Business and the Workforce
Immigrants not only bring diverse skills and perspectives to the U.S. workforce, they often fill employment gaps in crucial fields. We advocate for expanded work visas and related programs so our labor force can continue to benefit from immigrant workers and remain competitive in the global economy
Immigrant Entrepreneur Says Immigration Reform Will Keep U.S. Businesses Competitive
Fernando Gaxiola is a San Diego-based Mexican wine importer and travel entrepreneur working hard to change Americans’ cultural impressions of Mexico. Several times a month, his company Baja Wine + Food offers trips to the Valle de Guadalupe about an hour south of the California border to explore the region’s… Read More
Administrator at Public University Sees Firsthand the Limited Options Available to International Students After Graduation
Richard Porter spends his days with some of the brightest, most ambitious minds in the nation. As an administrator over International Student and Scholar Service offices at several large public universities over the past Porter works to help international scholars excel in their studies and, upon graduation, look for work. Read More
“Talent Does Not Have a Zip Code” Says Mobile Advocacy App Founder
When Ximena Hartsock first began looking for a solution to the lack of digital grassroots tools for advocacy in late 2012, she quickly learned she was up against some major obstacles. She was a Latina woman, with no entrepreneurial or tech experience, in a room full of skeptics. Hartsock was… Read More
A Former Undocumented Immigrant is Behind One of Kansas City’s Most Popular Youth Soccer Facilities
Raul Villegas had been living in America as an undocumented immigrant for more than 20 years when he decided to build an indoor soccer facility in Kansas City, Kansas. That was in 2013, long before the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, removed the threat of deportation for… Read More
Without Immigrants ‘Almost Every Service Industry Would Collapse,’ Says Former Cop and Community Leader
Hector Flores, National Immigration Committee Chair for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), was raised by his Mexican-American grandparents in South Texas. He spent summers doing migrant work, traveling north to Indiana to pick cherries then south to West Texas to tend to the cotton crop. When he’d… Read More
After Coming as a Cuban Refugee, This Entrepreneur Built a $50 Million Business
When the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, Cuban-born entrepreneur José Prendes watched the ensuing chaos carefully. He was trying to determine which e-businesses would survive and why. One that continued advertising with television commercials, he noticed, was 1-800-Pet-Meds. “I thought that it had to be a good business, since amid… Read More
Immigration Reform Is Vital for Virginia’s Businesses, Says Founder & CEO of Challa Law Group
As owner and CEO of Challa Law Group, located in Virginia’s 7th congressional district, and special counsel on immigration matters to Virginia’s attorney general, Lakshmi Challa knows how vital immigration reform is to her local economy. “The seventh district has many companies with multinational workforces that help boost the economy… Read More
Welcome to Akron: How Immigrants and Refugees are Contributing to Akron’s Economic Growth
The “Welcome to Akron: How Immigrants and Refugees are Contributing to Akron’s Economic Growth” report highlights how immigrants play a critical role in supporting Akron’s growth and development—by starting businesses that create local jobs, participating in key industries in the labor force, paying taxes and contributing to consumer spending, and by increasing housing values in… Read More
This Indian-Born Immigrant is Unshackling Opportunity
A few years after arriving in the United States in 2005 to work for a large multinational corporation, Indian-born entrepreneur Nitin Pachisia decided to start a company of his own in California’s Silicon Valley. U.S. immigration policy nearly got in the way of his efforts, presenting incremental challenges on top… Read More
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
America's story is an immigrant story.
