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Our Team

Jason De León is Executive Director of Colibrí Center for Human Rights, as well as Director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a 501(c)(3) research, arts, and education collective focused on raising awareness about issues related to migration. De León is also Professor of Anthropology and Chicana, Chicano, and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of the award-winning book “The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail” and a 2017 MacArthur Fellow.

Austin Ella Shipman serves as the interim Director of Development and Operations for the Colibrí Center for Human Rights. She is the Assistant Director of the Undocumented Migration Project and has been involved with the organization since its inception in 2009. She holds a BA in sociocultural anthropology and Spanish from the University of Washington and is working towards an MA in social sector leadership and nonprofit management from the University of Chicago.

Perla is Colibrí’s Family Network Director. She is originally from Hermosillo, Sonora, and migrated to the US with her family in 1999 and was raised in Tucson, AZ. Perla earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Pre-law from the University of Arizona, where she focused on immigration law reforms and justice for migrant rights.

Post-college, Perla has continued her focus on social services while working as a Case Manager for the Office of Refugee Resettlement working in the reunification of unaccompanied minors in the US-Mexico border with families who reside in the US. She continued her work as the Children’s Specialist for the Guatemalan consulate in the Border Protection team.

Perla continues her dedication to migrant rights as Colibrí’s Family Network Director. She will continue a legacy of work to build solidarity, community, a movement among families who have experienced loss at the border.

Board of Directors

President:     Jason De León
                       Executive Director of the Undocumented Migration Project
                       Professor of Anthropology and Chicana, Chicano, and Central American Studies, UCLA

Treasurer:     Carolyn Horn
                        pro bono Senior Advisor of the Special Rapporteur
                       on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions

Secretary:      Keith D. Ray II
                        Greenville (SC) County Schools
                        Protestant Clergy

                       Yolanda Magallanes
                       ACRONYM Investments Director

                       William Masson
                       Co-Founder, Colibrí Center for Human Rights
                       Product Manager, Clover Health

                       David J. Newstone
                       Public Interest Attorney