UNION CITY, TN - During a press conference on Tuesday, approximately twenty business and community leaders and elected officials joined Darius and Susan Mir, Iranian immigrants and local business owners of Made In America Seating, a seating manufacturing company based in Union City, Tennessee, to hear his personal story and call for comprehensive immigration reform.
An Iranian immigrant, Darius Mir moved to the United States in 1983 and has since leveraged his businesses to give back to the country which he now calls home-- by bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
"Moving into a society that speaks a different language and has a different culture was an extremely big deal for my family," Mr. Mir said. "But we decided to emigrate, and did so very happily because we knew we were going to be entering a country that would give us countless opportunities to prosper."
In an effort to give back to this country, Mir and Made In America Seating have invested in a 100,000-square-foot, state of the art facility in Union City to help reshore 500 manufacturing jobs to Union City. Mir hosted a facilities tour after the press conference.
Event attendees included Ivy Rogers, Dyersburg Field Representative for Congressman David Kustoff; Nick Kistenmacher, Memphis Field Representative for Senator Bob Corker; Chris Connolly, Memphis Field Representative for Senator Lamar Alexander; Benny McGuire, Obion County Mayor; Chuck Marquis, Economic Development for Tennessee Valley Authority; and Lindsay Frilling, CEO of the Obion County Joint Economic Development Council.
Mir's Tuesday event was part of a series of "Map the Impact" events held across the country that day to release new data from the New American Economy (NAE) quantifying the economic impact of immigrants in states, cities and districts across the country.
The new data shows that in Tennessee's 8th District:
- There are 23,518 foreign-born residents who make up 3.3% percent of the area's population.
- Immigrants paid $224.8M in and local taxes and held $733.4M in spending power in 2014.
- Immigrants are 67.7% percent more likely to be entrepreneurs than the native population, and there are 1,531 immigrant entrepreneurs in Tennessee's 8th District.
- Immigrants own 6,065 homes and help to build the area's housing wealth.
- Immigrants make up 7.1% percent of the arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services industry, 6.3% percent of the construction industry, and 6.0% of the agriculture industry, and more.
Visit Map the Impact for state, city, and district information that will help leaders grasp the influence of immigrants in America.
More information can be found at www.NewAmericanEconomy.org
About Made In America Seating
Founded in 2013, Made in America (MIA) Seating Corporation, sister company of 9to5 Seating, is an office seating manufacturer based in Union City, Tennessee. By utilizing state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, MIA has successfully outfitted over 1,300 furniture dealers in the United States with an investment of $39.5 million in its Union City operations.
