Industries
‘We’re Working, Staying out of Trouble,’ Says DACA Recipient
When Radi finished high school, she longed to go to college. But as an undocumented immigrant, she didn’t have the same opportunities as her friends, and for years she waited tables at a local restaurant. Things finally changed with the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a 2012… Read More
An Indian in Kansas Brings Hundreds of Jobs and Free Healthcare
Abdul Arif grew up in a middle-class family in Hyderabad, India, and came to Wichita, Kansas, at 17 to join his brother, who was a naturalized citizen. He’d hoped to get an education in America, but things didn’t go as planned: Arif dropped out of high school, got married, and… Read More
Politicians, Not People, Divide Us, Says Lebanese-American Dentist
When Omar Mahmassani arrived in the United States from Lebanon to begin studying dentistry at Georgetown University, he felt positively awed. “I felt so lucky,” he says of that day in 1984. “A degree from the United States is the gold standard. People look up to the United States as… Read More
Louisiana Lawyer: For Sake of Economy, ‘Make Immigration Viable Again’
When Baton Rouge was devastated by flooding in 2016, it was immigrants who came to the rescue. “There was no way that Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas could rebuild without immigrant labor, whether documented or undocumented,” says Paul “Woody” Scott, a Honduran-American immigration lawyer who has worked in the… Read More
Syrian-Born Doctor a Lifeline in Rural Kentucky
When Dr. Firas Koura, a Syrian immigrant and president of the Kentucky Lung Clinic, looks at his fellow colleagues, one thought occurs: “Most of the patients depend on foreigners for specialized treatments, and many for primary care. Without immigrants, there would be no pulmonologist, no cardiologist, and no nephrologist in… Read More
When Americans Don’t Apply, Resort Needs Foreign Labor To Open
Looking ahead to the 2017 summer tourist season, hotelier Ashish Tari sees a serious labor shortage. Tari, who came to the United States from India in 2007, is the general manager of the Georgian Lakeside Resort, in Lake George, New York. During the busy summer months, he says, international students… Read More
‘Look Beyond the Surface,’ Says Columbian-American Surgeon
When the patients of Colombian native Dr. Julio Clavijo-Alvarez have a question about their treatment, they don’t have to worry about getting past a wall of staffers. They have his personal cell phone number, so they can just call or text. As his overwhelmingly positive online reviews… Read More
Immigrant Children Bear the Anxiety of Political Tough Talk
At Public School 78 in Staten Island, New York, Community School Director Maria Brancale has been seeing a lot of empty chairs lately. Half of the school’s students come from immigrant families, and ever since the federal crackdown on immigration she has seen a sharp drop in attendance among parents… Read More
University Students Embrace Immigrant Culture — to America’s Benefit
In 15 years, Zoya Khan has taught more than 1,500 university students. “In my classes, I have first-generation students, honors students, single mothers,” she says. “It’s a diverse group, and I take pride in their achievements.” Khan, an associate professor of Spanish at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile,… Read More
Military Veteran: Discouraging Foreign Students Threatens U.S. Future
Fear. That’s the main thing Jim Mather says the international student population at the University of South Alabama is feeling right now, given the uncertain state of the American immigration system. As director of Friends of Internationals — a student ministry and community organization — he works… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
