Book tells recent immigrants' stories


Yale-Loehr

The geography of U.S. immigration has shifted, says Stephen Yale-Loehr '77, J.D. '81, adjunct professor of law. Today's immigrants arrive predominantly from Asia, Africa and Latin America instead of Europe, and many are choosing to settle in cities across America rather than in traditional points of entry along the borders and coasts. Though its details have changed, immigration continues to tell the story of the nation's one-time motto, E pluribus unum -- Out of many, one.

One of the nation's pre-eminent authorities on U.S. immigration and asylum law, Yale-Loehr has been gathering immigration stories for 30 years. About four years ago, he and fellow immigration lawyer and scholar Laura Danielson began to mine their experiences and those of attorneys and advocates around the country to create a work that would celebrate the resourcefulness, determination and diversity of today's immigrant America.


 

The result is "Green Card Stories" (Umbrage Editions). Written by journalist Saundra Amrhein, with 50 color portraits by photographer Ariana Lindquist and an introduction by Yale-Loehr and Danielson, the coffee-table, 140-page book shares the narratives of 50 recent immigrants, all with permanent residence or citizenship in the United States.

Those profiled include a Japanese hip-hop dancer for singer Gwen Stefani, whose career was inspired by Michael Jackson; an Iraqi bodyguard for U.S. forces who was blinded by a car bomb; and Saah Quigee, who survived torture at the hands of rebel and government forces during his native Liberia's civil war and is a circulation supervisor at Cornell's Africana library.
The "Green Card Stories" book tour launched with events in New York City and continues to other locations nationwide. The book is profiled on CNN and has a Facebook page.

Owen Lubozynski is a freelance writer for the Law School.

 

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz