Rollin Mukanza launched a carpet cleaning business without knowing how to clean carpets — only the desire to prosper.
The Ellet man fled the Congo more than a decade ago to settle in Akron. With a degree in business, he told a friend, who knew how to remove stains, to demonstrate their service by cleaning a patch of carpet not in the corner of a video store, as others had, but out in the open.
“So [the owner] was compelled to call us to clean the rest of the store because our spot was cleaner,” said Mukanza, who beat out a competitor. His business, Cleancare Professionals, went on to service every Blockbuster store in the Akron area.
Mukanza is one of 568 immigrant entrepreneurs in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. As a group, they are 32.6 percent more likely to start a business than American-born residents, according to research released Tuesday by New American Economy.
“I love the story of the startup companies,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat who represents Akron, Youngstown, Kent and Warren in the U.S. House. “The moment presented itself and you took advantage of it. That’s the immigrant spirit.”
On Tuesday, at the invitation of the International Institute of Akron, Ryan and staff representing U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge and Sen. Sherrod Brown traveled to North Hill to gather stories and statistics that would turn popular opinion against immigration restrictions unleashed in President Donald Trump’s first month in office.
After listening to local business owners who escaped war and genocide to help build the American economy, Ryan shared his own experience as the grandson of immigrants.
Growing up in the Mahoning Valley, he told the International Institute’s staff and guests how the Ku Klux Klan tried to rid the area of Catholics and Italians, like his grandparents. “That just always stuck with me,” he said.
Welcoming immigrants
Akron is a beacon for refugees and pro-immigration policymakers.
When Ryan first campaigned here, it was the Italian heritage of North Hill that felt familiar. Now, it’s a broader acceptance of immigration as a human rights and an economic issue.
In late January, Akron City Council unanimously voted to reject Trump’s executive orders. On Monday, they’ll debate asking Gov. John Kasich to make Ohio a sanctuary state. Not everyone is expected to approve.
Trump’s edicts would limit annual immigration from 110,000 last year to 50,000 this year in part by temporarily halting the refugee program and banning international travel from select Muslim-majority countries. For Syrians, the ban is indefinite.
Summit County Council — with the exception of its two Republican members — also passed a resolution criticizing Trump’s orders, campaign promises his supporters say will stop terrorism.
For context, though, more people in America have died from lightning strikes than international terrorists in the years following 9/11.
Adding jobs
International Institute Executive Director Elaine Woloshyn presented Ryan with a report on the economic impact of the 22,818 immigrants living in his congressional district.
The study, funded by the Knight Foundation and researched by the New American Economy, showed that 59.7 percent of foreign-born residents are of working age (25-64) versus 51.9 of native-born Americans. The report credits refugee workers with keeping 1,000 manufacturing jobs from moving out of the region, which is aging and shedding population faster than the nation.
Woloshyn explained that refugees are expected to be “self-sufficient” and employed in 30 days, and stay that way or be deported. Reports of immigrants being a collective drain on Social Security, Medicaid and other income tax funded programs are not true, Woloshyn said. The report found that in 2014 immigrants in the 13th district held $342.6 million in spending power and paid $125.8 million in taxes.
“So the idea that immigrants and refugees are not contributing is put to rest by the research,” Woloshyn said.
Confusing orders
Madhu Sharma, the agency’s director of immigration services, briefed Ryan on the legalities of Trump’s executive orders.
The travel ban for green card and visa holders has been overturned by a federal judge. What hasn’t been stopped, though, is unclear for practitioners who settle refugees.
Sharma, who emigrated from India with her parents in the 1970s, has tried human rights and immigration cases for 18 years.
Through the Barack Obama and George W. Bush years, the edicts passed down typically came with memorandums that detailed implementation.
“Normally the memos are sent with the orders,” the attorney said. “In this case, the memos haven’t come yet, or are still coming, and it’s been weeks since the executive orders.”
The most recent Department of Homeland Security advisory, issued Tuesday, shows a shift in prioritizing deportation. Any immigrant who is in the country illegally and is charged or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime, will now be an enforcement priority.
There’s also talk, Sharma said, of disruption at the border, where under previous administrations immigrants in the U.S. illegally have been detained then paroled until their asylum hearings. The new rules, Sharma said, would require automatic deportation and could spark a legal fight over the due process of those without documentation.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .