Immigration Justice

The 9th Ward is home to a beautiful immigrant, refugee, and undocumented community. It’s where multiple languages meet and where different cultures come together in hopes of a better life. Unfortunately, with the continuous disinvestment, ICE raids looming over the heads of many Latinx families, and the scrutiny done to our East- African and Muslim community, we need to take action at the local level to address and support our immigrants.

What We Did: 

Immigration Legal Services: Led the Council to direct $150,000 for free immigration services like DACA, TPS, and right to counsel.

Hate Crime Prevention Program: Minneapolis has seen an increase in hate crimes in the last few years. I authored a $200,000 budget proposal that will provide the funding for an initiative that will include, but not be limited to, technical assistance and site analysis to support Minneapolis in addressing and preventing hate crimes.  

Increased Staff for the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs: Authored an amendment to create a new staff position to connect residents to various resources including, but not limited to, legal aid, housing assistance, employment, domestic violence, mental health services, and other critical needs. 

Loan Program Pilot: Established an immigration filing fee loan program to help residents pay immigration filing fees and establish access to credit. 

Intergovernmental Relations: Amended the City’ Legislative Agenda to explore options for post-conviction relief for a person in immigration removal proceedings.

Looking Ahead:

Reject any Countering-Violent-Extremism (CVE) funding that has been used to incarcerate and discriminate against Muslims and the East-African community. 

Our City needs to immediately STOP collaborating with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and must fight to keep all families together.