Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily Memphian | Michael J. LaRosa

Opinion: Memphians deserve a choice in how we are governed and policed

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 04:00:03 -0500

“The outsiders ... who think this “surge” is a wonderful idea for the city have little insight into how the deployment of a few hundred people in a city as sprawling and diverse as Memphis can effectively combat crime.”

Opinion: A Venezuelan immigrant's experience with ICE in Memphis

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 04:00:10 -0500

Alfredo Caminata saw the United States as a safe place free from the authoritarianism and persecution he suffered in his home country. Until he was stopped by ICE agents.

Opinion: For the children, educate undocumented students

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 04:00:03 -0500

“Educating children helps society to flourish. Denying education is a recipe for stagnation, more crime and increased misery for all.”

Guest Column: The story of how one family made Memphis home

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 04:00:15 -0500

More than 40 years ago, Doan and Mylinh Dinh fled Vietnam and established a new family here in Memphis — a city that gave them not just a chance for survival but the opportunity to thrive.

Opinion: Seeking refuge in America – and Memphis

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 18:46:16 -0500

“Because of the sanitation workers’ strike and the tragic killing of Martin Luther King Jr. 55 years ago, Memphis has become a welcoming place for refugees and people fleeing unimaginable horrors back home.”

Opinion: Who counts in America?

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 08:01:40 -0500

Leaving undocumented people out of the census mirrors a more subtle indifference to the Latinx community here in Memphis. Recent reporting shows Hispanics are contracting 28% of all COVID-19 cases in Shelby County, while comprising only 10% of residents.

Our pandemic workforce relies on immigrants

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 04:00:08 -0500

Many of the heroes who are attending to the sick and dying in our hospitals are immigrants: 25% of physicians in the United States are foreign-born, and 1.5 million immigrants are employed as doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

Indigence among us

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Mon, 3 Feb 2020 10:24:16 -0600

Cutting poverty and increasing the financial security of all Americans ought to be a political objective, if not obsession.

Ronald Reagan wouldn't recognize this Republican Party

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 04:00:05 -0500

In Tennessee, more than 70,000 citizen children live with an undocumented family member. If a large-scale immigration raid occurred in our neighborhoods, it would have ramifications among the nearly 14,000 Latino/Latina children attending Shelby County Schools.

Partial judges among us

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Tue, 7 May 2019 12:12:47 -0500

About 100 years ago, two murders in South Braintree, Massachusetts, captivated our nation and the world. Two Italian immigrants – Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti – were accused, convicted of the crimes and executed in a Massachusetts electric chair in 1927.

Immigration: 'The best problem'

Bryce@donatilaw.com (Bryce W. Ashby) — Mon, 1 Apr 2019 04:00:00 -0500

In Memphis, new immigrants make up just over 5 percent of the metro population, but account for 9 percent of the area's business owners.