Immigrant Defense Advocates (IDA) was formed in the midst of an immigration crisis — illustrated by restrictive border legislation, aggressive enforcement and deportation policies, lack of adequate legal representation, and destructive separation of families.
It is incumbent upon advocates to work hand in hand with the immigrant community to develop a comprehensive strategy to these attacks; one that does not simply react to each crisis as it emerges, but one that synthesizes community organizing with legal services, advocacy with policy, and above all focuses on empowerment over panic.
The mission of IDA is to end policies that detain, dehumanize and destroy immigrant communities.
Hamid Yazdan Panah, Executive DirectorÂ
Hamid Yazdan Panah is the Co-Executive Director of Immigrant Defense Advocates and the former advocacy director of the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ). Hamid was a founding member of CCIJ as well as the Northern California Rapid Response and Immigrant Defense Network (NCRRIDN), which brought together organizations and communities from the Bay Area, Central Valley and Central Coast. NCRRIDN was the first regional rapid response network in the country, and serves as a model for coordinating community led legal defense during ICE raids. His work included tracking systematic violations of due process during ICE operations in Northern California, which helped result in the filing of a temporary restraining order by the ACLU against ICE during nationwide raids in July of 2019.
In addition to his work with rapid response networks throughout California, Hamid has participated in a number of successful advocacy campaigns, targeting private immigration detention facilities in California. In 2019, Hamid helped lead two statements signed on to by more than 70 organizations, highlighting GEO Group’s corrupt dealings around the Mesa Verde and Adelanto detention facilities. These statements exposed corrupt dealings by private prison corporations and developed a common agenda on challenging the use of private detention.
Hamid also led a statewide advocacy campaign in support of the California Immigrant Justice Fellowship, uniting the Bay Area and rural regions of Northern California in support of the fellowship.
Prior to joining CCIJ, Hamid was a solo immigration attorney in Berkeley, CA. Hamid has a background in advocacy and organizing in the Iranian diaspora, and has written extensively on the human rights abuses and the mistreatment of ethnic minorities in Iran. His perspective on legal issues and human rights has appeared in Reuters, CNN, Huffington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Email: hamid[@]imadvocates.orgÂ