Migrant Justice pursues left-of-center policies on immigration and labor organizing and works to organize the farmworker community.

Background

Migrant Justice is a nonprofit organization formed in 2009 that specifically targets farmworkers with political messaging around immigration and labor issues. It aims to organize the farmworker community and get it involved in political discussions. ¹

Migrant Justice also acts as a leadership development organization for farmworkers, aiming to turn them into political educators for left-wing causes and push “long-term systemic change.” ²

Activities

Migrant Justice successfully lobbied the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company to implement a worker-driven social responsibility program in 2017, called “Milk with Dignity.” The new farmworker benefits package included higher wages, more lax scheduling rules, health and safety protections, and even housing protections. ³ Migrant Justice tracks the effects of the Milk with Dignity policy through published reports. ⁴

Migrant Justice has led a campaign advocating for freeing people detained by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. It also formed a coalition to prohibit racial profiling and collaboration between law enforcement and immigration agents, led a movement to allow all people regardless of immigration status to get driver’s licenses in Vermont, and partnered with Vermont Workers Center to include illegal immigrants in a state universal health care law. ⁵

Migrant Justice has an advocacy campaign targeted against Hannaford Supermarket for refusing to adopt the “Milk with Dignity” platform. It has a page on its website exposing what it sees as Hannaford’s lackluster worker protections, claiming that the supermarket chain’s worker complaint system is entirely inadequate to solving injustices in their workplaces. It claims workers’ rights are “violated daily” at the company and presents testimony from Hannaford workers. ⁶

Migrant Justice also has a page on its site dedicated to opposing U.S. immigration law, arguing that “no human being is illegal.” ⁷

Finances

In 2021, Migrant Justice had a revenue of $2,526,598, expenses of $2,398,704, and ended the year with net assets of $978,699. ⁸

Leaders

According to its tax return, as of 2021 Migrant Justice’s board of directors included Susannah McCandless, Kate Kanelstein, Hayley Jones, Martha Herrera, Leah Lotto, Nelly Aranibar, Nathan Suter, and Jorge Rios. ⁹

1. “About.” Migrant Justice. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://migrantjustice.net/about.
2. “About.” Migrant Justice. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://migrantjustice.net/about.
3. “A new day for dairy.” Migrant Justice. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://migrantjustice.net/victory.
4. “Milk and Dignity Reports.” Migrant Justice. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://migrantjustice.net/milk-with-dignity-reports-0.
5. “About.” Migrant Justice. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://migrantjustice.net/about.
6. “Hannaford’s hotline fails farmworkers.” Migrant Justice. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://migrantjustice.net/hannaford%E2%80%99s-hotline-fails-farmworkers.
7. “Immigrant Rights.” Migrant Justice. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://migrantjustice.net/immigrant-rights.
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Migrant Justice. 2021. Part I, lines 12, 18, 22.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Migrant Justice. 2021. Part VII.