Saying Goodbye to Migratory Notes

Migratory Notes #218 will be our final newsletter.

Make no mistake: We were determined to continue publishing Migratory Notes under the Biden administration, because we believe that even if the headlines don’t scream in the same way, immigration news is just as important.

Unfortunately, we were not able to secure sufficient financial support for the newsletter. (Some of you have already reached out about a crowdsourcing campaign; without complementing that with core operating support we did not feel it would be sustainable.)

While we are stopping to publish Migratory Notes, Elizabeth and I will seek out new ventures in the spirit of the newsletter, filling gaps to strengthen immigration coverage. Here are three ways we hope to continue to work with many of you:

• We are up for collaborating and scheming on immigration news initiatives. If you have an idea, get in touch.
• We are planning with our partners at Internews a new effort to support immigration journalism in the U.S. and Central America.
• We love to talk immigration coverage. Do not hesitate to reach out to us for an expert voice or analysis.

And if you do want to show support for Migratory Notes and future immigration news initiatives, one way you can do so is by retweeting this message or sharing your own about why sustained immigration coverage matters.

Migratory Notes has been an incredibly rich journey for us at a tumultuous time personally, and, of course, for the world. Despite starting as a pop up the week of the first travel ban to keep track of rapid-fire changes at the outset of the Trump administration, we went on to cover the full four years. We connected with an inspiring and tenacious network of journalists, collaborated with Reveal and Columbia Journalism Review, and deepened our understanding of the impact of immigration news from the messages we received weekly from readers.

At the outset, the newsletter was our joint baby. We nurtured it on the side of our actual jobs, writing and editing late into the night. After Emerson Collective, and later Omidyar Foundation, generously supported us, we were able to hire some incredible young journalists as staff writers. Yana Kunichoff wrote from Chicago, Houston, and even for a stint in Moscow. She recently signed on as an education reporter for the Arizona Republic. Anna-Cat Brigida wrote from buses and rental apartments across Central America, Mexico and the border. She is now editing for Global Post and El Faro English, and is an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow reporting on mental health. And we were just getting started with Paco Alvarez, a Chicago-based writer who is about to begin an internship with Type Investigations.

We also have worked with a fantastic support team behind Migratory Notes: Michele Henry has patiently dealt with our finances. Newsletter guru Jacque Boltik coded late into the night (as I think she always does) and created our template. The staff at INN has provided fiscal sponsorship, and answered a multitude of questions. Our board has been there strategizing with us, analyzing the best immigration coverage of the year, and bringing in new ideas. We are particularly grateful for those on the board of directors: Fernanda Santos, Adolfo Flores, Phuong Ly, and our profe, Roberto Suro.

In the years since we launched, Elizabeth and I have each had two kids while also continuing our work as full-time journalists and journalism professors. Support and a staff not only sustained us, but gave us the ability to grow. During the pandemic it was evident that immigration reporters were often siloed and depleted. We gathered our immigration journalism idols together and across generations and geographies we connected about how to report and tell stories at our first Migratory Notes Town Hall.

Internews, a global organization fostering healthy media environments, shared a vision for how we might be able to build on our platform to support immigration journalists and the coverage they provide. We will soon release research, led by Chi Zhang, analyzing the stories we have aggregated during the Trump administration for patterns and growth opportunities. And this year we collaboratively organized two international Migratory Notes Town Halls with Internews, based around the theory that the best immigration coverage crosses borders.

Our Town Hall earlier this year on covering Central American migration included journalists reporting in 10 countries. Tomorrow evening, our Migratory Notes Town Hall: Covering Haitian Migration, will be our last official event. We are optimistic that we will be able to continue to develop this work connecting immigration journalists and identifying opportunities to expand coverage under the auspices of Internews.

While this is a sad letter to write, we are also proud of what we accomplished as a team and with you, our readers, and hope it is also the beginning of new projects we can work on together. If you are able, we invite you to join us for the Town Hall on Thursday, and stay for a toast at its conclusion.

Stay in touch, as always, we love hearing from you,
Daniela and Elizabeth