Laura Hernandez is a passionate advocate for immigrant rights and social justice. She is the Executive Director of Freedom for Immigrants, a national non profit organization focussed on abolishing immigration detention and serves on the board of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) as well as the Peace and Justice Law Center. Laura brings a wealth of knowledge and lived experience. She organized and advocated in one of the most challenging environments a person can face, prison. While incarcerated, Laura actively participated in her community as a leader, mentor, and trainer to help improve morale and provide her peers with the tools they needed to thrive. She founded, co-founded, chaired, or led several organizations, including Victims Impact and Progress, Youth Mentor Organization, Long Termers Organization, and LifeScripting. Upon release, she continued to advocate not only for herself, but for others who have similarly been unfairly targeted and criminalized. She became the Coordinator for the Orange County Rapid Response Network, a grassroots organization that supports people navigating the immigration and criminal legal systems. As Coordinator, Laura was instrumental in leading policy advocacy efforts and coalitions, as well as doubling the amount of people served by the organization. She has been recognized by the Santa Ana City Council and honored by Women For: Orange County at the 2022 Suffrage Day. She has also been featured in the Gramercy Podcast and The People’s Coalition.
Laura is as passionate about her family as she is about abolition. She is a fierce lover of the babies in her life and loves spending time with all of them. You will often find Laura organizing on the ground accompanied by her husband, sisters, parents, or kids — the whole family is a part of the movement. In her spare time, she enjoys music, cooking, and reading, but holds true to the belief that it all means nothing without each other.