Many of us feel an anger that is impossible to bottle up right now, seeing our neighbors, family, friends, and city targeted by immigration officials, in what is supposed to be a proud nation of immigrants.
If you feel the pain, remember: You are not alone. Neither are you powerless.
Many great organizations are working hard to defend the rights, dignity, and well-being of immigrants, refugees, and the undocumented. People who, like many of us or our families, come to this country and make it a better, stronger place as they seek a better life.
If you have the means to support those fighting for their rights financially, here are 17 non-profit organizations that advocate for the rights, dignity, and well-being of immigrants and undocumented individuals. And by extension of the work immigrants do, and the innovations immigrants bring, bolster and defend the economy and the lifeblood of the U.S.
Additionally, we have a spreadsheet compiled by a friend of L.A. TACO, which details even more organizations here at home and across the country that advocate for the rights of immigrants. They need our help more than ever right now.
CHIRLA
Founded in 1986, The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) is dedicated to expanding and advocating for the rights and defense of immigrants and refugees. It tirelessly organizes and promotes policies aimed at improving the lives and treatment of immigrants, as well as advancing cultural education to change perceptions and increase acceptance of immigrants. A mainstay leading immigrant rights marches and providing support in court rooms and halls of legislation, in its nearly 40 year history, this L.A.-based non-profit has fought against California’s Proposition187 targeting undocumented people and, along with organizations such as the National Immigrant Legal Center and Asian Pacific American Legal Center, defended and advocated for the equal rights, economic assistance and stability, safety, and healthcare, of day laborers and immigrants, as well as providing on-the-ground aid and education for immigrants and DREAMers, and making a stand against hate crimes and legislation targeting the rights of immigrants. Donations can be made here.
CARECEN
Pico Union-based CARECEN (Central American Resource Center), founded in 1983, is the largest Central American immigrant rights organization in the country. Its mission is to empower Central Americans and all immigrants by defending human and civil rights, working for social and economic justice, and promoting community activism and cultural diversity. The organization has fought in a lot of critical struggles, including the mobilization against Proposition 187, pushing back for lost rights after the passing of the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, raising over $100,000 for victims of Hurricane Mitch after it tore through Central America, and helping to push for new L.A. schools to counter overcrowding in Westlake and Pico-Union.
Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project
Esperanza is comprised of legal experts who provide education on laws and access to legal representation for low-income immigrants in L.A. The organization, which is a project of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, says it has lost federal funding recently but remains dedicated more than ever to providing legal help in this time of mass deportations, at the ready to help people detained in ICE detention facilities like Adelanto and Desert View Annex. On its homepage, the organization addresses this current wave of ICE activity, promising it "will continue to defend our clients’ rights and provide empowering legal services during these critical times," despite its urgent need for funding.
Al Otro Lado
Al Otro Lado is a San Ysidro-based, bi-national, boots-on-the-ground nonprofit dedicated to serving, protecting, and providing free legal aid, rights education, and humanitarian assistance to refugees, migrants, and those who experience and are returning from deportation on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2017, it filed a class action lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Patrol over the rejection and turning back of asylum seekers at U.S. ports of entry, violating international and U.S. law. With the reentrance of Trump, Al Otro Lado has promised in an open letter, “To be sure, no threat, no act of intimidation, will deter us- because human lives are on the line, and we refuse to stand by as they are destroyed.” Donations can be made here. Merch, like the above tote, can be bought here.
CIELO
Comunidades Indígenas En Liderazgo (CIELO) is a social justice nonprofit organization purposefully focused on helping L.A.’s Indigenous communities, whose specific cultures and languages are often overlooked when lumped in with more familiar immigrant populations. The Zapotec-founded, women-led organization’s mission includes leveling the playing field when it comes to offering social justice to Indigenous members of L.A.’s greater community, by providing language interpretation access and language and cultural preservation, securing and providing emergency economic assistance, the dissemination of critical information, outreach to city agencies on behalf of Indigenous persons and communities, reproductive justice, and the fight against gender-based violence. Donations can be made here. Merch can be purchased here.
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Law Center was started in 1979 and is one of the country's foremost organizations dedicated to defending and advancing opportunities and civil rights for low-income immigrants and their families through impact litigation, healthcare, labor, educational, and economic policy advocacy, movement-building, and narrative and culture change to create change that leads to a more equitable world for all. On its website, NILC provides numerous resources for individuals concerned about an encounter with immigration authorities.
United We Dream
Self-described as “the largest immigrant youth-led network in the country,” United We Dream was officially founded in 2008, with financial sponsorship from the National Immigration Law Center, by activists who had been organizing for the rights of immigrant youth and the undocumented since the early 2000s, following the founding of the DREAM Act in 2001. The youth-centered\ation non-profit seeks to empower youth to stand up for and expand immigrant rights, stop deportations, and promote immigration reform through national actions that have included marches, walks, sit-ins, putting pressure on national leaders, and even hunger strikes. The organization also seeks to create and extend spaces for immigration advocates within its own ranks, to include, empower, and promote leadership for women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and ethnically diverse immigrant youth who have been most impacted by U.S. immigration policies. Committed to non-violence, United We Dream has a zine called Immigrant Made, while providing vital education to DACA recipients on their rights, petitions, protest organization, and instruction against deportations, and resources centered on the educational rights of DACA recipients and undocumented youth. Donations can be made here.
Inclusive Action for the City
Inclusive Action For The City has advocated for the legalization of street vending and raised over $ 4.5 million in low-interest microloans during its fifteen-year history to help small businesses owned by low-income people of color get started and thrive, to strengthen their communities through robust local economies. It has successfully campaigned to create a permit system for street vendors, leads educational events, works to bring food markets to areas known as "food deserts," and engages with U.S. cities and organizations to more effectively engage BIPOC communities.
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON is an organization that works across the country to advance rights and protections for day laborers, low-wage workers, and migrants of all ethnicities and backgrounds, with an emphasis on local grass-roots organizing and self-empowerment to fight injustice and inequality. It stood up against Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and Proposition SB1070, among its organizing in other battles affecting immigration populations in the U.S. The non-profit is currently organizing an Immigrant Defense Fund to help rally lawyers and other individuals to help "shield immigrants from unjust arrest and deportation, from labor abuses and discrimination and other forms of oppression."
The Haitian Bridge Alliance
The BRIDGE, as it's known, advocates for fair and humane immigration policies, working to provide humanitarian, legal, and social services to migrants and immigrants, mainly from Black populations, women, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, refugees, and those who have survived human rights abuses. Its work has included supplying volunteers, including lawyers and doctors, to the Tijuana border to bring humanitarian relief to Haitian and other Black migrants from Africa, and also works with Haitian migrants in Mexico. The organization also runs The Black Immigrants Bail Fund, in conjunction with the African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs, to offer critical bond-funding assistance to Black immigrants in an era of mass incarceration that disproportionately affects Black people.
SIREN
SIREN (The Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network) first formed among immigration activists in 1987 as the Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Services, in response to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of the prior year. The non-profit works to empower low-income immigrants and refugees in California, specifically the Central Valley and Northern California—stressing self-determination to help them be their change agents. SIREN's mission is to provide community education and organizing, leadership development, legal services, policy advocacy, and civic engagement, including voting and civic participation.
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Founded in 1979 as The Golden Gate Immigration Clinic, The Immigrant Legal Resource Center is dedicated to advancing immigrant rights through the advocacy of immigration of law and policy, centered on training attorneys, advocates, and paralegals, progressive policy advocacy, rights and legal resource education for immigrants, and helping access consultation with legal professionals. The ILRC created its awards to recognize the work of legal pros in championing immigrant and human rights and counts Immigrant Justice Network, Collective Freedom Project, United Coalition for Immigrant Services, and its own New Americans Campaign among its projects and network. Donations can be made here. Books can be purchased here.
No Us Without You
Created in March of 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, by L.A. restaurant and bar veterans Damian Diaz and Othón Nolasco, No Us Without You mobilized to obtain donations to deliver food to vulnerable back-of-house restaurant and hospitality workers who were out of jobs during the ensuing shutdown. The hospitality worker-led non-profit can feed a family of four for $33 a week each and is currently focused on feeding undocumented workers who sustain our hospitality industry, as well as “street vendors, mariachis, and marginalized neighborhood residents.” As stated on its website, “They come together every day, to work hard, and take care of the people who took care of them every day in their careers,” through 40,000 pounds of monthly food donations, which supply 500 families as of last November. To sustain these efforts, the organization relies on volunteers and monetary donations, which can be made through this link.
The California Immigrant Policy Center
The California Immigrant Policy Center brings together multiple grassroots organizations, activists, and advocates, putting political muscle behind the crafting and promotion of policies that support immigrants, in the state capital, including those that advance social rights, economic justice, and health care for immigrants, while challenging deportations and detentions of immigrants in California. CIPC says it “has helped pass more than 30 pro-immigrant laws in the state,” which include the TRUST Act, the One California initiative, The Safe and Responsible Driver Act, the E-Verify Bill, and the Health4All Kids and Health4 All 50+ that guarantees health care regardless of immigration status, in addition to many others. Donations can be made here.
Californians For Justice
Californians For Justice works in public schools, engaging young people to fight for racial justice and economic prosperity, while supporting their well-being and working at the state capital to push for educational funding, equity, leadership skills, and community building. CFJ's work centers on children of color, foster, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ youth, committed to improving their lives and protections.
PICO California
PICO California was founded in 1994 as an initiative of the Faith In Action Network, a multi-faith organization that decried the Supreme Court recently overturning Roe v. Wade. PICO California is the state's largest faith-based community organizing network, advocating for housing as a human right, reducing prison populations, funding schools and communities over cops, creating wider inclusion and "dismantling the deportation machine" for immigrants and refugees, affecting positive change in government, and pushing for family-sustaining work for low-income workers. In the past it has helped to pass the largest expansion of tenant protections in the U.S., helped get free COVID-19 testing for undocumented people, helped defeat the funding of ICE, and helped pass propositions to reduce prison populations and penal punishments for low-level offenders.
California Rural Legal Assistance
CRLA is a non-profit law firm founded in 1966 to provide free civil legal services to low-income residents, including immigrants, disabled residents, and seniors, in California's rural counties, hoping to strike a blow against an unjust system that awards justice only to those who can pay for it. To date, it claims to have closed over 6,000 cases for clients in need.
