Border Patrol
Press Release: Statement from Partnership for a New American Economy Co-Chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Framework Calls For Immigration System that Reflects Economic Needs, Secures Our Borders, Provides a Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants, Reduces Visa Backlogs, and Ensures that Employers Hire Only Legal Workers Following today’s announcement of a “Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform” by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY),… Read More
Removals Remain the Starkest Measure of Immigration Enforcement
For more than a decade, the general thrust of U.S. immigration policy has been aimed at expanding the grounds of removal and the tools for facilitating deportations from the country. Not surprisingly, this has come at an enormous cost. Although the figure has been disputed by restrictionists, a report from the Migration Policy Institute recently found that the federal government spent $18 billion last year on immigration enforcement. Dollars are not the only way to measure immigration enforcement, however, as the number of removals has itself skyrocketed in recent years. Read More
Immigration Expert Exposes Legal Flaws in Anti-DACA Lawsuit
Shortly after the administration began accepting applications under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Kris Kobach—the author of Arizona SB 1070 and other notorious state immigration laws—filed a lawsuit on behalf of ten disgruntled immigration agents seeking to halt the program in its tracks. The lawsuit has largely been viewed as a politically motivated stunt, with little chance of success in court. Now, a new law review article by University of Virginia law professor David Martin, one of the nation’s premier experts on immigration law, systematically debunks Kobach’s legal arguments. Read More
Border Patrol Tightens Up Its Policy on Providing Interpretation Services
By Lisa Graybill, Visiting Lecturer in Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. In a welcome if overdue move last Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new guidance to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) personnel, directing them not to respond to requests for translation assistance from other law enforcement organizations. The new guidance, which has not been publicly released, requires CBP personnel, including U.S. Border Patrol agents, to instead refer requests for translation from federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations to private local and national translation services. However, the guidance does not affect CBP’s authority to respond to requests from law enforcement agencies for other types of assistance. Read More
Immigrant Friends and Foes Debate the Definition of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform”
Nearly everyone agrees that an immigration reform bill of some sort will be introduced in Congress in the near future given the pivotal role that Latinos and immigrants played in getting President Obama reelected. But no one knows yet just how “comprehensive” that bill will be, meaning which groups of immigrants will be included and which will be excluded. For immigrant-rights advocates, a truly comprehensive bill would create a pathway to legal status for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living in the country. For anti-immigrant activists, the definition of “comprehensive” is, not surprisingly, a bit less comprehensive. In fact, their redefinition of the concept is often so tortured as to be meaningless. Read More
Foreign Born Dominate U.S. Patent Holders: Study
India-West October 12, 2012 About 76% of the patents at the top 10 patent-producing U.S. universities in 2011 had at least one foreign-born inventor, according to a new study by The Partnership for a New American Economy. Foreign nationals were listed as inventors in over 84% of the IT… Read More
Why Diversity and Inclusion on College Campuses Works
VOXXI October 5, 2012 Americans must realize the benefits of diversity and inclusion in college campuses to demonstrate that America is ‘A Land of Opportunity’ for minorities. The Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a new U.S. Supreme Court landmark case (11-345) is expected to have a huge… Read More
Latino Immigrants As Job Creators
Voxxi September 13, 2012 CFR’s Renewing America initiative just released a new report by Alexandra Starr, a fellow at the New America Foundation, titled “Latino Immigrant Entrepreneurs: How to Capitalize on Their Economic Potential.” Many people view low-skilled immigrants as an economic burden because they produce few income taxes. Read More
Senator Wants 55,000 Green Cards For Tech Grads
A U.S. senator has introduced legislation that would replace a program which reserves up to 55,000 permanent resident visas for foreign nationals through a lottery with one that saves the same number of so-called green cards for students graduating from advanced science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs at U.S. Read More
New Border Patrol Strategy Changes Rhetoric More than Substance
The U.S. Border Patrol’s newly released strategic plan is a decidedly mixed bag when it comes to border security—just like the Border Patrol’s last strategic plan, released in 2004. On the plus side, both documents advocate an intelligence-driven, risk-based approach to border security which focuses on the greatest security threats. Both plans also call for disruption of the smuggling networks which bring unauthorized immigrants, drugs, and other contraband into the United States. On the down side, each plan embraces the simplistic “prevention through deterrence” mentality in which it is believed—or hoped—that heightened border enforcement will scare off unauthorized immigrants and smugglers alike. More broadly, both documents are a reflection of the federal government’s continued misguided emphasis on securing the territory between ports of entry, even though most smuggling now occurs through ports of entry. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone