Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director, UndocuBlack Network
On the 32nd episode of Immigration Today! Angeline Chen interviews Patrice Lawrence from the UndocuBlack Network. Black immigrants are often prone to higher rates of detention and deportation, have less access to legal representation, and are likely to be forgotten in the narrative of immigration in general. When entire communities are invisible in these narratives, they are also left out of conversations surrounding the protection and advocacy of their human rights. Listen as Patrice shares her immigration journey into the U.S., how she survived without status, and the work that UndocuBlack Network is doing to ensure that black immigration issues become an important part of the larger immigration narrative.
Patrice Lawrence (she/her) is the Executive Director of the UndocuBlack Network (UBN) and a member of the community it serves - currently and formerly undocumented Black immigrants who are transforming their realities and making their demands known on a local, state, and national level. Originally from Jamaica, Patrice is a graduate of Hollins University. In 2023, she was named by the Washingtonian as one of the top 500 influencers in Washington, D.C. Over the past seven years since the co-creation of UndocuBlack Network, Lawrence’s expertise in legislative matters has been instrumental in securing the largest form of legislative relief in over two decades when she worked with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to secure immigration relief for Liberians in 2019. Patrice is a fierce advocate for the liberation of all peoples and towards that vision has been a leader in building unity across racial and ethnic communities. Patrice has penned op-eds for CNN, Black Star News, and NewsOne.
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“We have got to be really radical and make some changes so that all black people have the right to migration no matter who they are, where they’re coming from, how much money they have, or which border of the United States they enter. Whether they enter by sea or water…and that folks who are really vulnerable, like folks who need to seek asylum, which is an international human right, are able to do so, no matter their way of entry to the United States.”
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