About a quarter of San Diego’s population are immigrants, and their contribution to our economy is significant. In San Diego City alone, there are over 60K immigrant entrepreneurs. Immigrants have more than $16 bn in spending power, and pay almost $10bn in taxes every year. One-third of our essential workers are immigrants.
PANELISTS
Mohamed Musse is the Program Coordinator for the United Women of East Africa support team. United Women of East Africa is located in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, and Mohamed strives every day to help create a robust pipeline to culturally competent health services, education and advocacy for the health and wellbeing of East African women and their families. Mohamed is getting his Masters in Counseling at San Diego State University.
Ian Seruelo practices immigration, asylum, and employment law. He is legal counsel for the Filipino Workers Center, and his firm provides legal services to the Employee Rights Center and Somali Bantu Association of America. He is a member of San Diego’s Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, the United Taxi Workers of San Diego board, and the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium advisory board.
Maria Tapia-Hernandez is a senior staff attorney at Legal Aid at Work, where she supports workers who have been subjected to unlawful practices on the job. Most recently, Maria was a fellow in LAAW’s Project SURVIVE, advocating for the workplace rights of survivors of violence. Maria’s legal background also includes assisting asylum seekers, immigrants facing deportation and ICE custody, and domestic violence survivors.
