The St. Louis Park City Council passed a proclamation at its June 1 meeting observing Immigrant Heritage Month. Immigrant Heritage Month has been observed annually since 2014 as an opportunity for Americans to recognize how closely immigration is entwined with the past and present of the United States. More than the physical movement of people, the history of immigration in the United States includes the movement of culture, language, religion and overall ways of life. St. Louis Park is committed to being a city where everyone experiences a strong sense of belonging, including immigrants.

In observance of Immigrant Heritage Month, the City of St. Louis Park invites you to:

• Connect with community resources
  • Community Resources | St. Louis Park, MN
• Learn about immigrants, their experiences and their journeys
  • Key findings about U.S. immigrants | Pew Research Center
  • Housing, Jobs and the Local Economy: Operation Metro Surge’s Long-term Impacts to People and Prosperity in Minnesota |McKnight Foundation
• Understand the challenges immigrants face
  • KFF/New York Times 2025 Survey of Immigrants: Worries and Experiences Amid Increased Immigration Enforcement | KFF
  • Minnesota immigrants share their stories while in hiding from ICE | MPR News
  • Minneapolis immigrants grapple with economic impact of ICE crackdown | NPR

Proclamation

The proclamation reads:

Whereas, Minnesota has a long history of being a landing place for migrants from across the world. In the 1890s, 40% of Minnesotans were born outside of the United States and by 1896, official voting instructions were offered in nine different languages to include the Czech, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish communities; and

Whereas, immigrants are our family members, neighbors, colleagues, business owners, doctors, teachers, community leaders and more, contributing to what makes our state and city a great place to live and work; and

Whereas, our community came together to support and protect immigrants during heightened federal immigration enforcement where immigrants faced targeted harassment and many feared leaving their homes. Neighbors stepped up and coordinated grocery pickup, transportation for children and overall support for people and businesses; and

Whereas, Immigrant Heritage Month is ever more relevant as migrants are criminalized and dehumanized by federal level policies that have caused fear and persecution within our schools, workplaces and community towards citizens and non-citizens because of the way they look, the language they speak, and their national origin or ancestry; and

Whereas, the City of St. Louis Park encourages our community to learn about immigration and do their part to build a community where immigrants have respect, dignity and safety,

Now therefore, let it be known that the mayor and city council of the City of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, observe June 1st as Immigrant Heritage Month in our community.