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INTRODUCTION In recent years, the word “immigrant” has become one of the most complex social identifiers in the United States. We find its criminalization outlined at every level, from the rhetoric that flows from the highest governing bodies of the nation, to local policies that police and disproportionately incarcerate black and brown people. We witness family separations at the US/Mexico border—the creation of modern-day concentration camps for children—and the banning of entire groups of people based on their religion vis-à-vis nationality. However, it wasn’t always this way. What it means to be an immigrant in the United States has evolved over time, from the European invasions of the Indigenous peoples’ territories of Turtle Island, now known as North America, to the celebration of our multicultural history. In the past, we have welcomed those most in need—a value embodied by the Statue of Liberty, which stills stands as a beacon of New York City. In the current political climate that dehumanizes and threatens the welfare of more than three million immigrants in the New York City metropolitan area, and more than 42 million foreign-born people in the United States, the time for the cultural and artistic community to rise as advocates for the human rights of immigrant people is now. Immigrant rights are human rights.
