About the MIBF
The MIBF incorporated as a non-profit-organization in Chicago, Illinois in July 2021 and has an all-volunteer board of directors from across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The MIBF also has a network of Ambassadors who help to share stories about immigration detention and engage in fundraising to support the revolving fund.
The Fund currently fundraises with the National Bail Fund Network (“NBFN”), a 501c3 organization, which is a network of dozens of bond funds across the country. The Coalition is hugely thankful for the NBFN’s mentorship over the past many months!
Background: The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund started as a coalition effort that grew out of conversations in the Chicago area among organizers and attorneys in 2017-2019 to start a revolving fund like many of those that have started around the United States in recent years.
The inaugural Midwest Immigration Bond Fund Coalition came together in May 2020 made up of: Michael Aguhar (IL), Hannah Cartwright (IN), Michelle Garcia (IL), Jasiel Lopez (IL), Karla Lopez-Owens (IN), Aissa Olivarez (WI), Guadalupe Perez (IL), Arianna Salgado (IL), Fred Tsao (IL), Claudia Valenzuela (IL), and Sara Zaleta (IL). Watch the video where Hannah, shares more about how the coalition launched the seed fund amidst the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020 and the first few bonds we paid in winter 2021.
CURRENT MIBF Board of Directors (as of July 2022):
Minali Aggarwal (New Haven, Connecticut)
Minali (she/her) is a graduate student worker, organizer, and artist. Her academic research explores Black politics, specifically the ways race is produced and reified through political processes and institutions. She is also a co-organizer of The Work and Us, an abolitionist participatory research project aimed at understanding the perspectives of imprisoned people on labor and the prison.
Ethan Aronson (Chicago, Illinois)
Ethan (he/they) is an immigration justice organizer at Never Again Action, a national network of Jews and allies fighting alongside immigrants against the deportation machine. In this role, he has supported dozens of actions and campaigns ranging from stopping an ICE propaganda Academy in Chicago, fighting against Operation Lone Star in TX, and dismantling 287(g) police-ICE contracts across the country. Ethan is also a musician, Jewish educator, and prayer leader based in Chicago. He holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Oberlin College.
PRASHASTI BHATNAGAR (Los Angeles, California)
Prashasti (she/her) is a public health attorney admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia. Currently, she is a Law/Public Health Post Doctoral Scholar at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, and a Ph.D. student and Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow at UCLA. Born and raised in New Delhi, India, Prashasti’s work is focused on exploring and implementing community-led interventions rooted in health justice, carceral & border abolition, and liberation. Previously, she launched #ImmigrationAND, a justice-oriented program exploring interdisciplinary issues within immigration through an interactive syllabus, reflection questions, action items, and a scholar series with community organizers, academics, and lawyers. Prashasti holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center; M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, as a Sommer Scholar, with a certificate in Health Disparities and Health Inequalities; and B.S. in Sociology, summa cum laude from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Kayla Bledsoe (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Kayla (she/they) is an organizer and advocate in Indianapolis, IN. She is an alum of the 2021 cohort of the National Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizer Training Program, which developed her organizing skills while she served as a main lead for the Communities Not Cages Coalition, working to stop the expansion of an ICE detention center in Brazil, IN. The program also introduced her to the power of fundraising for building movements, giving her the opportunity to lead a fundraising campaign for the grassroots undocumented organization, Cosecha Indiana. Kayla has her Bachelor's in Sociology & Spanish and is an alum of Public Allies Indianapolis.
HANNAH CARTWRIGHT (Indianapolis, Indiana), MIBF Board Treasurer
Hannah (she/hers/ella) is an immigration attorney practicing detained removal defense. In 2020, she co-founded Mariposa Legal in Indianapolis, IN to represent Indiana residents detained in ICE custody and individuals with mental health conditions detained across the country. Hannah previously served as a supervising attorney on the Detention Project at the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) in Chicago and as a staff attorney in the Detained Program of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center in York, PA. She also served as an Attorney Advisor at the Philadelphia Immigration Court as a part of the Department of Justice Honors Program. She holds a JD and a Masters of Social Work from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and a BA in Middle Eastern Studies from Valparaiso University. In addition to serving on the MIBF Board, she organizes with the Communities Not Cages Indiana Coalition.
MICHELLE GARCIA (Chicago, Illinois)
Michelle (she/hers/ella) has worked for Access Living since 2009 when she joined the staff as the Latinx Community Organizer since 2009. As a Community Organizer, Michelle is responsible for increasing the number of Latinx leaders with disabilities and raising awareness in the Latinx community around disability issues, including immigration and healthcare. In 2021, Michelle was promoted to the role of Manager of Organizing and Community Development (MOCD) and took on a new position of leadership position within Access Living’s Advocacy Department. Michelle has collaborated with many others working in the Latinx community and has helped expand their knowledge about disability-related issues.
ROMELIA GRAEFRATH (Chicago, Illinois)
Romelia (she/her) is a scholar-practitioner whose commitment to cross-movement abolitionist organizing began when her own family was impacted by incarceration and deportation. In 2020, alongside her doctoral studies, she co-founded Mariposa Legal, in Indianapolis, IN to represent Indiana residents detained in ICE custody and individuals with mental health conditions detained across the country. At Mariposa, she serves as Director of Research and Paralegal leading interdisciplinary research and civil rights advocacy. In 2018, at a time when the detained population was at an all-time high, she served as a paralegal on the detention project at the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC). She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of Notre Dame and a B.A. in political science and Latinx Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to serving on the MIBF Board, she organizes with the Communities Not Cages Indiana Coalition.
JESSE JOHNSON, JR (Chicago, Illinois), MIBF Board Co-Vice President
Jesse (he/him/él) is the Volunteer Engagement Coordinator for the Immigration Justice Campaign at the American Immigration Council. In this role, he recruits, engages, and retains volunteers in the Justice Campaign network, with the principal goal of placing them with volunteer opportunities nationwide. Prior to joining the Council, Jesse was the Crim-Imm Pro Bono Project Coordinator at Mariposa Legal and the Pro Bono Coordinator and DOJ fully accredited representative at the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Adult Detention Project. He also worked as a paralegal supervisor at a Chicago based immigration law firm focusing on a variety of immigrant legal services. Jesse received his B.A. in Latin American Studies and B.A. in English at Davidson College in North Carolina.
COLIN MCCORMICK (Chicago, Illinois), MIBF Board Secretary
Colin McCormick (he/him) is a project manager with the Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants (ICDI). Currently, he works with the administration and program staff to support ICDI’s direct service programs. Colin led and managed the creation of A Resource Guide for Immigrants in Illinois/Una Guía de Recursos para Inmigrantes en Illinois to increase access to resources available to immigrants throughout the state of Illinois. For four years, he formerly managed a volunteer, direct service program serving over 1,000 recently-arrived asylum seekers annually. Colin received his B.A. in International Studies from DePaul University.
MELANIE MINUCHE (Chicago, Illinois)
Melanie (she/her) is a climate justice organizer at Alianza Americas where she is helping develop and drive the organization’s climate justice agenda, centered around justice for displaced, migrant communities in the U.S. As an organizer and political educator, Melanie works with community organizers across the country examining the intersection of climate change and migration, and supporting organizational efforts to educate and mobilize migrant communities experiencing climate vulnerability in the U.S. Before joining Alianza America, Melanie worked with asylum-seeking, unaccompanied, and detained migrant youth at the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC). Melanie holds a B.S.W from Loyola University of Chicago.
ALEJANDRA OLIVA (Chicago, Illinois)
Alejandra (she/her) is an immigration advocate and writer living in Chicago. Previously, she served as communications coordinator at the National Immigrant Justice Center. She received a masters of theology from Harvard Divinity School, and her B.A. in sociology and creative writing from Columbia University. Her book, Rivermouth, on translation, immigration, and the stories we tell, is out now from Astra House Books.
GUADALUPE PEREZ (Chicago, Illinois), MIBF President
Guadalupe (she/hers/ella) is a staff attorney with the Immigration Division at the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defenders. She represents individuals in detained removal proceedings before the Chicago Immigration Court and provides Padilla advisals to public defenders. Previously she was a supervising attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Detention Project where she represented individuals in removal proceedings and managed the Legal Orientation Program (“LOP”) which was located at McHenry County Jail in Illinois and the Kenosha County Detention Center in Wisconsin. Lupe also served as the co-chair of the AILA Chicago Chapter’s Legal Services for Detained Individuals Committee. Lupe graduated from DePaul University College of Law and is licensed in Illinois. Prior to law school, Lupe was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan. Lupe received her BA from Macalester College in Minnesota.
Karina Suarez (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Karina (she/her) currently works as the Digital Engagement and Fundraising Specialist at Oxfam America where she raises awareness and funds for economic justice, gender equality, and climate action. Prior to her role at Oxfam, she supported financial freedom for immigrants nationwide at Mission Asset Fund and championed universal legal representation for those detained by ICE in Pennsylvania while working at the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center. Karina holds B.S. in Nonprofit Management and an M.P.A. in International Development and Sustainability from Indiana University Bloomington
MEG TELTHORST (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Meg (she/her) was raised in Bloomington, Indiana and currently lives and works as a writer in Milwaukee. She has organized with the Communities Not Cages Indiana Coalition to stop ICE expansion into Clay County, Indiana, and is passionate about community care networks, mutual aid, and art. Meg holds a B.A in creative writing, anthropology, and French from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
LEE VANDERLINDEN (Chicago, Illinois), MIBF Co-Vice President
Lee (they/them) is a managing attorney for the National Immigrant Justice Center’s LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative. At NIJC, they represent LGBTQ immigrants pursuing a variety of immigration benefits, primarily asylum. Lee graduated with a degree in politics from Princeton University and obtained their J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston.