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One Family, One Alabama

ACIJ works through deep, long-term community organizing and leadership development, with the understanding that immigrant communities have a wide breadth of experience and knowledge that is invaluable to achieving lasting change.  We believe that informing and empowering people has a ripple effect throughout communities, as community members lead the way in organizing their neighbors and friends.

Our Mission

We are a group of individuals and organizations working for the rights and dignity of all people by cultivating just policies, encouraging grassroots leadership and participation, building alliances, and amplifying the voices and contributions of immigrants in Alabama.

Our Vision

We envision an Alabama that values justice, nurtures equality, and protects the rights of everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability, or migratory status.

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Our History

In September 2011, a wave of terror and racism swept Alabama when the state legislature passed the harshest anti-immigrant law in the country, HB56. Tea Party conservatives saw Alabama as a gateway for introducing anti-immigrant extremist laws, designed to purge the South and subsequently the rest of the nation of immigrant families through making daily life unlivable.  Alabama, known for its poverty, segregation and racial violence, appeared to be the perfect laboratory for these laws, but as the legacy of Alabama’s strong Civil Rights movement has taught us, where there is oppression, there is also resistance. A movement was born. 

 

In the decades following HB56, we are celebrating what has grown into a fierce statewide grassroots movement. Our Leadership Council represents an organized base of immigrant leadership in Alabama where previously communities were isolated and completely shut out of civic engagement.  Now, our work is led by immigrants from across Alabama, primarily undocumented mothers, fathers, and children, who have joined together with African-American civil rights leaders, faith communities, southern LGBTQ communities, students, business people, lawyers, farmers, small town police chiefs, and elected officials.  

 

Together we are building a strong coalition that represents a broad cross-section of Alabama, working collectively for immigrant justice as well as the dignity and humanity of all families.  We are building a state that values justice, nurtures equality, and protects the rights of everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability, or migratory status.  The Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ACIJ) has not only permanently gutted one of the nation’s most extreme anti-immigrant laws, but we have also educated hundreds of immigrants about their rights and sent delegations of undocumented immigrant leaders to speak at regional and national conventions.

 

Collectively, we have accomplished tremendous victories, yet Alabama remains a battleground for the dignity and humanity of the nation.  ACIJ is a key force for change and has the potential to build a transformative movement with increased support from people who understand the need for an offensive, defensive, and coordinated national strategy.  Our members believe that building unity among people of color, immigrants, and a broad cross section of communities is integral to creating powerful change.  

 

We invite you to join us in transforming Alabama, the nation, and our collective destiny.

Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice

Email: info@acij.org

Phone: +1 (205) 945-0777

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© Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice United

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