The Free Migration Project is a immigration advocacy group that works to “abolish immigration enforcement” and supports open borders. The group “works at the intersection of law and community organizing to promote freedom of movement as a basic human right” and “call[s] for a human right to migrate and the abolition of deportation.” ¹

The group claims that the “current immigration system in the U.S. is based on and upholds pillars of white supremacy, racism, and xenophobia.” ²

Background

The Free Migration Project is an advocacy group with left-of-center views on immigration policy. The group denies a country’s authority to impose and maintain border policy and the a country’s prerogative to detain or deport persons who enter in an illegal manner. According to the Free Migration Project, deportations are “violent and unjust.” ²

Activities

The Free Migration Project provides legal services for individuals and organizes advocacy and education campaigns on immigration policy. ³

The Free Migration Project asserts that criminal convictions are not grounds for just deportation. Alongside VietLead, the Free Migration Project operates the “Pardons Project,” a project aimed at helping “people who were deported due to harsh immigration penalties for criminal convictions return to their communities in the U.S.” The group advocates that immigrants who are convicted of crimes are not punished through both prison sentences and deportation. ⁴

The Border Abolition Study Group is an initiative co-hosted by the Free Migration Project, the Detention Watch Network, and Tsuru for Solidarity covering topics including “Border Abolition 101” and “Decolonization.” One of the purposes of the initiative is to create “spaces to deepen our understanding of abolition and draw the connections between immigrant rights and prison abolition.” ⁵

In November 2024, the Free Migration Project was one of 193 groups that signed a letter addressed to then-President Joe Biden advocating closing detention facilities, halting all detention expansion efforts, and releasing individuals from detention in the United States in order “to prevent catastrophe for millions of people and avoid handing the keys to an expanded and inhumane detention and deportation system to the next president,” namely then-President-elect Donald Trump. ⁶

Funding

Funders of the Free Migration Project include the Detention Watch Network, the Social Good Fund, Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation, the Wild Gifting Project, the Philadelphia Foundation, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Philadelphia, the Patricia Kind Family Foundation, and the Bread and Roses Community Foundation.  ⁷

Previous funders of the Free Migration Project have included Borealis Philanthropy, the Open Philanthropy Project, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Douty Foundation, Equal Justice America, the Emergent Fund, Protecting Immigrant Families, the Four Freedoms Fund, Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, the Sociological Initiatives Foundation, and the Urban Affairs Coalition. ⁷

The New Venture Fund, the Jewish Communal Fund, Neo Philanthropy, and the Center For Empowered Politics Education Fund have also supported the Free Migration Project. ^{8 9 10 11}

People

David Bennion is the founder and executive director of the Free Migration Project. Bennion is an immigration attorney who previously managed a “solo immigration law practice,” according to his biography on the Free Migration Project website. ¹²

Fabio Rojas is a director of the Free Migration Project. Rojas is a professor of sociology at Indiana University, Bloomington, and has authored books including From Black Power to Black Studies: How a Radical Social Movement Became an Academic Discipline. ¹³

Sundrop Carter is a director of the Free Migration Project. Carter was previously the executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC). ¹⁴

Setareh Ghandehari is a director of the Free Migration Project. Ghandehari is the advocacy director at the Detention Watch Network. ¹⁵

Katia Perez is a director of the Free Migration Project. Katia Perez was previously the director of organizing at the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC), and a “Mass Liberation Organizer with Reclaim Philadelphia,” according to the Free Migration Project. ¹⁶

1. “Home.” Free Migration Project, January 28, 2025. https://freemigrationproject.org/.
2.  “Mission.” Free Migration Project, January 28, 2025. https://freemigrationproject.org/mission/.
3. “Our Work.” Free Migration Project, March 29, 2023. https://freemigrationproject.org/our-work/.
4. “Legal Services.” Free Migration Project, September 10, 2024. https://freemigrationproject.org/our-work/legal-services/.
5. “Research & Public Education.” Free Migration Project, March 30, 2023. https://freemigrationproject.org/our-work/research-public-education/.
6. Detentionwatchnetwork. Accessed February 10, 2025. https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/sites/default/files/NGO%20letter%20regarding%20detention_11.15.24.pdf.
7. “Funders.” Free Migration Project, December 4, 2024. https://freemigrationproject.org/funders/.
8. “New Venture Fund,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2021. Schedule I.
9. “Jewish Communal Fund,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2018. Schedule I.
10. “Neo Philanthropy,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2020. Schedule I.
11. “Center For Empowered Politics Education Fund,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2023. Schedule I.
12.  “David Bennion.” Free Migration Project, September 13, 2022. https://freemigrationproject.org/davidbennion/
13.  “Fabio Rojas.” Free Migration Project, September 13, 2022. https://freemigrationproject.org/fabiorojas/.
14. “Sundrop Carter.” Free Migration Project, April 27, 2023. https://freemigrationproject.org/sundrop-carter/.
15. “Setareh Ghandehari.” Free Migration Project, March 14, 2024. https://freemigrationproject.org/setareh-ghandehari/.
16.  “Katia Pérez.” Free Migration Project, May 31, 2024. https://freemigrationproject.org/katiaperez/.