Who We Are

Our Mission

CIYJA creates a space for intersectional, system-impacted undocumented and refugee immigrant youth across California with an emphasis on underserved QTBIPOC communities.

We organize through an abolitionist framework to close down detention centers and build up community power through providing holistic care, transforming communities, and cultivating leadership for liberation.

Our History

Circa 2012

The California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA) formerly known as CADTA (California Dream Team Alliance) was formed about 12 years ago as a statewide coalition to bring together organizers from around the state mobilizing for the DREAM Act.

As a result of voting from former organizers that excluded criminalized community members, CIYJA chose to no longer identify with the dreamer label and took on its current name on May 2013. Since then, CIYJA has focused on the intersection of crimmigration and implementing an abolitionist lens.