Justice for Migrant Women (J4MW)

J4MW supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement, ³ has called U.S. immigration policies “racist,” ⁴ and supports permanent legal status for millions of illegal immigrants and other individuals currently in the United States under temporary protected status (TPS). ⁵ J4MW has said that “all abortion bans are extreme,” ⁶ supports Biden administration-directed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) COVID-19 vaccine mandates for private employers, ⁷ and promotes the critical race theory-influenced concept of gender equity. ¹

J4MW was founded by Monica Ramirez. Ramirez is the co-founder of left-of-center Alianza Nacional de Campesinas and The Latinx House. ⁸ She is also the creator of the Esperanza program, an initiative of the controversial Southern Poverty Law Center. ^{9 10}

History and Leadership

Justice for Migrant Women was founded in Fremont, Ohio, in 2014. ^{11 9 12}

Monica Ramirez is the founder and president of Justice for Migrant Women. ⁹ Ramirez is also a co-founder of the left-of-center Alianza Nacional de Campesinas and The Latinx House. ⁸ She was a James Beard Foundation 2020 Leadership Award winner ¹³ and is the creator of Esperanza: The Immigrant Women’s Legal Initiative, which is a program of the controversial Southern Poverty Law Center. ^{9 10}

Activities and Funding

Justice for Migrant Women is a left-of-center organization which was originally designed to advocate for migrant women and other illegal immigrants in the United States. ¹

J4MW supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement, ³ has called U.S. immigration policies “racist,” ⁴ and supports permanent legal status for millions of illegal immigrants and individuals currently in the United States under temporary protected status (TPS). ⁵ J4MW also supports Biden administration-directed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) COVID-19 vaccine mandates for private employers ⁷ and other Biden administration policy priorities. ¹⁴

J4MW promotes the critical race theory-influenced concept of gender equity and has engaged in gender-related outreach campaigns with Know Your Rights, a project of the left-of-center American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). ¹

On Twitter, J4MW has stated that “all abortion bans are extreme”; shared links to the pro-abortion organization Equal Access to Abortion, Everywhere; ⁶ and retweeted tweets from the left-of-center UndocuBlack Network urging the U.S. government to give legal status to Cameroonians illegally in the United States. ¹⁵

In a 2020 letter to U.S. Senators, J4MW outlined its policy priorities, which included legal status for illegal immigrant farm workers, free broadband and electronic devices for farm workers, prevention of detention and deportation of illegal immigrants with pending application for protection under the Violence Against Women Act, and distribution of COVID-19 relief funds to illegal immigrants and non-U.S. citizen. ¹⁶

Associated Organizations

In August 2021, Justice for Migrant Women founder Monica Ramirez created J4MW’s “The Humans Who Feed Us” campaign with the Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy (established by left-of-center Race Forward) to advance the critical race theory-inspired concept of food justice. ⁵

J4MW also operates The Bandana Project with left-of-center MomsRising to raise awareness about sexual harassment against farmworker women, ^{17 18}  operates the left-of-center activist organization The Latinx House, ² and has signed a letter with 300 other organizations demanding the Biden administration end Title 42 use at the U.S.-Mexico border, which prevents asylum seekers and other foreign nationals from entering the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. ¹⁹

Fundraising

Justice for Migrant Women has raised over $4 million in funds for farmworker-serving organizations in the continental United States and Puerto Rico. J4MW has also partnered with the National Center for Farmworker Health, Mercado Global, This Is About Humanity, and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation to distribute masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to farm workers. ^{20 1}

Funding

Justice for Migrant Women is fiscally sponsored by Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) and accepts individual donations through HIP. ^{2 21 1}