Stories
Immigrants Mean Strong Economy and Tax Base, Says Leader of Alabama Nonprofit
Isabel Rubio, a second-generation Mexican American and executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (HICA), believes that when we give all Americans – immigrants or otherwise – equal opportunities, the entire country benefits. “Forget what side of the immigration line you’re on, this is an economic issue,” says… Read More
Miss Michigan 2016 Just Happens to Be an Automotive Designer–and a Chinese Immigrant
This summer, Arianna Quan was crowned Miss Michigan — but the 23-year-old, who aspires to be an automobile designer and is paying for her studies with the tens of thousands of dollars she’s won from competing with the Miss America Organization, didn’t have a typical “Toddlers & Tiaras” upbringing. Quan,… Read More
Without Immigrants ‘Almost Every Service Industry Would Collapse,’ Says Former Cop and Community Leader
Hector Flores, National Immigration Committee Chair for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), was raised by his Mexican-American grandparents in South Texas. He spent summers doing migrant work, traveling north to Indiana to pick cherries then south to West Texas to tend to the cotton crop. When he’d… Read More
Many of America’s Best Ideas Have Come From New Americans, Says Immigration Historian
Dr. Shannon Anderson, associate professor of sociology at Roanoke College and author of Immigration, Assimilation, and the Cultural Construction of American National Identity, first became interested in immigration while pursuing her PhD at the University of Virginia. She researched the impact that the perception of immigrants had on the nation. Read More
After Coming as a Cuban Refugee, This Entrepreneur Built a $50 Million Business
When the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, Cuban-born entrepreneur José Prendes watched the ensuing chaos carefully. He was trying to determine which e-businesses would survive and why. One that continued advertising with television commercials, he noticed, was 1-800-Pet-Meds. “I thought that it had to be a good business, since amid… Read More
Immigration Reform is a Fight for Human Rights Says Northern Arizona University Student
To Northern Arizona University student Miché Lozano, 23, both the LGBTQ community and the immigrant community have something in common: a fight for respect and human rights. To Lozano, immigration reform would help protect a vulnerable population, including those immigrants who also identify as LGBTQ. One of Lozano’s… Read More
Benedictine Monk and College Professor Makes the Personal and Religious Case for Immigration Reform
To Christians, providing hospitality and loving one’s neighbor are moral imperatives. For Benedictine monk and college professor Brother Simon-Hòa Phan, such ideals have obvious extensions into U.S. immigration policy. In 1975, Brother Simon, now 52, fled Vietnam with his Catholic parents and six siblings, escaping from the rooftop of the… Read More
Without Immigrant Doctors, This Small Town Would Have Almost No Access to Physicians
It’s a rare day that Dr. Emmanuel Barias isn’t asked medical questions when he’s out and about town. “Dr. Manny!” is a constant refrain, the melody that accompanies his life in his adopted Oklahoma town. While eating at a cafe, a woman tells him she’s lost weight and asks… Read More
Current Visa Programs are Little Help to this Montana Farmer
Don Steinbeisser, Jr. knows the challenges involved in running a business in Sidney, Montana—a small, windswept town on the state’s western border. “I live in a black hole,” says Steinbeisser, who runs a 9,500-acre farm that has been in his family for four generations. “Sidney is one of the farthest… Read More
How One Iraqi Refugee is Giving Back to His Newly Adopted American Home
Amer Alfayadh’s life in Iraq was one of privilege. He was educated at the finest schools in Baghdad and earned a degree in engineering. However, in the midst of conflict and war, finding a job proved to be difficult. “There were not many places that I could work because there… Read More
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