Andy Kang (he/him) is the Managing Director of FIRM and FIRM Action. He brings nearly 15 years of experience serving immigrant communities. Prior to FIRM, Andy was Director of Anti-Hate at The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) and has previously served as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition (PIC) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago (Advancing Justice-Chicago).

At PIC, he co-led efforts for a pathway to citizenship as elected co-chair of FIRM’s Executive Committee and supported local organizing campaigns for tuition equity and inclusion for college students, driver’s licenses for undocumented community members, and shutting down the Berks detention facility. During his time at Advancing Justice-Chicago, Andy led his team through the COVID-19 pandemic, co-led successful advocacy for the TEAACH Act—which mandates Asian American history in Illinois K-12 schools—and launched local bystander intervention trainings with Right to Be and CAIR-Chicago in response to the surge in anti-Asian hate incidents. As Advancing Justice-Chicago’s Legal Director, Andy worked alongside the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (ICIRR) as one of the lead negotiators and strategists for the Illinois TRUST Act, which restricts law enforcement cooperation with ICE without a judicial warrant, and the VOICES Act, which helps protect immigrant victims of crime. He also co-chaired Illinois’ Just Democracy Coalition, which successfully advocated for Illinois to adopt Automatic Voter Registration with unanimous bipartisan support. In response to Chicago police abuse of a Chinese American woman in 2013, Andy co-led a successful advocacy effort in partnership with Organizing Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) to strengthen Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance. 

Andy holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Based in Philadelphia, he enjoys rooting for his beloved Chicago sports teams and rolling on the mats training Brazilian jiu jitsu.