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Migrant Justice (MJ), a farmworkers’ rights organization in Vermont, has used innovative grassroots advocacy to advance justice for dairy workers’ rights.  MJ’s Milk with Dignity program, for example, is an agreement with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to source milk from farms that follow a worker-created code of conduct.

Now MJ is fighting against the federal government’s attempts to undermine its work for migrant justice.  In mid-November, MJ, along with other immigrants’ rights advocates, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).  The case claims that state and federal government agencies harassed, intimidated, threatened and arrested MJ advocates in an attempt to silence their voices, violating their federal constitutional rights.

MJ sued after learning that an individual familiar with the organization’s work had been acting as an informant for ICE.  This person infiltrated MJ meetings, recorded private conversations, and gave this information to ICE. MJ members had their homes surveilled, their relationships monitored, and their social media profiles reviewed.  This unlawful targeting resulted in the arrest of over 40 community members associated with MJ in the past two years.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Vermont DMV illegally helped the federal government target MJ leaders.  This happened after the organization helped pass a state law giving undocumented residents access to driver’s licenses.  The DMV sent these leaders’ personal information to ICE, which then detained many of them.

MJ reports that these unlawful actions are part of a broader pattern across the country.  Citing a string of arrests from the past year, MJ alleges that ICE targets immigrants who have spoken out against the agency or the government to intimidate them and repress their advocacy.

The lawsuit alleges that the government’s tactics violate MJ members’ rights to engage in free speech and to freely associate under the U.S. Constitution.  The plaintiffs are asking the federal court to prohibit ICE from targeting, surveilling, detaining, and spreading misinformation about them. They are also requesting an order prohibiting the DMV from continuing to illegally share personal information with federal immigration authorities.

To hear more about the lawsuit, check out this interview at Latino Rebels Radio, or this segment on Democracy Now.

Photo: Dairy Farm Production by U.S Department of Agriculture, licensed under CC BY 2.0