What is the Immigrant Justice Platform?

The Immigrant Justice Platform (IJP) is a collective of immigrants and immigrant rights groups who came together to advocate for a shared platform of policy and budget priorities that directly benefit the DC immigrant community and change the systems by disrupting the status quo. Rather than work on campaigns in isolation, we aim to highlight the interconnectedness of our struggles and combine our efforts to build a more equitable future together.

Current Priorities

We believe that supporting immigrants’ rights means supporting policies that are anti-racist and anti-poverty, and advocating for our immigrant neighbors to be afforded basic human rights, safety, and security. The DC Immigrant Justice Platform seeks to highlight the interconnectedness of all of these issues, which these policy initiatives seek to address.

Our current priorities:

  • Pass permanent legislation to support recently arrived migrants that is resettlement-focused

  • Pass permanent legislation to expand ID and driver’s license access to many immigrant communities

  • Ensure swift implementation of:

    • Local Residents Voting Rights Amendment Act

    • Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act

    • Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act

  • Register thousands of noncitizen voters to participate in elections in 2024

Our History

In January 2023, DC immigrants and immigrant justice organizers and organizations came together to form the Immigrant Justice Platform (IJP). We launched our platform publicly on Valentine’s Day and advocated for this shared platform, over the course of the spring, including organizing IJP lobby days. 

So far we have gotten the DC Council to:

  • Fund the Local Residents Voting Rights Amendment Act

  • Fund the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act

  • Pass the emergency, temporary, and permanent versions of Vulnerable Youth Guardianship Protection Amendment Act,

  • Pass AND Fund the Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act

  • Amend the Migrant Services and Supports Temporary Amendment Act by passing the Migrant Services Eligibility Clarification Emergency and Temporary Amendment Acts

  • Restore $20 million in excluded worker's funds

Breaking Down the Platform

Allow Recently Arrived Asylum Seekers and Immigrant DC Residents to Obtain Identification Cards & Driver’s Licenses

Background: Currently, recently arrived migrants are unable to obtain DC identification cards or driver’s licenses. While DC has Limited Purpose Credential ID cards (LPCs) available to residents who do not have or are ineligible for social security numbers, recent migrants are essentially unable to obtain LPCs because of overly restrictive regulations limiting the documents an applicant can present to satisfy proof of identification and proof of DC residency. Without ID, recent migrants face many barriers to self-sufficiency, including the inability to open bank accounts, sign leases, obtain birth and marriage certificates, access many community resources, and more.

Status: In July 2023, the DC Council was set to vote on the Limited Purpose Credential Clarification Emergency and Temporary Acts that would have taken a step towards rectifying this issue. However, on the morning of the vote, the Department of Human Services, produced an egregious fiscal impact statement to block the legislation and the bills had to be withdrawn.

What remains: The DC Council must pass, fund legislation that will amend limited purpose credential laws and regulations to help many recently arrived and long-term DC resident immigrants obtain IDs and driver’s licenses.

Read more:

Support Recently Arrived Migrants Resettling in the District

Background: In April 2022, Texas Governor Abbott began busing migrants to DC from the southern border; in May, Governor Ducey of Arizona followed suit. Since then tens of thousands of migrants have been bused to the District, and thousands more have arrived by other means. In Fall 2022, DC Council passed the Migrant Services and Supports Emergency and Temporary Acts, that 1) created the Office of Migrant Services (OMS) and 2) excluded many DC residents from accessing homeless services based on their immigration status. In Spring 2023, DC Council passed the Migrant Services Eligibility Clarification Amendment Emergency and Temporary Acts, that amended the original OMS legislation. These harm reduction amendments introduced health and safety standards to OMS, included resettlement support in OMS’ mandate, clarified eligibility criteria for services, and mitigated the impact the original bills had on long-term DC residents who are immigrants.

Status: The harm reduction legislation was an important first towards rectifying the issues caused by the original legislation, however, over a year later OMS continues to drag their feet on implementing the changes.

What remains: Over two years after the buses started arriving, OMS still exists only through temporary legislation and resettlement support in the District continues to be limited. It is imperative that DC Council pass and fund permanent migrant services legislation that is resettlement focused.

Protect Domestic Workers

Background: The Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act of 2022 is a bill passed by the DC Council in December 2022 that ends the longtime exclusion of domestic workers from key workplace protections in DC and gives domestic workers new rights. In spring 2023, domestic workers and their allies organized, testified at council hearings and successfully advocated for the council to include full funding for this law in the FY24 budget.

Status: Because these efforts were successful, the first provisions of the bill went into effect in October 2023, and the remaining provisions went into effect in January 2024.

What remains: To ensure implementation is prompt, effective, and accessible to domestic workers in the District, we will continue to work closely with the Office of Human Rights (OHR), the Department of Employment Services (DOES) and the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), who each have partial responsibility for implementing this law. We will also continue to fight for sufficient ongoing funding in the city's budget for the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Grant Program at OAG, in order to meet the need at scale of ensuring domestic workers know their rights and can enforce them.

Give Noncitizens A Voice in Local Voting Issues

Background: The Local Residents Voting Rights Act of 2021 is a historic bill passed by the DC Council that finally grants voting rights in local elections to all residents of DC, regardless of immigration status. This includes refugees, migrants, green-card holders, as well as any other non-citizens of any immigrant status. For decades, these groups have been at the front of every crisis of DC, including housing, homelessness, public safety, worker rights, and so much more. Yet, they did not have the political power to elect the local representatives that best fit their values and desires for the city they live in. After a decade of the bill failing, the Immigrant Justice Platform successfully organized to pass it unanimously. After passing, Congress attempted to stop the bill using xenophobic and racist arguments; however, they were successfully blocked.

Status: In late 2023, the law went fully into effect, making all noncitizens eligible voters or “qualified electors” in DC. The Board of Elections began allowing noncitizens to register to vote and, in January 2024, opened the online registration form for noncitizens. The Board of Elections provides the voter registration forms in a variety of languages, however, the online form is still only available in English.

What remains: With the law now in effect, the Board of Elections is responsible for ensuring that noncitizens are well informed about their rights to participate in elections and that they are able to safely vote. Organizers will continue to work with and pressure elected officials and agencies to ensure there is a vigorous voter education and registration process, as well as starting to build infrastructure for an independent voter engagement campaign. We must also pressure the BOE to make the online registration form available in several more languages to ensure easy access to as many non-citizens as possible.

Read more:

Support Vulnerable Immigrant Youth

Background: The Vulnerable Youth Guardianship Protection Amendment Act of 2023 is a bill that will allow vulnerable immigrant youth in DC to receive immigrant protections afforded to them under federal immigration law through the DC Courts. The Vulnerable Youth Guardianship Protection Amendment Act was originally introduced in 2022 and it was re-introduced in January 2023 and received a hearing on June 8th. Many strong advocates and people impacted testified and submitted testimony for this important measure.

Status: Because of the urgent need to close the gap between District and federal law, we pushed for the Council to introduce an emergency and temporary version of the bill, allowing it to become law ahead of the permanent bill. Accordingly, since September 1st, DC Courts have been able to provide the necessary SIJS findings for vulnerable immigrant youth in DC to seek Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). On May 7th, the Council passed a permanent version of the bill, which was enacted on May 29th.

What remains: The permanent bill will be transmitted to Congress for its 30 (Congressional) day review period.

Additional coalition partner on this legislation: Kids In Need of Defense (KIND)

Decriminalize Street Vending and Reform Vending Laws and Regulations

Background: The Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act of 2023 decriminalizes vending without a license and reforms vending laws to make the process of obtaining a license cheaper, easier, and more equitable. The bill also establishes vending zones for vendors to legally operate in and a fine amnesty program for unpaid taxes and fees related to vending. Finally, the bill creates a new microenterprise home kitchen license that will allow food vendors to prepare food at home and sell foods their customers want to eat.

Status: On April 4th, 2023, the DC Council voted unanimously to pass this bill and then they fully funded it in the FY23 Supplemental and FY24 budget. As of July 1st, some of the provisions of the bill have gone into effect — vending without a license is now decriminalized, and vendors no longer have to undergo a criminal background check to get a vending license!

What remains: DC agencies need to implement the remaining parts of the bill. If they wanted, the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection could immediately lower the vending license cost and implement the fine amnesty program. The Department of Health is in the process of creating the new microenterprise home kitchen licenses for food vendors.

Read more:

Restore and Disburse the Excluded Workers Funds

Background: After Mayor Bowser used her supplemental budget to steal $20 million that was already allocated by the Council to give direct economic assistance to excluded workers, excluded workers across DC again mobilized to demand the return of this $20 million. Because of their efforts, the council included in the FY24 budget $20 million dollars for excluded workers, contingent upon DC having a surplus of at least $40 million when the budget estimate was  certified in September 2023.  After a sufficient surplus was certified in September, the excluded workers and the organizations that represent them used the fall to push Events DC to distribute the money to excluded workers as soon as possible, successfully preventing the mayor from stealing this money again in her FY25 proposed budget.

Status: As a group of non-profit organizations prepare to begin distributing economic assistance to excluded workers in June 2024, excluded workers leaders are in close communication with staff at these non-profits to ensure that excluded workers themselves have a seat at the table, are kept in the loop about how and when the funds will be distributed, and have a chance to provide input about how this process can be more accessible and responsive to the community of excluded workers in DC.