The demand for health care workers has never been higher. The Canadian government has included health care workers in its first-ever category-based priority jobs process, announced in May 2023. The following month, it announced a new immigration stream for health care workers—the first 2,000 invitations to apply were sent out last year. Some provinces—including British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia—have express entry or dedicated pathways for newcomers to get health care jobs quickly. Nova Scotia’s program is a pilot project. (See resource box below for links.)
In-demand jobs: Health care jobs range from hospital administrative staff (such as medical office assistants, secretaries and schedulers) to unregulated care providers (such as personal support workers and physician assistants) to regulated professionals (such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists). (Regulation will vary by province or territory.) According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the need for nurses here is high, based on Canada’s RN-to-population ratio. (In 2022, we had just 825 nurses per 100,000 people.) Physicians are also badly needed. From 2022 to 2031, the number of job openings for family physicians and general practitioners is expected to reach 48,900, far outweighing the estimated 29,400 job seekers, according to the Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS).
Training and credentials: This varies widely by job type, and by province or territory. Administrative and unregulated health workers may need training to satisfy job requirements; you can find courses at government-funded and private schools. For regulated health professionals, getting international credentials recognized in Canada can be challenging. This is changing somewhat, as regulatory bodies try to address the labour shortage. Still, getting licensed or certified to work in Canada can be expensive and time-consuming, and many newcomers are not successful in continuing their medical careers here. (Start with the government’s Foreign Credential Recognition Tool.)
Industry hot spots: The demand for health workers is strong across Canada. However, there are some places where the need is greater than others. Family physicians are most needed in the three territories (Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories), Quebec and British Columbia. Among the provinces, the physician-to-patient ratio is the worst in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C. For personal support workers (PSWs) and continuing care assistants (CCAs), the demand is so high that some provinces, including Ontario and Nova Scotia, offer free training to qualified students. Graduates may be required to work in underserved communities for a certain period.
Salary range: Salaries vary widely by role, location and experience. A few examples from Canada’s Job Bank: Medical administrative assistants can earn $17 to $34.55 per hour (lowest rate in Prince Edward Island, highest rate in Yukon), with a national median of $22.56 per hour. Registered nurses can earn $25 to $83 per hour (lowest rate in Quebec, highest rate in Nunavut), with a national median of $40.39 per hour. General practitioners (family physicians) earn $69,539 to $497,843 per year (lowest amount in British Columbia, highest amount in Manitoba), with a national median of $233,726 annually.
There are many ways to join skilled trades in Canada. In mid-2023, the government announced a category-based priority immigration plan that includes trades jobs, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors. Some provinces, such as Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, have programs to compete for much-needed skilled workers. (See resource box below for links.)
In-demand jobs: Below are the top five Red Seal tradespeople in demand from now until 2026, according to Employment and Social Development Canada. (The Red Seal Program sets the standards for skills assessment of tradespeople. Canada has more than 300 designated trades; about 50 of them are Red Seal trades.)
Dozens of people gathered hours before Lakewood’s city council meeting Monday night, and as the meeting time approached, the chambers and overflow areas were full, with people sitting all the way up the staircase going up to the second floor of the city administration building.
It was an unusual scene at city council but it was an example of something becoming more common in Colorado’s cities. Along the Front Range, some residents see Denver spending large sums of money in order to support new immigrants, and are increasingly voicing concerns the same will happen in their cities. In El Paso County, commissioners declared the area would not become a “sanctuary,” and in Aurora councilors also heard concerns on the issue Monday night.
In all these places, the concerns are largely premature, since neither Lakewood, Aurora nor Colorado Springs has taken steps like opening shelters or providing significant monetary assistance to arriving immigrants. But the residents voicing concerns also see their opposition as preemptive: In Lakewood, they want city leaders to take steps to actively deter people from coming, for example by ramping up policing.
Denver has helped 38,505 new immigrants who have arrived since late 2022, spending about $42 million on temporary shelter and other services. Thousands of the new immigrants have chosen to move onto other cities. Some have gone to Aurora, where a coalition of nonprofits has provided services. On Feb. 9, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced temporary cuts to some city services in order to fund the immigration response.
In dozens of public comments and in interviews outside council chambers, people expressed fears about crime and the costs of pubic services and housing.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteA man holds a sign during Lakewood City Council’s weekly meeting, in which immigration is a central topic, though it’s not actually an item on the agenda. Feb. 12, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteAn overflow area for people attending Lakewood City Council’s weekly meeting, in which immigration is a central topic, though it’s not actually an item on the agenda. Feb. 12, 2024.
Resident Dawn Austin spoke to the council, saying, “What you see tonight is informed voters who have watched Denver’s decline, and don’t want the same here.” A couple dozen people in the crowd waved their hands in the air in support. A few of the signs in the crowd read, “Don’t Denver Our Lakewood.”
Others said they didn’t like getting approached in grocery store parking lots and at intersections by new immigrants who were looking for work or to wash windshields. Many referred to the newcomers as “illegal immigrants,” although some are utilizing the limited legal means available to try to stay in the country, like seeking asylum.
“This community cannot afford this,” said Ramey Johnson, a former city councilwoman who has helped organize the people voicing concerns. “It’s not that we are not a compassionate community. We are,” Johnson said. “But we cannot care for the world.”
Outside the building, Lori Cutunilli said she came despite the fact that she doesn’t live in Lakewood. She lives in Summit County and worries “if they can push it out into Lakewood, they’re going to push it out everywhere around our state.” She held a sparkly sign with one word on it: Recall. She said she hasn’t started any recall effort, but she wanted to send a message.
A smaller but equally passionate group of residents showed up to voice their support for homeless services and the compassionate treatment of new immigrants. Some stood outside with monarch butterfly pins and capes, a symbol of migration.
Sandie Weathers said she is a daughter of an immigrant from Mexico. About the newcomers, she said, “These folks are just trying to survive.” She said she appreciates concerns about how taxpayer money is spent, but she believes the U.S. owns part of the responsibility for creating the circumstances that have driven people to leave their home countries.
She says she has experienced racism firsthand in Lakewood, and sees it in the opposition to those arriving from Central and South America. “That’s really why I’m out here today, because I don’t want that narrative to win.”
“Anybody who would fight for the impoverishment, the hunger, the desolation of another human being, they need to re-look at their life, in my opinion,” said Amber Varwig. “Migrants have traveled so far trying to achieve something that all of us take for granted. And I think it’s ok to say, ‘How about rights for me, and rights for thee?’”
Rachel Estabrook/CPR NewsLakewood resident Sandie Weathers rallied outside the City Council in support of new immigrants on Feb. 12, 2024. Since monarch butterflies migrate along a similar path as some people do, they have become a common symbol of support.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteLakewood City Council members walk out of their weekly meeting after a slew of public commenters called in with antisemetic comments. Feb. 12, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveritePeople raise their hands to express agreement with Wendy Shrader, who is testifying to Lakewood City Council against helping immigrants who might arrive in the city. Feb. 12, 2024.
The opposition started over a meeting between Lakewood and Denver leaders about arriving immigrants.
In January, Lakewood’s city council asked city staff to meet with representatives from Denver, “to determine how Lakewood can learn about the migrant crisis and discuss potential opportunities to partner as a good neighbor responding to the increasing migrant population arriving in Denver,” according to city council.
The premise of the meeting raised alarm bells for some people who speculated on what it could mean to be “a good neighbor.” They suggested, for example, that city or county resources could be used to house new immigrants, and they suspected that a new homeless services center in Lakewood, which was partly funded by state grants, could be a response to Denver’s overwhelmed shelters.
Mayor Wendi Strom said the homeless navigation center has been in the works for a long time and is not specifically meant to serve new immigrants. City councilors said just nine people served so far have been newly arrived immigrants.
In response to the residents’ concerns, which were voiced at a recent meeting, Lakewood put out a statement this month “regarding incorrect community information.” It said Lakewood was not planning to offer housing, and that no one on city council had proposed becoming a “sanctuary city” — a term that has no legal definition but has become politically divisive between those who want strict immigration enforcement, and those who want to allow undocumented people some of the same privileges as other residents.
During Monday’s meeting and in a memo posted online, Lakewood’s city manager reported to the council that “Lakewood is not being solicited for hotel/motel or congregate housing support.”
City councilors explained that the city and county are not even discussing the possibility of housing people in vacant school buildings. Council member Richard Olver says he has taken the concerns seriously and investigated the question, and concluded “we are not talking about doing that at all,” noting that zoning doesn’t allow it. But despite his assurances, some residents remained convinced there was a plan for housing and resources.
The staff report also indicated that while Denver is actively helping new immigrants travel to other U.S. cities and states where the new immigrants want to go, Denver’s metro-area neighbors are not among the participating cities.
Instead, staff say, Denver has asked Lakewood for two things: get the word out about resources that Denver has made available; and encourage Lakewood residents to volunteer and/or donate to Denver’s established programs.
Residents could choose to become host families for new immigrants; donate certain in-demand items of clothing; volunteer for the city or for nonprofits or faith-based organizations involved in the response; or donate money. State and Denver leaders have encouraged donating to the Newcomers Fund, which is distributing money to organizations.
Tanya Lasko lives in Lakewood and sat in the audience at city council Monday night. She has donated suitcases, blankets and water bottles through the social networking site NextDoor to support new immigrants, and attended Monday’s meeting to hear what Denver and Lakewood had discussed, and whether Lakewood had already made a decision about if or how it would respond.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteLakewood City Council members Roger Low and and Isabel Cruz wear butterfly pins on their lapels, signifying their support of immigrants arriving in the state, as people testify at Council’s weekly meeting to express their opposition to the city possibly helping those immigrants. Feb. 12, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteMichelle White testifies at Lakewood City Council’s weekly meeting, expressing her opposition to help newly arrived immigrants during a hearing about possible funding for a resource center for people experiencing homelessness. Feb. 12, 2024.
“I’m encouraged to find out that Lakewood has not agreed to anything at this point. I like the fact that they gave us ways to participate in the problem if we want to; that they didn’t decide that we have to help, but we are given lots of options to be helpful if we want to choose that,” she said.
Lakewood does not plan to spend money on services for new immigrants, according to the mayor.
Strom said in an interview with CPR News that she has gotten “so many” emails from residents, and the message she’s getting is, “People want to feel like their services are not going to be cut because of Lakewood now spending money on people that are brand new and from a completely different country.”
The newcomers interviewed by CPR News have said they are seeking safer lives in the U.S., as well as economic opportunities to better their families’ lives. Many plan to apply for asylum, but will likely wait several years to get a hearing, and are sometimes not eligible to work legally in the meantime.
While Lakewood is not committing resources, Strom said the city does support efforts to get the federal government more involved in the response. She said a group of Colorado mayors is sending a letter to the state’s representatives in Washington to ask for more federal funding, legal services for new immigrants, and accelerated work authorizations.
The desire for more federal leadership was echoed by residents on both sides of the issue Monday night. Those opposed to serving new immigrants want President Biden to own the current situation. And Weathers, who wants to support new immigrants, said she wants the federal government to take the lead, but “Lakewood is kind of stuck in the middle, but we have to do what we can.”
A recent effort to reform federal immigration laws died in Congress.
Lakewood’s disinterest in supporting new immigrants belies its liberal city government.
Lakewood residents elected Strom in November 2023 with the support of several prominent Colorado Democrats. Democratic candidates also won the five city council races on the city’s November ballot. Several of them wore butterfly pins on their lapels Monday night.
But voters in Colorado’s fifth largest city, just west of Denver, have also supported ballot measures with more conservative and libertarian leanings, like in 2019 when voters approved a “strategic growth” plan to control the construction of apartments and other housing and rejected municipal trash services.
Strom believes some longtime Lakewood residents specifically moved there because it was not a big city. As the whole metro area has grown, “they’re being faced with city related problems, whether it be traffic or crime or just lots of people, right?” she said, adding that some of the people she’s heard from recently about new immigrants are people who have historically been active in campaigns to limit growth.
That tension was apparent Monday night, and will continue to be heard throughout 2024, as immigration is a dominant issue in the presidential election.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteGlen Newell testifies at Lakewood City Council’s weekly meeting, expressing his support for helping immigrants who may arrive in the city from the southern border and admonishing neighbors who came to oppose that support. Feb. 12, 2024.
BOSTON — Massachusetts’ immigration policies have made it a “magnet state” for new arrivals fleeing into the United States and policymakers ought to consider making the state “less attractive,” Republican Sen. Peter Durant said Sunday, as a rise in immigration is being felt around the country and becomes one of the top issues of the 2024 presidential election year.
Republicans have proposed amending the state’s right-to-shelter law, a policy which — up until late last year — guaranteed qualifying families housing in the state’s shelter system. Lawmakers proposed changing the law to require that families have been in the state for a period of time ranging from a few months to a few years, in order to qualify for a spot in state shelters.
Though the law remains in place and untouched, Healey capped the number of families guaranteed shelter at 7,500 last November, as the emergency housing system buckled under the weight of tens of thousands of new entrants, largely driven by new immigrants leaving war-torn or financially unstable countries.
Durant, a newly-elected Republican senator from Spencer, said on WCVB’s “On the Record” Sunday that the right-to-shelter law is attracting more immigrants into Massachusetts than other states in the country, none of which have the same legal requirement.
“It’s about making Massachusetts less attractive for those crossing the border,” Durant said.
“You cross the border in Texas or New Mexico, wherever you happen to be, you’re greeted by a bunch of NGOs — nongovernmental organizations — that say, ‘Where do you want to go? You can pick a state, say, South Dakota, that doesn’t have any benefits. Or we can send you to Massachusetts where you get free housing, free health care, free food, free education, cash benefits. Where would you like to go?’”
WCVB political reporter and co-host Sharman Sacchetti pointed out that the governor has capped the number of families it will shelter.
“Well, I mean, she said that we’re going to have no more than 7,500 families, yet we just filled up the Melnea Cass arena, and now we’re looking at space in Fort Point. So I don’t think it’s — I don’t think we can trust the governor in some of the things she’s saying,” Durant said.
The state closed the Melnea Cass Recreational Complex in Roxbury for community programming earlier this month to temporarily convert it into an overflow shelter with 100 beds for families placed on a waitlist for more permanent shelter. It was met with mixed reactions from the neighborhood’s residents.
State officials have said they’re looking into the Fort Point area of Boston near the Seaport District for the next overflow shelter.
Converting the Roxbury community center to an overflow housing site was the first time statewide that a building already in use has been tapped for shelter, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said on another Sunday show, as a guest on @Issue on NBC Boston.
Boston had been doing its own search for space that could be turned into shelter for the growing population of homeless individuals in the city, mainly concentrated around the intersection of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue in the South End.
“We in some ways have already been doing this search ourselves for the last two years as we’ve been primarily addressing Mass and Cass, the type of homelessness that’s often connected to substance use that local municipalities are often uniquely responsible for,” Wu said.
She added that Boston serves the whole state in helping house this population, many of whom come from other parts of the state into the capital for services related to drug use.
“We had identified every single vacant school building, other city building, much of it was put to service to address that larger crisis of individual adult homelessness and substance use as well, we’ve been seeing some major progress there,” the mayor said.
Over the last year and a half, the city opened nearly 200 units of low-threshold housing — spaces that provide counseling and case management services for people with histories of substance use disorder or who are chronically homeless. Wu’s administration propped up these shelters as a housing option for folks living in tents on the street, before clearing the area around Mass and Cass of homeless encampments.
Now, 25% of that previously created low-threshold housing is being used for newly-arrived immigrants through the state-run emergency housing program as the family shelter system has overflowed, Wu said Sunday.
“We’re seeing that impact at all levels,” Wu said.
The mayor added that almost 90 children living in the state’s family shelters have been enrolled in Boston Public Schools. They’ve been connected to schools within walking distance that had empty seats and go to school in cohorts with other children in their same situation.
“They have been getting to school in a walking bus, where everyone kind of holds their hands with their parents and gets to school. There’s been a lot of community support with volunteers and neighbors providing extra clothes for those who might not be prepared for this weather, and other supports for the young people,” she said.
Dr. Phil McGraw visited the southern border last week and called out the Vice President Kamala Harris for her failures as the “border czar.”
Dr. Phil made it to the #TexasBorder — blasted Team Biden for sparking a “humanitarian crisis unlike anything we’ve seen before.” While Biden & so called border czar Kamala Harris looked the other way, Texas National Guard has seized 454 million doses of fentanyl. pic.twitter.com/lp151A8jMV
In a video posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Dr. Phil cited Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott’s claim that President Joe Biden “refused” to enforce protection laws and “enticed” thousands of migrants to avoid legal points of entry into the U.S.
“Texas law enforcement has seized over 454 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this mission. Governor Abbott has said that the federal government has broken the pact between the United States federal government and the states,” Dr. Phil said. “Governor Abbott says President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them.”
“The result is a humanitarian crisis, unlike anything we’ve seen before, smashing records for illegal immigration by wasting taxpayer dollars to tear open Texas border security infrastructure,” he continued. “Governor Abbott says President Biden has enticed tens of thousands of illegal immigrants away from 28 legal entry points along the Texas border and into the dangerous deadly waters of the Rio Grande.”
That’s when Dr. Phil shifted to specifically attacking Harris.
“According to the Department of Homeland Security, since President Biden took office more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed [the] Texas southern border in just three years,” he stated. “That’s more than the population of 33 different states in this country. And what about our Vice President Kamala Harris? Did you know she’s our country’s immigration czar? Guess how many times she’s been to the border? Once.”
Check out Dr. Phil’s full comments on this in the video below.
NEW: Dr. Phil is at the Southern Border blasting Kamala Harris and speaking out against the Biden Border Crisis calling it a “humanitarian crisis unlike anything we’ve seen before.”
The Washington Examiner reported that over 10 million immigrants have entered the country illegally since Biden took office, with six million of those crossing the Texas border illegally. This is the most recorded in that amount of time of any administration in American history.
Governor Abbott just called on Biden to decisively address migrant crossings at the U.S. southern border, saying that the president has “completely abdicated and abandoned his responsibility to enforce the laws of the United States.”
“Joe Biden, it is your turn now — your obligation, your duty, to follow the laws Congress passed and secure the border, just as Texas has,” Abbott said, according to CBS News.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott: “If we put up resistance, we show that we can secure the border. Joe Biden should not be stopping that.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders also called out Biden, saying that “because of his failures, Governor Abbott is having to step up, governors from across the country are having to step up and do the job of the federal government because they simply won’t.”
Joe Biden’s failure at the southern border affects every state in the country.
I’m proud to stand with other Republican governors to do the job Biden has failed to do. pic.twitter.com/MNNf1NG0ps
As for Harris, she issued a statement over the weekend saying, “let us remember: we are a nation of immigrants. Immigrants have always helped strengthen our country, grow our economy, and drive innovation. We know that in America, diversity is our strength. So rather than politicize this issue, let us all address it with the urgency and seriousness it requires.”
Kamala Harris says every American has to “ask ourselves, what kind of country do we want to live in?”
Under Joe Biden, costs have surged, real wages have fallen, the border is open, and the world is in chaos. Most Americans say the country is on the wrong track. pic.twitter.com/LMxwhhjHDM
Given how abysmal Harris’ approval rating is, many Americans will certainly agree with Dr. Phil’s assessment of her. What do you think about what he had to say? Let us know in the comments section.
The Political Insider is facing imminent closure. Please consider PLEDGING $10 NOW to keep our doors open.
An Ivy leaguer, proud conservative millennial, history lover, writer, and lifelong New Englander, James specializes in the intersection of… More about James Conrad
KimTruonghas held some of the most pampered hands on the planet. As a go-to nail artist for celebs such as Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Kerry Washington, and Dua Lipa (to name a few), she’s spent much of her career being an integral part of transforming people into their most glamorous selves. She also recently became an ambassador for Gitti, a vegan, eco-friendly nail polish brand out of Berlin that launched in the U.S. this summer.
But as one of the first Vietnamese American celebrity manicurists, she is also an icon in her community.
When I spoke with Truong, she was getting ready for a trip to Vietnam, where much of her extended family lives. And, although Troung is American, it’s not lost on her that she is still part of a cultural legacy that has become a racial trope in this country: the Asian nail tech.
Growing up, we saw comedians rip on Vietnamese nail ladies all the time, laughing at the way manicurists would talk shit about their clueless clientele’s raggedy cuticles in a language that was presented as so foreign that it was part of the joke.
There’s an actual theory as to why so many nail tech roles are filled by Vietnamese women. Tippi Hedren, a white Hollywood actor who volunteered at a Sacramento camp for Vietnam War refugees in 1975, helped 20 Vietnamese women become licensed nail technicians, NPR explains. Those nail technicians reportedly spread their skills through their communities and soon, Vietnamese immigrants began to open nail salons everywhere, offering prices that were accessible to middle-class Americans.
When Truong’s family moved to the U.S., her mother became part of that movement by earning her nail license. At 18, Truong got her own license and paid her way through college by helping her mom out at her nail salon.
But Truong had always seen doing nails as a means to an end; it was, after all, one of the jobs that allowed Vietnamese immigrants to survive and gain a financial footing in America for at least a generation. Troung knew that she wanted to pursue a different path, so she moved from Maryland to Los Angeles to attend dental school. “When I went to LA, the last thing I wanted to do was nails,” she says.
But she needed to work while she was in school, andseveral restaurants and coffee shops that Truong applied to told her that she didn’t have enough experience. The only place that hired her was a nail salon in Hollywood, where she quickly became known for her talent — and where she was recommended to celebrities such as Kim Kardashian. And so, six months after graduating from dental school, Truong started down a path she thought she’d avoid: doing nails full-time.
Truong has a quiet confidence that’s immediately palpable — and even comforting. It feels as if she trusts that fate will always lead her in the right direction. And her chill disposition and grounded energy are actually part of her success.
“One time, Kelly Rowland told me, ‘I just love your voice,’’’ she said. She’s so treasured by celebrities that last year, Katy Perry flew Truong and her sister out to Capri for a Dolce & Gabbana shoot. “It’s rare that a celebrity brings their manicurist with them. For her to fight for us… I thought it was a really touching thing.”
By creating intricate works of art on some of the world’s most visible people, Truong is literally helping shape the direction of our style culture. A single viral look on a celebrity can determine how the rest of us paint our nails for an entire season, whether it’s flowers on chrome on Kerry Washington’s nails or Hello Kitty figures on Truong herself, people are looking to her to get an idea of what’s going to be relevant next.
As children of immigrants, many of us saw our parents work hard at jobs that were considered inferior because, in America, you’re only as good as the white imagination believes you to be. But there are Vietnamese nail ladies who work in both strip malls and celebrity spaces creating masterful art every day — the type that requires immense precision, patience and creativity. And they’re seldom recognized for their craft.
Truong did for nails what Michelangelo did for church ceilings, by adorning and reimagining them as canvases. By elevating her art form, she is also elevating an entire group of people who have been the targets of xenophobic jokes. And her career is an example of the beauty and innovation that can come from knowing your worth as the child of immigrants.
But Truong’s motivations appear to be simpler than all of that. “When I do people’s nails, I want them to love them and be happy,” she says. “And the thing with hair and makeup is they’ll get their makeup done, their hair done and that washes off. But nails can last for two weeks, you know, so you can be happy a little longer.”
Innovative partnership between Félix Pago and Mercado Pago México brings a seamless, secure, and cost-effective remittance solution to Latin families in the US.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– Silicon Valley-based fintech startup Félix Pago is proud to announce a groundbreaking partnership with Mercado Pago México, the leading financial services provider in Latin America. This collaboration aims to revolutionize the way Latin families in the US send money to their loved ones back home, offering a fast, secure, and affordable solution through a seamless WhatsApp-based remittance platform.
The partnership between Félix Pago and Mercado Pago México will empower Latin families to manage their finances more efficiently and cost-effectively, providing numerous benefits for both senders and receivers. With a simple WhatsApp conversation, users can send money instantly, with a low transfer fee of just $2.99.
Félix Pago Co-Founder Bernardo Garcia said, “Our remittance service on WhatsApp leverages the power of cryptocurrency to enable real-time transactions. We’ve made the process incredibly simple. People just open their WhatsApp, which is already in the hands of 70% of those sending money, and message us like they would anyone else. For recurring customers, the entire transaction takes about 40 seconds to complete, and the money is always delivered instantly.”
As part of this partnership, recipients will gain access to Mercado Pago México’s comprehensive financial ecosystem, which includes digital accounts with annual yields over 10%, debit cards, online payments, personal loans, and exclusive discounts. This inclusive financial environment will help Latin families improve their financial well-being and overall quality of life.
Manuel Godoy, co-founder and CEO at Felix Pago, explains, “Partnering with Mercado Pago will help us accelerate our mission to help Latinos in the US send money back home. The beneficiaries of remittances will be able to use the funds as they see fit leveraging Mercado Pago’s platform. Our users will now have more options to provide care for their families.”
To celebrate the launch of this partnership, Félix Pago is offering a special promotion of three free transfers to Mercado Pago accounts per user.
About Félix Pago
Félix Pago is a Silicon Valley-based fintech startup on a mission to simplify cross-border remittances for Latin American families. Its user-friendly service, accessible through WhatsApp, provides a fast, secure, and affordable way for users to send money to loved ones in other countries. Since its launch in 2022, Félix Pago has rapidly gained popularity among Latin American communities in the United States.
About Mercado Pago
Mercado Pago is the largest fintech company of Latin American origin in the region. Founded in 2003, it provides the most comprehensive ecosystem of financial solutions for companies, startups, or individuals who want to manage their money safely, easily, and conveniently, with a wide range of possibilities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. Currently, it processes more than 15 million transactions per day.
Gov. Ron DeSantis holds up two bills related to China he signed on June 07, 2021, in Miami, Florida. … [+] A bill he signed in 2023 is the subject of a new lawsuit. Two H-1B visa holders and an international student are plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging Florida’s new law preventing many Chinese citizens from purchasing real estate in the state is unconstitutional. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Two H-1B visa holders and an international student are plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging Florida’s new law preventing many Chinese citizens from purchasing real estate in the state is unconstitutional. The state will also require U.S. citizens in Florida to attest that the law doesn’t apply to them when buying real estate. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has highlighted the new law while pursuing the Republican nomination for president. Analysis shows the law is likely more restrictive than the plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue due to the use of the term “visa” in the bill rather than “status.”
The Florida Law’s Main Provisions
Starting July 1, 2023, Florida law S.B. 264 prohibits a citizen of China from buying real estate in the state unless certain exceptions apply. The exceptions include that it is only “one residential real property that is up to 2 acres” and the “parcel is not on or within 5 miles of any military installation in the state.” The person must have a “current verified United States Visa that is not limited to authorizing tourist-based travel” or have been granted asylum.
The measure applies to “Any person who is domiciled in the People’s Republic of China and who is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States.” A person who is a citizen of China (and not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) who meets one of the exceptions and already owns property in Florida “may not purchase . . . any additional real property” in the state.
Other provisions apply to citizens of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria unless they qualify for an exception. These include prohibitions on purchasing agricultural land or real estate near a military installation or critical infrastructure.
The law also places new requirements on American citizens in Florida. “At the time of purchase, a buyer of real property in this state must provide an affidavit signed under penalty of perjury attesting that the buyer is” not prevented from buying the real estate due to the new law. This illustrates how immigration-related restrictions often also affect U.S.-born citizens.
The Lawsuit
A lawsuit filed on May 22, 2023, challenges the Florida law, arguing it “imposes discriminatory prohibitions on the ownership and purchase of real property based on race, ethnicity, alienage, and national origin—and imposes especially draconian restrictions on people from China.”
The complaint discusses the impact of the law on the plaintiffs—four Chinese citizens who live in Florida and a real estate brokerage firm that serves Chinese and Chinese American clients.
“They will be forced to cancel purchases of new homes, register their existing properties with the State under threat of severe penalties, and face the loss of significant business,” according to the complaint. “The law stigmatizes them and their communities, and casts a cloud of suspicion over anyone of Chinese descent who seeks to buy property in Florida. Under this discriminatory new law, people who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and whose ‘domicile’ is in China, will be prohibited from purchasing property in Florida.
“A similar but less restrictive rule will apply to people whose permanent home is in Cuba, Venezuela, or other ‘countries of concern.’ The sole exception to these prohibitions is incredibly narrow: people with non-tourist visas or who have been granted asylum may purchase one residential property under two acres that is not within five miles of any military installation in the state. Notably, there are more than a dozen military installations in Florida, many of them within five miles of city centers like Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Panama City, and Key West. Florida’s new law will also impose requirements on people from China and other ‘foreign countries of concern’ to register properties they currently own, at the risk of civil penalties and civil forfeiture. People who own or acquire property in violation of the law are subject to criminal charges, imprisonment, and fines.”
The attorneys for the plaintiffs are the ACLU Foundation of Florida, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, the DeHeng Law Offices and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The attorneys filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for The Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division.
“The law may be even more restrictive than the lawsuit indicates,” according to Kevin Miner, a partner at Fragomen. “This is because the statute uses incorrect immigration terminology to describe the exception. The statute appears to try to create an exception for individuals who are in the U.S. on a longer-term nonimmigrant status but does so by referencing a ‘visa’ rather than nonimmigrant status. The exception in the finalized bill, as enacted, exempts someone from the law if ‘the person has a current verified United States Visa that is not limited to authorizing tourist-based travel or official documentation confirming that the person has been granted asylum in the United States and such visa or documentation authorizes the person to be legally present within this state.’
“From a U.S. immigration law perspective, a ‘visa’ has a specific meaning. It is a sticker on a page of someone’s passport issued by a U.S. consulate abroad authorizing travel to the United States. It is different than having nonimmigrant status, like holding H-1B status while living in the U.S. and working for a U.S. employer. Because a visa is only needed for travel, many people in the U.S. are lawfully present holding H-1B, L-1 or F-1 student status and don’t have an unexpired visa stamp in their passport. The Florida statute incorrectly references a ‘visa’ rather than ‘nonimmigrant status.’ This could cause further complications for people who may have been intended to be exempted from the law but will be swept up in its restrictions anyway.”
Two H-1B Visa Holders And An International Student As Plaintiffs
The lawsuit includes two plaintiffs who are H-1B visa holders and one international student on an F-1 visa.
“Plaintiff Yifan Shen is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of the United States but has permission to stay and live in the United States as the holder of a valid H-1B visa, which is a nonimmigrant worker visa,” according to the complaint. “Ms. Shen has lived in the United States for seven years and has lived in Florida for the past four years. She is not a member of the Chinese government or of the Chinese Communist Party. She has a master’s degree in science and is working as a registered dietitian in Florida.
“In April 2023, Ms. Shen signed a contract to buy a single-family home in Orlando to serve as her primary residence. The property, which is a new construction, appears to be located within ten miles of a critical infrastructure facility and within five miles of a military installation. The estimated closing date for Ms. Shen’s new property is in December 2023. Because Ms. Shen’s closing date is after July 1, 2023, Florida’s New Alien Land Law will prevent Ms. Shen from acquiring her new home, specifically, by forcing her to cancel the contract for the purchase and construction of her new property. Ms. Shen stands to lose all or part of her $25,000 deposit if the law goes into effect and she is forced to cancel the real estate contract.”
“Plaintiff Yongxin Liu is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of the United States but has permission to stay and live in the United States as the holder of a valid H-1B visa, which is a nonimmigrant worker visa,” according to the complaint. “Mr. Liu has lived in the United States for five years and in Florida for four years. He is not a member of the Chinese government or of the Chinese Communist Party. He is an assistant professor at a Florida university in the field of data science. He owns a property close to Daytona Beach, which is his primary residence. As an owner of real property in Florida, Mr. Liu will be required under Florida’s New Alien Land Law to register his property with DEO [Department of Economic Opportunity].
“In addition, because Mr. Liu’s property appears to be located within ten miles of a critical infrastructure facility, Mr. Liu is further subject to the law’s registration requirement. This registration requirement is burdensome, discriminatory, and stigmatizing to Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu also has plans to purchase a second property in the vicinity of Pelican Bay, Florida, for his and his parents’ use as a vacation home. However, Mr. Liu will be prohibited from purchasing a second property under the new law. Furthermore, there is a substantial likelihood that the second property would be within ten miles of a military installation or critical infrastructure facility, resulting in an additional prohibition on the purchase under the new law.
“Due to Florida’s New Alien Land Law, Mr. Liu reasonably fears that real estate agents will refuse to represent him because he is Chinese, that he will be disadvantaged when bidding on property because he is Chinese, and that his search for real estate will be more costly, time-consuming, and burdensome as a result.”
“Plaintiff Xinxi Wang is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of the United States but has permission to stay and live in the United States as the holder of a valid F-1 visa, which is a nonimmigrant visa for international students. Ms. Wang has lived in the United States and in Florida for the past five years. She is not a member of the Chinese government or of the Chinese Communist Party. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in earth systems science at a Florida university.
“Ms. Wang owns a home in Miami, which is her primary residence. Ms. Wang is also devoted Christian who worships with a congregation in the Miami area, about ten minutes from her home. As an owner of real property in Florida, Ms. Wang will be required to register her property . . . In addition, because Ms. Wang’s property appears to be located within ten miles of a critical infrastructure facility, Ms. Wang is further subject to the law’s registration requirement. This registration requirement is burdensome, discriminatory, and stigmatizing to Ms. Wang.”
Why The Law May Be Unconstitutional
The complaint asks the court to find the law unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment because it violates plaintiffs’ rights to equal protection and procedural due process. “The law was enacted with the purpose and intent to discriminate against persons based on race, ethnicity, color, alienage, and national origin, in particular, Chinese persons,” according to the complaint. “The law makes impermissible classifications based on race, ethnicity, color, alienage, and national origin that are not justified by a compelling state interest. . . . The law is impermissibly vague, indefinite, and ambiguous because it fails to clearly define ‘critical infrastructure facility,’ ‘military installation,’ and ‘domicile,’ and therefore fails to provide sufficient notice about which properties and persons are subject to its classifications, prohibitions, penalties, and requirements . . . [and] fails to provide sufficient notice as to where the ten-mile and five-mile exclusion zones tied to the covered critical infrastructure facilities and military installations begin and end.”
The complaint also argues the law violates plaintiffs’ rights under the Fair Housing Act. “The law discriminates against persons based on their race, color, and national origin, particularly Chinese persons, with respect to dwellings and residential real estate-related transactions.”
Finally, the plaintiffs ask that the law be declared unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and argue it is preempted by federal law. “The governor and legislators have repeatedly emphasized the need to take action ‘to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat—the Chinese Communist Party,’” write the plaintiffs. “Accordingly, the law violates the Supremacy Clause because it regulates a field exclusively occupied by the federal government, specifically, the intersection between foreign affairs, national security, and foreign investment, including foreign real estate acquisitions. In so doing, the new landownership prohibitions usurp the power vested by the Constitution and by Congress in the federal government to investigate, review, and take actions with respect to foreign investments, including real estate transactions that raise issues of national security.”
The plaintiffs ask the court for an injunction against the state of Florida from implementing and enforcing the law.
The Impact On U.S. Competitiveness In Attracting Talent
The new law is likely to have an impact on attracting talent to the United States. “China remains a vital source of high-skilled talent for the United States, especially in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] fields where there is a particularly acute shortage of qualified U.S. workers,” said Fragomen’s Kevin Miner. “By making it more difficult for Chinese nationals to purchase property in Florida, employers who rely on foreign national talent from China and other affected countries may rethink plans to expand their operations into Florida, and this would mean that the jobs for American workers from such an expansion would go away as well.”
Perceptions of Chinese nationals toward the United States as a place to work and study could continue to erode in light of the new law. U.S. consular officers are still denying visas for Chinese graduate students based on the Chinese university they attended, as became apparent in this recent case of a Ph.D. student who cannot return to the United States to complete her doctoral research. Fewer international students from China have chosen to attend U.S. universities in recent years.
“The lawsuit makes an excellent point that regardless of what exceptions the statute may try to create, Chinese nationals will still be disadvantaged as buyers,” said Miner. “Real estate agents may be less willing to work with them, and sellers may be scared by the language of the law and choose not to sell property to a Chinese national. This is detrimental to people doing nothing more than trying to build a career and a life in the United States, and ultimately hurts U.S. competitiveness in the global economy.”
Born in Venezuela, developmental and molecular biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado receives the $100,000 prize for his contributions to the field of regeneration.
Press Release –
Feb 22, 2023 10:45 EST
NEW YORK, February 22, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– For his contributions to the field of regeneration, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science. The Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science is a $100,000 prize awarded annually by the Vilcek Foundation as part of its prizes program.
Awarded annually since 2006, the Vilcek Foundation prizes recognize and celebrate immigrant contributions to scientific research and discovery, and to artistic and cultural advancement in the United States. The prizes provide direct support to individual immigrant scientists and artists and help to raise greater public awareness of the value of immigration for a robust society. In 2023, the Vilcek Foundation awards four prizes in Biomedical Science, comprising the $100,000 Vilcek Prize and three $50,000 prizes—the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, molecular and developmental biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado grew up using the scientific method to understand the things that fascinated him in the natural world. As a budding scientist, Sánchez Alvarado moved to the United States to pursue studies in molecular biology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Now a leader in the field of regeneration, he is the executive director and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Through the combination of rigorous research and new tools and technologies, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado has worked to illuminate the important functions that epigenetics and signaling have on the process of regeneration,” says Vilcek Foundation Chairman and CEO Jan Vilcek. “His work has important implications on the understanding of cellular and organismal regeneration, and holds enormous promise for our further understanding of core biological concepts.”
Says Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel, “Research Institutions in the United States have drawn scientists from around the globe, and many groundbreaking discoveries in research and development in biology, physics, and medicine have been by immigrant scientists. The perspective and insight that foreign-born scientists bring to research and development, and the value of diversity in seeking answers to science and medicine’s most perplexing questions, cannot be overstated.”
Sánchez Alvarado credits being an immigrant and being bilingual as having a profound impact on his work as a scientist, noting how the syntax interpretations of problems or ideas in two different languages—English and Spanish—help him to form more nuanced ideas and hypotheses. “Because every language is an interpretation of the universe, the more interpretations one has access to, the richer our comprehension of the world becomes,” he says.
He also reflects on the sacrifices that immigrants make to pursue the subjects and work they are passionate about in the United States. “We left everything behind to pursue an idea,” he says. “[We were] not looking for fame or fortune. [We] are looking for answers to questions.”
As part of the Vilcek Foundation’s prizes campaign, the foundation has published a biographical profile and video highlighting Sánchez Alvarado’s life and work on the Vilcek Foundation website, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado: “Making the improbable possible.”
The Vilcek Foundation
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and supported organizations with over $6 million in grants.
The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.
Born in Benin, Angélique Kidjo is as widely known for her cultural and humanitarian leadership as she is for her powerful music
Press Release –
Feb 7, 2023 10:45 EST
NEW YORK, February 7, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– Angélique Kidjo receives a 2023 Vilcek Prize in Music in recognition of her exceptional range as a singer-songwriter, and for her creative leadership in bringing African music to the global stage through her performances, albums, and collaborations.
“Angélique Kidjo is known for the resonant power of her voice—both as a lyrical storyteller and as an advocate for women and girls in Africa,” says Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel. “From captivating audiences at Carnegie Hall and the Grammy Awards to her establishment of the Batonga Foundation to provide African women and girls with access to education, employment, and economic independence, she has forged a path over the past four decades that has inspired generations of performers and advocates.”
In recognition of Kidjo’s leadership, the foundation has published a video biography and in-depth profile of the artist and humanitarian available on the foundation’s website: Angélique Kidjo: “The power of music exceeds us.”
The Vilcek Prize in Music is a $100,000 prize awarded by the Vilcek Foundation as part of the Vilcek Foundation Prizes. The prizes are awarded annually in recognition and celebration of immigrant vanguards in the arts and in biomedical science whose work has had a profound impact on culture and society. In addition to providing direct support to immigrant artists and scientists, the purpose of the prizes is to build greater awareness of the importance of immigration for intellectual and cultural life in the United States.
In 2023, the Vilcek Foundation is awarding two Vilcek Prizes in Music—one to Angélique Kidjo, and one to Chinese-born composer and performer Du Yun. The foundation is also awarding three smaller prizes of $50,000 each—the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music—to young immigrant musicians whose work demonstrates a unique perspective and represents an important contribution to their genre. The recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music are Arooj Aftab (b. Saudi Arabia to Pakistani parents), Juan Pablo Contreras (b. Mexico), and Ruby Ibarra (b. Philippines).
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters an appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $6 million in grants.
The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.
The Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation partner to present a $10,000 award in recognition of immigrant healthcare professionals in the United States.
Press Release –
Nov 14, 2022 10:45 EST
NEW YORK, November 14, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– The Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation have announced an open call for nominations for the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare. The award recognizes immigrant professionals in medicine, healthcare, or public health whose work demonstrates an outstanding commitment to humanistic and community-centered care. The 2023 award includes a commemorative heart-shaped trophy, an unrestricted cash award of $10,000, and an invitation to present at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Learn Serve Lead annual meeting. Nominations for the 2023 award will be accepted through Monday, Jan. 31, 2023, at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare is a joint initiative between the Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation that honors the mission and values of both organizations. The Vilcek Foundation recognizes and celebrates the contributions of immigrants to science, culture, and society in the United States, and fosters appreciation for the sciences and arts more broadly. The Arnold P. Gold Foundation champions “humanism in healthcare,” defined as “compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care that places the interests, values, and dignity of all people at the core of teaching and practice.”
All nominations will be reviewed following the close of the open call period. Eligible candidates will be reviewed by a panel of public health experts appointed by the Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation. The recipient of the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare will be announced in June 2023, and the award will be presented at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ annual meeting in November 2023.
To be eligible for the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare, nominees must have been born outside of the United States and U.S. territories to non-American parents. Candidates must work professionally in healthcare, medicine, or public health, and their professional accomplishments should demonstrate their commitment to humanism and to making healthcare equitable and accessible. Eligible candidates must be based in the United States and intend to continue in a career in medicine, healthcare, or public health in the United States. Full eligibility details and requirements can be found on The Arnold P. Gold Foundation website.
Nominators are required to submit a copy of their selected nominee’s CV or resume, answer short questions about their nominee, and write two essays that describe how the candidate’s work aligns with the mission and values of the Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare. Nominators are encouraged to alert their nominee of their intention to nominate them for the award.
Details about the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare can be found on the Vilcek Foundation website at www.vilcek.org.The nomination form for the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare can be accessed at The Arnold P. Gold Foundation website at www.gold-foundation.org. For questions regarding nominations and eligibility requirements, please contact Vilcek Foundation Program Officer Julia Lo at julia.lo@vilcek.org or 212-472-2500.
The Vilcek Foundation
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.
The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation was founded in 1988 with the vision that healthcare will be dramatically improved by placing the interests, values, and dignity of all people at the core of teaching and practice. The Gold Foundation champions humanism in healthcare, which the foundation defines as compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care; the foundation embraces all and targets any barriers that prevent individuals or groups from accessing this standard of care. The Gold Foundation empowers experts, learners, and leaders to create systems and cultures that support humanistic care for all.
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is a public not-for-profit organization, a federally tax-exempt organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit www.gold-foundation.org.
More than 2,700 people are sworn in as U.S. citizens during naturalization ceremonies on April 9, … [+] 2009, in Montebello, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Do Republican Party officials believe Latino immigrants are coming to “replace” Americans, or do they think Latinos are the party’s future? The answer affects whether there will be a legislative solution for young people brought to America by their parents.
Republican lawmakers claiming immigrants are part of a “great replacement” of White voters has been in the news for months. “Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the No. 3 House Republican, and other GOP lawmakers came under scrutiny . . . for previously echoing the racist ‘great replacement’ theory that apparently inspired an 18-year-old who allegedly killed 10 people while targeting Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo,” reported the Washington Post (May 16, 2022). “The baseless conspiracy theory claims that politicians are attempting to wipe out White Americans and their influence by replacing them with non-White immigrants.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The immigration group America’s Voice has tracked election-year ads and found inflammatory rhetoric about immigrants from Republican candidates. “Almost all the Republicans running statewide in Arizona have made ‘replacement’ and ‘invasion’ conspiracies a central part of their campaigns,” according to an America’s Voice report.
Speaking at a Trump rally on October 9, 2022, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, now considered one of the highest profile Republican members of Congress, said, “Joe Biden’s 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you, replacing your jobs, and replacing your kids in school. And coming from all over the world, they’re also replacing your culture. And that’s not great for America.”
It is difficult to square this rhetoric with the actions of the Republican National Committee, which insists Latinos are the future of the Republican Party and have held naturalization events for immigrants around the country.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Republicans are hoping to reap a long-term return on their outreach effort among Hispanic communities, helping new U.S. residents gain their citizenship and eventually cast their first ballot,” reported the Washington Times (October 4, 2022).
The newspaper reports the Republican National Committee (RNC) held a “graduation ceremony” in Doral, Florida, for immigrants who took civics classes to prepare for the naturalization test to become American citizens. “This is part of our long-term outreach, with community centers but also this program,” said RNC spokeswoman Nicole Morales. “We’re actually investing in these communities and uplifting these communities and not just going in a month before the election to [ask for] votes.”
The Washington Times reports the Republican National Committee “hosted and planned over 100 events for Hispanic Heritage Month” in swing states that include Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, Florida and others. Over 100 Hispanic House candidates are running as Republicans, a new record, according to the RNC.
ADVERTISEMENT
Immigration Legislation: The conflict between “great replacement” rhetoric and GOP outreach to Latinos affects individuals who need Congress to address their legal status.
Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will likely become the House speaker if Republicans take control of the House of Representatives after the November 2022 election. “McCarthy is taking a very hard line on immigration policy,” reported Punchbowl News. “The California Republican is opposed to trading a pathway to citizenship or DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] for increased border security. This is the traditional trade both parties have envisioned for years.”
For DACA supporters, the stance of House Republicans on immigration has increased the urgency for Congress to take action on DACA before January 2023. “Advocates have turned up the pressure on the Senate to pass legislation this year to establish a citizenship path for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, after a federal appeals court dealt yet another blow to the program that for now protects those so-called Dreamers,” reported Suzanne Monyak in Roll Call. (See here for more on DACA legal issues.)
It is also unclear whether there is sufficient Republican support to pass legislation to help another group of young people. “Documented Dreamers” entered the United States on legal visas but would be forced to leave the United States if (or once) they “age out” of their parents’ green card applications. (A documentary by Daniela Cantillo and an interview with the founder of Improve The Dream explain the issue.)
ADVERTISEMENT
An amendment by Rep. Deborah K. Ross (D-NC) and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) was included in the House defense authorization bill to “protect dependent children of green card applicants and employment-based nonimmigrants who face deportation when they age out of dependent status,” reported Roll Call. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the America’s Children Act, the Senate companion. However, the measure in the defense authorization bill will likely require 60 votes and sufficient support from Republican senators to become law.
There is reason for cautious optimism among supporters of the amendment to provide age-out protections. Five Republicans (Senators Paul, Cramer, Rounds, Blunt and Collins) are sponsors of the Senate amendment on the defense authorization bill. Two other Republicans (Ernst and Murkowski) sponsored the America’s Children Act. In response to a question, Donald Trump said he supported a legislative solution for Documented Dreamers, indicating this is not a “MAGA” issue.
The Border: At the same time the RNC was preparing its Hispanic Heritage month events, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) sought press attention by putting Venezuelan asylum seekers on a flight to Martha’s Vineyard. In an earlier era, conservative Republican Ronald Reagan likely would have lauded Venezuelan immigrants as victims of an oppressive socialist government.
ADVERTISEMENT
People are motivated to leave their homes for reasons independent of U.S. border policies, which means reviving all Trump administration’s border policies is unlikely to reduce the flows. Refugees and migrants are propelled by problems in their home countries that include violence, political oppression and disastrous economic policies.
More than 7.1 million refugees and migrants have left Venezuela, with most currently living in Latin America. A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report puts the issue in stark terms: “According to the report’s findings, half of all refugees and migrants in the region cannot afford three meals a day and lack access to safe and dignified housing. To access food or avoid living on the streets, many Venezuelans resort to survival sex, begging or indebtedness.”
Under Trump, apprehensions at the Southwest border, a proxy for illegal entry, increased by more than 100 percent between FY 2016 and FY 2019 (from 408,870 to 851,508). With the pandemic, apprehensions declined in March 2020, but by August and September 2020 returned to approximately the same level as August and September 2019.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Biden administration has maintained a number of Trump policies, such as expelling immigrants under Title 42 health authority to prevent them from applying for asylum. A Department of Homeland Security report released during the Trump administration concluded that many more immigrants started using human smugglers after Border Patrol enforcement increased over the past two decades.
Analysts point out Republican candidates have attacked the Biden administration for the number of people arriving at or crossing the Southwest border but have not offered practical solutions. Such solutions, analysts say, would include significantly expanding the number of available work visas and conducting refugee circuit rides to process individuals before they reach the border.
Prizes awarded in honor of immigrant leaders in the arts and sciences, including musicians Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo, and scientist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado
NEW YORK, October 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– The Vilcek Foundation announces the recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes. Awarded annually in the arts and sciences, the prizes recognize and celebrate immigrant contributions to the arts, culture, and society, and build awareness of how important immigration is for intellectual and cultural life in the United States.
Since 2006, the Vilcek Foundation has awarded prizes each year in biomedical science and in rotating categories in the arts and humanities. In 2023, the arts and humanities prizes are awarded in music. The foundation awards two primary types of prizes in each category: the Vilcek Prizes, and the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise.
The Vilcek Prizes are $100,000 awards bestowed on immigrant professionals whose career achievements represent a legacy of major accomplishments in their field. The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise honor immigrant professionals whose early-career work demonstrates a singular innovation or represents a significant contribution to their field. Recipients of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise each receive an unrestricted cash award of $50,000.
The Vilcek Foundation typically awards one Vilcek Prize and three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in each category every year. In 2023, the Vilcek Foundation is awarding two Vilcek Prizes in Music.
The Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science
The 2023 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science is awarded to Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, executive director and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Sánchez Alvarado receives the Vilcek Prize for his contributions to the field of regeneration—from the identification of genes that control regeneration in living organisms to the potential for regenerative medicine to revolutionize how we treat disease in humans.
“Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado has devoted his career to understanding the fundamental molecular and cellular bases of regeneration, from the specific genes responsible for regeneration to epigenetic regulators that compel the expression of these genes,” said Vilcek Foundation Chairman and CEO Jan Vilcek. “Using a freshwater flatworm—an organism called Schmidtea mediterranea—as a powerful experimental tool to study the molecular mechanisms of tissue regeneration, he has pioneered and expanded the field of regeneration. His work has broad applications for our understanding of the pathology of degenerative disease.”
The Vilcek Prize in Music
The Vilcek Foundation has made the decision to award two Vilcek Prizes in Music in 2023 to Du Yun and to Angélique Kidjo. Each will receive a cash award of $100,000 and a commemorative trophy.
“Music transcends language,” said Vilcek Foundation Cofounder, Vice Chair, and Secretary Marica Vilcek. “It defies borders and boundaries, and has a unique power to resonate with people across cultures. Rhythm, melody, and harmony are critical parts of how we communicate with one another as humans.” She continued, “With this year’s prizes, we wanted to honor the range of impact that immigrants have on this expansive art form. As such, we made the decision to award two Vilcek Prizes in Music this year, to Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo.”
Says Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel, “The sheer scope of Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo’s work defies any easy categorization. Du Yun’s virtuosic range and arresting compositions expand the horizons of contemporary and classical music. Kidjo’s resonant songwriting and engaging performances have captivated audiences globally, and introduced generations of audiences to Afropop, Afrobeat, and traditional West African music. These distinctions convey the breadth of music as an art form, as well as the broad impact immigrants have on culture and society.”
Du Yun receives the Vilcek Prize in Music for her open approach to composition, which subverts the boundaries of traditional classical music by incorporating influences from punk, electronic, and experimental music, and for the virtuosity of her Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Angel’s Bone. Born in Shanghai, China, Du Yun began studying piano at the age of four and began attending the Preparatory Divisions of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age six. She came to the United States to pursue higher education in music, earning her bachelor’s at Oberlin Conservatory and her Ph.D. in Music Composition at Harvard University. In 2001, Du Yun co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble with the goal of advancing the genre of experimental music through collaborations, commissions, and performances.
Angélique Kidjo receives the Vilcek Prize in Music in recognition of her exceptional range as a singer-songwriter, and for her artistic leadership through her performances, albums, and collaborations. Born in Ouidah, Benin, Kidjo had her musical debut with the album Pretty in 1981. She rose to international fame in the 1990s with albums like Logozo, Ayé, and Fifa. In 1997, Kidjo immigrated to the United States, moving to Brooklyn, New York. Since then, she has continued to write, record, and tour extensively, while undertaking humanitarian work as an international Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and with the Batonga Foundation, which she founded in 2006.
The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science
The recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science are Edward Chouchani (b. Canada), Biyu J. He (b. China), and Shixin Liu (b. China).
Edward Chouchani receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for his work to decipher the molecular mechanisms that drive metabolic disease, with the aim of developing therapeutic interventions targeted at the molecular drivers of metabolism within cells.
Biyu J. He receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for her leadership in the field of cognitive neuroscience, and for her groundbreaking discoveries on the biological bases of perceptual cognition and subjective experience.
Shixin Liu receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise for applying cutting-edge biophysical tools to directly visualize, manipulate, and understand the physiological function of nanometer-scale biomolecular machines including DNA replication and transcription complexes at the single-molecule level.
The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music
The 2023 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music are awarded to Arooj Aftab (b. Saudi Arabia, to Pakistani parents) Juan Pablo Contreras (b. Mexico), and Ruby Ibarra (b. the Philippines).
Arooj Aftab receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her evocative songs and compositions that incorporate a range of influences from semi-classical Pakistani music and Urdu poetry, to jazz harmonies and experimental music.
Juan Pablo Contreras receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for his work as a composer and conductor of orchestral music that draws on his Mexican heritage, and for his leadership in founding the Orquesta Latino Mexicana.
Ruby Ibarra receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her hip-hop and spoken word performances that center her experience as a Filipina American woman, and for her powerful lyrics that address colonialism, immigration, colorism, and misogyny.
The Vilcek Foundation
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.
The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.
Du Yun, Angélique Kidjo, Arooj Aftab, Juan Pablo Contreras, and Ruby Ibarra are recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Music
NEW YORK, October 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– The Vilcek Foundation announces the recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in the Arts and Humanities, a part of the Vilcek Foundation Prizes Program. Awarded annually in a rotating category, the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in the Arts and Humanities recognize and celebrate immigrants’ contributions to intellectual and cultural life in the United States and highlight the value of immigration for a robust society.
In 2023, the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in the Arts and Humanities are awarded in music. The foundation is awarding five prizes, totaling $350,000 in awards. Two main prizes—the Vilcek Prizes in Music—each include a cash award of $100,000. Three additional awards—the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music—each include a cash award of $50,000.
The Vilcek Prizes in Music
The 2023 Vilcek Prizes in Music are awarded to Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo. Vilcek Foundation Cofounder, Vice Chair, and Secretary Marica Vilcek elaborated on the decision to award two prizes.
“With the 2023 Vilcek Prizes in Music, it was important to us to recognize a range of musicians: from those in the halls of classical music to the songwriters and performers whose music vibrates across the airwaves around the world,” said Vilcek. “Music transcends language, borders, and boundaries. Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo’s work exemplify this, from Du Yun’s arresting operas and electrifying postmodern compositions to Kidjo’s charismatic presence on the global stage over the past four decades.”
Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel shared similar sentiments. “The sheer scope of Du Yun’s and Angélique Kidjo’s work defies any easy categorization,” he said. “Du Yun’s virtuosic range is evidenced from her operas to her avant-garde projects like Shark in You and A Cockroach’s Tarantella—her work bridges sound art and classical composition. Kidjo’s prolific songwriting, albums, and collaborations have brought African music to the mainstream, while also introducing generations of listeners to Afropop, Afrobeat, and traditional West African music.” He continued, “Both artists’ respective influence exemplifies the broad impact immigrants have on culture and society.”
Du Yun receives the Vilcek Prize in Music for her open approach to composition, which subverts the boundaries of traditional classical music by incorporating influences from punk, electronic, and experimental music, and for the virtuosity of her Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Angel’s Bone.
Born in Shanghai, China, Du Yun began studying piano at the age of four and began attending the Preparatory Divisions of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age six. She came to the United States to pursue higher education in music, earning her bachelor’s at Oberlin Conservatory and her Ph.D. in Music Composition at Harvard University. In 2001, Du Yun co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble with the goal of advancing the genre of experimental music through collaborations, commissions, and performances.
Angélique Kidjo receives the Vilcek Prize in Music in recognition of her exceptional range as a singer-songwriter and for bringing African music to the global stage through her performances, albums, and collaborations. Born in Ouidah, Benin, Kidjo made her musical debut with the album Pretty in 1981. She rose to international fame in the 1990s with albums like Logozo, Ayé, and Fifa. In 1997, Kidjo immigrated to the United States, moving to Brooklyn, New York. Since then, she has continued to write, record, and tour extensively, while undertaking humanitarian work as an international Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and with the Batonga Foundation, which she founded in 2006.
The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music
The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music are awarded to early- and mid-career immigrant musicians, composers, and music producers living and working in the United States. Recipients are selected for the professional and creative quality of their work: musical compositions and performances that represent important contributions to their genres, and that resonate and inspire both performers and audiences.
The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music are awarded to Arooj Aftab, Juan Pablo Contreras, and Ruby Ibarra.
Arooj Aftab receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her evocative songs and compositions that incorporate a range of influences from semi-classical Pakistani music and Urdu poetry, to jazz harmonies and experimental music. Her blend of ancient traditions and contemporary style has earned her mainstream recognition, including a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and a 2022 Grammy for Best Global Performance for Mohabbat. Born in Saudi Arabia to Pakistani parents, Aftab found music as an outlet for self-identification and discovery. She immigrated to the United States in 2005 to pursue studies in music composition and engineering at the Berklee College of Music.
Juan Pablo Contreras receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for his work as a composer and conductor of orchestral music that draws on his Mexican heritage, and for his leadership in founding the Orquesta Latino Mexicana. Contreras’ compositions tell stories about Mexico from an immigrant perspective. A dedicated teacher and mentor, Contreras seeks to empower the next generation of musicians and to foster equity and inclusion in orchestral programming and seeks to expand classical music curriculum beyond its traditionally Eurocentric focus. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Contreras immigrated to the United States in 2006. He holds degrees from the California Institute of the Arts (BFA), the Manhattan School of Music (MM), and the University of Southern California (DMA).
Ruby Ibarra receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her personal and evocative hip-hop and spoken word performances that center her experiences as a Filipina American woman, and as an immigrant growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Tacloban City in the Philippines, Ibarra immigrated to the United States with her family in 1991. Her debut mixtape, Lost in Translation, and her 2017 album, CIRCA91, explore themes including immigration, colorism, and misogyny. In addition to her music, Ibarra is a dedicated activist, and in 2018 she founded the Pinays Rising Scholarship program.
The Vilcek Foundation
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.
The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, Edward Chouchani, Biyu J. He, and Shixin Liu are honored with the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science
Press Release –
Oct 18, 2022
NEW YORK, October 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– The Vilcek Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science. Awarded annually since 2006, the prizes recognize immigrant scientists at the forefront of their fields, and celebrate the importance of immigrant contributions to scientific research and discovery in the United States. In 2023, the foundation awards a total of $250,000 to Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado (b. Venezuela), Edward Chouchani (b. Canada), Biyu J. He (b. China), and Shixin Liu (b. China).
The prizes comprise the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, and three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. The Vilcek Prize is a $100,000 award bestowed on an immigrant scientist whose career achievements demonstrate a legacy of major accomplishment in their area of study. The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise are $50,000 prizes given to immigrant scientists and researchers whose early career work represents a significant contribution to their field.
The Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science is awarded to Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado. Edward Chouchani, Biyu J. He, and Shixin Liu receive Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise.
The Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is executive director and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for his contributions to the field of regeneration—from the identification of crucial genes that control regeneration in living organisms to the potential for regenerative medicine to address how we treat disease in humans. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Sánchez Alvarado immigrated to the United States to pursue his bachelor’s at Vanderbilt University before going on to complete his Ph.D. in pharmacology and cell biophysics at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.
“Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado has devoted his career to understanding the fundamental molecular and cellular bases of regeneration, from the specific genes responsible for regeneration to epigenetic regulators that compel the expression of these genes,” said Vilcek Foundation Chairman and CEO Jan Vilcek. “Using a freshwater flatworm—an organism called Schmidtea mediterranea—as a powerful experimental tool to study the molecular mechanisms of tissue regeneration, he has pioneered and expanded the field of regeneration. His work has broad applications for our understanding of the pathology of degenerative disease.”
The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science
Edward Chouchani, Biyu J. He, and Shixin Liu are the recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science.
Edward Chouchani is an associate professor of cancer biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an associate professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School. He is a cofounder and board member of Matchpoint Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on the development of precision medicine. Born in Ottawa, Canada, Chouchani earned his bachelor’s at Carleton University and his Ph.D. in biological sciences at the University of Cambridge. He receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for his work to decipher the molecular mechanisms that drive metabolic disease, with the aim of developing therapeutic interventions targeted at the molecular drivers of metabolism within cells.
Biyu J. He is an assistant professor of neurology, neuroscience and physiology, and radiology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and principal investigator of the Perception and Brain Dynamics Laboratory at NYU Langone Health. Born in Xinxiang, China, Biyu J. He immigrated to the United States to pursue her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis. She receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for her research leadership in the field of cognitive neuroscience, and for her groundbreaking work on the biological bases of perceptual cognition and subjective experience.
Shixin Liu receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise for applying cutting-edge biophysical tools to directly visualize, manipulate, and understand the physiological function of nanometer-scale biomolecular machines including DNA replication and transcription complexes at the single-molecule level. Liu is an associate professor at The Rockefeller University, where he has been the head of the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biophysics and Biochemistry since 2016. Born in Anhui province in China, he immigrated to the United States to pursue his Ph.D. in chemistry at Harvard University.
The 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes
In addition to the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science, in 2023 the foundation is awarding $250,000 in prizes to immigrant musicians with the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Music. The recipients of the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Music are Du Yun, Angélique Kidjo, Arooj Aftab, Juan Pablo Contreras, and Ruby Ibarra.
The Vilcek Foundation
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.
The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.
Jimmy Kimmel says that as Florida deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, a key part of the state’s cleanup and recovery is going to be pretty awkward for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Well, guess who’s coming to help Florida recover from the hurricane? That’s right: a group of immigrants,” he said, as migrant workers head to Florida to help with the cleanup.
Kimmel couldn’t help but point out the irony.
“Ron DeSantis bringing in immigrant workers to do hurricane cleanup is like Will Smith asking Chris Rock to play his birthday party,” Kimmel said.
The Vilcek Science Symposium brings immigrant scientists together for a two-day conference at the Gladstone Institutes.
Press Release –
Oct 5, 2022
NEW YORK, October 5, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– They come from around the world—born in Taiwan, India, Lebanon, Israel, Romania, and Russia, among other places—but they all call the United States home. The scientists presenting at the first Vilcek Science Symposium, taking place Oct. 19-20 at Gladstone Institutes, have something in common other than their top-notch, award-winning research: they’re all immigrants.
Organized in partnership with the Gladstone Institutes, the symposium, “Science Crossing Borders: Celebrating the Contributions of Foreign-Born Researchers in the United States“ aims to recognize outstanding science by researchers born outside the U.S. It also provides a platform for the researchers to share their personal stories, network with one another, and raise awareness of the impact of immigration to inclusive and high-quality science.
“Even though we come from diverse backgrounds and study very different topics, immigrant scientists share some common experiences,” says Jeanne Paz, Ph.D., conference chair and associate investigator at Gladstone. “We thought it would be nice to meet, create opportunities for collaboration, and brainstorm how we can support trainees who are coming from other countries.”
“This symposium represents the first time that Vilcek Prizewinners in biomedical science have a specific opportunity to connect in an academic context,” says Jan T. Vilcek, MD, Ph.D., co-founder, CEO, and chairman of the Vilcek Foundation. “We hope that the two-day program will help these leaders learn more about one another’s work and create space for potential collaborations moving forward.”
A Chance to Connect
In 2019, Paz won a Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for her research on epilepsy. At the annual Vilcek Awards Gala, she and fellow winner and scientist, the late Angelika Amon, Ph.D., struck up a conversation about some of the unique challenges that immigrant scientists face. They started brainstorming ways to strengthen the community of Vilcek Prizewinners and proposed the idea for a symposium.
“When Jeanne Paz and Angelika Amon approached us in 2019 about developing an academic forum for our Vilcek Foundation Prizewinners, we were delighted,” says Vilcek. “It is a testament to Angelika’s lasting impact as a mentor to see this symposium realized, and it speaks deeply to Jeanne’s leadership in supporting the next generation of scientists at the Gladstone Institutes.”
“We are thrilled to host this exciting symposium,” says Lennart Mucke, MD, of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease. “An immigrant myself, I deeply appreciate the efforts of the Vilcek Foundation and the pioneering contributions of these outstanding speakers. Their paths beautifully illustrate that science truly is universal and boundless.”
Inspiring Change
The scientists presenting at the upcoming symposium work in diverse fields—from physics to biomedicine—and Paz hopes that getting them all in one room will create new collaboration and networking opportunities. But she also hopes that students will tune in for the talks and be inspired by their personal stories.
“There’s often this idea in the scientific community that to be successful, you have to come from a very famous lab and follow a particular path, and it’s important for young scientists to see that doesn’t have to be true,” says Paz. “You can come from a very difficult background and move far away from your support network and succeed because you pursued a path that you were passionate about.” Paz herself was born in the Republic of Georgia and moved to the United States for her postgraduate research.
Many Vilcek Foundation Prizewinners credit not only their backgrounds but the purposeful diversity of their labs with helping them think more expansively about their research subjects. With those messages in mind, the symposium organizers have arranged roundtables, mentoring opportunities, and a panel discussion with a handful of attendees about how being an immigrant has shaped their science.
“There is no singular immigrant story or experience, and while our prizes recognize immigrant scientists, each of our prizewinners has a unique experience, focus, and insight that has contributed to their success,” says Rick Kinsel, president of the Vilcek Foundation. “We hope to make this diversity apparent, and to bolster individuals’ understanding of the ways that immigration has a positive impact on our scientific communities, and on society more broadly.”
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.
The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.
Contact
Elizabeth Boylan Communications Manager The Vilcek Foundation www.vilcek.org
Maltese-American HLP founder and Catholic author Marcelle Bartolo-Abela challenges American Christians to ask if the Gospel of Trump is compatible to the Gospel of Christ. Using empirical data, she shows how the American people of faith draw the line bounded by devotion to politicians, while violating the fundamental human rights of racial and religious minorities, immigrants, refugees, and women.
Press Release –
updated: Apr 10, 2017
East Longmeadow, MA, April 10, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– Hope and Life Press is proud to announce the release of the book Who Are You? What is Your Faith? America’s 21st Century Alt-Right and Catholic Social Doctrine, written by HLP’s Maltese-American founder and Catholic author Marcelle Bartolo-Abela. Exploring the question of the two Executive Orders titled Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States from the lens of Sacred Scripture and the teachings and praxis of the Catholic Church, Bartolo-Abela elucidates how race is the key sociopolitical ordering factor at play in the history and current state of America, with regard to fundamental human rights and the inviolable dignity of human persons. She explicates the underlying nature and stunning demographics of a newly-defined American alt-right population, and shows how at least two antithetical forms of Christianity and Catholicism are being actively employed in the United States, at the intersection of politics and religion, to further a multidimensional racial agenda. Bartolo-Abela reminds readers that an effective and genuine remedy to America’s conflict does exist in accordance with the Faith and provides recommendations for non-violent change. Who Are You? What is Your Faith? America’s 21st Century Alt-Right and Catholic Social Doctrine is available in paperback and ebook editions from Amazon, the publishers Hope and Life Press, and major booksellers.
About the Author
Impressive documentation of systematic discrimination since the foundation of America.
Richard Paul Hirtreiter, Esq., CEO / General Counsel, DMPO Marketing Inc.
Marcelle Bartolo-Abela is a consultant on the interface of multiculturalism, psychology, spirituality, and the political sphere. A first-generation immigrant to America, she served as a mental health clinician in hospital, community, private practice settings in the Northeast US and Malta. She has lectured on psychology and psychotherapy to psychiatry residents and graduate students in the US, UK, and Malta. She served as consultant to faculty and program managers on the combined provision of multicultural psychology and spirituality services. She also provided advocacy and consultation on free speech rights in relation to criminalization discourses in the legislative agenda First Malta Then the World.
Bartolo-Abela is the author of nine books on the Catholic Faith. She holds a Master of Science in Psychology from Springfield College, the Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methodologies in the Social Sciences from Middlesex University, and the Certificate in Catholic Social Doctrine for Professionals from The Catholic University of America. Bartolo-Abela is a mid-level apprentice in Russian-Byzantine iconography. Her icons can be found in churches and private collections in the US, Italy, and Malta.
