Photo courtesy of Comité Sín Fronteras
Comité Sín Fronteras
Comité Sín Fronteras with a "Dreamers" banner
Young adult immigrants are getting organized in the Milwaukee area by way of Comité Sín Fronteras, an arm of immigrant rights organization Voces de la Frontera. Formed in August 2024, the group’s mission is to shift the narrative of the immigrant rights movement into an abolitionist perspective by way of educational workshops, community events and providing mutual aid created by undocumented immigrants, for undocumented immigrants. The organization’s name translates to “committee without borders” in Spanish.
Comité Sín Fronteras (CSF) holds the position that a permanent pathway to citizenship for immigrants is non-negotiable. While they advocate for the expansion of DACA as a short-term goal, CSF rejects the notion that immigrants’ value as U.S. citizens is tied to labor output or level of education completed.
Founder Fernanda Jimenez-Hauch points out that these narratives are constantly brought up in the DACA community. “When we do speak on why we deserve immigrant justice and a pathway to citizenship, we don’t ever speak on our labor but speak more on why this land does belong to us and always has. As a Mexicana, I am more Indigenous than I am an immigrant.”
CSF originated last summer as a means of bridging the gap between young activists doing work with Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) and adults involved in Voces de la Frontera (VDLF).
“There’s always been a gap in the immigrant rights movement, specifically here in the state of Wisconsin,” she explains. “If you’re not a high school or college student, or an older immigrant in the community, there isn’t a place where leadership is invested in.”
All About Organizing
Jimenez-Hauch had joined YES as a freshman at William Horlick High School in Racine, where YES was founded. “That’s where I learned everything about organizing—in schools and in my community,” she recalls. “After high school and college, I was lost wondering where I could continue to organize, and I knew so many people in the same place.”
She and like-minded friends began to envision what long-term immigration reform looks like as well as how young activists could keep the immigrant rights movement sustainable for generations to come. “It has to start now,” Jimenez-Hauch affirms. “Comite Sin Fronteras got moving very quickly, and we’re growing and we’re learning.”
CSF formed in the midst of the 2024 election, and while the organization made clear at the time that a second Trump presidency would be extremely detrimental and dangerous to immigrant rights, CSF contends that the Democratic Party platform was not strong enough on the issue.
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“It was difficult for us to talk about,” Jimenez-Hauch says. “Being undocumented immigrants, we knew how terrifying it
was going to be to be under Trump again, but it was also difficult for us to defend a party that was not talking about immigrants as humans. They were dehumanizing us when they talked about the border and essentially using us as political pawns, when we were ‘good’ immigrants and when we were not.”
She continues, “We did endorse them under Voces de la Frontera Action, and we knew that this is what we have to fight for, but we also hold them accountable for their lack of leadership. To this day, we continue to keep that message that the Democratic Party did not stand bold and strong for the immigrant community, and now we are experiencing the consequences.”
Fighting Back
Once Trump took office in January, CSF was ready to fight back. With the help of grassroots organization Siembra NC, the organization created a Community Defense Network in order to keep Milwaukee immigrant communities safe. This network comprises four branches: Migra Watch for monitoring Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity, Solidarity Action for training folks on how to hold effective rallies and protests, Mutual Aid to directly provide resources for families impacted by ICE, and Sanctuary for coalition-building with local organizations.
“All of those things come together because it’s all to protect against ICE, even if it’s just one person or one family,” Jimenez-Hauch mentions. “This is how we’re fighting Trump and all his fascist allies.”
Since Trump may continue trying to end DACA as he tried in his first term, CSF has held DACA renewal clinics in order to help recipients with the process as fast as possible. Thanks to fundraising and donations, CSF has so far been able to offer financial assistance to more than fifty DACA recipients in Wisconsin.
“A lot of people go to lawyers, which are expensive,” Jimenez-Hauch notes. “Then the DACA fees are extremely expensive.”
Folks can support Comité Sín Fronteras by donating or volunteering. The organization holds ICE Verifier training on the first and third Saturday of every month, with the next sessions on August 2 and August 16. Registration can be done here. CSF is ready and willing to offer training to Wisconsin communities outside of Milwaukee as well.
“If an ICE agent tries to talk to you, you have rights,” Jimenez-Hauch assures. “You have the right to record and ask them for their warrant or badge number.”
It is important to note that while ICE agents can legally enter public spaces, they cannot legally enter a private space and arrest someone without a federal warrant signed by a judge. If they only have an administrative warrant, which is different, they cannot enter a private space and place someone under arrest.
