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Americans Don’t Apply, Wisconsin Dairy Farmer Says
Paul Fetzer is the fourth-generation owner of his family’s dairy farm, Fetzer Farms, which he operates with his brothers in Elmwood, Wisconsin. With 1,350 cows, the business requires 26 full-time employees, and today 18 of those employees are immigrants. “We’ll put ads out locally trying to attract American-born workers, and we just don’t hear anything […]
Read MoreWithout More Foreign Workers, Oregon Vintner Asks, ‘What Will We Do?’
In the 1970s, when Patricia Dudley and her husband left academic jobs to grow pinot noir grapes, they ran the small vineyard with family co-owners. “We wanted to be more connected to the natural world and the earth,” says Dudley, president of Bethel Heights Vineyard, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. “In the beginning we did everything […]
Read MoreSpike in Corruption Followed Last Hiring Surge at CBP and ICE
When President Trump signed three immigration executive orders in January of this year, much of the attention was focused on the travel ban and border wall. But within those orders is another proposal that is equally troubling: his call for hiring 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents and 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. […]
Read MoreThanks to Migrant Workers, Minnesota’s Lake Resorts Are Open for Business
Matt Kilian is president of the chamber of commerce in Brainerd Lakes, Minnesota, a popular tourist destination known for its lakeside resorts and family getaways. “Ask anyone in the region what the quintessential vacation destination is, and it’s the Brainerd Lakes area,” he says. “I’d guess that two-thirds of all economic activity in this area […]
Read MoreThai Doctor Served Where Many U.S. Physicians Don’t: In Rural Kentucky
Dr. Manosh Vongvises, a retired ear, nose, and throat specialist, has seen the number of medical professionals in Pikeville, Kentucky, multiply in the last 30 years — and many are immigrants like him. According to a report by New American Economy, 21.6 percent of the doctors in Kentucky were educated abroad, and many serve in […]
Read MoreRetired Teacher Now Teaches Refugees, to Town’s Benefit
Nearly 10 years ago, when Dr. Lois Todd-Meyer was a high school English teacher, one student in particular left an impression. “She’s what would today be called a Dreamer,” Todd-Meyer recalls. The student, brought to the United States at a very young age, was determined to become a doctor. But because she did not have […]
Read MoreSay It With Me: Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes
Each year, undocumented immigrants file their tax returns, just like all Americans. They pay federal, state, and local taxes, in addition to income, property, and sales taxes. However, there are some anecdotal reports that fewer undocumented immigrants may file their taxes this year. Some tax preparers have reported declines in the number of immigrants filing […]
Read MoreA Career Economist Makes the Case for Immigrants
Economist Ann Markusen has spent three decades studying what makes the U.S. economy tick. And a recent teaching post in Canada re-affirmed her view that a welcome approach to immigrants is good for a nation’s bottom line. “Canada’s liberal immigration policies and the nonprofit sector’s efforts to find housing and jobs for immigrants have spurred […]
Read MoreSmuggled Across the Border, Mexican Entrepreneur a Testament to Hard Work
When Jorge Peralta was 9 years old, his mother flew him and his brother from Peru to Mexico, bundled them into the back of someone’s car in Tijuana, and told them to pretend to be asleep. Peralta remembers a border officer shining a flashlight in his face before waving the car through. When they rejoined […]
Read MoreSyrian-born Cardiologist Practices Where American Doctors Are Most Needed
Altoona, Pennsylvania, has a lot to recommend it: a small-town feel, a beautiful rural landscape and friendly people. But there is one thing that Altoona is missing: doctors. “There is a very high demand for doctors here,” says Dr. Ziad Khoury, a Syrian-born cardiologist who has lived in the area since 1999. “It’s not easy […]
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