State and Local Initiatives
They say all politics is local, right? While most of the debate about immigration focuses on congressional action (or inaction), local communities across the country are the ones who feel the value of immigration most tangibly. Now active in more than 50 communities – more than 80 percent of which are in conservative states – the NAE State & Local team works with policymakers, business, and civic leaders to promote policies and programs that help create jobs and drive economic growth. You can explore more of our work on the state and local level here.

New Research Shows Banning In-State Tuition for Dreamers Could Cause Missouri to Miss Out on Millions in Additional Tax Revenue and Spending Power Every Year
As the Missouri Legislature considers prohibiting access to in-state tuition for Missouri Dreamers, new data shows there are significant economic benefits the state would bypass. Jefferson City, MO – Today New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan immigration research and advocacy organization, released a new study showing how offering in-state… Read More

Immigrant helps promote small business development in Middlesex County, NJ
Luis DeLaHoz was granted asylum and moved to the United States in 2004. By 2005, he was running his own-income tax preparation business in New Brunswick. He had a good education behind him. Raised in Manizales, in the coffee region of central Colombia, DeLaHoz had a bachelor’s degree in economics… Read More

From coding to coaching — an immigrant entrepreneur makes it his mission to help the next generation succeed
Rashaad Bajwa arrived in the United States when he was 3 years old. Learning English was easy, given his age. And his parents, educated in British schools in Pakistan, spoke English at home. But he still lived the immigrant experience. “I still am,” he says. “Even though I grew up… Read More

New Data Shows Immigrants Make Up More Than 60 Percent of Middlesex County’s STEM Workers and Nearly Half of Business Owners
Immigrants held $9.4 billion in spending power– 42.8 percent of the total spending power in the county–and contributed more than $4 billion in taxes in 2018. Middlesex, NJ — Despite making up 34.5 percent of Middlesex County’s population, immigrants accounted for 64.4 percent of the county’s Science, Technology, Engineering,… Read More

Immigrant restaurateur gives back to the community through Lebanese cuisine
Gus Sleiman’s family left their homeland in 1989 to escape the Lebanese Civil War, a 15-year conflict that killed an estimated 150,000 people and displaced another 900,000 — about one-fifth of the population. Sleiman was 16. The family moved to Michigan then New York and, while visiting a church in… Read More

City of Bowling Green, KY Launches First-Ever Welcoming Plan for New Americans
Bowling Green, KY — Today, the City of Bowling Green in Warren County, KY publicly unveiled “Building Community and Growing our Economy: A Welcoming Plan for New Americans,” a comprehensive set of recommendations to engage and integrate New Americans into the local community and workforce. The Welcoming Plan… Read More

Ahead of SCOTUS Arguments More Than 50 Chambers of Commerce Call on Congress to Protect DREAMers
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, and Leader Schumer: As business leaders representing the most important industries in our nation, we are committed to promoting economic growth and job creation for all Americans. From manufacturing to agriculture, and from Main Street to Fortune 500 companies, the United States… Read More

New Data Shows Cedar Rapids’ Immigrants Accounted for Nearly Half of the County’s Total Population Growth
A new report finds that immigrants accounted for 47.1 percent of total population growth in Cedar Rapids between 2012 and 2017, according to new research from New American Economy (NAE). Read More

Lebanese immigrant ensures newcomers have opportunities in Cedar Rapids, IA
When Salma Igram arrived in the United States, she was 18 years old and had never seen a calculator or a hamburger, “let alone a hot dog,” she says. But there she was in her husband’s fast-food restaurant, Jimbo’s, working the griddle and mastering the cash register. “My husband would… Read More

Immigrant credits English language and training opportunities as critical to his success
Tony Golobic jokes that he got his first job in America —cleaning oil-fired boilers —because no one else wanted to do it. “The boilers were red hot, the work was dangerous and dirty,” he says. “But I was making really good money, a lot more money than I ever imagined. Read More
Make a contribution
Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.
