Center for Immigration Studies

Center for Immigration Studies

President of U.S.-India Chamber of Commerce Dallas/Fort Worth Explains Slow Immigration Process's Negative Economic Impact

President of U.S.-India Chamber of Commerce Dallas/Fort Worth Explains Slow Immigration Process’s Negative Economic Impact

When Neel Gonuguntla was appointed president of the U.S. India Chamber of Commerce Dallas/Fort Worth in 2014, her mission was to unite the Indian business community with the area’s non-Indian business community. “We want to make sure that the broader community is aware of the on-goings in the Indian business… Read More

Immigration Policy Nearly Prevented This Jordanian-Born Entrepreneur from Bringing Millions in Investment to America

Immigration Policy Nearly Prevented This Jordanian-Born Entrepreneur from Bringing Millions in Investment to America

Everything was going well for Mohannad “Moh” Arbaji. It was September of 2015, and he had just raised $2 million in venture capital funding for his educational prep business, Chalk Talk. But after a temporary trip to his native Jordan, where Arbaji had traveled to expand his investor pool, the… Read More

Co-Founder of Minneapolis Law Firm Sees Immigration and Human Rights Inextricably Tied

Co-Founder of Minneapolis Law Firm Sees Immigration and Human Rights Inextricably Tied

For attorney Veronica Walther, co-founder of the Minneapolis-based firm Walther Goss Law, immigration rights and human rights are one and the same. Walther didn’t always see things this way. Initially, she wanted to be a human rights lawyer, something she described in her application essay to Minnesota Law School. “I… Read More

Miami Businesswoman Wants Immigrants to Have Access to Same Opportunities She Had

Miami Businesswoman Wants Immigrants to Have Access to Same Opportunities She Had

Maria Fischer Millet says business is in her blood. Her father ran a PR agency for more than 25 years in his native Nicaragua before he moved to the United States. So it was only a matter of time before Millet would rise to prominence in the business… Read More

Miami Businesswoman Wants Immigrants to Have Access to Same Opportunities She Had

Miami Businesswoman Wants Immigrants to Have Access to Same Opportunities She Had

Maria Fischer Millet says business is in her blood. Her father ran a PR agency for more than 25 years in his native Nicaragua before he moved to the United States. So it was only a matter of time before Millet would rise to prominence in the business world. “My… Read More

Indian Entrepreneur Creates a Better Hospital Call Button

Indian Entrepreneur Creates a Better Hospital Call Button

Hospitalized and experiencing pain, Srinath Vaddepally did what millions of patients do: He reached for the hospital call button to summon a nurse. Then he did something one in seven patients in hospitals do: he fell. The 20 agonizing minutes he spent on the floor were enough to realize there… Read More

Fourth-Generation Farmer Says Labor Shortages have led to Crop Loss

Fourth-Generation Farmer Says Labor Shortages have led to Crop Loss

A fourth-generation farmer, Craig Underwood has been working and running Underwood Ranches (and Underwood Family Farms) for 45 years. But labor shortages are forcing him to turn to mechanized crops, and he has lost faith that the government will repair the H2-A visa program so farmers like… Read More

Former Hotel Executive Says his Chain Couldn’t Have Thrived without the Contributions of Refugee Workers

Former Hotel Executive Says his Chain Couldn’t Have Thrived without the Contributions of Refugee Workers

Tom Negri has worked in hotels his entire life. After graduating from high school, he moved to Colombia for school and work. At the Hotel Irotama in Colombia, he met his future wife. By age 21, while attending the New York Hotel School, Negri was married and working six days… Read More

Mexican Entrepreneur Comes to Learn English, Stays To Launch $2 Billion U.S. Company

Mexican Entrepreneur Comes to Learn English, Stays To Launch $2 Billion U.S. Company

Mexican-born entrepreneur Isaac Torres came to the United States to learn English and wound up staying to found InterCambio Express, a money transfer service that now processes around $2 billion a year in transfers to countries across Latin America. Torres employs about 250 people — half in the United States,… Read More

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President: Christians Should be at “Forefront of Calling for Immigration Reform”

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President: Christians Should be at “Forefront of Calling for Immigration Reform”

The Economist calls Dr. Albert Mohler “one of America’s most influential Evangelicals.” As chief executive officer and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, Kentucky—the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world—he oversees an… Read More

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