Black Alliance for Just Immigration

BAJI aims to (1) develop culturally competent resources and methods of engaging Black immigrants and refugees to ensure that they are protected from harsh immigration enforcement policies and benefit from progressive gains, including sanctuary policies (2) build the capacity of Black immigrant-serving organizations to meet the needs of their communities; (3) work to reduce negative outcomes in the criminal justice and immigration systems that place barriers on individual, family, and community health and (4) collaborate with partners in cross-cultural, multi-racial, and intersectional alliances that advance policies that support all disenfranchised groups on the state and local levels.

(1) Advancing policies and developing programs that address the unique issues impacting Black immigrants including mass criminalization, unjust immigration enforcement, immigrant relief, and access to healthcare and economic opportunities

(2) Organizing and developing the leadership of Black immigrant and refugee serving organizations and individual community leaders to conduct outreach and help Black immigrant families access and expand immigrant support services through BAJI’s organizing committees;

(4) Amplifying the voices of Black immigrants in the racial justice and immigrant’s rights movements, as well as the broader public through storytelling, narrative development, and media engagement.

(5) Producing cutting edge research and analysis on California’s Black immigrant population via reports, white papers, policy memoranda and public events; and

(6) Providing culturally competent legal and other immigrant support services in Black immigrant communities.

BAJI works to bridge the divide and build collaborations between African Americans and immigrants - in particular Black immigrants - and movements for racial justice and immigrants’ rights with the goal of building healthy, safe communities and expanding civil and human rights protections for all. Our program areas are designed to harness the organization’s power, expertise and relationships to win social and economic equity for Black immigrants and refugees. The aim of this constellation of programs is to shift the culture and policy landscape toward full engagement with immigrant rights as a racial justice imperative. To accomplish the aforementioned goals, BAJI will implement the following programs:

(1) Safety Beyond Policing: Divesting from Criminalization & Investing Communities - Since 2014, BAJI has anchored campaigns that place pressure on state and municipal agencies to reallocate resources from uniformed policing, mass incarceration, and immigrant detention toward programs that have been shown to truly bring about healthy, safe communities such as mental health services, harm reduction, housing, jobs, and other social safety net programs.  Over the last two years, BAJI has contributed toward shifting the national framework around mass criminalization. This campaign model has been covered widely, implemented by racial justice organizations nationwide, and was formally adopted by the Movement for Black Lives as one of their national demands and strategies.

(2)  BAJI Organizing Committees (BOCs) - The BOCs are leadership development and organizing mechanisms for directly affected Black immigrants and African Americans. We believe that developing a core of leaders in cities with large Black immigrant populations is imperative to deepening engagement with community members, developing members’ capacity for advocacy, and building power to effectuate social change. Volunteers from the local community agree to join the BOCs and engage in internal political education and participate in and/or initiate campaigns, educational sessions, media activities and other related work. Currently, we have BOCs in New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, Atlanta, and Miami.

(3) Black Immigration Network - BAJI is the host and coordinating body of the Black Immigration Network (BIN). BIN is comprised of 60 Black-led organizations and programs, and over 100 individuals, serving Black immigrant and African American communities who are focused on supporting fair and just immigration, and economic and social policies that benefit these communities and all communities of color in order to create a more just and equitable society. As host, BAJI provides staff capacity to this national network. BIN members are involved in collaborative organizing and policy campaigns, strategic communications, capacity building initiatives and training. Members also receive technical assistance from BAJI staff. The Black Immigration Network meets bi-annually for a national “Kinship Asse

In 2018 we accomplished the following goals:

(1) We advanced policies and developed programs that address the unique issues impacting Black immigrants and refugees including mass criminalization, unjust immigration enforcement, immigrant relief, and access to healthcare and economic opportunities

(2) We developed the leadership of community leaders to conduct outreach and help Black immigrant and refugee families access and expand immigrant support services through BAJI’s organizing committees.

(3) We amplified the voices of Black immigrants and refugees through storytelling and media engagement.

(4) We produced cutting edge research and analysis on Black immigrant and refugee populations, including reports, white papers and policy memoranda. 

(5) We provided culturally competent legal and other immigrant support services in Black immigrant and refugee communities.