Throughout a time when these standing on the bully pulpit search solely to divide and instill concern about immigrants who name the USA their house, it’s vital that we do not forget that we’re speaking about individuals, all of whom have their very own distinctive tales, views, hopes and contributions to the communities which have welcomed them.
It’s the primary message of this 12 months’s Worldwide Migrants Day, which is noticed each Dec. 18 and acknowledges migrants all all over the world. This 12 months’s theme, “My Nice Story: Cultures and Growth,” seeks to focus on “how human mobility drives development, enriches societies, and helps communities join, adapt, and help each other,” stated the U.N.’s Worldwide Group for Migration. “In 2025, this message is extra pressing than ever as migration continues to form economies, communities, and world improvement.”
Immigration has all the time performed an enormous half in our historical past and migrants deliver variety and power to our communities. Let’s struggle to guard their rights.
— America’s Voice (@americasvoice.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T14:15:15.249Z
Right here in the USA, Desange Kuenihira is amongst former refugees working to instill hope in people who’re dealing with hardships in their very own house nations right this moment. Kuenihira is aware of first-hand what they’re experiencing and feeling, after she fled lethal battle within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sheltered in a Ugandan refugee camp earlier than being resettled in Utah.
“The expertise was arduous and will have damaged anybody,” Kuenihira wrote for USA for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Company. “However within the face of all this, I found a power inside myself that I didn’t know existed. I spotted that resilience isn’t nearly surviving—it’s about thriving regardless of the obstacles, about discovering hope in even the darkest moments.”
“Adapting to a brand new life was not simple,” she continued. “The variations in tradition, customs and even day-to-day expectations had been daunting. However every problem taught me one thing worthwhile. It taught me the right way to be resourceful, the right way to be affected person, and the right way to keep hopeful within the face of adversity.” She’s remodeled that adversity into unDEfeated, her non-profit uplifting “Uganda’s most weak by enhancing training for underprivileged youth, and offering help for households, and single working moms.”
Now an American citizen, Kuenihira additionally authored “Undefeated Girl,” a memoir “chronicling her refugee journey from the day by day struggles of life in a refugee camp in Uganda to resettling in the USA,” USA for UNHCR stated. Earlier this 12 months, Desange was additionally named USA for UNHCR’s 2025 Refugee Storyteller Celebration winner, and was a World Refugee Day featured storyteller.
The greater than three million refugees who, like Kuenihira, who’ve been resettled within the U.S. since 1975 achieve this rather more than enrich our nation with their aspirations and traditions, they enrich it actually. One Well being and Human Companies examine from 2024 discovered that refugees and asylees are internet contributors to the U.S. financial system, paying an estimated $581 billion in income to native, state, and federal economies. “They contributed an estimated $363 billion to the federal authorities by way of payroll, revenue, and excise taxes, and $218 billion to state and native governments, by way of revenue, gross sales, and property taxes.”
Refugees additionally “enter the workforce at excessive charges, typically filling labor shortages in important industries,” the Worldwide Rescue Committee stated earlier this 12 months, and strengthen communities by way of their resilience and expertise. “In cities like Buffalo, NY, and Fargo, ND, refugee entrepreneurs have revitalized total neighborhoods, turning deserted storefronts into thriving small companies that create jobs and enhance native economies.”
In actual fact, immigration general advantages all of us. Immigrants are natural-born entrepreneurs who outpace U.S.-born People in terms of beginning a small enterprise. Immigrant-led companies employed almost eight million People, based on knowledge from the New American Economic system. Immigrant entrepreneurs have been a important element of our nation’s financial development, boasting $1.3 trillion in complete gross sales, stated the New American Economic system. And, future GDP development relies on neighbors like Delinec Fernández, a Venezuelan immigrant who additionally now calls Indiana her house and established the state’s first Venezuelan bakery.
Candy Deli Venezuelan Bakery acquired its begin as a approach to usher in some revenue throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she informed BORGEN Journal. “At present, the bakery serves not solely as a cultural bridge but additionally as an financial engine.”
“Migration has all the time been a drive that binds the world collectively,” UN Girls stated forward of Worldwide Migrants Day. “Throughout borders and generations, the motion of individuals has pushed cultural alternate, strengthened communities, and energized economies. On the coronary heart of this story are girls.”
“Whether or not migrating themselves, supporting family members from afar, or adapting to the modifications migration brings to their households, girls play a significant and sometimes invisible position. Their earnings maintain households. Their care work helps total communities. Their management helps societies adapt and flourish.”
“As we mark at the present time, UN Girls honours the power, management, and braveness of migrant girls and ladies in every single place,” the assertion continued. “Their tales are tales of hope, transformation, and world connection. Their contributions are important — to households, communities, and the shared future we’re constructing collectively.”
