“Immigrants on the Eastern Shore face significant challenges: demanding work, limited services, geographic isolation, and often a sense of being socially excluded despite being economically essential. During my decade of research on the Eastern Shore, from 2014–2024, I found that these networks of mutual aid aren’t just about getting by. They’re about building community in places that often feel unwelcoming, about creating bonds of trust and reciprocity that make rural life sustainable for both immigrants and rural communities as a whole.”

“Adela’s experience illustrates a pervasive but often invisible form of health care exclusion: the systematic under-resourcing of language interpretation services that leaves non-English speaking immigrants navigating complex medical systems without adequate support. My decade of research on Maryland’s Eastern Shore also reveals that language barriers intersect with racial discrimination in ways that create dramatically unequal hierarchies of care for different immigrant communities.”