Industries
Immigration Policy Ineffective for Economic Development, Says Iowa CEO
As CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, an economic development organization, Jay Byers is trying to make the region a premier destination for immigrant workers, particularly in job-growth industries like bioscience and advanced manufacturing. “Recruiting international talent, especially in high-skilled industries, is absolutely critical to fueling future economic growth,”… Read More
Family’s 136-Year-Old Landscaping Business Depends on Immigrants
Hispanic immigrants make up roughly half of the workforce at Peter Scarff’s family nursery and landscaping business in New Carlisle, Ohio. Without immigrant labor, the agriculture and service industries in the United States would collapse, Scarff says. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s manual work or operating equipment, it is difficult… Read More
Immigration Policy Needs to Keep Families Together, Says Ohio Lawyer
Eugenio Mollo says that growing up as the child of Italian immigrants profoundly affected him and his career path. “My parents lacked a formal education, but they are the smartest and most hardworking people that I know,” he says. “And so I grew up seeing immigrants who wanted to work… Read More
Louisiana Crawfish Industry Needs Foreign-Born Workers, Says Local Mayor
Sherbin Collette is the mayor of the Henderson, Louisiana, a small town in the heart of Louisiana crawfish country. He is a commercial fisherman who also serves on the Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion Board. And he has deep concerns about the sustainability of the crawfish… Read More
Sixty-Two Percent of U.S. Seafood Processing Workers are Foreign-Born, New Study Shows
New York, NY – Today, New American Economy released a research brief on the critical behind-the-scenes role that immigrants play in the seafood industry, a sector of the economy that more than 200,000 American workers and contributes $38.5 billion to the country’s annual gross domestic product. The brief utilizes… Read More
Grad Aims for Cop Job to Build Trust With Immigrant Communities
After an impressive series of educational successes, Mexican immigrant Elizabeth Becerra is now applying for a job in law enforcement and hopes to work with either the FBI, the Secret Service or the U.S. Probation and Parole Office. Though the application process is long and difficult, she says, “I know… Read More
Immigration Key to Future of Rural Appalachia
Jenny Williams, an English professor at Hazard Community and Technical College, knows that immigration has been crucial to rural Perry County. Her father was a doctor in the 1970s, when the region lacked qualified medical professionals. Then Appalachian Regional Healthcare began recruiting foreign-born doctors, primarily from India, to practice at… Read More
A sudden paucity of waitstaff, hosts, and housekeepers has Maine’s hospitality industry feeling the heat this year.
It felt like a bad omen that, at the Maine Office of Tourism’s annual industry conference, a late-season snowstorm forced labor commissioner Jeanne Paquette to drop out of a discussion on the conference’s main theme, workforce development. An innocuous-sounding topic, but just the thought of “workforce development” can give innkeepers… Read More
Chamber Executive: It’s Amazing What Immigrants Can Accomplish
Wilma Cartagena grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Washington state when she was 22 years old, still struggling to learn English. “People always tell me I have an accent, and they can be so dismissive,” says Cartagena, who went on to earn a degree from the University of… Read More
Farmer Creates Local Jobs — With Help of Migrant Labor
Jack Hedin is the owner and operator of Featherstone Farm, a four-season farm in Rushford, Minnesota, that specializes in organic vegetable production. The $1.8 million business employs 15 workers year-round and as many as 35 seasonally, the majority of whom come from Mexico on the H-2A temporary work visa. “That… Read More
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