Justice in Motion

Justice in Motion works to secure portable justice: the right and ability of all migrants to access justice across borders. We partner with human rights advocates across North and Central America to conduct concrete legal support work in migrant countries of origin, to advocate for better migrant protections across the region, and to educate migrants about their rights and the legal recourses available to them. Wherever migrants go, their rights should follow.

Justice in Motion works through three program areas: Legal Action, Policy Advocacy, and Capacity Building.

Our legal program comprises both concrete work on cross-border legal cases in defense of migrant rights, and education and advice to lawyers navigating cross-border challenges. Justice in Motion helps advocates win cases for migrants, ensuring that they can access justice for employment abuses or civil rights violations, or stay in safety in the U.S..

Through our policy program, Justice in Motion advocates for systemic changes on a regional level to secure lasting and meaningful protections for migrant workers. We work with policymakers and officials to achieve a more transparent U.S. temporary visa system, so that employers cannot flout regulations and exploit workers with impunity. We also educate Mexican and Central American policymakers and officials about the U.S. and Canadian migrant worker programs to help them recognize abuses, craft effective protections for their citizens, and better advocate for migrants.

Finally, we build the capacity of our network of human rights defenders in Mexico and Central America, equipping them to serve as expert resources and advocates for migrants in their communities.

Justice in Motion has been fighting for migrants' rights across borders since our founding in 2005. Over that time, we have developed a deep knowledge of the challenges faced by migrants and the legal and regulatory frameworks that shape their access to justice.

The Justice in Motion model is built for efficiency. With a lean team of experienced U.S. staffers, we deliver lasting impact by strengthening existing organizations and resources in migrant countries of origin. A broad base of human rights advocates already serves communities across Mexico and Central America. Through our Defender Network, we empower these advocates to take on a new issue area: defending migrant rights across borders.

Justice in Motion draws on our legal knowledge and regional perspective to forge powerful cross-border partnerships. We build Defenders' capacity through trainings, workshops, and resources, then connect them to U.S. and Canadian lawyers to collaborate on case work and share knowledge of their respective legal frameworks. These lawyers, in turn, can work more efficiently and effectively thanks to Defenders' on-the-ground assistance. This allows them to take on more cases and use their resources more effectively to win cases for more migrants.

Few organizations can offer the breadth of coordinated services that Justice in Motion provides. We are proud of the on-the-ground, cross-border expertise and the deeply-rooted networks that allow us to do so. We continually strive to increase our reach, capacity, and strategic influence in order to carry out our work at the highest possible standard and ensure portable justice for all migrants.

Labor Abuse and Exploitation: For more than a decade, Justice in Motion has secured access to justice for migrant workers who have endured inhumane working conditions, stolen wages, and threats to themselves or their families if they complained or sought legal help. Through our cross-border network of rights advocates, we have helped hundreds of migrants to pursue their legal cases even after returning to their countries of origin. Through consistent work and coalition-building, we have helped to galvanize a body of advocates fighting trafficking and abuses under temporary visas. We publish and maintain an online resource for advocates and policymakers, Visa Pages, which summarizes the different temporary visas allowing work. Justice in Motion continues to push for transparency and better data reporting across all visa categories, so that policymakers and advocates can identify abusers and win justice for victims.

Abandonment, Violence, and Persecution: Justice in Motion has ensured access to justice across borders for hundreds of migrants escaping violence, abuse, and persecution. We have helped children in need of safety, asylum seekers, and crime victims by collecting crucial evidence in the countries from which they fled. In Fiscal Year 2021 alone, we supported 186 protection cases and 71 cases to help expedite the safe release of children from U.S. immigration custody and reunite them with their families.

Family Reunification: Justice in Motion has a key, ongoing role helping to reunite families who were separated at the U.S. - Mexico border under "Zero Tolerance" and related policies. Defenders have been conducting on-the-ground searches for otherwise "unreachable parents" and are helping parents who were deported without their children access every available opportunity for reunification, justice, and healing.

The Road Ahead: Ever-changing political realities for migrants will require flexible, collaborative responses across both the legal and the policy spheres. Justice in Motion will continue to serve as a bridge linking lawyers, policymakers, government officials, and organizations across borders, fields, and issue areas. We see the connections between a broken temporary visa system, rampant exploitation of migrant workers, the weakening of legal services to address labor abuses, and a humanitarian immigration crisis. Part of our shared work in the coming years will be to articulate these connections in ways that are precise, useful, and powerful. We will draw on the on-the-ground experience of our Defenders, the legal and policy expertise of our staff and partners, and our overarching cross-border perspective to make portable justice a reality.