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At a time where immigration steals the headlines almost every day, Professor Leah Ndimurwimo focuses her research on migration and refugee studies. She is a recognized expert on international human rights and, in particular, South African and international law. Professor Ndimurwimo works at Nelson Mandela University, but is currently a Fulbright research scholar at the University of Arizona.

She is an author and co-author of peer-reviewed publications on violations of human rights in Africa. Leah joins me to talk about her research, her background and the current state of migration in our world.

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Parastoo Zahedi knows what it is like to immigrate to the United States. Her own experiences in coming here from Iran has been a key reason why she became an immigration attorney: she wanted to help other attain the American dream and she has done so in many different ways. Since graduating from Georgetown Law School in 1988, Parastoo has become a recognized expert in immigration law and her law practice represents clients in a wide spectrum of matters including: Adjustment of status (green card processing) and naturalization, asylum and refugee status, detention and bond, cancellation of removal, waivers of inadmissibility, immigration consequences of criminal convictions, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions, and federal court litigation. She has also handled business immigration matters in the context of obtaining both nonimmigrant visas(L1A/L1B, H1B/H3, H2B, O, P, E) as well as immigrant petitions for all employment categories including the Extraordinary Ability category.

Parastoo has served as a leader in the American Immigration Lawyers Association community in different capacities and has been awarded for her pro bono work. She has also published numerous articles on a variety of immigration issues and spoken on them as well.

In this episode, Parastoo discusses her path to the U.S. and her journey into immigration law and how she manages this practice in the environment we live in today.

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Anatoly "Tola" Molotkov is a writer, composer, filmmaker and visual artist, and a co-founder of the Inflectionist poetry movement. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and immigrated to the U.S. in 1990 while writing predominantly in Russian at that time. He gradually learned to read and write in English while reading books like J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye." A few years after arriving in the U.S., Tola transitioned to writing completely in English and he is now the author of several novels, short story and poetry collections. He is the winner of the 2008 E. M. Koeppel Short Fiction Award for his story "Round Trip", which was nominated for a Pushcart. In this episode of Immigration Ain't Easy, we discuss Tola's journey to the U.S., the process by which he immigrated and his path to becoming a published writer.

Tola's other fiction and poetry has appeared in over twenty publications, both in print and online. His most recent novel, A Bag Full of Stones, is a literary crime story that examines the targeting of immigrants via right-wing violence in 2019 America. The book will be published on May 29, 2025, and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.com/Bag-Full-Stones-Molotkov-ebook/dp/B0DQSLPF78