Grantee: Movement for Justice in El Barrio
North Star Fund made a $2,500 Rapid Response grant to Movement for Justice in El Barrio for a protest, press conference and candlelight vigil in response to family separations at the U.S.–Mexico border.
Who is Movement for Justice in El Barrio?
Movement for Justice in El Barrio is a women- and immigrant-led grassroots tenant organization standing against gentrification and displacement in East Harlem.
Why this?
This past spring, the Trump administration abruptly implemented a zero-tolerance policy for border crossing that separated over 2,000 children from their families. In the custody of the federal government, hundreds of these children were brought to the Cayuga Center. The East Harlem social service agency had at least 239 (and counting) children in its care. Because Movement organizes against displacement and for immigrants’ rights within East Harlem, they felt it was their duty to show support for these children and challenge the Trump administration’s ongoing dehumanization of immigrants and refugees.
Why now?
The Trump administration brutally instituted a family separation policy for migrants entering the U.S., kidnapping children as young as nine months old, which resulted in some of them being shipped to NYC while their parents remained in Texas or other locations along the U.S. border.