Missouri, District 8
Pastor: U.S. Economy Needs Low-Skilled Immigrants, Too
The Missouri Bootheel, in the far southeastern corner of Missouri, is not known for its immigrants, who account for just 1.3 percent of the population. But Sunday mass at St. Cecilia’s Parish in Kennett is full of foreign-born worshippers. Of the 250 families who attend the church, roughly two-thirds are… Read More
Virginia Entrepreneur Works Overtime to Help Other Immigrants Succeed
Thirty years ago, Fanny Smedile left behind a successful cafe she owned in Ecuador to flee an abusive husband. Despite knowing no English, she applied for a visa to join a cousin in New Jersey and found work there as a nanny and housekeeper, including for a professional football player. Read More
Immigrant from South India Helps Walmart Thrive
Zakir Syed would never have imagined that by age 37, he would be working at a high-level job at Walmart, one of the largest employers in Arkansas. Growing up in Karnataka, a state in southwestern India, he lived with his family in a small home without running water or a… Read More
The Dividends of Citizenship: Why Legalization Must Lead to Citizenship
The most concrete proposals for immigration reform thus far in 2013 include earned legalization with a path to U.S. citizenship for unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States. This is a process that essentially permits unauthorized immigrants to come forward and receive a provisional legal status that—after paying taxes, proving they understand English and civics, passing all criminal and other background checks, and showing they are committed to the United States—allows them to become lawful permanent residents (LPRs). From there, like other LPRs before them, they will have to decide whether or not to make the final commitment to their adopted country by becoming American citizens. Some critics of the new proposals argue that citizenship is too good for unauthorized immigrants, or that legal status is really all they need to thrive in this country. But that kind of short-sighted thinking ignores some very important facts: more than half a century ago the U.S. finally abandoned the idea that there should be a second-class status for any group by denying them citizenship and, in fact, today the vast majority of Americans support a path to citizenship. The integration of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living in the United States into full citizenship is not only good for those individuals, but the country as a whole. Citizenship, and the quest for citizenship, facilitates integration in myriad ways that legal status alone does not. From the learning of English and U.S. civics to the earning of higher incomes, serving jury duty, and voting in elections, citizens and would-be citizens benefit from a deeper form of incorporation into U.S. society than do legal immigrants who have no hope of ever applying for naturalization. Read More
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