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Over the last two decades, waves of immigrants have made rural communities their homes. According to the Pew Research Center, from 2000 to 2018 immigrants accounted for 37 percent of overall rural population growth. Driven by demand for labor in the argricultural, meat packing, and dairy processing industries, this growth has led to an economic revival of parts of rural America where communities were once on the decline.
While there has been a long history of efforts to erase and exclude immigrants, BIPOC, and other marginalized communities, this timeline shows how powerfully communities in Texas have resisted. From Indigenous nations fighting to preserve their culture to BIPOC communities organizing to end the criminalization of Black and Brown lives, people have sought to protect their freedom to move, stay, work, and thrive.
Roughly two months into the Biden administration, we will take a look at the administration’s immigration policy agenda—what has been achieved, what remains to be done, and what obstacles stand in the way.
In an election year when immigration is the top issue in the minds of many voters, these policies exacerbate xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and racist sentiments that further dehumanize and criminalize immigrant and refugee communities while also expanding state powers to detain, deport, and terrorize undocumented individuals. To respond to this moment, organizations are leveraging different strategies–from litigation to organizing–to prevent the implementation of these policies and create a more welcoming country for all.
Join us to learn about coordinated policy efforts across the states, a unique model for building farmworker power in Florida, and how advocates in Tennessee defeated anti-immigrant legislation.
Find all program-related materials for GCIR Webinar, "Strategies for Advancing Pro-immigrant Policies", here, including recording and powerpoint.
Find all program-related materials for GCIR's webinar "Resistance at the Border and Beyond: Frontline Efforts to Oppose Anti-Immigrant Legislation" here, including the session recording and transcription of the meeting.