Stories
Top Event Producer Thanks Ronald Reagan for Helping Him Realize His Dreams
Ricardo Luna’s mother always believed her son would become a successful entrepreneur, but she never could have guessed that less than 10 years after leaving Zacatecas, Mexico, he’d be hired to produce events for elite corporate and star-studded clientele, including the Grammy Awards. Luna came to the United States when… Read More
Nevada Reverend Says Sheltering Undocumented Immigrants is an Expression of Faith
Last year, Rev. Neal Anderson and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada, became the only church in the state to shelter undocumented immigrants at imminent risk of deportation. It was not a move they took lightly. After much debate, Rev. Anderson says about 80 percent of his congregants came… Read More
Fifth-Generation California Farmer Depends on Immigrants to Keep Crops Flourishing
As a fifth-generation farmer in California’s Central valley, immigrants are a key part of the workforce that keeps Daniel Bays’ family farm, Bays Ranch, in operation. A lack of legal accommodations for seasonal migrant labor oftentimes complicates Bays’ harvest of almonds, lima beans, and melons, and apricots. Across more than… Read More
Retired Physician: Small Towns Need More Doctors, So Why Hinder Undocumented Med Students?
James Merrill has led a life of service. As a doctor in the small town of Enumclaw, Washington, he delivered some 3,000 babies. Many of the families he treated were Mexican immigrants and they made him part of their community. “I was invited to a lot of fiestas,” he says. Read More
Successful Education Startup Faces Challenges as Founders Straddle Three Continents
Thomas Ketchell hopes to transform America’s education system through a simple digital platform. The Belgian native is the CEO and co-founder of HSTRY, a tool that allows students and educators to create free interactive timelines—similar to those on Facebook or Twitter—documenting historical events. Ketchell first came up with the concept… Read More
1986 Immigration Reform Allowed This Mexican Immigrant to Capture his American Dream
Oscar Gutierrez is Controller of one of Indiana’s wealthiest cities and has an impressive record of service in the U.S. military. And yet, as a child, he never wanted to come to America. His childhood in Toluca, a bustling town near Mexico City, was comfortably middle class, thanks to the… Read More
Finding Workers in Washington to Harvest Fresh Produce Increasingly Difficult, Says Washington Asparagus Commission Director
In 2012, Washington farmers could not fully harvest their asparagus crops because there simply were not enough workers available. This highlights a larger trend in the state: Between 2002 and 2014, real wages of Washington field and crop workers jumped 18.6 percent, signaling a possible labor… Read More
Though Able to Work, This DACA Recipient Hopes to Eventually Return to School
It wasn’t until she was in high school, that Mari Pachuca learned she didn’t have a Social Security number. Pachuca knew she was undocumented. She was brought to Washington state by her parents at age six and raised by her mother. But the real implications of her legal status only… Read More
Working with Immigrants Convinced One Law Student About the Need for Immigration Reform
Annie Zangari didn’t have particularly strong views on immigration growing up in the predominately white town of Northampton, Pa. But after completing her first year at Villanova University law school, the 23-year-old joined the school’s immigration clinic in May 2013. And she has come to believe that the public perceptions… Read More
Ohio County Commissioner Doesn’t Shy Away from Talking Immigration
Tom Dunlap spent 18 years in the Huron County Sheriff’s office, including four years as Sheriff. In that time, he encountered almost no trouble from the county’s Hispanic residents. “Over the years, many of the migrant farm workers in the muck farm area have stayed and grown roots,” he says. Read More
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