Movimiento Cosecha Support Network
Our mission is to research and educate the general public about undocumented immigrants, training and leadership development of community members, and promoting the permanent protection of undocumented immigrants in the United States. We support a national, decentralized network of immigrant workers, families, and allies.
Learn about some of the local leaders and campaigns happening across the country – pushing our communities closer to permanent protection.
How Indiana organizers built immigrant community power in 2021
This year was a tremendous year for organizing in Indiana. Starting with a small core team, Cosecha Indiana aimed to grow the capacity of our movement in a sustainable, powerful way. We ended up accomplishing more than we ever imagined.
Cosecha Indiana organizers at Gary/Chicago International Airport in July, launching the 300-mile “Walk for Licenses” to Indianapolis
One main goal we had this year was to seed and develop new Cosecha “circles” in different cities in Indiana. Through Facebook lives, Cosecha encuentros, solidarity trainings, ally/comrade space learnings, and Cosecha 101 trainings for partner groups, we helped develop new immigrant and ally leaders to support our organizing.
We also continued a focus on mutual aid work that we started in 2020 to support our undocumented community affected by the ongoing pandemic, including support with Cosecha’s national Undocumented Worker Fund and e-learning spaces for families with financial support.
Here are some other organizing highlights from 2021:
We organized a kermes that raised over $3,000 to secure housing, food, transportation for undocumented families in Indiana to participate in Cosecha’s national May 1 march in Washington, DC — where we joined immigrant workers and families from across the country to demand Papers, Not Crumbs for all undocumented immigrants
We participated in Hispanic Heritage Month Outreach by tabling at various community events to connect with our community about Cosecha and the organizing we do
We walked 300 miles across 11 cities in Indiana as part of the “Caminata por Las Licencias” or “Walk for Licenses”, marching rain or shine to raise support for the Licenses for All bill. Lack of access to driver’s licenses is a top issue for undocumented immigrants in Indiana. (Check out local media coverage of this march to learn more!)
Building off the momentum of the Walk for Licenses, we now have Cosecha circles in Northwest, IN and Bloomington, IN and more coming soon. These circles have participated in campaign trips to the Indiana statehouse and banner drops.
Finally, we have focused on leadership development and support for the immigrant organizers who are the heart of Cosecha Indiana. Through team retreats, we strategize together, decompress, and strengthen the relationships of our team.
Cosecha Massachusetts
The fight for driver’s licenses in Massachusetts continued in 2021! Cosecha marched through the streets of Worcester and held demonstrations in front of the Registry of Motor Vehicles and City Hall. Together, we demand Licenses for All.
The MA State House has been closed to the public this year due the pandemic, so we cannot directly pressure legislators in person. The transportation committee conducts the public hearing on the Licenses bill by Zoom. But we showed up outside the statehouse in person to make our presence known!
Throughout 2021, Cosecha MA also continued to raise tens of thousands of dollars for mutual aid in Massachusetts and to distribute support funds, food and information to hundreds of immigrant families in need.
Cosecha MA, the immigrant community with allies, mobilized at the state house a second time to demand Licenses for All with hundreds of letters from children from all over the state. We printed these letters onto the sculpture of a car. Children wrote to their representatives, asking why their families should have to continue driving with fear. As legislators settled in to enjoy the holidays with their families, children wrote:
Won’t you hear us? Don’t they see us? Stop turning around! Give our family access to driver’s licenses… to take us to school, to the grocery store to buy food and clothes, to doctors when one of us is sick and to allow them to drive to work and return home safely.
In 2022, we plan to continue the fight for licenses in Massachusetts and the national movement for permanent protection, dignity, and respect. We will depend on the support of the community to continue this work!
A message for the community from Cosecha Michigan
This past year Cosecha Michigan has worked hard in our efforts for the rights of undocumented immigrant workers. One of our main campaigns has been “Licenses for All” immigrants in Michigan.
On May 11, 2021 the Licenses for All bill was introduced in the state legislature and in September a committee hearing was scheduled in the House of representatives.
Cosecha Michigan also participated in several campaigns to support undocumented immigrants at the national leve, including a series of banner drops in various cities in Michigan to mark President Biden’s inauguration in January. Our message was that the new administration has not made progress or kept any of their promises to the immigrant community. Biden promised to stop deportations and pass immigration reform for all 11 million undocumented immigrants, but by the end of 2021 deportations still continue and he has abandoned his plan for a “pathway to citizenship” for all.
We organized mass mobilization and coordinated buses from Michigan to participate in Cosecha’s national May 1 march in D.C., demanding “Papers, Not Crumbs” from President Biden.
In the summer of 2021, Cosecha Michigan led a “Licenses Tour” through 13 communities in Michigan, including 10 consecutive days of immigrant-led marches. The tour visited predominantly rural places throughout Southwest Michigan where immigrant workers occupy an important place in the local economy and agriculture. By seeding Cosecha circles in these new cities, we will put more pressure on the legislature, because at the end of the day, this state depends on immigrant labor to function.
The “Licenses for All” bill is still in the Michigan legislature. In 2022, Cosecha Michigan will continue with our campaign so that the more than 100,000 undocumented immigrant workers in Michigan who currently do not have access to driver’s licenses finally have the right to drive without fear.