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Filipino Immigrant Finds Grand Rapids as Best Home for His Atelier
Romel “RC” Caylan is an internationally celebrated fashion designer who has dressed more than 100 celebrities and has a showroom in Beverly Hills. Yet he proudly runs his business out of Grand Rapids, at a studio in the Breton Village Shopping Center alongside Lululemon, Anthropologie, and other big-name retailers. “I’m always asked ‘Why Grand Rapids?’ I have the […]
Read MoreSaudi Arabian Immigrant Creates Social Movement in Pittsburgh to Encourage Inclusion and Connection Through Art
After her son encountered bullying when he was young, Ebtehal Badawi created a social movement to encourage inclusion and connection in Pittsburgh. Badawi grew up in Saudi Arabia and graduated with a degree in microbiology, thinking that a career in science would land her a good job. She met her American-born husband, moved to California, […]
Read MoreMexican Immigrant Advocates for Immigrant Rights Through Poetry and Storytelling
In 1988 when Yosimar Reyes was three, his family brought him from Mexico to San Jose. Though undocumented, he felt at home in the city’s Kollmar neighborhood and especially in his apartment complex, where the majority of residents were immigrants. “I loved the communal feeling of the apartments and my friends at school,” he said. […]
Read MoreImmigrant from the Dominican Republic Constructed Vibrant Architecture Firm in Greater Salem, and Lays the Foundation for Other Young People to Pursue a Career in Architecture
Darguin Fortuna grew up on his grandparents’ rice farm in the Dominican Republic, but threw himself into schoolwork to pursue a degree in architecture. At 20, he was two years into that program when he and his mother received green cards. “My mom had first applied years before, and I hadn’t known if I’d get […]
Read MoreEl Salvadorian Immigrant Invests in Community to Make Santa Fe Welcoming for All
When Ana Magaña was 12, her family fled civil war in their native El Salvador. “My mother was worried that we would be killed if we stayed,” she said. However, Magaña faced significant challenges coming to the United States. She didn’t speak English and couldn’t read or write in Spanish. It took many months of […]
Read MorePeruvian Immigrant Invests in Making the Community Welcoming for All
Peruvian professor and professional musician Nayo Ulloa, specializes in the Quena, an Andean pre-Columbian flute, and singing. He plays music from all the Latin American countries, but specializes in Peruvian music, including the main three folk styles of Peruvian music: indigenous pre-Colombian music, music from the coast, and traditional and contemporary Afro-Peruvian music. In 1981, […]
Read MoreIraqi Immigrant Finds Refuge in South Bend
In 2003, Dr. Rose Alyousif fled her home in Iraq with her husband and one-year old-daughter and moved to another country in the Middle East. The couple’s mixed Sunni-Shiite marriage made the family targeted, and they feared for their lives. Ten years later, they were resettled in South Bend with their three daughters – ages […]
Read MorePresident Trump’s New Travel Ban: What You Need to Know
Eight years ago, President Trump made history by invoking an obscure authority, section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, to “suspend the entry” of nationals of multiple Muslim-majority nations. After two versions of the ban were initially struck down in court, the Supreme Court upheld a third version, which remained in effect until President […]
Read MoreFilipino Immigrant “Pays the Generosity Forward”
Patricia Blasquez was finishing graduate school—among the first of five siblings to do so—when her father, Alberto, shared a story he’d so far kept from his children, one about his own immigrant journey. Alberto and Marietta Blasquez had immigrated to the United States—Patricia was 12 at the time—on a visa for Filipinos who had helped […]
Read MoreMexican Immigrant Leads Advocacy Work to Promote Sensible Immigration Reform, Helping Pave Opportunities for Immigrant Community
Juan Carlos Cerda shares a worry with some 580,000 immigrants in America: Will this be the year he’s kicked out of the country? Will the United States ever create a path to permanent residency that allows him to feel secure in the only home he’s known? Juan Carlos’ parents brought him to the United States […]
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