Our Origin Story

Our Story

AFIRE traces its roots back to 2005 when Chicago became a focal point of immigrant rights protests sparked by the introduction of the Sensenbrenner Act, which sought to criminalize undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and those who aided them.

AFIRE’s early work began as “kitchen table organizing”, an informal alliance of Filipinx/a/o individuals gathering to discuss the implications of the Sensenbrenner Act and strategizing on how to confront these challenges. This core group, largely comprised of immigrants from the Philippines without citizenship status, grappled with how they, too, could directly impact legislation in order to create positive change in the place that they had just begun to call home. In 2006, this group began calling themselves the Alliance of Filipino Americans for the Protection of Immigrants Rights (AFAPIR). Jerry Clarito, a Chicago-based Filipino activist and one of the original organizers, formally established AFAPIR as an organization in 2008, solidifying a community commitment to creating long-lasting, meaningful impact. AFAPIR changed its name to the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights & Empowerment (AFIRE) and gained 501c3 status in 2010.

Founding Organizational Values

The idea to formalize these early efforts came from a desire to establish a Filipinx/a/o* community organizing group that focused on social change. The original values and principles that built up AFIRE are included here, in recognition that we wouldn’t be here today without that work:

  • We believe in anchoring our work in the Filipinx/a/o* principles of ​​bayanihan (communal unity and cooperation), ​​kapitbahayan (neighborhood care), and ​​damayan (mutual aid).

  • We believe in creating programs ​that are ​grounded in popular education​, and addressing issues through an intersectional lens​ to deepen our understanding of the unique experiences of ​our ​community. ​

  • We believe in ​maintaining diverse spaces for civic reflection that ​cultivate ​collective action and a shared vision for systems change​.

*We use Filipinx/a/o as shorthand for Filipinx/Filipina/Filipino to honor all gender identities.