Rhetoric
Mother Jones Exposes Inner Workings of the Self-Deportation Movement
In its March/April issue, Mother Jones Magazine goes “inside the self-deportation movement,” exploring “164 state anti-immigration bills and the forces behind them.” The concept of “self deportation,” popularized by GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney, is central to the philosophy of “attrition through enforcement.” The basic idea is that, if you make life hard enough for unauthorized immigrants, they will pick up and leave of their own accord, which means the state will not have to hunt them down, detain them, and deport them. Read More
Court Strikes Down Provision of Fremont’s Immigration Ordinance, Impact on Community Continues
BY DARCY TROMANHAUSER, PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT NEBRASKA APPLESEED. A federal court’s recent decision to strike down the core of Fremont’s immigration enforcement ordinance (Ordinance No. 5165)—which requires businesses to verify employees’ immigration status and renters to apply for an occupancy license—is no surprise. Across the country, every immigration ordinance with a rental component has been found unconstitutional—but not before creating great cost, division, and a sense of loss in the local community. Although Fremont’s immigration measure has not yet gone into effect, its passage is having a devastating impact on the community. Read More
Number of Potential Immigrant Voters on the Rise in Key Super Tuesday States
Three of the twelve states holding Republican primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday—Georgia, Massachusetts and Virginia—show especially strong trends in the numbers of foreign-born residents who have become U.S. citizens. This trend is significant given that these new Americans are able to register and vote. Immigrant communities in each of these states are large, exceeding 800,000 persons, and make up almost 10% or more of the statewide population. In fact, these three states are home to 71% of all immigrants living in the Super Tuesday states. While we don’t yet know how many of these naturalized U.S. citizens will vote on Super Tuesday or in the general election, GOP presidential candidates—many of whom have taken a hard line on immigration—would do well to take note of this trend. Read More
A New Way to Measure the Burgeoning Power of the Immigrant Vote
Voter registration is a key measure of immigrant integration. After all, what could be more American than casting your ballot on Election Day? When measuring immigrant voting patterns, voter registration is typically defined as the percent of naturalized immigrants (those who have become U.S. citizens) who are registered to vote. In other words, we only look at those currently eligible to vote because they have naturalized, instead of looking at the percentage of naturalized registered voters against all immigrants, documented or undocumented. The problem with that approach is we miss a big and important picture on the potential of the immigrant voting block—that many of those not eligible now, may well be eligible in the future. Read More
ICE’s New Public Advocate Office a Step in the Right Direction
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced creation of its first Public Advocate’s office, designed to serve as a point of contact for people trying to cut through the bureaucracy to get questions answered and concerns heard. While immigration hardliner Rep. Lamar Smith was quick to call the new office a “lobbying firm for illegal immigrants,” the actual job description is more like an extension of current public engagement functions, but with the possibility of more specific intervention on individual cases. Read More
GOP Candidates Ignore Florida’s Diversifying Latino Population
Campaigning in Florida this month, GOP Presidential candidates continued to display a general lack of understanding of the state’s diversifying Latino population. While it’s well-documented that the Cuban-American population is currently a strong political force, the emerging story in Florida is that the state’s future voting population will become increasingly Latino, but less Cuban. Read More
Romney Uses Restrictionist Code Words to Describe Immigration Policy
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney stole a page from the restrictionists’ playbook this week when he promoted the idea of “self-deportation” during a presidential debate. "If people don't get work here,” Romney stated, “they're going to self-deport to a place where they can get work." Rather than initiate a constructive solution to our nation’s immigration problems, Romney is jumping in bed with immigration restrictionist groups who support policies that tear American families and communities apart, devastate local economies, and place unnecessary burdens on U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants. Read More
Advocates Call Romney’s Relationship with Anti-Immigrant Hawk “Political Suicide”
As if Mitt Romney’s repeated promise to veto the DREAM Act wasn’t alienating enough, advocates warn that Romney’s continued relationship with famed anti-immigrant hawk Kris Kobach is killing future support from Latino voters, especially in key states like New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Florida. Kobach, co-author of Arizona and Alabama’s extreme immigration enforcement laws, appeared in South Carolina Monday night to spin for the Romney campaign following the GOP debate. Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
