Center for Immigration Studies
A Young Syrian Helps Shine Light on the Immigrant Experience
For Doha Salah and her family, arriving in the United States as refugees was a lesson in blind trust. “We had no one in this country, no friends or family,” says Salah, who was 9 years old when she was admitted to the country in 2008. When they landed at… Read More
Former Dean of Yale Law School Says to Reject Immigrants is to Reject ‘Exactly the Thing That Makes Americans Unique’
Harold Hongju Koh knows exactly how much the children of immigrants are capable of achieving in a short period of time. “Through educational opportunities, [they] have extraordinary upward mobility in one generation,” says Koh. “My own family is proof of that.” His parents, who met after coming to the United States… Read More
Real Estate Tycoon, Philanthropist, Immigrant: America Would Be Crazy to Refuse People Like Him
The night before Sunil Puri’s father passed away, at the age of 94, he called his son to say goodbye. Speaking by phone from Mumbai, India, the retired yarn-trader offered a few final words of advice to his son, a multimillionaire property developer and business owner. Puri’s father urged him to embrace the United States and… Read More
This Immigrant Researcher is Changing the Future of Cancer Treatment, But Immigration Slowed his Progress
Radiology researcher Anthony Chang came to the United States from Taiwan in the 1990s to study at Vanderbilt and Yale, earned a PhD in experimental physics from the University of Texas, and was hired to direct the imaging laboratory at the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, where he researched… Read More
He Won the Lottery: One Congolese Man’s Incredible Diversity Visa Story
Bozi Kiekie grew up in a poor farming community in the war-torn Democratic Republic of The Congo, helping his family work the land while also selling bread, gasoline, and fish in order to scrape together enough money to pay for his studies. “I struggled, as everyone in the country did,”… Read More
Untapped Talent: The Costs of Brain Waste among Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States
The United States has long attracted some of the world’s best and brightest. But nearly 2 million immigrants with college degrees are relegated to low-skilled jobs or can’t find work. The result of this brain waste? If these highly skilled immigrants were working at their skill level, in the professions… Read More
Billions of Dollars in Tax Receipts Forgone Annually as Nearly 2 Million Highly Skilled Immigrants in U.S. Are Stuck in Low-Skilled Jobs or Unemployed
U.S. is Home to Almost 2 Million Underutilized Immigrants, Including Almost Half a Million with STEM Degrees WASHINGTON – The United States has long attracted some of the world’s best and brightest. But nearly 2 million immigrants with college degrees are relegated to low-skilled jobs or can’t… Read More
International Students Top One Million, Contributing $32.8 Billion to U.S. Economy
For the first time, the number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities exceeded one million, making up over 5 percent of the 20 million students pursuing higher education in the United States during the 2015-2016 academic year. These 1,043,839 international students represent a 7.1-percent increase from the… Read More
When the Local Steel Mill Closed, This Mexican Immigrant Started a Business and Hired Americans
When Racine Steel Castings laid off its workers in the 1990s, welder Lauro Davalos found himself better prepared than many. Long determined to give his children something he’d never had — a good education — Davalos had already started a business in downtown Racine, the Southeast Wisconsin town… Read More
Global Talent: The Economic Engine of Northwest Arkansas
New American Economy, EngageNWA, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, released a study on the impact of immigration in the Northwest Arkansas region. By starting new businesses that create jobs, supporting the workforce of the area’s top industries, buying homes, and paying taxes, the report shows how the foreign-born population… Read More
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