News & Views

Watch it Now | Ask Me Anything: The Truth About Immigration with Professor Exequiel Hernandez

The 2024 election is, in large part, all about immigration. Strong opinions are held on both sides – whether immigration helps or hurts the economy, impacts crime, national security and is ultimately beneficial or problematic. But where are the facts?

On October 28, 2024, we were joined by Wharton Professor Exequiel Hernandez for “The Truth About Immigration”, a conversation based on his recent book of the same name. Using decades of research and examples, Professor Hernandez slayed every myth about immigration, unpacked the complex questions that immigration raises, and revealed some startling answers.

For more information about Professor Hernandez’s book, visit https://zekehernandez.net/book/

Watch it Now: A Conversation With Author Taylor Shiroff

On June 26th, 2024, HIAS Pennsylvania held a conversation with author Taylor Shiroff, in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month.

Taylor Shiroff is the author of Next Year in America: A Family History of Eastern European Jews in the Old and New Worlds.

About the Book

Between 1880 and 1924, about two million Jews left the Russian Empire and its poverty and persecution in favor of immigrating to the United States. Few, if any, spoke English. Almost none were accustomed to electricity or running water inside homes. Most had never even seen a “modern” city.

Yet, despite lacking work experience to garner a living wage, they settled in. Within a generation, though Yiddish could still sometimes be heard, the typical Jew had become an assimilated American, striving for and even reaching the American Dream. This is their tale, as told through the lens of Taylor Shiroff’s ancestors.