Stories
Immigrants Add Billions to GDP Yet ‘Constantly Under Threat,’ Says Organizer
Argentinian immigrant Beatriz Maya has devoted her career to helping fellow Latinos — both immigrants and natives — build productive, successful lives in the United States. As the founder of La Conexion de Wood County, she helps provide capacity building and cultural activities, language education, and advocacy for an estimated… Read More
Garage Owner Shows How Hard Immigrants Work
Oswaldo “Boler” Castellanos, a Guatemalan immigrant, is pleased with the opportunities that have come his way. But he knows that many others who want an opportunity to create a new life are denied that chance. “I want to show that we are coming here to work hard,” he says. Castellanos… Read More
A Career Economist Makes the Case for Immigrants
Economist Ann Markusen has spent three decades studying what makes the U.S. economy tick. And a recent teaching post in Canada re-affirmed her view that a welcome approach to immigrants is good for a nation’s bottom line. “Canada’s liberal immigration policies and the nonprofit sector’s efforts to find housing… Read More
Local Celebrity Chef Dan Wu Talks Immigrant Entrepreneurship
“When we think about other people’s cultures, the first entry point we have – before music, before dance, before literature, before language – is food,” says Dan Wu, a private chef, MasterChef contestant, and Chinese immigrant who lives in Lexington. “What do you know about Thailand? You know pad thai. Read More
No Immigrant Workers Means No Grapes — or Wine — Say Growers
During the recent recession, there was good money to be made in agriculture jobs in Oregon’s Rogue Valley. Yet, despite hourly rates that reached $20 an hour, few American workers applied. “Despite the huge pool of unemployed people, no one came out,” says Jeffrey M., the owner of a prominent… Read More
A Student of U.S. Immigration Points to Economic Impact
Qingfang Wang had already started a promising career at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one of Asia’s top-ranked think tanks, when the University of Georgia offered her a fellowship for a PhD in geography. She jumped at the chance. “The U.S. has the best higher-education system,” she says. “I… Read More
Undocumented are ‘Paying Money Into U.S. System,’ Says DACA Student
Victoria Matey came to the United States from Mexico at age 3. By age 15 she had been barred from applying for a part-time job, so she already had a vague idea what it meant to be undocumented. But Matey did not understand the full consequences until she was a… Read More
Peruvian Brings Yoga to Growing Tampa Neighborhood
Lorena Saavedra Smith came to New York City with $300 in her pocket after earning her bachelor’s degree in Peru. While working as a nanny, she took English classes at a community college. Two years later, she got a job as a bilingual marketing representative for a real estate company. Read More
Immigrants Help Revive a Nebraska Meatpacking Town
Dulce Castañeda has always lived in Nebraska, and, over time, she’s witnessed a sea change in the small town of Crete, population 7,000. “There were maybe five or six Latino families when my parents arrived in the late 1990s,” says Castañeda, whose family were among those few Mexicans. “Since then,… Read More
An Open Letter from 1,470 Economists on Immigration
p.article__date { display:none; } Dear Mr. President, Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, and Minority Leader Pelosi: The undersigned economists represent a broad swath of political and economic views. Among us are Republicans and Democrats alike. Some of us favor free markets while others have championed… Read More
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