Ali Noorani
Changing the way we tell stories about immigration, creating new possibilities for meaningful policy reform.
Over the last decade, nativism, xenophobia, and racism have overwhelmed U.S. politics (and particularly, the debate over immigration), making meaningful reform nearly impossible. But, beneath the polarization, says immigration-reform advocate Ali Noorani, millions of moderate or conservative Americans are eager for compassionate, pragmatic solutions.
Raised in California as the child of Pakistani immigrants, Noorani has been forging alliances and finding common ground among people of wide-ranging backgrounds his entire life. Today, as the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy organization, National Immigration Forum, Noorani leads efforts to engage leaders, in faith, law enforcement, and business, in promoting the value of immigrants and immigration in the U.S.
From Evangelical pastors in South Carolina, to law-enforcement officials in small-town Texas, to dairy-farm owners in Idaho, the National Immigration Forum is starting new conversations with local leaders who are sincerely struggling to find solutions on immigration policy, and reaching them where they are, to discover new and effective ways to share immigrant stories and advance meaningful reform.