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NEW YORK CITY — With immigration dominating the 2018 United States midterm elections, Law@the Margins today launches “We the Immigrants,” a weeklong multimedia series that explores how immigrant communities are organizing to address issues impacting their lives in America.
Supported by a Solutions Journalism Network Renewing Democracy grant and produced by Community Based News Room (CBNR), “We the Immigrants” features five stories from five journalists reporting on immigration issues in five US. regions: the East, South, Midwest, West and Northwest. The reports include text, photos and video that show how some of the nation’s newest residents are reinvigorating our democracy.
“Immigrant communities are either demonized by the current administration as criminals or they are presented as passive actors being exploited by our immigration legal system,” said Chaumtoli Huq, Law@theMargins founder and Community Based News Room publisher. “Our stories show immigrants taking action and engaging their neighbors, neighborhoods and communities to stand up for their rights. Using a solutions journalism frame, we focus on their responses to the immigration challenges of the day.“
The approach reveals how humane policies are in line with the core values of America and can strengthen the U.S. economy while building on our diverse heritage.
“Immigration is interwoven into the fabric of the United States,” said Eric Ortiz, executive editor of the Community Based News Room. “While political powers use immigration as a cynical tool of influence, we have a responsibility to humanize this polarizing issue. ‘We the Immigrants’ gives a platform to voices that often go unheard and provides a counternarrative to the biased, often dishonest, narrative being perpetuated about immigration.
“With this project, we want to spotlight the importance of local civic engagement and motivate others to create local solutions for immigrant rights. This is only the beginning of our work.”
The Community Based News Room, a collaborative journalism project of Law@theMargins, is a nonprofit virtual newsroom of professional journalists, social justice innovators, and people impacted by law and policy. Started in April 2018, CBNR works with marginalized voices to cover important issues in underrepresented communities across the U.S.
Media outlets or anyone else interested in working with CBNR should contact Eric Ortiz (erictortiz@gmail.com) or Chaumtoli Huq (lawatthemargins@gmail.com)
All “We the Immigrants” stories can be reprinted/republished in their entirety with a credit to Law@theMargins and a link to the original story on CBNR.
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE FOR WE THE IMMIGRANTS
The publishing schedule for “We the Immigrants” is as follows:
Monday, Nov, 5: Multimedia journalist Michael Nigro focuses on how Yemeni immigrant activists are changing a whole community’s mindset, led by Yemeni bodega owners in New York City standing up to Donald Trump’s travel ban.
Tuesday, Nov. 6: KCETLink digital producer Carla Pineda investigates how grassroots groups are using mobile technology to help undocumented black immigrants from Haiti, the Caribbean and Africa access networks of support and advocacy.
Wednesday, Nov. 7: Independent journalist Paul Street and Chaumtoli Huq look at how immigrants in small towns in Iowa and Nebraska are working with their non-immigrant neighbors to resist and fight ICE.
Thursday, Nov. 8: Public policy leader Irvis Orozco examines how the immigrant communities in Southern California and across the United States are responding to the Trump administration’s aggressive actions to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Friday, Nov. 9: Independent journalist Shannon Luders-Manuel explores how South Asian immigrants in the Pacific Northwest are working together to help individuals and families adjust after being released from detention.
