Spotlight – Kip Boyle, New Board Member

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Kip is a small business owner, cybersecurity expert, podcast host, writer, and LinkedIn course instructor. He lives in Kent with his wife and seven children.

We are pleased to welcome our latest addition to the AIDNW Board, Kip Boyle. Kip brings a wealth of knowledge in strategy and risk management, as well as experience serving on two other non-profit organization boards.

Kip heard about AIDNW through fellow Board member Val Munoz. He says he decided to pursue a seat on the AIDNW Board after discussing the decision with his wife, who fully supported the pull that he felt to serve immigrants in this way. He is looking forward to the chance to observe our operations, particularly at the Welcome Center.

Both his wife and daughter recently participated in a simulation exercise where they went through a mock journey of what it’s like for immigrants seeking asylum, having to barter their resources in order to emigrate. His wife is an immigrant, and between her background, their experience in the simulation, and his own faith-based motivation to “help your neighbor—and our neighbors areeveryone,” Kip committed himself to the task.

“My impression is that these members of our community, when they are spending time in detention, they are alone, and it’s one of the most stressful times of their lives. It’s just not a time for someone to be alone.”  He says that the work we do at AIDNW is what re-connects them to a caring community and reminds them that they are, in fact, not alone.

We stand with them, dignify them, visit them, write to them, help them when they get released, and provide transportation to the next phase of their journey. That is work we can all be proud of together.

Welcome, Kip! We look forward to working with you and learning from you as we head into the New Year.

— Elena Moreno, AIDNW Volunteer

Volunteer Reports

From the Welcome Center:
Our guests included a young woman from Dallas (originally Mexico) who cried when Donna and I hugged her after she walked through the gate. She had been detained for 3 1/2 months. Her bond was $7,500 and she wasn’t sure her boyfriend could scrape together enough money for her flight. Fortunately, he was able to and got her booked on a flight shortly after midnight.

Next was a delightful man who owns a home remodeling company. He is very well connected in the community and had references from the Chief of police and many other people who were vouching for him. He had been detained for four months, and as a result, his employees now have jobs at other companies.

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A woman from Indonesia, out on bond, got a flight for 6 pm and PDAN (volunteer driver) Kim swooped in to get her there on time. There was trouble at TSA, with multiple levels of management refusing the ICE ID, but finally it was settled and she was allowed through. Good that Kim went in with her to help!

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Our second release had two family members and a friend waiting with us by the heater in the tent. They were very grateful for the snacks, hot chocolate, and tea we provided, since they had not eaten since breakfast. He was released around 5:45 p.m.

A woman stopped by looking for a woman who had showed up for her scheduled appearance in Tukwila, where she was asked to present her 9 year old son, who is an American citizen.  Allegedly they were both taken away and she is not sure if they were brought to Tacoma or to Boeing Airfield because they said they were putting them on a plane and deporting them from there.

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A woman who has been in this country for 40 years told us that she was picked up at the airport after attending her father’s funeral in El Salvador.  Although she has a green card, driver’s license and a social security card, they told her she had outstanding speeding tickets from 2006.  She was unaware of this because many family members shared the same car. They took her to jail and she promptly paid the outstanding fines. When she was released from jail, ICE took her from Dallas to the detention center here, where she has been for four months. Her son bought her a plane ticket for tomorrow at 5:15 a.m.

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A school employee brought a high school student to visit her father. He had served time for a crime in 1995, but was picked up recently and is going to be deported to Mexico although he is Cuban. She was crying and quite worried about him.

A young man released is in the process of getting a green card and has his own landscaping business. He told us that 50 people are being deported today. They are usually deported in the middle of the night.

From the Visitation Program:
The young man I visited today told me he was looking forward to making burritos tonight. He said they save the chicken from their meals and get other ingredients from the commissary. The flour tortillas are small so he explained how they use three to make one burrito.

Tomorrow for Thanksgiving he told me a bunch of guys in his pod are making tamales. They take the taco chips from the commissary, grind them and add water to make the corn meal for the tamales, then add other ingredients they can get from commissary.

He tells me sometimes the detainees organize games and tournaments of corn hole, dominoes, free throw, or bingo.

From Penpal letters:
“Thank you for your support. May God continue to bless you. Immigration law is complicated but the worst part about it all is mandatory detention. I feel like immigrants with legal status who committed a crime that are in ICE custody should all be eligible for bond just like how it is in criminal court.”

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“Thank you for being supportive while I’ve been down. You just don’t know how strong you make me. I am thankful. Much love and respect. My family also thanks you a lot. You are always in my prayers and in my mom’s too. She always asks about you. Sorry for not writing a lot. Is just sometimes I go through it.”

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“I thank you for your support and help to keep me balanced and praying for me to the good lord.  Bless your heart and thank you for being a good person.”

If you would like to become a volunteer, fill out an application at: https://aidnw.org/volunteer. Training provided.

Fundraising Event

Browse-for-a-Cause
Three Trees Bookstore in Burien
Sunday, December 14th 3 – 6 PM
Three Trees Books in Burien is offering a private browsing event on Sunday December 14th from 3 – 6pm benefitting AIDNW. 10% of all purchases made at this event will be donated to AIDNW.  If you can’t make it, you can also order online through December 25th using promo code “AIDNW” for 10% of the proceeds to be donated.

Help Us Get a Head Start in 2026!

Our impact is made possible by individuals like you who are willing to donate their time and dollars in service of the immigrants detained and released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center. In 2026, we are proud to again increase funding for our Phone Funds program for the second year in a row. This program is an important lifeline for those detained to reach family, friends, and critical legal services. Help us get a head start by donating to our End of Year Campaign today!

Double Your Impact: many employers offer a company match to your charitable donations. Now is the time to check and ensure your philanthropic efforts go the furthest!

November Community Meeting

On November 19th, the bi-monthly AIDNW Community Meeting heard from Elaine Lyford-Nojima and Alfie Alvarado-Ramos from Indivisible Olympia. Each Indivisible chapter reflects its’ own communities’ unique needs. Alfie and Elaine spoke about Indivisible Olympia’s Immigrant Justice Team, which works to support immigrants within their community and to amplify the work of other organizations. After hearing that ICE had been patrolling the Thurston County food bank, Indivisible began taking donations for another smaller, more accessible food bank and after just a week of collecting donations, they had enough food for two months!

Indivisible Olympia also tracks immigrant-related state legislation to mobilize their members to write to legislators and testify at bill hearings. Their upcoming fundraising campaign over the holiday season will be to support AIDNW’s phone funds. Thank you Indivisible Olympia!

     

Ideas Welcome!

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Do you have a suggestion or request for a future Community Meeting topic or speaker? We’d love to hear your ideas. Please email Board member Tomas Ramos at vitesseinitial@yahoo.com.

Invite an AIDNW speaker
to present to your community group

AIDNW offers free presentations to schools, religious and service groups on the 1,575 bed immigration detention center in Tacoma.
Learn about vital services provided to detainees inside the center, and as they are released from detention.

Presentations are offered either in person or on Zoom, and at no cost
Contact Operations Manager Aidan Perkinson at OperationsMgr@aidnw.org

Have a spare bedroom? Consider becoming a Host Home 

ImageOccasionally, someone released from detention needs a place to stay for a night or two until travel plans can be worked out. The World Relief/AIDNW partnership providing short-term Host Homes to immigrants released from detention aims to have a host available every day of the week. If you have a spare bedroom and are willing to be trained by World Relief to become a Host Home, please contact AIDNW Operations Manager Aidan Perkinson at OperationsMgr@aidnw.org  as well as World Relief’s Post-Release Detention Center Coordinator Claudia Krakani at CKrakani@wr.org . Thank you!