Immigration History Research Center

09/04/2026

The IHRC was at the Minnesota State Fair this week and we asked people to guess the share of MN's population that was not born in the US. Guesses tend to overestimate the number of immigrants in the state and nationwide. About 9% of MN's population is foreign born, and about 15% of the US's population is foreign born.

What would you have guessed?

Ihrc IhrcMigration Scholar CollaborativeCollege of Liberal Arts | University of Minnesota

09/03/2026

Attention UMN grad students:

Are you working on a research project related to immigration, migration, or diaspora? The IHRC is accepting applications for the IHRC travel grant. Recipients are eligible for up to $500 in funding to support the presentation of research related to immigration, migration, or diaspora. Apply by October 2, 2026. More information: z.umn.edu/ihrc-travel

04/21/2026

Really important conversation about the Truth Council to document abuses in Minnesota following Operation Metro Surge. This event brings together international experts in truth commissions and transitional justice with Minnesota-based advocates and community leaders, including those affiliated with the MN Truth Council.

Together, they will examine how truth commissions are structured, what they can and cannot accomplish, and how testimony from affected communities can be collected and preserved to support long-term accountability.

As federal enforcement actions reshape communities across Minnesota, a growing coalition of advocates, legal experts, and community organizations is asking a foundational question: how will the Minnesota Truth Council, established by Executive Order, document what is happening and ensure accountability? And what can we learn from experiences elsewhere around the world.

This event brings together international experts in truth commissions and transitional justice with Minnesota-based advocates and community leaders, including those affiliated with the MN Truth Council.

Find out more: https://bit.ly/4cxE7ST

The Advocates for Human Rights

04/21/2026

You still have time to REGISTER for our online conversation about international students, activism, and the fight for justice. TOMORROW, April 22 at 3pm central.

This webinar will bring together scholars of diaspora and activism to examine how international, immigrant, and migrant students in the U.S. have organized against repression, especially in the context of global securitization with contested nation-state narratives. The administration has increasingly targeted student dissenters with precarious legal status. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples of diaspora activism, speakers will connect earlier movements to struggles today and explore lessons for study, struggle, and solidarity in the current moment.
Immigration and Ethnic History SocietyMigration Scholar CollaborativeNAFSA Association of International EducatorsCollege of Liberal Arts | University of MinnesotaUniversity of Minnesota LibrariesRidgs UmnUMN Human Rights Student Association

This webinar will bring together scholars of diaspora and activism to examine how international, immigrant, and migrant students in the U.S. have organized against repression, especially in the context of global securitization with contested nation-state narratives.

12/03/2025

Pedacito de Tierra: Music and the Puerto Rican Diaspora in Minnesota Thursday, Jan 15, Minnesota History Center.
More info and tickets at

Join us for the world premiere of Pedacito de Tierra (Little Piece of Land).

12/02/2025

Very cool event this Thursday in person and online. Register today!

Event Date and Time Thursday, Dec 4, 2025 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm Event Location Northrop, Best Buy Theater & Online Free and open to the public Register Now What does it mean to be Latino, and who gets to decide? This conversation challenges the flattening of Latinidad in the United States and makes s**c...

12/01/2025

Join us TOMORROW! More info z.umn.edu/JorellMelendezBadillo

11/26/2025

by S. Deborah Kang New archival research shines a light on the anti-Mexican animus that motivated the authors and agents of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 and reveals that racism was a feature, rather than a bug, of the legislation that still impacts today’s immigration debates.

11/25/2025

Join us and the Katherine E Nash Gallery next Tuesday for an event with Bad Bunny collaborator Jorell Melendez-Badillo. Lecture at 5pm, Reception at 6:30pm on the West Bank. More info at z.umn.edu/JorellMelendezBadillo
Unidos MN Department of Chicano and Latino Studies, U of MN COPAL MN College of Liberal Arts | University of Minnesota

11/25/2025

IHRC summer fellow Khoi Nguyen's article "Beyond Kinh(ship): The Making of Vietnamese Settler Refugeeism Through Land and Dispossession" was published in the Journal of Transnational American Studies. Congrats Khoi!

Author(s): Nguyen, Khoi | Abstract: In 1954, the US expanded its military presence in South Viet Nam following decolonization from France, claiming to help refugees escape communism. However, Vietnamese people rarely use the term “refugee,” seeing themselves as internally displaced people who ne...