As 2024 approaches, Movimiento Cosecha is celebrating the highlights of another year of undocumented-led organizing and planning for the future.
No matter the result of next year’s presidential election, we’ll be ready to fight against the bipartisan deportation and detention machine, unmask “pro-immigrant” politicians who exploit and betray our communities, and demand the permanent protection, dignity, and respect we have always deserved.
Read on to learn some highlights of our organizing efforts in 2023 and the work we have planned for next year, with the support of allies, comrades, and donors like you.
Read about: Licenses for All | Fighting the Deportation Machine | Radio Cosecha | Why Donate?
Securing Driver’s Licenses for All
Cosecha Massachusetts organizers in a community celebration after winning “Licenses for All” in 2022
Last year, Cosecha Massachusetts made history when the Work and Family Mobility Act was passed over the governor’s veto and then upheld on election day when an anti-immigrant ballot initiative attempting to overturn it was rejected.
In July 2023, the law finally took effect, allowing immigrants in Massachusetts to obtain driver’s licenses! Local leaders looked to Cosecha New Jersey’s experience following their campaign victory in 2019 and soon turned their efforts to ensuring that the law was implemented in good faith and that community members had all the support and resources needed to actually obtain driver’s licenses.
Cosecha Massachusetts organized dozens of free local workshops in cities across the state, explaining the process of getting a license, translating essential materials, and helping communities create mutual aid networks to study together to pass the written test. To date, leaders have helped thousands of undocumented immigrants obtain their licenses and finally drive in their daily lives without fear.
Inspired by the victory in Massachusetts, Cosecha Michigan and Cosecha Indiana continued their own campaigns to win driver’s licenses. In Michigan, under the new Democrat-controlled state government, a “Licenses for All” bill was reintroduced and organizers have kept up the pressure with regular protests at the state capitol, recently culminating in a days-long encampment outside the state house and a sit-in at the senate majority leader’s office.
In Indiana, the licenses bill advanced from conservative-controlled committee for the first time in history thanks to Cosecha’s efforts.
A Cosecha Indiana graphic in Spanish announcing the “Licenses for All” bill had advanced from committee in a historic 5-4 vote
Fighting exclusion and incarceration
Since 2020, Cosecha New Jersey has led multiple state campaigns in defense of undocumented workers and families. The successful fight for an Excluded Workers Fund secured $100 million for undocumented community members who were denied help from the federal government during the pandemic. Over the years, Cosecha organizers have organized dozens of workshops to help eligible immigrants apply for the funds. Cosecha New Jersey was also part of the coalition that successfully passed a Temp Workers’ Bill of Rights, which will benefit more than 100,000 undocumented workers in the state.
Challenging the detention and deportation machine in New Jersey
This past summer, Cosecha New Jersey spearheaded a campaign to close CoreCivic’s privately run Elizabeth Detention Center—now the last remaining ICE detention center in the state.
Back in 2021, organizers successfully mobilized to pass a law to end immigrant detention in the state and prohibit the renewals of private contracts to run such facilitates. Elizabeth Detention Center was scheduled to close in August of this year, but CoreCivic sued to keep it up and President Biden joined the lawsuit to continue for-profit immigrant detention in New Jersey, against the will of residents and his own public promises. In 2024, Cosecha New Jersey will continue our fight against the detention and deportation machine, expose the hypocrisy of the Biden administration, and close Elizabeth Detention Center for good!
Biden has also continued to deport people to Haiti, including people who organized with Cosecha when they were detained by ICE in New Jersey. Through our organizing efforts we secured the release of deportees who were illegally and indefinitely detained by the Haitian government.
Cosecha New Jersey rallies to close Elizabeth Detention Center
A graphic announces the #FreeOscar campaign has successfully released a Cosecha leader to his family
The deportation machine hit Cosecha New Jersey especially close to home this year when one of our coordinators, Oscar, was detained by ICE. Thanks to our members and community who were able to mobilize, we successfully fought to return Oscar to his family and community.
Radio Cosecha and community journalism
There is no better person to inform the community and report on the people’s issues than the people themselves. This year, Cosecha empowered our communities to become their own journalists finding accessible and engaging ways to bring information to people. Radio Cosecha is a pilot program in New Jersey where local organizers have reported from the frontlines of important community issues, providing accessible, Spanish-language news with a poder popular frame.
Your support for Movimiento Cosecha allows us to cover more events, provide our organizers equipment, and tell our stories the way we want them to be told. Follow Radio Cosecha on Facebook to see more of this work.
Sustaining our work in 2024
Since the beginning, grassroots donors have been a fundamental part of Cosecha’s organizing strategy. We develop and lead bold local and national campaigns, guided by the real needs of the undocumented community — not based on what we think will appeal to big funders. With the support of hundreds of workers, families, and allies like you, this has worked.
At the start of this year, Cosecha organizers made a decision to prioritize local campaigns over national campaigns, to enable leadership development within our base and better grow capacity for the long term. We knew this was the right decision to make for our movement, and it was only possible because of our fundraising strategy. We are currently supported by hundreds of monthly donors who invest in Cosecha’s immigrant leadership even when we don’t have the visibility or publicity that comes with running a national campaign. When you make a one-time or recurring donation, you are part of this amazing effort, empowering our leaders to make their own strategic choices in the fight for permanent protection, dignity, and respect.
If you would like to, you can take a moment now to use these quick links to make a donation to support Cosecha’s work in the new year. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: