Center for Immigration Studies
Immigration Policy Standing in Way of Important Construction Work at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
In early 2016, Chasco Constructors was bidding on a construction job at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. It was a big job for the Round Rock, Texas company, and a big opportunity—one that would require about 60 workers with clear background checks and good immigration status. “We just knew that was… Read More
A ‘Most Influential’ Atlantan Says She is a Testament to What Immigrants Can Achieve When They Feel Wanted
Shortly after Lucia Jennings arrived in Valdosta, Georgia, from Rio de Janeiro to attend nursing school in 1975, someone from the local chamber of commerce knocked on her apartment door with a care package of maps, directories and a guide to the area’s best doctors. “I will never forget that,”… Read More
Brought to US as a Child, Undocumented Immigrant is Refused Her Dream of Serving in US Military
Diana Adame thought she had everything she needed to apply for a college ROTC scholarship. She’d done well in high school, taking advanced International Baccalaureate classes. She had written her essays and gotten all her paperwork together. Then she looked at the final to-do list for the application. “At the… Read More
“American Food is Immigrant Food,” Says the Owner of Food Services Business Incubator
Caleb Zigas has worked in restaurants for most of his life, from dishwasher to pastry chef to waiter, and was always struck by the fact that many talented line cooks were immigrants who had limited opportunities to be restaurant owners. “They didn’t have the same access to capital and wealth,”… Read More
Immigrant Workers Help Keep an Oregon Family Nursery in Business
For the past 11 years, Angela Bailey has run a fourth generation nursery that she inherited from her family. Her primary business challenge is finding enough immigrant employees to work the farm. Bailey depends upon these workers; not once has an American applied for a job. When someone wants a… Read More
U.S. Policy Asks Foreign Doctor to Serve Rural America but Won’t Let Her Husband Work
Johanne Personna-Policard loves her job as a neurologist. It’s rewarding, even during the one week a month that she’s on call, when she fields middle-of-the-night phone calls that send her racing out the door. She finds some patients on the brink of death, and her quick care—an injection of clot… Read More
Granting Legal Status Would Reduce Gang Crime and Help Economy, Says Prominent Houston Businessman
Stan Marek knows a thing or two about Houston. The long-time Republican is the CEO of the Marek Family of Companies, a group of construction businesses that stretch back nearly 80 years. “My grandparents built this business around developing a skilled labor force and working hard,” he says. Marek takes… Read More
Immigrants with H-1Bs essential to U.S. economy
All too often, the topic of immigration reform is mentioned in the same breath as “social justice,” as though one is merely an extension of the other’s moral imperative. To do so is to exclude a careful consideration of the myriad productive components, and to therefore fundamentally misunderstand immigration as… Read More
California Peach Canning Association CEO Warns of Industry Decline Without Immigration Reform
Rich Hudgins, the CEO of the California Peach Canning Association, has seen the state’s peach acreage decline by nearly 30 percent in the last decade—a troubling trend he attributes to U.S. immigration policy. “California’s peach acreage has declined by nearly 40 percent in the last decade because growers have… Read More
DACA Recipient Teaches So He Can Give Back to the Community That Welcomed Him
When Julian Cortes was eight years old, his father began receiving death threats from corrupt individuals who worked in his company. Fearing for their safety, the family moved from their native Colombia to Redmond, Washington. “We came on tourist visas and when those expired, we were undocumented,” Cortes… Read More
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