NOW Celebrates Immigration Heritage Month

June is Immigration Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the diversity of people and cultures that have made America great.  Yet this year, this celebration is muted by current events. 

More than 40 percent of U.S. citizens — including me — can trace their ancestry back to immigrants who arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. But today, many immigrant families are living with fear and uncertainty amid sweeping changes to immigration policies and police-state crackdowns on enforcement. 

The number of ICE arrests more than quadrupled during the first year of President Trump’s second term, with a record number of women and children — including babies and toddlers — in ICE detention. According to the Women’s Refugee Commission, at least 11,000 children experienced the arrest and detention of an immigrant parent in the first seven months of 2025.  

The impact on mothers has been especially severe. During that same period, the number of detained mothers increased by more than 300 percent. A recent report from the Brookings Institution estimates that as many as 145,000 U.S.-citizen children may have experienced the arrest or detention of a parent.