Throughout the presidential election, and particularly during the last several weeks, the endless stream of ugly and dangerous rhetoric directed at immigrant communities in the U.S. is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, a lot of this disinformation has seeped into everyday conversations despite being blatant lies.
We think it’s about time to correct the record on immigrants.
America’s Voice is thrilled to announce the launch of “Reclaiming Our Story,” a national campaign taking back our power and telling the real story of immigrants who live, work, and contribute to our nation every single day (and, they contribute big time–just ask the researchers). The campaign website features a one-stop shop of helpful facts, news links, infographics, blogs, and social media content that provides a counterweight to the negative and false narratives about immigrant workers and their families, millions of whom have called the U.S. home for years.
And to help spread the word about immigrant contributions, we’ve brought in some partners and familiar faces, including some you’ve maybe seen on TikTok or Instagram:
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“What would our country even look like without immigrants?” asks digital creator Mallory Hank-Johnson. “Spoiler alert: we’d be struggling. See, the thing is, immigrants aren’t just a part of the American story. They are the American story. For centuries, immigrants have been the backbone of our nation, helping build everything from neighborhoods to our biggest industries.”
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Fact check: true. Just take a look at the Reclaiming Our Story site and you’ll see how immigrants are the life’s blood of industries like agriculture, dairy, and construction, provide an outsized role in caring for our loved ones, educate our children, help revitalize dying towns, share their delicious cuisine, contribute billions and billions in local, state, and federal taxes every single year, will continue to be critical to future economic growth, and if all that weren’t enough already, have helped Team USA win big at the Olympics.
Basketball player Joel Embiid, an immigrant from Cameroon, won gold as part of the men’s basketball team. The children of immigrants also won big at the games, including celebrated gymnast Suni Lee. “An analysis by George Mason University’s Institute for Immigration Research found that 3.7% of athletes on this year’s US Olympic team are foreign-born, while more than 7% are children of immigrants or second-generation immigrants,” The Guardian reported. Immigrants – and their kids – get it done.
Bringing the receipts to debunk some of the most common myths about immigrants.
Follow @AmericasVoice & Click on https://t.co/sTlvDLeaUA to reclaim the immigrant story.#AmericasvoicePartner #immigrantnation #immigrationnation #ImmigrantsGOAT #reclaimingourstory pic.twitter.com/674aOsbT0D
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) October 11, 2024
Helping kick off the launch of Reclaiming Our Story this week were commentator and strategist Maria Cardona, Immigration Research Initiative Director David Dyssegaard Kallick, and former Congressman Luis Gutiérrez, a champion of immigrants throughout his tenure in Congress. “We know that we are a hard working community,” Rep. Gutiérrez said during the call. “But let me tell you, Latinos are Americans, we sing the same Star Spangled Banner and pledge to the same flag. That’s who we are at our core.”
Maria Cardona said that immigrants “have been here for decades and are long settled and have roots in our communities and they are business people and first responders and teachers and lawyers and doctors, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, everyone that we see in the grocery store, in our community, in our parks.” Immigrants, said David Dyssegaard Kallick, “are closely related to economic growth, more people means a bigger economy.” Watch our first video in the series, “History: A Nation of Immigrants,” below:
Throughout our history, immigrants have made contributions to our way of life, culture, and economy. We fiercely believe in the American Dream — and work hard to build a prosperous future for our country.
We are and have always been a nation of immigrants.#ReclaimingOurStory pic.twitter.com/Bz4QRBewaZ
— America's Voice (@AmericasVoice) October 17, 2024
“The story of immigration is central to who we are as America,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “and immigration has by far been a blessing to the United States.”
To get our message out as far as possible, we’re also investing a six-figure ad buy. But we need your help too. You can be an important partner in sharing the real story about immigrants and immigration by visiting the Reclaiming Our Story site, boosting its content using the #ReclaimingOurStory hashtag, and sharing this information with your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors. Click here to get started.
