WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the I Stand With Immigrants campaign, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and Resilience Force are launching a ten-city art campaign to celebrate To Immigrants With Love (TIWL), an annual effort in February to lift up and celebrate immigrants and let all immigrants know that they are loved and valued. In partnership with NILC’s Immigrants Are Essential national storytelling campaign, this year’s celebration features stories of the immigrant essential frontline workers who are keeping millions of people safe, healthy, and cared for in midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.The campaign makes clear what most Americans know to be true – that #ImmigrantsAreEssential – while also honoring both the contributions and injustices immigrants across America face.
The campaign, displaying unique, newly-designed digital and physical poster art, is launching in 10 cities with high immigrant populations — including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. More than 1,500 posters and billboards will be displayed, featuring individuals like Orlando, a Haitian immigrant working at a supermarket helping to keep families fed.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the National Immigration Law Center and Resilience Force to send a clear message: immigrants are loved, valued, essential, and welcome,” said Jen Martin, Director of the I Stand With Immigrants Initiative. “We hope this beautiful art will help lift up the countless contributions of immigrants in communities across our country.”
“To Immigrants With Love is a powerful message of support to the millions of immigrants in our nation, many of whom are working in essential roles and helping us get through this pandemic,” stated Victoria Ballesteros, director of communications at the National Immigration Law Center. “The best way for our nation to show our love and appreciation for immigrants is for Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented, and access to COVID relief and workplace protections.”
“Whether it’s the disaster of COVID-19, or increasingly frequent and forceful climate disasters, immigrants play an outsized role in every recovery,” said Saket Soni, director of Resilience Force. “Our country’s immigration policies today stand in the way of the recognition, respect, and rewards for the work they do that immigrants deserve, and also stand in the way of making every community in America truly resilient.”
The posters and billboards also feature people like Graciela and Veronica — originally from Mexico, they are farmworkers in California doing vital agricultural work to keep food on tables across the U.S. Gabby and Douglas, resilience workers from Venezuela who now call Florida home, are helping communities recover and rebuild after climate disasters like hurricanes and floods.
The individuals featured in the two-week long campaign help lend a face to the critical — but often unseen, undervalued, and overlooked — labor that immigrants undertake and support every single day. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the value of their work even clearer. To Immigrants With Love highlights these countless contributions, and reinforces that immigrants of all backgrounds deserve stability and legal protections.
