Resources for Immigrants

June is Immigrant Heritage Month! This is an especially important celebration because Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts couldn't be what they are today without immigrants. The Boston Mayor's office even designated 2025 as the Year of Belonging to celebrate newcomers. At a time when immigrant communities are more vulnerable than ever, any recognitions and protections are most welcomed.

As the City Council wrote up in their recent post about Immigrant Heritage Month:

Immigrants make up over 28% of Boston’s population, with nearly 189,500 foreign-born residents calling the city home. One in ten Bostonians is a naturalized citizen, and nearly 30,000 more are eligible for citizenship. Immigrants play essential roles in every sector of Boston’s workforce – from healthcare and construction to education and entrepreneurship. In fact, immigrants own 28% of Boston’s businesses and contribute billions to the city’s economy and tax base.

We need people from all over the world to make Boston and Massachusetts the vibrant home that it is now. The traditions and cultures that immigrants bring enrich our music, dances, food, businesses, fashion, and celebrations. Their influence also changes how we view our community and the world. Without the impact of immigrants, we will lose what it is to be a thriving hub of life and progress in the U.S. 

To read more about the people who decide to make Boston home, take a look at these demographic reports. The map of Boston's neighborhoods by country of origin is particularly cool! Because these reports are usually dependent on census records, the reports often don't cover 2025 or 2024, but you can see trends happening all the way to 2023. The Immigrant Learning Center has demographics for all of Massachusetts (and its own very cool interactive map). 

Immigrant celebrations

I already linked the Year of Belonging, which comes with dance parties and musical celebrations. Boston also has a number of other cultural heritage organizations that have celebrations to support our City multicultural and multilingual heritage in June and throughout the summer:

• The Pao Arts Center holds free art celebrations, movie showings, art classes, and more for our Asian American & Pacific Islander community and its supporters.
• Caribbean American Heritage Fest is kicking off early in June. Tickets are free!
• Somerville is kicking off June with the New England Hong Kong Festival and an international Carnaval!
• The Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA) has both informational and fun events coming up.
• The Boston Public Library has general immigrant-focused events.  We also have events celebrating the heritage, languages, and traditions of specific international and immigrant communities, including Caribbean, Vietnamese & Filipino, Brazilian, Japanese, Haitian, Chinese, and Spanish-speaking countries like Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and more.

Immigrant protections

• The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (AG) offers a thorough Know Your Rights: ICE Enforcement document, information on labor rights and fair labor for immigrant workers, and how the Office of the AG can support you if you're a victim of hate-based violence.
• Print out Know-Your-Rights cards and posters from the Massachusetts Immigrants & Refugee Advocacy Coalition. 
• The Massachusetts government offers an Emergency Planning Guide for parents with uncertain immigration status or concerned about potential detention.
• The RIAN Immigrant Center offers many resources, including information on family preparedness, detention, and immigrant rights.
• Call LUCE Immigrant Justice Center of Massachusetts to report ICE activities.
• Factsheet on the new registration rule from the federal government.
  • Keep up to date on immigration policy updates through the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition's Policy Updates page.

Immigrant resources

• The Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA) is Boston's official organization in place to help recent immigrants. The Office offers immigration consultations, citizenship information, legal resources, programs & events for immigrants, and more!  
• The Boston Public Library also provides Immigrant Information Corners for information and resources on rights, legal assistance, and citizenship.
• For those looking to build their language skills, the library offers Mango Languages, ESOL classes, and books in multiple languages.

For more on the City of Boston's support for immigrant workers and small businesses, take a look at the slides in this linked document: Employers' and Workers Rights & Responsibilities_Immigration Enforcement.

From BPL's collection

And finally, here's a selection of booklists for stories and perspectives from some of our immigrant communities!

• Caribbean American Heritage Month
• Hispanic Heritage Month
• AAPI Heritage Month
• Haitian Heritage Month for Kids & Teens and for Entrepreneurs
• Vietnamese Diaspora Booklist
• Arab American Heritage Month
• Nigerian Diaspora
• Irish American Heritage Month

Interested in how to learn more about your immigrant ancestors? Take a look at this blog post, "Genealogy: Using Historic Immigration Records to Research Your Ancestors."