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We find ourselves in a precarious moment for the right to seek asylum in the United States. While advocates continue to push for more inclusive and welcoming state and local policies for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, the fundamental right to seek safety in the U.S. continues to be at grave risk. Though last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision cleared the way for the Biden administration to rescind the inhumane Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico,” an array of cruel and ineffective asylum and immigration policies still stand, foremost among them Title 42.
Join this webinar to learn more about pressing state and federal immigration policy issues from campaign leaders and to explore steps funders can take to support their efforts.
GCIR's Amplify series features interviews with immigrant justice field leaders to showcase their work and provide a platform for their perspectives. In this edition, GCIR President Marissa Tirona hosts our very first Amplify podcast episode! She speaks with Paco de Onís and Pamela Yates, who co-founded Skylight Pictures, a nonprofit human rights media organization.
This briefing will feature a panel of speakers representing nonprofit organizations working on the front lines to strengthen our democracy and advance immigrant rights in their communities.
As the results of the 2024 presidential election come into focus, now is the time to share and advance strategies for leveraging our resources and positional power to protect immigrants, refugees, and their families from the threats to come. Join GCIR, movement organizations, and funders for a post-election debrief and discussion about this new reality, the strategies that are already being put into place, and how philanthropy can act quickly, powerfully, and decisively to support those efforts while keeping an eye on the long game of building a multiracial and inclusive democracy.
Join GCIR to learn how advocates are addressing the closure of the border and the resulting denial of access to safety while defending people who have made the United States their home.
As the daughter of a Chinese-Thai father and a Filipina mother, I struggled with stereotypes of Asian American/Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), including being perceived as a “perpetual foreigner.” When I was in kindergarten, my parents offered me the choice of learning Thai or Tagalog. However, my classmates were already teasing me because of my perceived otherness, and I roundly rejected learning another language because I was “American.” I received compliments about how “well” I spoke English. And questions such as “Where are you from?” followed by “Where are you really from?” when my answer was unsatisfactory for my interrogator, started to trigger me.
In this webinar, we’ll review some of the topline themes that animated the first 100 days of the Trump presidency and will explore how federal policy developments have played out in local and state contexts. This program will give funders the opportunity to learn how philanthropy can support efforts to defend immigrant rights and our multiracial democracy, building on GCIR's 100 day policy state-of-play report.
GCIR is thrilled to host our 2024 National Convening in Detroit, Michigan. To help tell the city's migration story, we have created "Destination Detroit: A Timeline of Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian Migration." This timeline is focused on the history of Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (BAMEMSA) communities in the United States – from the arrival of Juan Garrido and Esteban de Dorantes in the 1500s, to the publication of The Life of Omar Ibn Said in 1831, to the arrival of Arab immigrants after the Civil War, to the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South through most of the 20th century, to the embrace of Islam by many Black Americans, to the emergence of a coordinated movement of BAMEMSA groups advocating for justice and dignity in the 21st century.
Looking back on the first year of the Biden administration, we remember that there was initially great promise and early progress toward advancing immigrant justice and restoring immigrant rights. The administration began by undoing many of the Trump administration’s racist and draconian immigration policies, including fortifying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), rescinding the Muslim Ban, and ending government funding of a border wall. Yet, recent actions taken by the current administration, such as expelling Haitian migrants and increasing the number of immigrant detainees during a worldwide pandemic, continue to negatively impact communities.
This two-page infographic examines various demographic aspects of the immigrants and refugees who call Michigan home, the ramifications of Michigan's position as a border state, and the ways in which immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are strengthening Michigan's communties.
GCIR's Vice President of Programs Ivy O. Suriyopas interviews Maureen Meyer, the Vice President of Programs at the Washington Office on Latin America, for an expansive conversation about the root causes of migration, the U.S. government’s role in driving instability in the region, and how history can inform philanthropy’s work moving forward. U.S. Intervention and Modern Migration in the Americas timline, the root causes of migration, the U.S. government’s role in driving instability in the region, and how history can inform philanthropy’s work moving forward.
When you are a Black child in Africa, often the narrative is that our dreams are not valid. However, I am a Zambian who was born and raised on the Continent and was exposed to a multitude of experiences ranging from extreme poverty to traveling to several countries before I turned ten, while also being fortunate enough to play with school friends who came from all over the world. These experiences were critical to instilling confidence in me that my dreams were indeed valid and – even though it is perceived that the Western world and global north holds all the power and resources – what we as Africans had was in fact enough to be happy. However, when I moved to America, those common perceptions started to feel very real, while the dreams seemed nearly impossible.
With the federal administration set to end the use of public health law Title 42 as an expulsion tool to deny would-be asylum seekers entry into the United States (a policy deemed unconstitutional by a federal court late last year) tomorrow, it is widely expected that a significant number of individuals and families will enter the U.S. through the southern border in search of refuge. Therefore, GCIR is calling on philanthropy to resource immediate and long term responses to the humanitarian needs of migrants.
Join this call to learn about how federal policy will impact trafficking victims and survivors, the existing support infrastructure for survivors, and how philanthropy is responding, from investments in prevention and direct services to systemic solutions.
In the first eight months of the Trump administration, arrests and deportations of immigrants rose 40 percent versus the year before. Yet it may not last. A new report from Migration Policy Institute finds it is “unlikely” the current level of removals will continue.
GCIR's Ivy O. Suriyopas and Rana Elmir at RISE Together Fund at Proteus Fund explain how philanthropy can respond to the crises facing Afghan migrants in the U.S. and help ensure an equitable and humane path for Afghans.
For the second year in a row, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees led a delegation to the nation’s capital to meet directly with policy-makers and discuss the most pressing immigration issues of our time.
What does it mean to be an American? How has the United States defined citizenship over time? To explore these critical questions, GCIR has developed a timeline, “Who Gets to Be an American,” which provides in-depth information on the evolution of American citizenship and how the United States has determined who belongs in this country and who does not. Understanding this history and the forces that drive it is critical to understanding how we decide who gets to be American today. This is the first in a series of timelines GCIR will release over the coming year, culminating in the release of a full Im/Migration Timeline tracking the history of movement within, to, and from the United States through a decolonized lens.