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New York Times article outlining the Biden Administration's stance on immigration.
The Second Quarterly President's Message from Marissa Tirona, GCIR President.
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.
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.
As a Mexican immigrant dedicated to building my career in the philanthropy space, I’m deeply moved and inspired by the Joint Foundation Statement on Immigration organized by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees.
A week ago, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees issued a powerful joint statement calling on funders to take a stand against President Trump’s executive orders on immigrants and refugees.
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to continue. The Court found that the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the program was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act and failed to consider the hardship to DACA recipients. The ruling allows DACA recipients to continue to receive the protections and benefits of the program.
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.