IMMIGRATION ANXIETY

WHEN AN OMINOUS-LOOKING letter from the Department of Homeland Security arrived, Ximena Hartsock felt nervous. The co-founder of Phone2Action, a civic-engagement startup based in Washington, D.C., had helped a few of her 65 employees obtain visas, but now the DHS was retroactively reviewing one worker’s status. The letter—known as a Request for Evidence—demanded additional documents within 90 days. “Don’t worry, we’re handling it,” Hartsock, who emigrated from Chile in 1997, told her employee. “But to see this person’s eyes—it’s tough,” she says. “It’s very close to the anxiety and anguish you feel when someone is very sick.”

For many businesses, 2017 was a year of immigration anxiety. If you employ immigrants, uncertainty is likely taking