Deportation Defense Organizer

Position: Deportation Defense Organizer

Location: National

Reports to: BLMP Co-Director

Salary range: $80,000

Deadline: Applications reviewed on a rolling basis

About BLMP

The Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP) envisions a world where no one is forced to give up their homeland and where all Black LGBTQIA+ people are free and liberated. We build and center the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants to ensure the liberation of all Black people through community-building, political education, creating access to direct services, and organizing across borders. We are led by a directly impacted steering committee, staff and consultants, and operate organizing networks in New York City, DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia region), Minneapolis, California, and the South. We build power, community, and knowledge in the U.S., while challenging the role that the U.S. plays globally in creating the conditions that force us to leave our homes. BLMP is proud to be an affirmative action employer. Black migrants and 1st generation Black people who are TGNCI (Trans, gender nonconforming, & intersex), women and femmes, and persons with disabilities are particularly urged to apply.

Deportation Defense Organizer Description

BLMP seeks a Deportation Defense Organizer to advance local and national deportation defense and detention support efforts on behalf of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants as well as Black migrants broadly, including those stuck at the southern border. The Organizer will 1) engage BLMP’s membership including our Malaika Network (a cohort of directly impact Black queer and trans migrants), and 2) work with coalition partners and allies in campaign efforts aimed at Abolishing ICE, disrupting the detention-deportation pipeline, and shutting down detention centers. The Deportation Defense Organizer will engage in outreach, leadership development and mobilization efforts centering BLMP members, coordinate detention support for detained Black LGBTQIA+ people and Black migrants stranded at the southern border, and facilitate popular education and skills-building workshops.

Malaika Network 

• Build a cohort of 10 directly impacted BLMP members who provide support for detained Black LGBTQIA+ migrants and Black migrants broadly, and participate in campaigns aimed at abolishing ICE and shutting down detention centers.
• Coordinate skills-building, leadership development, and trainings for cohort members
• Coordinate the network by ensuring regular meetings and activities, and plugging cohort members into new or ongoing detention support efforts and campaigns. 
• Create a database of immigration-related resources that will aid in detention support and deportation defense activities. 

Detention Support and Deportation Defense 

• Coordinate detention support activities on behalf of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants in detention in partnership with the Malaika Network as well as legal and community partners. This includes: 
• Provide individualized support for community members fighting deportation.
• Working with legal partners and Malaika Network to identify and implement strategy
• Steering fundraising, mobilization, advocacy and direct action efforts
• Identifying and implementing strategy to address post-detention/release needs
• Participate in and lead coalition-building efforts and campaigns that weaken the immigration carceral state, including: 
• Representing the organization and helping with strategy development as well as implementation.
• Attending meetings, events, and gatherings.
• Participating, and ensuring membership engagement, in actions and campaigns.
• Track engagement of members and activists at various events and field opportunities in the database.
• Lobby on both a federal and statewide level on behalf of the organization and advocate for radical policies that shift material conditions for Black LGBTQ+ Migrants 

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in community organizing, popular education, community outreach and deportation defense organizing.
• Skilled at prioritizing, analytical thinking, problem-solving and able to employ these in making sound decisions.
• Adept at building and managing relationships with staff, consultants, members, coalition members, and community partners.
• Excellent communicator, both written and verbal.
• Strong collaborator who can manage projects involving multiple people holding various roles and ensure projects goals are met and in line with organizational vision.
• A compassionate yet assertive person who has experience working within a powerful team consisting of people experiencing multiple layers of systemic oppression. 
• Experience working in deadline-driven environments, and proven ability to meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and with people from a variety of different racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, educational, religious, sexual, gender, and generational backgrounds.
• Comfortable operating in a fast paced and diverse community environment.
• Available to work nights and weekends as needed. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Passionate about Black liberation, Black migrant justice and abolition of the carceral state. Committed to centering and building the leadership of Black migrants and 1st generation Black people who identify as TGNCI, women, femmes, and/or who are living with disabilities.

Location

Virtual, until further notice, but travel will be required when it is deemed safe to do so. 

Salary and Benefits

Salary range is competitive and commensurate with the candidate’s experience and skills. Benefits include comprehensive health (medical, dental, vision, and FSA), matched retirement savings, three weeks’ vacation, sick and family leave, and sabbatical program.

How To Apply

To apply, provide a cover letter, resume, and list of three references (applicants will be notified in advance of any outreach to your references). Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. 

More information about BLMP can be found at BLMP.org.