Center for Immigration Studies

Center for Immigration Studies

Cuban Immigrant Comes Up with a Valuable Healthcare Idea for Visitors

Cuban Immigrant Comes Up with a Valuable Healthcare Idea for Visitors

“I’m so blessed to have been given the opportunity by this wonderful country to enter as an immigrant and build my life here,” says Cuban-born entrepreneur Ileana Thomas, the founding CEO of Medical Services Corporation (MSC), an Orlando-based company that provides medical “house calls” to tourists. Thomas had arrived in… Read More

Brought to U.S. as a Child, a Jockey’s Daughter Wants to Work Even as Immigration Policy Impedes Her Efforts

Brought to U.S. as a Child, a Jockey’s Daughter Wants to Work Even as Immigration Policy Impedes Her Efforts

In many ways, Maria Rojas, a senior education major at Northern Kentucky University, is like many ambitious young Americans. She’s president of her co-ed fraternity, Alpha Psi Lambda, and plans on becoming an elementary school teacher. “I’ve always loved teaching ever since I was a little girl, when I would… Read More

U.S. Gains When Dreamers Have Access to Higher Education, Says Tennessee Professor

U.S. Gains When Dreamers Have Access to Higher Education, Says Tennessee Professor

Laura Blackwell Clark is a self-described “native-born, old, Southern, white woman” who became interested in immigration reform after taking up salsa dancing. “On a lark, my daughter asked me to go and I said yes,” Clark says, the joy of the moment returning to her voice. “That experience opened my… Read More

Why Does U.S. Policy Reject Immigrant Talent? ‘Why Are We Economically Restricting Ourselves?’ American Lawyer Asks

Why Does U.S. Policy Reject Immigrant Talent? ‘Why Are We Economically Restricting Ourselves?’ American Lawyer Asks

Idaho native Richard L. Ruth, the managing principal of Ruth Law, became an immigration attorney after many years in labor law. Today, he has 20 years of experience under his belt. “I find the practice of immigration law extremely rewarding,” he says. “With litigation, I won a lot of cases,… Read More

Immigrant Labor Is Vital to the Survival of Michigan’s Farmers, Says Farm Bureau President

Immigrant Labor Is Vital to the Survival of Michigan’s Farmers, Says Farm Bureau President

Michigan has more than 52,000 farmers sustaining its agricultural economy — but without immigrant labor, that could start to decline, says Michigan Farm Bureau president Carl Bednarski. In recent years, it’s gotten much harder for farmers to attract either local or migrant workers to bring in their harvests. Read More

New Americans 'Find a Way' to Success, says President of Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

New Americans ‘Find a Way’ to Success, says President of Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Today, Mexican immigrant Palermo Galindo is president of the Greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Indiana and serves as the city’s community liaison officer, working with over 200 neighborhood associations. “As a person who wasn’t born in this country, this is my way to pay something back,” he… Read More

This Republican Business Owner Is Frustrated by How Long the Immigration Process Can Take

This Republican Business Owner Is Frustrated by How Long the Immigration Process Can Take

Native Ecuadorian, Republican, and conservative Christian Rosie Paulsen has dedicated much of her career to helping her fellow immigrants in Pasco County, Florida start and grow their own businesses. It’s why, in 2009, she founded the Pasco/Hernando Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “There were a lot of international people that were… Read More

Recent Graduate Knows the Value of Investing in Immigrant Students

Recent Graduate Knows the Value of Investing in Immigrant Students

As an immigrant, military spouse, aspiring law student, and intern at the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, Claudia Delgadillo speaks from experience when she talks about bridging different worlds. Sometimes it can seem as if Americans are divided, she says. But her unique position as the foreign-born wife of a U.S. soldier… Read More

Auburn English Language Educator Sees Immigration Reform as a Way to Help Students Succeed

Auburn English Language Educator Sees Immigration Reform as a Way to Help Students Succeed

As an assistant professor of ESOL Education at Auburn University, Jamie Harrison can attest to the growing demand for teachers who specialize in educating young English language learners. One ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher whom Harrison knows travels to 13 different schools every week, so that students… Read More

CEO Barry Zhang Says High Tech Manufacturing Companies Depend on Machine Operators from Abroad

CEO Barry Zhang Says High Tech Manufacturing Companies Depend on Machine Operators from Abroad

Barry Zhang already had two degrees when he came to the United States from China to study at Princeton University. There he earned a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering. His wife’s U.S. employer sponsored her for a green card, and Zhang gained residency as her dependent around the time… Read More

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