Immigrant Justice

At Fandom Forward, we’ve long fought for immigrant justice! We support immigrants and fight white supremacy by working to dismantle racist institutional practices and social behaviors. Here’s some of our campaigns:

#FloodICE (2020)

Over the summer of 2020, we threw ourselves into advocating for immigrants, completing over 650 actions to reunite families and working with Never Again Action to disrupt ICE’s “Citizen’s Academy” efforts in Chicago. When ICE wanted to recruit regular people for a propaganda program to teach “awareness and appreciation” for ICE’s deportation work, and train them on “firearms familiarization and targeted arrests, we responded by flooding them with fake applications.

#DAFightsBack (2019)

Stop the Snatchers: In July 2019, I.C.E. announced major immigration raids in ten U.S. cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Denver, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Baltimore, Chicago and Atlanta. We knew fan activists didn’t want to sit on the sidelines, camping in the Forest of Dean while stories of families being torn apart filter through the radio. So, we took action in the following ways, encouraging fan activists to: 1) Join local immigrant-serving organizations where they live. 2) Read and share this thread from United We Dream with clear actions and resources for undocumented folks and their allies. 3) Attend a Lights for Liberty rally.

At LeakyCon Dallas and LeakyCon Boston, we rolled out a new workshop: Stop the Snatchers, where we brought activists from RAICES, Never Again Action, and the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network to help fans learn how to take action and join the fight for immigrant rights and safety in their community. Nearly 200 fans attended these hour-long workshops. Get a taste of the magic with the audio recording of our conversation with RAICES.

Hogwarts House-themed actions: In 2019, we also developed four distinct actions aligned with the Hogwarts Houses so that everyone felt encouraged to get involved in immigrant justice. Gryffindors planned and attended protests and submitted letters to the editor, Ravenclaws researched to help us create a database, DA Fights Back Near You. Hufflepuffs then used that database to find and support immigrant-led and immigrant-serving organizations near them.

wizard rock the vote (2018)

During this campaign, wizard activists also learned how to phone bank and celebrated taking action in the face of hate with Peter Zuckerman (#NoOn105), Blanca Gamez (ACLU), undocumented activist Bambajan Bamba (Black Panther, The Good Place), documentary filmmaker and director Annalise Ophelian (Looking for Leia), comic creator Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez (La Borinqueña), Alexis Sanchez (Latinx Geeks), Robyn Jordan (Black Girls Create), and Anna Dardick (#VOTEPROCHOICE). Over the course of just 2 hours, we made over 7,000 calls to protect immigrants and encouraged Oregon voters to vote no on ballot measure 105.

Owls of Hope (2018)

When the U.S. State Department announced that they will cap refugee admissions at a historically low 30,000 people, we were heartbroken. So, we set out to protest the decision with love. Harkening back to the flood of Hogwarts letters that welcomed Harry to the wizarding world, wizard activists wrote 215 welcome letters to newly resettled refugees. We called the effort Owls of Hope. The letters were printed and hand-delivered to refugees at the Northwest Community Center in Dallas, TX. Read a first-hand account from one of our volunteers about the day she delivered the letters.

Superman is an Immigrant (2013)

Launched in June 2013, just in time for the premiere of Man of Steel, the Superman is an Immigrant campaign brought together two powerful justice fighting organizations: Define American and Fandom Forward. Founded by Jose Antonio Vargas, Define American uses the power of stories to transcend politics and shift the conversation in America about immigrants and citizenship, and how we Define American. 

The Superman is an Immigrant campaign focused on the story of Superman, or Kal-El, who came to America with a promise of hope from his home of Krypton, a symbol he wears on his chest. Superman struggles with his identity, and is afraid if the Americans he’s grown up among learn who he really is they’ll reject and ridicule him. Yet, in spite of this, Superman fights for truth, justice and the American way.

Many undocumented Americans and immigrant families in America, including Jose Vargas and Fandom Forward’s own Julian Gomez (see: Why I Can’t Go to LeakyCon), identify with Superman’s story. So, together the Fandom Forward and Define American launched the Superman is an Immigrant campaign with the WeAreTheAmericanWay Tumblr. Using the hashtag #IAmTheAmericanWay, individuals are encouraged to share their immigration story, showing that we are all the American Way.

Vote 2012 (DREAM Act in Maryland)

The 2012 election season brought on a whole lot of social change, and (as usual) Fandom Forward was at the center of the action! In keeping with the goals and message of our Equality FTW fundraiser, we teamed up with our members to phone bank 3,000 calls in support of marriage equality in Maine and 900 calls in support the DREAM Act in Maryland.

Spoiler Alert: WE WON ON BOTH COUNTS! And while we can’t take FULL credit for all the equality victories achieved in 2012, we certainly feel proud of our contributions to the process.

Why I Can’t Go to Leakycon (2012)

In July 2012, Fandom Forward volunteer, Julian Gomez, shared his video “Why I Can’t Go to LeakyCon.” In his video, Julian came out as an undocumented American, and explained why he couldn’t got to LeakyCon in Chicago. You see, even though Julian is an American and has spent pretty much his whole life in America, because he didn’t have the right papers, Julian couldn’t board a plane or a train to get to Chicago. In sharing his story, Julian hoped to raise awareness about undocumented Americans and the need for immigration reform.

Julian’s story resonated with throughout the community and beyond. He even became his own meme! And because the weapon we have (love) is so strong, Julian got to go to LeakyCon! In his follow up video “Why I Went to LeakyCon”, Julian praised the kindness of the Harry Potter community, as people had come forward offering to drive him to Chicago. The passion to get a fellow fan to LeakyCon and the passion to discuss immigration policy flaws in America go hand in hand.

“People’s willingness to help out someone they think deserves the same rights they do, including being able to attend this conference, show that they see me, the person, not me the undocumented immigrant,” Julian said. 

At LeakyCon that year, Julian, Jose Antonio Vargas and Andrew Slack hosted an immigration panel, raising awareness of stories like Julian’s across the United States and why immigration reform is so important. Julian’s story shows that words like “immigrant” and “undocumented” are just that: words. Julian, and thousands of other undocumented Americans like him, are people who should never be meant to feel like anything less. As part of the first Equality FTW fundraiser in the fall of 2012, Julian helped raise $94,803 for Fandom Forward to work on issues like immigration reform, LGBTQ rights, and equal access to education.