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New Report Shows Immigrants in Kent County Paid Over $408 Million in Taxes and held $1.3 Billion in Spending Power in 2019
A new report, Economic Impact Report of New Americans in Kent County, released by the American Immigration Council—in partnership with the Grand Rapids Chamber- underscores immigrants’ crucial role in the region’s labor force, business creation, and consumer spending power.
Read MoreIndian Immigrant Fosters and Shares Indian Culture in the Community By Founding a Monthly Print Magazine
In 1986 at age 23, Vandana Kumar left India to marry a fellow Indian immigrant in San Jose. It was a tough transition. “I felt so lonely, and I longed for the sights and sounds of home,” she says. Then her brother-in-law invited her to a traveling exhibition about India. It made her wonder what […]
Read MoreFifth Circuit Allows Texas to Keep Its Controversial ‘Buoy Barrier’ in Place for Now
Since President Biden took office, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been escalating both rhetoric and action in response to a rise in migration across the Rio Grande. Right now, challenges to his latest maneuver—installing 1,000 feet of “marine barrier” in the middle of the Rio Grande—are making their way through the courts. As of September […]
Read MoreNew Immigration Court Rule Would Protect Critical Docket Management Tools and Rescind Trump-Era Changes
The Department of Justice has proposed a new rule to protect immigration judges’ ability to administratively close removal proceedings and control their ever-expanding dockets. The proposed rule, published on September 8, would also rescind most of the changes introduced by a 2020 Trump-era regulation, including shortened Board of Immigration Appeals briefing schedules and limits on […]
Read MoreMexican Immigrant Brothers Launch Mechanical Services company in Grand Rapids, Hiring Dozens
Although Ruben Ramos was born in the United States, he moved with his family to their village in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico when he was a baby. When the family moved to Grand Rapids in 1990, the Hispanic population was small. Ramos was 10 years old. “I consider myself an immigrant because I […]
Read MoreFilipino 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 […]
Read MoreIndian Immigrant Entrepreneurs Find Success in Kent County
When Sonal and Ramesh Patel built a house in the town of Cascade in 2011, they quickly noticed something missing: an Asian grocer on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. The Patels are from a small town in Gujarat, a state in western India. They moved to West Michigan in 2004, when Ramesh was hired by a […]
Read MoreBiden Administration Fights to Keep Private Immigration Jails Open, Despite Promises
“There should be no private prisons, period, none, period. And we are working to close all of them.” Those are the words of President Joe Biden in April 2021, when he was called out by immigrant rights activists at a rally celebrating his 100th day in office. This was a welcome promise to immigrants and […]
Read MoreSeeking Refuge Across the US, Little Amal Starts Her Journey
Co-authors: Micaela McConnell, Paloma Ramos “Don’t forget about us,” is the cornerstone message that will be amplified across the United States this fall as Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, begins her 6,000-mile journey to 35 different communities. Little Amal represents a message of hope, welcoming, and belonging for immigrants […]
Read MoreMexican Immigrant Family Shares Success Across Allen County
In this series of profiles in the New Americans in Allen County report,a Mexican immigrant family shares their success story in Allen County.
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