Politicians in Washington have promised to work on a comprehensive immigration plan this year. Business leaders are among those calling the loudest for changes that will help qualified and willing workers to stay in the U.S.
 
With a seemingly American name and no trace of a Spanish accent, when people see me reporting on TV they don’t readily think of me as a Latina, much less one who was born in Cuba. Yet being an immigrant is such a big part of how I see myself, and an issue close to my heart.

My very first childhood memory is of the day my family landed in the U.S. At a refugee-processing center for breakfast they gave us little single-serving boxes of cereal, which we had to eat right from the box. To my four-year old way of thinking, if this was how people ate in America, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it here.

My mom was even more leery of leaving behind the warmth of her family to make a new life in snowy Boston, where she would have to learn English. But my dad was certain that leaving Cuba was the best thing for our family, after Castro took power.

Papi had no fear of starting over, maybe because his parents had left Jamaica for Cuba in search of opportunity, and before that his mom’s father had moved the family to Panama where he worked on construction of the canal.

My folks struggled plenty, but through hard work they found their piece of the American dream. They bought a house; for a few years my dad had his own construction company, before he passed away. And my mom has worked at the same research foundation for 40 years, with no plans to retire at age 76.

Knowing that they came to America so we could pursue our goals gave me a license to dream big. By the time I was six, I thought being President of the United States would be the best job ever. I was crushed to learn that was the one thing I couldn’t do because I was foreign-born.

My parents never discouraged me from pursuing whatever I wanted to do. In fact, it was Mami who encouraged me to go into TV, when I was no more than 10. Watching the news one night she turned to me and said, “You know, you could do that.”

When it came to education, they were supportive no matter what, even when their niña chose to go away to college. I tease my mom for making it seem like I’d committed a crime. “Bertha is going to Jail next year,” she would tell people – in her heavy Cuban accent the Y in Yale sound like a J. But she was nothing but proud.

It takes a certain kind of person to risk leaving behind what’s comfortable and familiar, in the belief that they can do better.

The fact that immigrants like my parents have been able to realize that desire in this country is what makes America such a special place.

It’s no surprise to me that immigrant entrepreneurs are helping to drive the engine of economic growth in United States, in record numbers.

In the last two decades, foreign-born entrepreneurs have started small businesses at three times the rate of U.S.-born business owners, according to Small Business Administration data. Nearly one in five U.S. small business owners now is foreign-born, with Mexico the top country of origin.

It’s not just small business. A 2011 study by the Partnership For A New American Economy found 20 percent of S&P 500 firms were founded by immigrants— think Intel’s Andy Grove and Google’s Sergei Brin—while another 20 percent were started by children of immigrants.

(http://www.renewoureconomy.org/sites/all/themes/pnae/img/new-american-fortune-500-june-2011.pdf)

If you ask me, playing a vital role in creating jobs and transforming lives through innovation is an even cooler job than occupying the Oval Office!