By Jaime Ballard
Michelle Rivero, the Director of the Minneapolis Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, spoke to a crowded zoom room on the Legal System and Political Climate for Immigrant and Refugee Families.
This meeting took place just after the university cancelled all in person events due to COVID. Every piece of Michelle Rivero’s comments felt more pressing than before COVID hit, as the effects of COVID have hit our immigrant and refugee families particularly hard. All the long-term stressors on immigrant families, such as lack of job security or protections and language and technology barriers to accessing resources, have been compounded by COVID-19. We learned that (something about immigrant workforce). We also learned about the organizations mobilizing to provide immediate relief, from labor unions to community fundraising drives to government advocacy. It is comforting and inspiring to turn to the office’s website and see the resources laid out.
Ms. Rivero drew a picture of the potential impact of our research. She demonstrated the scale of the changes that can be affected by research conducted with strong community and government partnerships. In 2018, city officials asked for insight into proposed deportation policies. After gathering data from community agencies, officials learned that thirty-six percent of Liberian workers are employed in health-related fields. Evidence suggested that deportation would weaken our health care workforce in Minneapolis. Officials changed the policy. This research impacted individual lives in a substantial way, and impacted our whole community – keeping families united, more well, and more financially stable, and protecting our community’s health care and health.