Updates
New Service Locations for Unaccompanied Children in Michigan
On an ongoing basis, the federal government contracts with local agencies to expand short and long-term custodial services to immigrant children in Michigan. When new facilities open or current facilities expand, legal services contracts are sought to support the children who will come to these new placements. MIRC provides legal services to all children in the currently funded federal custodial settings in Michigan and works to ensure that whenever the... more
UC Emergency Intake Site Now Inactive
For the first time in Michigan’s history as a receiving state for unaccompanied children, an Emergency Intake Site (EIS) was located in the state beginning in late Spring 2021 (more about the opening here). EIS facilities are considered in the unaccompanied children framework as a resource for temporary shelter when an unusually high number of children overwhelms system resources. In other states where EIS operations have been more commonplace, advocates... more
Unaccompanied Children in Michigan
Children are children, regardless of their nationality, and our law and our values require us to act in their best interest. We know that children seeking asylum and other immigration protections are incredibly resilient but have experienced trauma and need a supportive environment. Our goal is to provide the best quality legal services we can to help ensure they have the safety and care they need to thrive. When children cannot be placed with their... more
Statement in Support of Farmworker Protections
Many farmworkers travel long distances to work in Michigan harvesting, packing, and processing our fruits and vegetables and they are dependent on their employer for both work and housing. The work they do is often dangerous and always physically and mentally demanding. Yet, the men, women, and children, who harvest, pack and process our fruits and vegetables, have been left out of employment protections other workers enjoy. The exclusion of farmworkers... more
Understanding Family Separation and MIRC's Response
In May 2018, the Trump administration formally announced a “zero tolerance” immigration policy and began prosecuting nearly all adult immigrants illegally entering the United States on misdemeanor charges. As a result, the U.S. government removed any children from these immigrants’ care and placed the children in shelters or federal foster care. This practice of family separation was also enforced against parents applying for asylum at U.S. ports of entry... more
Remembering the Welcoming Michigan Launch!
View Facebook album from the launch!
Welcoming Michigan is a statewide immigrant inclusion initiative of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center that launched on May 7, 2012. Through this program we partner with community-based organizations, local governments, individuals and institutions across the state that are interested in making local communities more welcoming for immigrants, refugees, and all residents. We provide technical assistance and collaborate on projects to create more... more
Fighting for Farmworker Minimum Wage
Photo Credit: Detroit News
The right to a minimum wage is one of the most basic and fundamental protections a worker can count on in the workplace. Agricultural workers are among the most vulnerable and often-exploited workers, doing one of the most dangerous, and essential jobs, in today's economy. Michigan’s Wage and Hour laws are meant to offer stateside protection to workers where the federal government will not. Until very recently, this included agricultural workers on... more
"Without Work, What Would You Do?"
I joined MIRC in January of 2019 to help support MIRC’s expanding farmworker and immigrant workers rights litigation team. MIRC’s focus on equity and belonging for immigrants in Michigan communities is work that resonates with my lived experience. I was born in Honduras and came to the States a couple of months before I turned 4. I grew up in the Bronx in the 1980s and like many first or second generation Latinx immigrants, I learned and spoke English at... more
Seeking Dignity and Opportunity in Washtenaw County
I am a Washtenaw County-focused staff attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. I have held that position for about a year and a half. The Washtenaw County immigration legal services grant that funds my work was born of the work of local community advocates and the County Board of Commissioners. In 2017, community advocates such as the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (WICIR) saw the need for increased practical support for... more
Statement on Ongoing Family Separation Crisis
Today, the Texas Civil Rights Project released a new report, The Real National Emergency: Zero Tolerance & the Continuing Horrors of Family Separation at the Border, showing how family separations have continued at the Southwest border. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center provides legal services to every child who comes to Michigan as an "unaccompanied" child in federal immigration custody. This has included children unlawfully made "unaccompanied"... more
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