Immigration

This Hispanic Heritage Month, We Honor Immigrant Families by Fighting for Healthcare Justice

PUBLISHED 9/29/2025 by

My family immigrated from Mexico to California when I was 3 years old. My brother wasn’t walking and was showing signs of physical delays. Unable to find answers back home, my parents sacrificed everything—our home, their small business, a familiar life—in search of a diagnosis, treatment and hope. This Latine Heritage Month, I’m reminded of the strength of the women in my family in the face of migration and uncertainty, and the extraordinary community in the U.S. that welcomed us. 

Immigrants have long been unable to healthcare because of coverage gaps or restrictions. Immigrant and migrant women have had especially difficult times getting access to abortions.

Healthcare access, including the full spectrum of reproductive care, can make or break lives. Nobody should be denied healthcare, no one should have to choose between paying for healthcare and rent, and no one should fear deportation for going to the doctor.

All of us should have access to care. Period.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)

A Message From the Life of Urvashi Vaid: Do Not Remain Silent

PUBLISHED 9/26/2025 by | UPDATED 10/1/2025 at 9:01 A.M. PT

When the 18-minute documentary There Are Things To premiered in Provincetown, Mass., in 2023, it was never meant to be a global statement. It was meant to be a love letter, a short community film about a long legacy. But like the woman it honors— activist Urvashi Vaid—it refused to stay small.

And how could it? We are living through a time when naturalized citizens are being threatened with denaturalization, children are being separated from their parents during immigration raids, people are crossing state lines just to access basic reproductive healthcare, and pregnant women who desperately want children are dying in homes and hospitals or on their way to seek medical care because doctors delay or deny treatment under strict abortion laws. These are not fringe headlines—they are daily realities in one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Against this backdrop, There Are Things to Do (now available for streaming on PBS) arrives like a gentle ambush. Its power is subtle, but the provocation is clear: What if the most radical thing an immigrant could do in America is not assimilate, but organize?

Nighttime Deportations: When Government Policy Becomes Child Trauma

PUBLISHED 9/8/2025 by

The Departments of Homeland Security, as well as Health and Human Services, hit a new low over Labor Day weekend: Government officials ordered the deportation of over 600 Guatemalan children in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, a federal judge quickly acted to block the removals, at least for now—but the events that unfolded between Aug. 29 and Aug. 31 are a sobering indictment of all that is wrong with Trump’s campaign against immigrants. In a single night, the Trump administration may have permanently scarred children who were just beginning to feel like they had found a safe place, far away from the danger and threats they had fled.

Their terror and confusion is captured in the affidavits children and witnesses filed with the court over the next few days. One boy described how shelter staff woke him at 2 in the morning, telling him he would be leaving in a few hours; he had no time to wash his face or brush his teeth but had to gather his things and go. For a minute, he just sat there, staring into space, unable to fathom what going back to Guatemala might mean. Another child became so scared that she vomited. 

Many worried whether their parents or relatives could even answer the phone at such an hour or be ready to receive them. Some asked in trembling voices, “¿Me van a mandar a otro albergue en Guatemala?” “Are they going to send me to another shelter in Guatemala?”

A Houston Mother Held by ICE Must Choose: Indefinite Detention or Be Deported Without Her Family

PUBLISHED 9/8/2025 by

Margarita Avila, a Houston mother of nine, was detained by ICE after an altercation that led to no charges. Her close-knit family weigh their futures if she is deported.

Margarita requested asylum in the U.S. more than a decade ago, and her case has been pending ever since. Meanwhile, she and José have grown their family in Texas, and like many other immigrants, they have put down deep roots. They bought a house in Houston’s Independence Heights neighborhood, started a landscaping business that grew to hundreds of customers and had five U.S.-born sons who are American citizens.

Because of their various immigration statuses (some undocumented, some pending asylum, some U.S. citizens) Margarita’s deportation would make it difficult and in some cases impossible to see her close-knit family. Her husband would have to decide whether to stay in the U.S. with their two youngest children or follow his wife to Belize so they can raise the boys together in a country Isaac and Jeremiah have never known. For the oldest children born in Belize, it could mean not seeing their mother for years because they don’t have permanent legal status.

Margarita Avila, 50, is among the tens of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. targeted for deportation in President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump has said his administration is going after “the worst of the worst” in an attempt to deport 1 million immigrants annually. But six months into Trump’s second administration, at least 70 percent of the more than 56,000 immigrants detained across the country didn’t have a criminal record.

Ms. Global: Starvation’s Effects on Women in Gaza, Gisele Pelicot Awarded France’s Legion of Honor, Taliban Enforces Dress Laws for Women, and More

PUBLISHED 9/3/2025 by and

The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.

This week: News from Gaza, Thailand, Canada, and more.

Keeping Score: Democrats Fight Republican Redistricting; Periods Make College Students Miss Class; Costco Refuses to Sell (Safe, Legal) Abortion Pills to Appease Antiabortion Politics

PUBLISHED 8/25/2025 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—“I am deeply alarmed by news reports that Costco is refusing to sell safe, effective, and legal medication for no other reason than to appease the politics of antiabortion fanatics,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
—The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee called for Democrat-led state legislatures to pursue redistricting: “The DLCC refuses to allow Republicans to rig the maps to keep themselves in power.”
—“A troubling shift is underway: Women are leaving the U.S. workforce in unprecedented numbers. But this isn’t a choice; it’s a consequence,” warned Catalyst president and CEO Jennifer McCollum after a report showed 212,000 women have left the workforce since January.
—A third of college students have missed class because of their period.
—The Trump administration is planning to restrict coverage of abortion care for veterans in almost all circumstances.
—RFK Jr. takes aim at antidepressant use during pregnancy, despite American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ approving of their usage.
—Texas’ abortion ban has made miscarriages more dangerous.
—A federal court blocked the Trump administration’s restrictions on grants from the Office on Violence Against Women. Seventeen states had challenged the restrictions, and the order is a temporary win for organizations supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence. 

… and more.

From Alligator Alcatraz to National Guard Patrols: What Is the Cost of the Trump Administration’s Cruelty?

PUBLISHED 8/13/2025 by

Reserve forces of the U.S. Army, 800 National Guardsmen, and for some reason, 120 FBI agents, are being newly assigned by El Presidente to patrol our national capital—citing crime as his motive, though it’s dropped by a third in recent (Biden) years. He’s already done this in Los Angeles for the last 60 days and predicts other cities are on his list: Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland, New York City—all places that just happen to vote blue.

Early on, the Pentagon testified it would spend about $134 million for the LA deployment, which sounds like a low-ball figure to anyone who’s recently shopped for groceries to feed 5,000 hungry young men three meals a day. And now, California’s governor is asking for the total cost to taxpayers of this “unlawful” deployment—because whether it’s political theater or not, we’re the ones footing the bill.

RFK Jr.’s HHS Slashes Healthcare Access and Safety Net, Putting Both Citizens *and* Immigrants at Risk

PUBLISHED 8/12/2025 by

The Trump administration has pulled the rug out from under America’s safety net: In mid-July, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Education and Agriculture issued notices barring many legal immigrants, as well as those without legal status, from using numerous public services funded with federal dollars. Should these policies go into effect—reversing 30 years of law—critical programs including Head Start, community mental health services, suicide hotlines and emergency housing assistance could be shuttered, and millions, including U.S. citizens, could be denied help when they need it most.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the policies necessary to end the diversion of “hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration.” A coalition of state attorneys general has called the revision an unmitigated crisis in public health and safety, bringing suit to block the changes, which are temporarily on hold until mid-September.

The new rules mark a dangerous and seismic shift in interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, legislation born of a broader agenda to vilify the poor and others accused of gaming the system.

At its core, this is an extension of the administration’s relentless desire to close the border—a tool to sow discord and consolidate power.

Trump Officials Wage War on Women, Immigrants and Accountability

PUBLISHED 8/4/2025 by

A dozen Democrats in Congress sued the Trump administration last week for limiting their access to ICE detention centers. The lawmakers argue that the DHS, which oversees ICE, has inhibited lawmakers’ oversight responsibilities and violated federal law in denying members of Congress access to the facilities.

And the cruelty we’ve seen over the past several months extends far beyond this country’s borders. The U.S. is still on track to destroy over $13 million worth of contraceptives, paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars, and intended for women in poor nations—a move that itself will cost an additional $167,000. Trump officials have also turned down offers from multiple aid agencies to distribute the supplies at no cost.

War on Women Report: State Department Mass-Burns Contraceptives; GOP Budget Decimates Medicaid; Texas Crisis Pregnancy Center Funds Paid for CEO’s Smoke Shop

PUBLISHED 7/30/2025 by and

MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report:
—After a highly publicized trial, a jury acquitted music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of the most serious charges—sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
—Texas’ funding pipeline for antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers allowed CPCs to spend millions of taxpayer dollars with little oversight into how the money was used.
—A Texas man is suing a doctor in California who he claims sent abortion pills in the mail to his girlfriend.

… and more.