June marks the observance of Juneteenth, World Refugee Day, and Immigrant Heritage Month, giving the United States an opportunity to reflect on the essential role that racialized minorities have played, and continue to play, in shaping the character, economy, culture, and history of this country. It is a month meant to honor those who, through sacrifice and adversity, have sought a better life on American soil.

But today, we must also recognize the painful paradoxes of current migration realities, where this celebration, as well as the upcoming Independence Day, is experienced by many amid fear, and where Black and Brown communities continue to face deep racial and social stigmas.

The United States is a nation built by enslaved people and by immigrants; their stories are interwoven with the country’s roots, from the earliest settlers to today’s refugees and international workers.

It is a fact that immigrants have contributed to every aspect of national life: innovating, working, educating, healing, and caregiving. Immigrant Heritage Month should serve as a reminder of the nation’s commitment to dignity, equality, and opportunity for all who arrive in this land seeking safety and freedom. However, many immigrants –especially those without legal status– live a perhaps unprecedented reality of great uncertainty and fear.

In recent months, more aggressive immigration control laws and growing partisan polarization have created an increasingly hostile political rhetoric that has turned millions of immigrants, whether documented or not, into objects of suspicion and scapegoats.

Families live in constant fear of racial profiling, and in vulnerable cases, of being separated by indiscriminate deportations.                                   

Studies show that children suffer trauma from the looming threat of separation, and many people avoid hospitals, schools, public spaces, and even their workplaces out of fear of being detained. This climate of fear erodes trust in institutions, divides neighbors and communities, and contradicts the very values Immigrant Heritage Month seeks to celebrate.

As Cuban-American Ph.D. Estela López, from the University of Connecticut, writes in her article I’m a Migrant, “The notion that immigrants today are detrimental to the life of this country should be dispelled once and for all. More than any other in world history, this country has benefitted from their presence.”

Reflecting on what it costs an immigrant today to succeed in the U.S., Farhat Popal of the George Bush Institute writes, “The American dream is alive for immigrants, but the obstacles can feel nearly insurmountable.”

Added to this is the historic wound of racial segregation in the United States, which still affects many immigrants today—particularly Black and dark-skinned individuals who face a double burden: xenophobia and systemic racism. This manifests in realities such as Black and Brown immigrants being detained and deported at higher rates. Latino immigrants are criminalized and racially stigmatized, especially now in Democratic jurisdictions pressured by the Trump Administration, as well as in border states and rural areas.

While the country has made undeniable progress on racial issues, Pew Center statistics show that the majority of Black adults today say they have experienced racial discrimination (75%)—either regularly (13%) or occasionally (62%)—and believe that Black people must work harder than others to succeed. Only 23% say they have never felt discriminated against because of their race.

The growing closure of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) offices in government agencies, universities, and various institutions represents a major setback in institutional commitment to racial and social justice. While presented as a defense of meritocracy or free speech, in practice, it involves the elimination of institutional support for historically excluded, marginalized, and vulnerable groups, like immigrants.

Ultimately, this is a struggle for the values of the United States. To truly celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month means committing to building a country where all people, regardless of birthplace, skin color, or immigration status, can live without fear, with dignity, and with a future worth celebrating.