Immigration 101
Immigration in the United States is complex and ever-evolving. Start here to understand the fundamental aspects of immigration policy, its history, and its impact on both individuals and the country at large. Learn commonly used terms about immigration law and how the U.S. immigration system is designed. Explore layered topics like how and whether immigrants can become citizens, as well as what individual protections look like under the law.
From Experience, Doctoral Student Knows More Immigrants Would Love the Chance to Study, Work, Pay Taxes
When Mariana Ocampo was growing up in Texas, she and her siblings longed for part-time jobs similar to the ones their teenage friends held. They wanted to work, they wanted to spend their earnings, and they wanted to contribute to their family. But since Ocampo and her siblings… 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
College Director Has the Answer to Firms’ Worker Shortages: Let Undocumented Immigrants Go To School
When Julio Hernandez was growing up around gangs in San Antonio, his parents made it clear that college would be in his future. His peers seemed surprised. One even teased him: “How can you go to college? You rich or something?” As the son of Mexican immigrants who worked… Read More
Miss Michigan 2016 Just Happens to Be an Automotive Designer–and a Chinese Immigrant
This summer, Arianna Quan was crowned Miss Michigan — but the 23-year-old, who aspires to be an automobile designer and is paying for her studies with the tens of thousands of dollars she’s won from competing with the Miss America Organization, didn’t have a typical “Toddlers & Tiaras” upbringing. Quan,… 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
Many of America’s Best Ideas Have Come From New Americans, Says Immigration Historian
Dr. Shannon Anderson, associate professor of sociology at Roanoke College and author of Immigration, Assimilation, and the Cultural Construction of American National Identity, first became interested in immigration while pursuing her PhD at the University of Virginia. She researched the impact that the perception of immigrants had on the nation. Read More
Immigration Policy Creates Headaches for one of Virginia’s Most Successful Grounds Management Firms
Maria Candler has a college degree in parks, recreation, and tourism—not in business. But at age 22, she took “a temp job” at a small landscaping company near her Virginia home that changed her course. “My job was to answer the phone in the morning, and if need… Read More
Weekend Reading: Highlights from this week’s immigration news (June 27- July 1)
As the Fourth of July weekend begins, we celebrate an inspiring group of famous naturalized citizens who have been honored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as the “Pride of America.” Honorees include Hari Sreenivasan, anchor and senior Correspondent for PBS NewsHour; Wolfgang Puck, chef and restaurateur; Sundar Pichai,… Read More
Using Personal Experience to Help Undocumented Students Contribute more to South Carolina
When Jennifer Gutierrez-Caldwell thought about whether she wanted to attend college, her mother framed the choice in stark terms. “She said to me ‘Do you want to clean toilets with me or get an education?’” she recalls. Gutierrez-Caldwell, the daughter of former undocumented immigrants from Mexico… Read More
Immigrant Workers Enhance and Expand the U.S. Economy
Over the years, more and more economists have come to the conclusion that immigrant workers “complement” the native-born majority of the labor force by bringing different sets of skills and different demographic profiles with them, both of which enhance and expand the economy as a whole. Immigration restrictionists, in… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
