Migrant Justice Torneo tabling
Soccer players in matching uniforms, plates of tacos al pastor and cups of agua de Jamaica, lively music ringing over vibrant chatter: community-building flourished at Migrant Justice’s 11th annual Torneo de Fútbol in Burlington on July 13th, 2024. As the organization’s signature summer event and fundraiser, the Torneo brings together Vermont’s migrant farmworker community to take a day off work, participate in an all-day soccer tournament, enjoy delicious food, and spend time together. This year’s Torneo was the biggest yet, with a reported 24 teams and hundreds of community members gathering to honor their shared culture and resilience.
Catch up on the tournament with CCTV here!
VAAP was grateful for the opportunity to table at the event, providing free, walk-up legal information and support to Torneo participants and spectators. Our team provided general information on the immigration legal process, consultations on individual cases, and referrals to appropriate providers; along with stacks of Spanish-language materials outlining immigrants’ legal rights and sharing community resources for nonlegal needs. In addition, we completed intake screenings and invited several individuals to a by-appointment clinic where they’ll receive assistance with their asylum applications.
VAAP's tabling at the Torneo was also a chance to pilot a similar service model to our upcoming fall intake clinics. Our “Walk-In Wednesday” clinic series begins September 11th and will offer walk-in and call-in information, consultations, and appropriate referrals, all free of cost. Note that this is currently the only way to request VAAP’s legal assistance. Those interested should simply save the date for a clinic and stop by VAAP’s office on 12 North Street, or call our main phone line, during working hours that day. More information about the event—including volunteer opportunities—is to come on our blog, calendar, newsletters, and social media, so we encourage folks to stay tuned!
We are eager not only to provide these vital services but to continue our partnership with Migrant Justice, tabling at events like the Torneo and Mobile Mexican Consulate and providing legal aid to members of their vibrant community. As we spotlighted in our latest newsletter, Migrant Justice’s outstanding work to blend community building and assistance with grassroots advocacy is essential to ensuring Vermont’s migrants receive the social support and fair treatment they deserve.
Their organization of the Torneo de Fútbol is a fantastic example. Along with the community festivities of the tournament, music, and food; and the free legal and medical assistance provided by VAAP, Maine’s Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and the Open Door Clinic; the event featured a community rally for Migrant Justice’s Milk with Dignity campaign. Between afternoon games, Torneo attendees (joined by some of VAAP’s team!) gathered signs, megaphones, and postcards and left the soccer fields for the Hannaford supermarket next door, calling on the company to adopt safe and dignified working standards for its most vulnerable employees. Hannaford’s five-year refusal to join the Milk with Dignity program is a horrific denial of dairy farmworkers’ right to a fair workplace, and we’re grateful for the resilient workers and allies continuing to push for economic equity and basic human rights.
The Torneo also took place amid our ongoing fight for justice for Greisy Mejia, an active member of the Migrant Justice community who’s now hiding from her persecutors in Central America after being deported by ICE in a violation of federal immigration regulations. On July 10, Greisy and her two children, ages nine and one, were put on a plane to Honduras despite Greisy’s consistently expressing fear of persecution there, which should’ve entitled her to a reasonable fear interview and an asylum claim, and despite her in-progress T visa application as a survivor of trafficking.
Migrant Justice, VAAP, and the Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Center for Justice Reform Clinic continue to engage in collaborative advocacy and legal action to bring Greisy and her kids safely back to the US – but we are inexpressibly disheartened to know that this family now faces a preventable threat of imminent persecution due to an unjust deprivation of due process.
Unfortunately, as VAAP director Jill Martin Diaz and intern Phebe Lowry explained in their recent op-ed, Greisy’s heartbreaking story is not an anomaly but rather a product of discriminatory governmental decisions and lack of transparency, perpetuated by prejudice against the migrant community – prejudice that is grossly ignorant and misinformed. The vibrant Torneo de Fútbol shows that our noncitizen neighbors are far from unwelcome criminals, as they are so often labeled. They are talented athletes and chefs, compassionate parents and siblings and friends, essential workers sustaining our economy, and resilient advocates; many with valid claims to status under US immigration law. It’s our deepest hope that through our advocacy and services, organizations like VAAP and Migrant Justice can ensure security, justice, and dignity for these valuable members of our community.
Thanks to South Burlington High School summer paralegal intern, Julia Todd, for these words. To follow VAAP’s Migrant Justice’s work and updates on Greisy’s story, visit our websites www.vaapvt.org and migrantjustice.net, or our VAAP’s or MJ’s social media. Sign the petition for Greisy’s safe return to the U.S. here.
