Only In America With Ali Noorani

José Olivarez is a poet, educator and performer. He co-hosts the podcast “The Poetry Gods” and his debut collection, “Citizen Illegal,” received widespread critical acclaim and was a finalist in the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards. Born in Chicago to Mexican immigrant parents, José was raised with his three younger brothers in Calumet City, Illinois. In this week’s episode, José recites some of his poems and talks to Ali about their meaning, how he uses them to communicate with his parents, and his mother’s solution for all ailments.  

of this year’s Academy Awards, writer and critic Monica Castillo sits down with Ali to talk about immigration and movies. In her writings, she has called for more inclusion of immigrant stories in films. She talks to Ali about her cinematic influences, her Cuban roots and Hollywood’s missed opportunity to represent the stories of today’s immigration wave to the United States. Monica’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Lily, and the Village Voice.

Harvard Professor Mary C. Waters talks with Ali about the progress made by modern-day immigrants in learning English and integrating into U.S. society. Despite the current rhetoric surrounding immigration, Waters says that native-born Americans have a more welcoming attitude toward immigrants, and research shows that “Americans agree more about immigration than we do about a lot of issues that divide us.” Ali also discusses the Forum’s Skills and Opportunity for the New American Workforce program with Jennie Murray, the Forum’s director of integration programs.

The national conversation about our Southern Border doesn’t reflect the reality of border life. In this episode of Only in America, Ali heads to the city of Nogales, Arizona and across the border to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, to hear the realities of Arizona’s largest international border community. There he learns how interactions with migrants and border patrol are at the core of everyday life in this border city. Guests in this episode are Ernesto Portillo, a columnist for the Arizona Daily Star and editor of La Estrella de Tucson; small business owner Monica Weisberg-Stewart, chairwoman of Immigration and Border Security for the Texas Border Coalition; and Juanita Molina, executive director of the Border Action Network.

Doug Holtz-Eakin is the president of the American Action Forum, a center-right economic and fiscal policy organization located in Washington, D.C.  Doug talks to Ali about the benefits of immigration and how it will lead to a more robust American economy, the impact of Pennsylvania steel mills on his family, and his crisis of confidence in his early career.   Plus, the Forum’s policy and advocacy associate, Zuzana Cepla, discusses our new interactive map that provides information on career paths across the United States.

  Laura Peña is a visiting attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. Laura grew up in Harlingen, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border before working for two presidential campaigns, clerking for a federal judge, and serving as an attorney with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Laura tells Ali about the personal and professional challenges of working for ICE, how the border has changed since she grew up there, and why the migrant families she works with give her hope.

Doug Hattaway is a communications expert and the president of Hattaway Communications in Washington, D.C. He served as senior communications adviser to Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential bid and works with clients in government, advocacy, philanthropy and business on research, strategy and branding. With the Ford Foundation, he has headed a team that talks to people across the country from different walks of life, exploring their aspirations for their lives, communities and country. The project, American Aspirations, helps organizations communicate in new ways, transcend social and political divides, and connect a cause to hopes and values that really matter to people.  

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a hero to many in Flint, Michigan and around the world for her medical research that helped uncover the alarming spike in blood lead levels of children during the Flint Water Crisis. At first Michigan authorities derided her work as “unfortunate”, but she stood by it and subsequently her research was validated. Dr. Mona, as she is often called, has written a memoir about the water crisis during which she stood up to state authorities and her immigrant story titled, “What the Eyes Don’t See”. The Iraqi-American talks to Ali about her journey to the United States, her love of medicine, and the importance of engaging in our democracy. She is an associate professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan State University. She is also the founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, a model program to mitigate the impact of the Flint Water Crisis.

  PhD candidate, jazz pianist, entrepreneur, Dreamer activist, TedX speaker: DACA recipient Saba Nafees’ resume is chock full of accomplishments for a graduate student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. This week, Ali chats with Saba about her contribution to the Grammy-nominated jazz ensemble album, “American Dreamers: Voices Of Hope, Music Of Freedom,” featuring the John Daversa Big Band and 53 DACA artists, which recently received three Grammy nominations. Saba, who was born in Pakistan and moved to Texas at age 11, discusses her love of music, how she revealed her status to the world and what her father taught her.

  This week, how Julissa Arce arrived from Mexico at 11 years old and rose to become a Vice President of Goldman Sachs. The best-selling author of "My (underground) American Dream," she tells Ali about her journey, and her leading role in the campaign for immigration rights. Her second book, "Someone Like Me," was published last September. Plus, Ali looks at the opportunity for positive U.S. immigration reform in the coming year. 

Happy Birthday to Only in America - we're one-year old this week!  In today's episode, under Dr. Michael Crow's leadership, Arizona State University has become one of the leading academic research institutions in the world. In his conversation with Ali, he talks about the importance of inclusion, the lack of empathy in contemporary life, and what he learned being roughed-up as a child who moved from city to city.  

    This week, Ali's conversation with two U.S. Senators on the cutting edge of the immigration debate - Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Democrat Michael Bennet from Colorado. On November 15, they were honored with the "Courage to Lead Award" at our annual convening in Washington D.C., for their work across the aisle to advance bipartisan immigration solutions.  

In our 2018 Thanksgiving Special, Ali travels from Indiana, to Idaho, to the southern border, with three guests with different experiences of "welcoming the stranger".  Rafed Alsaad helped the US forces in Iraq, and had to flee his homeland to be welcomed in South Bend, Indiana.  Priscilla Salant, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Idaho,  tells Ali how immigrants have become vital to the state's farming communities.  And Father Dan Groody, a University of Notre Dame Professor, finds the spirituality among the migrants at the southern border.      

  This week Joe Maddon, Manager of the World Series-winning Chicago Cubs, tells Ali about his hometown of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and the project he established there to help the immigrant populations gain a foothold in American society. And he praises the contribution of foreign-born players to Major League Baseball. 

On the eve of the mid-term elections, Ali meets León Krauze, a prominent Mexican-born broadcaster and journalist. León is hopeful for American democracy and the future of immigrants here, despite the demonizing of them before and during this election campaign.  And later, in Ali's weekly commentary - why neither Republicans nor Democrats have proposed the sensible solutions on immigration that most Americans want.      

This week, Ali talks with Shirley Hoogstra, President of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.  She spoke of the diversity of her college populations, how they're working to become international citizens, and how people with different views can hear each other, civility.    

This week, Ali chats with two business executives who are leading the way on immigration reform.  Pete Wiersma, a dairy farm owner, is the President of the Idaho Dairyman's Association. His grandparents came to the U.S. from the Netherlands, where they owned a farm which dated back to the 16th century.    Jeff Wasden is President of the Colorado Business Round Table, and talks about how immigrant contributions help grow Colorado's state economy. Both are participating in our annual convening in Washington, D.C. next month: "Leading the Way: An American Approach to Immigration."    

  Americans want to move on from the polarized and rancorous political debate about immigration, full of misplaced fear and disinformation, to solutions based on what the Founding Fathers wanted: the results of our "Living Room Conversations" held throughout the country in 2018. Listen to the findings from those sessions.  And Ali meets the leader of the Anti-Defamation League, which has just re-released President Kennedy's book, "A Nation of Immigrants." Jonathan Greenblatt talks about his ancestry, his recent visit to the U.S. Border, and why the ADL fights for justice for all.   

This time, Ali meets the Texas Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, who represents District 3 in San Antonio, where she was born and raised. She tells Ali about her family roots all the way back to The Alamo; the importance of social justice in her politics, the influence of "radical nuns", and how fixing the sidewalks is at the core of her mission. 

This week, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Art Cullen talks to Ali in his home town, Storm Lake, IA, which has welcomed immigrants for generations from Vietnam to Guatemala. Storm Lake's  population and economy continue to grow, bucking the trend of other Iowa cities and serving as a model for integration and diversity.