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Featured Tag: MIRA coalition blog

Policy Updates – 9/17/26

With the administration’s new Public Charge rule set to go into effect on September 18, 22 states filed suit in federal court earlier this week in order to stop the rule. In their complaint, the states argue that the new rule “removes any meaningful guidance” regarding what USCIS officers may consider and that the administration … Continued

Hispanic Heritage Month: The Freedom We Carry Across Borders

En español The Freedom We Carry Across Borders contributed by Luciano Paskevicius, Lowell Alliance When people speak about Hispanic Heritage Month, the conversation often turns to food, music, language, and traditions. Those things matter, but for me, heritage lives somewhere deeper. It lives in the values and political ideas we carry from one generation to … Continued

Haitina history in Massachusetts, and the impact of the Supreme Court's decision to end TPS

Haitian History in Massachusetts, and the Supreme Court’s Decision to End TPS: A Home for Generations, Now Under Threat

Haitian immigrants have been an important part of Massachusetts culture and community for more than 65 years. The first wave arrived in the late 1950s and 1960s, professionals and intellectuals fleeing repression under the Duvalier dictatorship. A larger wave followed after 1980, and the community has grown steadily ever since, first centered around St. Leo … Continued

Learning To Be At Home by Yoana Kuzmova

Learning to be at Home by Yoana Kuzmova, MACI Senior Staff Attorney

In 2026, immigrant heritage month is a welcome reminder of the unquestionable reality of an immigrant heritage for the vast majority of this country’s citizens. Recognitions like it are part of what makes Massachusetts home to me. Being an immigrant, along with migration’s banal calculus of survival and striving for upward social mobility, have marked … Continued

Seeking Safety and Belonging: Challenges in LGBTQ+ Immigrant Rights

Seeking Safety and Belonging: Challenges in LGBTQ+ Immigrant Rights

LGBTQ+ immigrants navigate an intersection of marginalization, including high rates of discrimination, elevated risks of abuse within the immigration detention system, family separation and increased levels of stress and isolation while trying to access legal protections. These dual stigmas often amplify the multiple and compounded traumas they experience in their countries of origin and isolation upon arrival in the United States.

Immigrant Heritage Month: Celebrating Strength by Smriti Rupaketi

Immigrant Heritage Month: Celebrating Strength by Smriti Rupaketi, MIRA’s People and Administration Specialist

Immigrant heritage month gives me a chance to look back on my journey and think about everything it took to get here. Behind every move to a new country is someone who has left behind families, friends and culture in hopes of finding new opportunities, stability and a better future.

I was born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal which is a beautiful country in Southeast Asia. In 2020, me, my husband and child made the decision to leave our home

The Courage to Begin Again by Gil Calderin

Honoring Immigrant Heritage Month: The Courage to Begin Again by Gil Calderin, MIRA’s Director of Advocacy

I want to begin by saying that I am a proud immigrant from Cuba. I am deeply grateful for the people who have walked alongside me on my life’s journey and for the opportunities that the United States continues to give me.

Nearly 30 years ago, my mother made an incredibly bold decision. She moved to the United States with me and without a dime in her pocket. She took a leap of faith that would forever change our lives.

14 Years of DACA: A Broken Promise

14 Years of DACA: A Broken Promise

Fourteen years ago June 15, the federal government made a commitment to young people without permanent residency who had grown up here, gone to school here, and who called the US home. The message then was: You belong. Stay and contribute.

Now the stability DACA granted is under threat – in part because the government has chosen inaction as a weapon.