Stories
Brazilian Immigrant Succeeds in Bringing Manufacturing Jobs to Minnesota but Says Immigration Policy ‘Did Not Help’
Precision-manufacturing firm Galaxy Enterprises is considered big business in Rothsay, Minnesota, population 600. The company employs nine people, eight of whom are Americans, and brings in more than $1 million a year. Yet getting started wasn’t easy for the firm’s Brazilian founder, Roque Rossetti, thanks to U.S. immigration policy. “My… Read More
Why Does a British Soccer Coach Want Immigration Reform? It Took Her 13 Years to Get A Green Card
Colette Montgomery runs a youth soccer league of 900 families in Edina, Minnesota, serves as an associate staff instructor for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, and advises the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association on curriculum, staff development, and policy. It’s her dream career. But it took the English native… Read More
Robotics Expert Is Recruited to the U.S., but Visa Prohibits His Wife From Working
Despite being on track to become a judge in her native England, attorney Michelle Garrod decided to forego her own professional advancement to support her husband, Michael, when he was recruited to be the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for BlackDog Robotics, a division of the American company NPC… Read More
Sales Executive Sees How U.S. Policy Prevent Hard-Working Immigrants from Making Strongest Economic Impact
Carmen Parada, a cybersecurity expert and sales executive at Burwood Group Inc., was born and raised in Acapulco, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States to be with her American husband in 1996. Though her computer science expertise helped her land a job almost immediately, immigration policy still posed a… Read More
After Spending $1.5 Million on a Hog Farm, Dutchman Learns He ‘Has Not Invested Enough’ to Stay
As the owner of one of Ohio’s largest hog farms, Meindert Van den Hengel contributes significantly to the economy. By the time he finishes building his third barn this year, he will be one of the state’s largest permitted hog farmers. He will have 7,500 hogs across three barns, for… Read More
Dominican-American Contractor Keeps Dozens of U.S. Workers Employed
“We are growing a little too fast now, it’s even scary,” confesses Vladimir Breton, a naturalized U.S. citizen who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2002. His plumbing and construction businesses have approximately 25 employees and contractors, most of whom are Americans. They’ve been up and… Read More
Small Farm Town in Central Illinois Embraces Immigrants and Prospers
In the aftermath of a state budget crisis, Tim Flavin’s government-funded immigration and minority service group, Mi Raza, almost had to shut down. But the Arcola, Illinois, organization stayed open thanks to a generous outpouring from the very community it served. Immigrants who took classes at Mi Raza donated to… Read More
With Longer Breaks, Foreign Students Do the Outer Banks Tourism Jobs that U.S. Students Can’t
Visit a Harris Teeter or a Food Lion supermarket on North Carolina’s Outer Banks this summer and your groceries might well be rung up by someone with an East European, Chinese, or Jamaican accent. Every summer, around 1,200 young internationals come to the sparsely populated region… Read More
Kansas Depends on Its Immigrant Population, Says Former Kansas Secretary of Agriculture
Walk into pretty much any farming, livestock, or agribusiness operation in Kansas, and you’ll find managers who are desperate to expand their workforce — and also plenty of immigrants who’ve come to the state in search of jobs, says former Kansas Agriculture Secretary Allie Devine. With population levels plateauing, and… Read More
City Planner Sees Iowa Towns Get an Economic Boost From Immigrants
While studying immigration as an undergraduate at Iowa State University, Madeline Sturms toured a Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Perry, Iowa. She saw that Tyson Foods employed mostly Latino immigrants who worked long hours at difficult jobs, such as those slaughtering animals on the “kill floor.” She also… Read More
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