Support, organizing, advocacy and solidarity
Our mission:
JFMF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency that promotes justice for migrant families by providing support to individuals in the federal detention facility in Batavia, information and resources to families in the community, and advocacy both within and beyond the local community.
Our Values
Solidarity
We act in solidarity both within our organization, within the immigrant solidarity network, and with those who are impacted by the immigration system. We directly address obstacles to our solidarity in a manner compatible with our values.
Adaptability and Growth
We listen and learn from each person and situation we encounter in order to create social change. We share what we learn so that we can adapt and grow both as individuals and as an organization.
Inherent Worth of all People
We believe in the inherent worth of all people. We challenge public narrative that suggests that inherent worth is connected to nationality, country of origin, immigration status, home language, or detention status. We believe all people should have access to safety and well-being, and specifically include members of our own organization in that right. We respect people’s right to define and pursue safety. We communicate and take action to balance our collective safety needs.
Self Determination
We see people and listen to people without trying to generate all of the solutions for them. We provide information and resources in order to support informed choices that people who are impacted by the immigration system can make for themselves. We organize and educate ourselves as a whole to support individual autonomy and dignity.
Equity
We increase equity by building connections and moving resources between over-resourced and under-resourced communities. We build power and directly challenge and change relationships, policies and systems that create inequity.
Our Story
Justice for Migrant Families was formed in the wake of raids in 2016 on four Mexican restaurants in Buffalo, the largest workplace raid in years, affecting a large group of workers that became known as the Buffalo 25.
Since then, Justice for Migrant Families has transitioned from rapid response into a trusted and established organization that is here for the long haul.
We provide information, support, and material assistance to migrants in federal detention; we help find shelter, legal support, and emergency funds for migrants in the community; and we organize for a future of immigrant justice and all that that encompasses.
Our context
Although we are thousands of miles from the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico, Buffalo’s proximity to Canada means that local and local branches of national law enforcement agencies (ICE, Border Patrol) have massive resources and extreme latitude in law enforcement.
Additionally, although there are only twenty-six Homeland Security Investigation in the entire U.S., one of them is located in Buffalo. Our federal detention center in Batavia currently houses hundreds of migrants transported here from the southern border. The unique situation at the northern border has garnered relatively little attention from national media or advocacy groups, allowing certain abuses to continue largely unchecked.
The members of JFMF are committed to changing this situation by assisting local undocumented migrants, both in and out of detention, and by doing the advocacy work that will call attention to and improve their situation.
Our Funding
JFMF operates with a small staff and a large network of members who volunteer their time with passion and dedication. Our funding comes from grassroots fundraising and grants, which includes donations from private individuals, large individual family donations, monthly sustaining donors, and foundations based in New York. Our largest grants this year were regrants in support of work with the Excluded Worker Campaign, and direct grants for Release Support work.