Announcement 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

API Chaya Partners with Maya Migrate to Bring a Free Safety Check-In App to Immigrant Survivors and Community Members 

New strategic collaboration pairs trusted community-based organization API Chaya with new tech nonprofit Maya Migrate working together so ethical technology tools can support immigrant families prepare for emergencies with care advocates leading the way. 

SEATTLE, Washington – November 10, 2026 – API Chaya and Maya Migrate today announce a partnership to introduce the Maya Migrate app to survivors, community members, and API Chaya staff. The free app lets users schedule regular safety check-ins and, if a check-in is missed, automatically alerts the user’s trusted contacts with a message and their last known location. 

As part of the collaboration, API Chaya will gather structured feedback from community members, survivors, and staff on how the app works in daily life and how safe it helps them feel so Maya Migrate can keep improving it. This partnership starts with a small pilot with the potential to reach hundreds of API Chaya’s families. 

How the App Works 

Maya Migrate is built around the simple idea that someone should know if you need help, quickly. Users set how often the app checks in on them, from every day to every few weeks. If they don’t respond, the app notifies the people they trust most. 

Key features include: 

• Trusted contacts by consent. Users add trusted contacts by email, and each contact must accept before being connected. A user must add at least one trusted contact before setting up their pin. 

• Customizable alerts. When a check-in is missed, trusted contacts receive an automated message, which users can rewrite in their own worlds, along with the user’s last known location. 

• Advocate support. Users can choose to add an advocate or legal contact, such as API Chaya staff, as a trusted support. 

• Optional A-Number field. Users can enter their Alien Registration number. If a user is detained by immigration, this helps their legal contacts locate them more quickly. Entering it is entirely optional and the information is kept private. 

This app is designed to complement the support people in our communities have been building with one another. 

Community Feedback at the Heart of the Partnership

API Chaya is Maya Migrate’s community feedback partner. In co-designing this pilot app with API Chaya, API Chaya will invite 10 community members, drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, and languages, to try the app and share their experience including how safe they feel using it

“In an age of increasing distrust of AI, API Chaya is excited to collaborate with a technology partner rooted in the ethics, transparency, and the solutions we need when creating the conditions for a safer community,” said Mary Le Nguyen, Executive Director of API Chaya.  

“I am a Filipino immigrant and our leadership team is made up of survivors so this work is extremely personal to us. We at Maya Migrate are honored to start our pilot and co-design our beta with API Chaya and its 30 year lineage of community relationships and trust. We are dedicated to protecting their clients and care advocates because we believe in building technology that actually serves our communities, with human dignity at its core,” said Ezekiel Obieta, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Maya Migrate. 

Availability 

The Maya Migrate app is free and open to the public. Download it from the App Store or Google Play by searching “Maya Migrate”; look for the icon with two mountains and a small crystal. Community members interested in joining the feedback survey can contact API Chaya at info@apichaya.org

About API Chaya

API Chaya empowers survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking to gain safety, connection, and wellness. We build power by educating and mobilizing South Asian, Asian, Pacific Islander, and all immigrant communities to end exploitation, creating a world where all people can heal and thrive.

About Maya Migrate 

Maya Migrate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds free, trauma-informed, multilingual digital tools for organizations supporting immigrants and legal service providers. Through partnerships with national and local community organizations, our platform lets people secure critical documents, prepare for emergencies, manage their own cases, and connect with free legal support — putting safety and self-determination directly in the hands of the communities we serve.

Media Contact

YQ Jiang

Communications & Development Coordinator, API Chaya

yeqing@apichaya.org | 206-880-1057