Stories
Morales Group Founder Knows Immigrants Are Vital to Filling the Indianapolis Labor Shortage
The headquarters of the Morales Group is decorated with flags of 27 countries, and the word “Welcome” written in 27 languages. It’s a reminder of the many thousands of people, from around the world that the Indianapolis-based staffing agency has helped to begin new careers in America. The Morales Group,… Read More
Got Milk? In 2014, Half of All U.S. Dairy Workers Were Immigrants
Olga Reuvekamp is among dozens of immigrants who have bought dairy farms in South Dakota since 2000, helping to stem the decline of milk production in the state. Her 4,500-head farm is dependent on immigrant labor, though, and she says there are no good visas for dairy. In… Read More
‘We Aren’t Protecting Ourselves When We Shun Talented, Hardworking People,’ Says Immigrant Entrepreneur
When he was 16, George Fernandez was forced to translate a devastating medical diagnosis to his mother, who didn’t speak English. “The doctor came in and told me she had cancer. I had to explain to her what this was and what was going to happen to her. I didn’t… Read More
Chamber VP Sees Firsthand How Immigrant Businesses Stimulate the Economy
Gilda Ramirez knows how much immigrants have to contribute to the United States. Her father was born in Mexico but grew up undocumented in Texas. Just after he received a letter of deportation, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and went to fight in Germany during World War II. Read More
California’s Primary: Immigrants in the Golden State
In the final round of state primaries, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battle it out today in California. Although Clinton has already clinched the necessary number of delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, there are still 550 delegates on the line. The Golden State has… Read More
Immigrant Workers Vital to North Carolina’s Varied Crops, says NC Farm Bureau President
During his decades as a tobacco farmer, Larry Wooten has seen the supply of native-born farm workers gradually wane and immigrant labor become increasingly critical to North Carolina’s agricultural sector. He says the existing seasonal guest-worker program isn’t capable of meeting farmers’ labor needs and that reform is needed to… Read More
Andrés Moreno Founded the Largest Online English School. Let’s Welcome More People Like Him
At the age of 25, with just $700 in his pocket, Venezuelan-born Andrés Moreno booked a flight to Silicon Valley, California. It was the right move at the right time for the young man. In Menlo Park, Moreno raised money from angel investors, slept on friends’ sofas and spent two… Read More
Economist and College President: Those Students the U.S. Sends Home? They Could be the Next Google
Growing up in a middle-class family in Monterrey, Mexico, Jorge Gonzalez saw people living around him in poverty and longed to change the world. Now a respected professor of economics and the newly appointed president of Kalamazoo College, where he oversees more than 100 faculty and some 1,400 undergraduates, he… Read More
Starting a Promising Firm Didn’t Insulate this Iranian Scientist from Visa Worries
In 2004, Mehdi Yazdanpanah triggered a chemical reaction in a University of Louisville lab that, to his surprise, created tiny, metallic points. Intrigued, he devised a way to form individual needles – microscopic in size, yet conductive and strong, a unique combination that could advance cancer and other microscopic research. Read More
Why Is an Open Border Between the U.S. and Canada Important? Thousands of American Jobs
Birgit Matthiesen was working as a Canadian customs inspector when she struck up a friendship—and, later, a marriage—with a fellow agent, one who worked on the American side of the border. “We are,” she says, “the living example of the bilateral relationship.” Now the couple lives in Burlington, Vermont, and… Read More
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