Looking back at 2024
December, 2024
We have done so much in 2024 here at Justice for Migrant Families. Though we send you a monthly newsletter, it often doesn’t fully show the breadth and depth of our work for justice in WNY.
As we move towards closing out the year, we wanted to take a moment to reflect and share all of the good work our community has done over the last twelve months.
Who we are, now
Justice for Migrant Families added two staff positions this year as well as additional language resources. Now, our multilingual six person staff offers support in five languages! JFMF launched the M.A.P./Migrando Con el Apoyo del Pueblo program this year to umbrella the many ways that volunteers can be involved in our work. We engaged with over 1100 directly impacted community members this year. These community members join in and inform all that we do in too many ways to list here. JFMF added one new board member this year, a longtime friend who was formerly detained in Batavia. And lastly, three of our core people celebrated landmark changes in their personal immigration statuses. Congratulations to them!
Adapting and empowering in community
In response to community need, JFMF launched a series of orientations and “Evidence Clinics” with The Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project to equip people for court and the asylum process. Our Welcoming Navigation program supported these efforts and greeted six hundred people this year and provided vital connection for people after their first landing here, including at hotels. JFMF joined asylum filing clinics targeted for the hotel/shelters, led by the New York Immigration Coalition. JFMF has collaborated intensively with legal providers in Buffalo and New York state this year and held a role in consistently arguing for equal access to legal resources for all Buffalo area residents- and of course, advocating for New York state to step up in funding legal support for immigrants. The work that JFMF has done this year has dramatically expanded our impact on our community in direct and powerful ways.
Organizing for Systemic Change
Building Grassroots Power, for JFMF, looks like relationship building amongst both older and newer immigrant communities in Buffalo.
Language Access Wins in Erie County! JFMF was invited to join the efforts of the Partnership for the Public Good and others to re-pass Language Access after it was struck down by Mark Poloncarz, after years of advocacy by groups including (not limited to) Partnership for the Public Good and the New York Immigration Coalition. This is a big win, not a silver bullet, but part of a larger effort to create a fabric of language protections that will weave together for full coverage.
This year JFMF was able to lead four delegations of over thirty community members to Albany mobilizations for Access to Representation, legal funding, Language Access, and New York For All; all critical pieces of legislation and funding in New York State that will expand and enshrine immigrant and workers rights in our State. This was made possible also because this year we have staff in the cohort of an Organizing training fellowship focused on Access to Representation.
The First-ever Batavia Teach-In on Immigrant Detention was an incredible gathering of over sixty people from Buffalo, Ithaca, Batavia, and Rochester to hear from a beautiful array of directly impacted voices, organizers, and to deliberate on immigrant detention, abolition, and what comes next.
Educational Presentations and collaborations included presenting to Say Yes, Endeavor Health; and a fifth year of experiential learning with students at Canisius, and many more. Justice for Migrant Families’ value of community education and activation allow us to bring more people into our work and expand our impact.
Solidarity & Dignity
M.A.P. Program: Migrando con Apoyo del Pueblo (Migrant Accompaniment Program) launched in August with the leadership of staff member Flor Silvestre, to reimagine how people volunteer and participate under a shared umbrella based in solidarity and accompaniment, in Flor’s words: “to live a life with dignity, safety and a supportive environment.”
This work includes coordinating monthly grocery distributions, driver license accompaniment, and support at the downtown Bus Station! We are still regularly meeting people at the bus station, bringing dignity bags, and making sure they reach their friends or family.
With Intro to Small Food Business, JFMF co-piloted a first time small food business series for immigrants that included language access, transportation, child care, and delicious food. We heard from existing vendors and collectives as well as presentations on business models and taxes, and we have already seen people picking up catering. Gratitude to Our City Buffalo, Cooperation Buffalo, and Pilgrim St. Luke’s.
The Batavia Hotline grew this year in visible and unseen ways. Thanks to our Regional Coordinator aaron, who coded a better internal system so that we can be more timely and accountable to people who reach out to us. The hotline increased its hours by a third this year; volunteers who have a total of seven languages available talked to 600 people. In total JFMF received 1500 support requests from Batavia.
JFMF detention support continues in its many forms. Besides the hotline, it includes Pen Pals, Commissary, Books for All, legal and bond connection, visitation, release planning, communications support, media connection, storytelling, and organizing and advocacy support. A highlight from this year was changing Books for All so that not only do people in Batavia get a book mailed to them from a JFMF volunteer, but we also get to support independent bookstores.
Holding Ground: Preparation to protect our community
JFMF is planning both internally and collaboratively for an increase in immigration enforcement. We are meeting with schools, training and offering support on family preparedness, and planning for increased Know Your Rights outreach.
Immigrant Solidarity Rally: JFMF was an anchor group for the Immigrant Solidarity Rally that took place on October 19th, intentionally ahead of the election, in order to highlight the power of Buffalo’s immigrant community, and to acknowledge that immigrant lives have been weaponized by both political parties. It was a beautiful and powerful event.