Stories
Banker Overseeing Billions While Awaiting Citizenship Says Process Needs Repair
Arindam Majumdar has an engineering degree from India, an MBA in corporate finance and investments from the University of Iowa, and is pursuing a graduate degree in banking from the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking and a Wharton Leadership Diploma from the University of Pennsylvania. He has worked at… Read More
Pastor Serves the Immigrants Fueling Idaho’s Growth
Ray Duran had been a Calvary Chapel pastor for decades, before he found his true ministry calling at age 60: Working with Coeur D’Alene’s Spanish-speaking and immigrant population. “God’s great commandment is to love everyone, and immigrants need a lot of love and understanding,” says Duran, who runs an office-cleaning… Read More
After Years of Waiting and Working, a Refugee Has the Chance to Give Back
Every day, Honey Omar wakes up excited to go to work. “It’s never a dull moment,” says Omar, a refugee case manager at YMCA International Services in Houston, Texas. Omar herself is a refugee. Born in Somalia, she came to the United States with her family in 2015 after having… Read More
Chamber Maid Part of Las Vegas’ Invisible Army of Immigrant Workers
Mexican immigrant Claudia Ramos is a member of the largely invisible army that keeps Las Vegas’ tourist economy booming. She cleans guest rooms at the Paris Casino to serve some of the nearly 43 million people who visit southern Nevada annually. People don’t realize the work that… Read More
Iraqi Military Interpreter Yearns to Serve U.S. Through Teaching
Safwat Al Baali is grateful for his housekeeping job at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, on the glittery Las Vegas strip. After scraping by for seven months upon receiving political asylum, he is thrilled to be averaging $17.25 an hour with tips. “My life is so good now,” he says. Al Baali… Read More
By Helping New Immigrants, Argentinian Helps Washington State
When Mabel Lorenzi arrived in the United States from Uruguay to pursue a master’s degree in biochemistry in 1968, she received a warm welcome that helped her overcome the challenges of being a new immigrant. Lorenzi was a Fulbright Scholar, a program run by the U.S. Department of State to… Read More
Visa Rules Discourage U.S. Development of App to Help the Blind
When 26-year-old computer scientist Oluwatosin Oluwadare invented EyeCYou, an app that uses sophisticated image-processing software to help the visually impaired, he thought it would be straightforward to start a company in the United States. But Oluwadare is a Nigerian, in the country to earn a PhD. “Being… Read More
Russian Immigrant Builds a School for Newcomers to Strengthen America
Andrey Dolbinin came to the United States from Russia as a college student in 1997. Now he is helping new arrivals adapt, while still maintaining ties to their culture. In 2003, he founded a private bilingual school called Slavic Christian Academy. “I saw the youngest students getting discouraged when they… Read More
‘Moved by Unfairness of System,’ Executive Skips Retirement to Create Legal-Aid Program
After a 30-year career as a telecommunications executive, Ray Garrido had planned a quiet retirement. But while volunteering as an English tutor in Bremerton, Washington, for immigrants from Mexico and Central America, he heard stories of struggle and hardship that kept tugging at his heart. “I realized there was no… Read More
Princeton Grad – And DACA Recipient – Works in Houston School System to Help Others Achieve Potential
Carlos Sotelo is a high-flyer: a newly minted Princeton graduate with an impressive resume that includes a semester at Oxford University. He’s also an undocumented immigrant, brought to the United States by his parents as a baby, and raised in near-poverty by his mother after his father passed away. Now… Read More
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