systems change work moves slowly, especially when must challenge entrenched practices that operate behind closed doors. But we keep tending. And accountability, like Spring, eventually arrives.
At the same time, we are responding to what is urgent right now. Our team recently developed a habeas toolkit to help people in immigration detention request a hearing on their own behalf, ensuring that individuals facing detention have a way to be heard, even when access to legal representation is limited.
These two efforts reflect something we hold with care: the ability to tend to long-term change while also responding to what is needed in this moment. Both are rooted in the same commitment — advancing racial and economic justice by ensuring that people are not punished or detained without a meaningful opportunity to be heard. Immigration and carceral systems continue to disproportionately impact Black and brown communities, and our work is grounded in challenging those inequities directly.
This work also depends on our independence. Because we do not accept government funding, we can challenge state systems directly and respond with clarity when new threats emerge. That independence also means we rely on philanthropy to sustain this work year after year.
We’re grateful to be in this work with you — and grateful for your continued partnership as we move through this season together.
In solidarity,
Jennifer Werdell
Interim Executive Director
Our Latest Advocacy Updates
We’re building on a season of big wins, from a Court of Appeals ruling allowing claims against DOC’s unreliable prison drug testing to the Washington Supreme Court agreeing to hear farmworkers’ challenge to forced arbitration. We also secured wage justice for farmworkers in Central Washington through a pre‑lawsuit settlement addressing discrimination and retaliation.
Equity Corner
Women’s History Month invited us to celebrate women’s leadership while also reckoning honestly with harm, silence, and whose stories are erased. We ask you to look closely at women’s leadership and to question how history remembers power, harm, and accountability.
Habeas Toolkit
We’re proud to release our Habeas Toolkit, a self‑help resource designed for people being held in immigration detention, their families, and the broader immigrant community. Grounded in the belief that knowledge is power, it offers clear, practical guidance to help individuals navigate the habeas process despite systemic barriers.
Legislative Lunch & Learn
Missed our Legislative Lunch and Learn? Watch the recording to hear Columbia Legal Services advocates recap the 2026 legislative session and discuss key developments related to detention, farmworker collective bargaining, and towing legislation.
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