Stories
Enlisted and Standing Ready, Immigrant Marine Must Wait to Serve His Country
In 2015, John Sena and his twin brother were shocked when their mother explained that the family was undocumented. Then a high school senior in Covington, California, Sena’s dream was to become a U.S. Marine. His brother wanted to join the Navy. Three of their uncles had served, and Sena… Read More
The Kangol Kid: Recycled Stereotypes Ignore Decades of Haitian Contributions
Shaun Fequiere was 7 years old when he first experienced the sting of discrimination. Classmates at his elementary school in Brooklyn had learned that his parents were from Haiti, where the main language is a French-based creole, and had started calling him “French fry” and “French poodle.” The teasing escalated,… Read More
Immigrant’s App Safely Connects Parents, Schools, and Kids
Originally from Vizianagaram, a town in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, entrepreneur Chaks Appalabattula had already earned an engineering degree with honors and was working as a computer science engineer when he decided to immigrate to the United States in 1998. Today, he is the CEO of Bloomz, a… Read More
In America Since Age 2, Texan Fears Deportation to El Salvador if TPS Ends
In 1997, the Iraheta family fled their native El Salvador, a country racked by political unrest following a 12-year civil war, for safety and opportunity in the United States. Claudia Iraheta was 2 years old. Her family settled in Farmers Branch, Texas, and has been able… Read More
Without DACA, Gifted Linguist Faces Deportation Instead of Law School
When Santiago Tobar Potes was brought to the United States at age 3, he spoke only Spanish. Now 20 and a student at Columbia University, he has become a gifted linguist, teaching himself English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Haitian Creole, and Chinese, and now working on Arabic and Russian. He wants… Read More
WZZM 13: Study: Immigrants pay millions in taxes in Grand Rapids
The New American Economy partnered with dozens of national organizations to host the iMarch for Immigration Campaign – a nationwide campaign happening Wednesday, Dec. 6. As part of the campaign NAE released new data regarding the role of immigrants throughout the U.S. Their study revealed the following: In the Grand Rapids Metro Area,… Read More
Undocumented for Years, Republican Immigrant Runs for State House
Not many brides choose GOP figureheads as their wedding inspiration, but for Brazilian-American newspaper editor, local Republican candidate, and formerly undocumented immigrant Emanuela Palmares, it was a no-brainer. This fall, when Palmares married Connecticut Rep. J.P. Sredzinski, the couple put portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson on their wedding… Read More
First Generation Farmer May Be Only-Generation Farmer if Foreign Labor Stays Home
Brandon Fawaz grew up tending backyard crops on 15 acres in Fort Jones, a small town in California’s far north Scotts Valley. The son of a Lebanese-American highway patrolman and a school principal, Fawaz ultimately stuck with farming. Today, Fawaz Farming, located 12 miles south of his hometown, produces hay… Read More
Without Migrant Workers, Texas Shrimp Trawlers Forced to Tie Up Boats
In 2007, Andrea Hance and her husband decided to buy a shrimp boat. The couple had stable careers in South Texas — he as a crop insurance agent and she as the owner of a mortgage company. But they were looking for a new challenge and were taken with the… Read More
DACA Recipient Wants to Give Her All to Only Country She Knows
In 2012, when Liz Cortez finally got her work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows undocumented immigrants brought to the country as young children to legally live and work in the United States, she treated the paper like a massive engagement ring. “I was obsessed… Read More
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