Let’s start with the truth: Buffalo is built on the backs of immigrants—and on stolen land. Both of these truths coexist, and both are essential to understanding who we are and what we owe.
From the Irish canal diggers and Polish steelworkers to present-day Somali entrepreneurs and Burmese restaurateurs, Buffalo’s lifeblood has always come from the energy, culture, labor, and love of immigrants and refugees. And yet, while we celebrate our city’s diversity with food festivals and murals, we often forget that immigrants are not just a charming footnote in our history—they’re the reason we have one.
This Land Was Never Ours to Begin With
Let’s not get it twisted: none of this starts with immigration. It starts with colonization.
The land we now call Western New York belongs to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy—specifically the Seneca Nation. Through broken treaties, forced removals, and systemic violence, this land was taken, repackaged, and sold as “opportunity.” Erie County’s thriving real estate market? That’s colonized land. The Buffalo waterfront? Also colonized land. Casino deals, highways through Native land, land theft disguised as “urban development”—that’s modern colonization in real time.
When we say “no one is illegal on stolen land,” it’s not a slogan. It’s a call to undo the ongoing harm we’re still participating in—especially when immigrant and Indigenous communities continue to be criminalized, under-resourced, and displaced.
A City of Refugees, Then and Now
Buffalo is one of the largest refugee resettlement hubs in New York State. From Vietnamese and Sudanese communities in the ’90s to today’s Afghan and Congolese arrivals, this city has quietly become a sanctuary—whether we admit it or not.
And these aren’t just stories of survival. They’re stories of thriving. Immigrant-owned businesses line Grant Street, Niagara Street, Broadway Market, and Bailey Avenue—bringing with them fresh food, new ideas, and renewed hope. Buffalo’s vibrant food scene? Thank immigrants. Our expanding labor force? Immigrants. Revived neighborhoods? Again, immigrants.
But being a sanctuary city isn’t just about optics or slogans. It means standing up to ICE. It means language access in every city service. It means affordable housing that doesn’t push people out. It means real investment in immigrant futures—not just celebration of their “cultural contributions.”
Built on Stolen Labor, Too
While this country loves to romanticize the “American Dream,” it rarely admits what built it: stolen labor and stolen land. Enslaved Africans, exploited immigrant workers, child laborers, undocumented farmhands, domestic workers with no protections—this system wasn’t designed to be fair. It was designed to benefit the few.
Buffalo’s steel industry didn’t boom because of generous capitalists. It thrived because of generations of underpaid immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. The New Deal? Many immigrant workers were intentionally excluded. And today, who’s driving Buffalo’s gig economy, cleaning hotels, cooking your food, building new developments, and growing your cannabis? Immigrants and migrants—many of whom are still treated as disposable.
Decolonization Isn’t a Metaphor
Undoing colonization is not just about land acknowledgments (though, let’s be real, Buffalo could use more of those too). It means actual land return to Indigenous nations. It means real reparations to Black and Brown communities. It means abolishing systems—like prisons, borders, and ICE—that are rooted in colonial control and white supremacy.
This includes local fights: honoring Seneca land rights, supporting language revival efforts, and uplifting Native-led businesses and initiatives right here in Western New York.
It also means supporting immigrant organizing, refugee support systems, and open-border policies that center human dignity instead of nationalism.
What We Owe—And What We Can Do
We owe our lives to the people this country was designed to forget. We owe dignity, policy change, and space to heal. And here’s what that can look like, starting locally:
Shop at immigrant- and refugee-owned businesses. Look for Somali markets, Syrian restaurants, Puerto Rican bakeries, and Vietnamese cafes—and promote them.
Support Indigenous sovereignty. Follow and donate to the Seneca Nation’s legal battles. Support land return efforts and Native-led environmental justice.
Advocate for housing and healthcare protections for immigrants, regardless of status. Demand local and state governments do better.
End criminalization of immigrants and poor people. Fight against ICE raids, surveillance, and racist zoning laws that push people out of their communities.
Educate yourself and your community. Learn local immigrant history. Honor Indigenous languages, traditions, and stories.
Buffalo can’t just call itself an immigrant city—we have to act like it. That means not just making space for refugees and immigrants—it means rebuilding the entire house so they own it, lead it, and define the future of it.
Because if we’re honest? They already do.