Andrea Carcamo

Policy Director | She/her/ella

Andrea leads FFI’s national policy strategy to advance abolition and center the dignity of immigrant communities in key legislative and advocacy campaigns that bring us closer to a world without detention. 

As an immigrant from Mexico and Chile, Andrea works to create a world in which all immigrants can move and live freely and build a life in community and dignity, just as Andrea and her family have done. She advances FFI’s federal policy priorities from Washington, D.C., advocating for detention abolition before elected officials and federal agencies. Working in partnership with coalitions, Andrea pushes for drastic reductions to the funding of immigration detention and enforcement and for increased oversight of existing detention centers. Andrea also leads efforts to stop the expansion of the federal government’s so-called “alternatives to detention,” such as ankle shackles and other harmful surveillance technologies, advocating instead for investments in community-based support services for immigrant communities. 

Having represented individuals who experienced the toll of immigration detention firsthand, Andrea’s advocacy is informed by the devastating impacts detention inflicts on immigrants, families, and entire communities. She believes that advocacy is most powerful and effective when it includes the voices and lived experiences of individuals impacted by detention.  

Before joining FFI, Andrea worked as an immigration attorney who represented individuals before immigration court and other immigration agencies. She previously worked at The Center for Victims of Torture, where as Senior Policy Counsel, she inaugurated the organization’s asylum advocacy portfolio by forging and developing key partnerships. Her bold advocacy led to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) funding a training on vicarious trauma to service providers working on the Mexico-US border. Andrea also served as a Dean’s Fellow at the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP), where she now serves on the board of directors. 

Andrea speaks English, Spanish, and French. She holds a J.D. from the Washington College of Law of American University and is a member of the Maryland Bar. She currently resides in Silver Spring, MD, the fifth most diverse town in the United States, where she enjoys spending time in nature, supporting immigrant-owned businesses, and eating food from all around the world.