López brings 20 years of immigrants’ rights, reproductive justice, criminal legal reform experience to the organization amid forthcoming state and nationwide civil rights attacks.
PHOENIX — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona announced today that it has appointed Victoria López as the organization’s next executive director. López currently serves as the ACLU of Arizona’s director of program and strategy, providing strategic guidance to the organization’s core programmatic work across legal, policy, communication, and organizing. Over the last 13 years, she has played important roles in landmark litigation on prison conditions, abortion access, and immigrants’ rights at the ACLU and ACLU of Arizona. She begins her new role on February 3, 2025.
“We are confident that Victoria will provide visionary and steadfast leadership as the ACLU of Arizona navigates known and unknown threats that lie ahead of us,” said ACLU of Arizona Board of Directors President Alejandro Pérez. “Victoria is a well-respected champion for civil rights, liberty, and justice locally and nationally. She holds a deep understanding of our mission and is a fierce advocate for people who call Arizona home.”
López first joined the ACLU of Arizona as an Immigrant Detention Advocacy Project fellow in 2009, where she led local immigration detention reform efforts, developed advocacy campaigns, and participated in litigation challenging detention conditions and unlawful immigration enforcement. She was then named policy and advocacy director and, later, legal director through 2016. From 2017 to 2019, López worked as a senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project in Washington, D.C., where she led litigation and advocacy to protect the rights of immigrants detained across the country. She returned to the ACLU of Arizona in 2019 to lead integrated and strategic programs to protect the civil rights, liberties, and dignity of all Arizonans.
“These are trying and transformational times for civil rights. My commitment to the work ahead is guided by the support of so many and in partnership with people across Arizona who believe in upholding the rights and dignity of all of us,” said Victoria López. “As it has in the past, the ACLU of Arizona is prepared to meet the moment. I am confident in this organization’s power and potential, and I am honored to lead us into the future.”
Before joining the ACLU, López began her legal career practicing removal defense at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project as an Equal Justice Works fellow. She was promoted to staff attorney and eventually served as executive director until 2007. Through litigation, community advocacy, and public education efforts, she has been an invaluable contributor to Arizona’s vibrant civil rights community. She has also served on several boards of directors, including for the Border Action Network, Puente Human Rights Movement, and Detention Watch Network. Most recently, she represented the ACLU of Arizona on the executive committee for the "Yes on 139" campaign, which secured voter approval to enshrine the right to abortion in the Arizona constitution. She holds a B.A. from the University of Illinois Champaign and is a 2001 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.