California, District 5

Chicago Alderman Works to Remove False Notions About Immigrants and Crime
Raymond Lopez had an unconventional path to becoming a politician. Although he had done get-out-the-vote work as a teenager, Lopez was more inspired by his long-time job working as a skycap for Southwest Airlines at Midway Airport. “I thought people deserved customer service in public service,” says Lopez, whose great-grandfather… Read More

Immigrant Son a Leading Napa Vintner — and He Needs Workers
In 1968, Mexican immigrant Salvador Renteria was named viticulturist of Sterling Vineyards, a prestigious winery in Napa Valley. It was a tremendous achievement, given that Renteria had arrived in Napa Valley as a grape picker only six years earlier. He worked his way up to tractor operator, then foreman, manager, and… Read More

The Contributions of New Americans in Missouri
Today, Missouri is home to almost 225,000 immigrants. Over the past several decades, this Midwest state’s immigrant population has fluctuated considerably. In 1990, immigrants in Missouri accounted for just 1.6 percent of the state’s total population. By 2010, that share had more than doubled, reaching 4 percent. Between 2010 and… Read More

Courts, State Legislators Pull Back on Restrictive Immigration Legislation
Although several states were eager to introduce their own restrictive immigration bills following Arizona and Alabama’s harsh laws, some legislators and federal judges are now pulling back on these costly bills. A federal judge in Utah this week refused to issue a ruling on the state’s immigration law in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s law while a federal judge in Nebraska struck down part of a restrictive city ordinance, finding a housing provision to be “discriminatory.” Meanwhile, legislators in Kansas and Virginia also failed to move forward on a series of restrictive immigration bills this week, due in part, as one article suggests, to the “political blowback to similar measures that have been enacted in states such as Arizona, Alabama and Georgia.” Read More
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