Republicans
Boston Mayor Threatens to Withdraw from ICE’s Secure Communities Program
The saga surrounding ICE’s Secure Communities program continues this month as Boston Mayor Thomas Menino threatened to withdrawal Boston from the federal program unless the agency agreed to target serious criminals only. Not surprisingly, Boston is just the latest in a series of cities and states—including New York, Illinois, Colorado, DC, and parts of California—that have threatened to drop the program. Even ICE Director John Morton, who recently made a trip to Boston to smooth things over, couldn’t guarantee local police that Secure Communities would focus solely on “serious offenders.” Read More
Dear Mr. Smith, Our Broken Immigration System Requires Solutions that Embrace Discretion, Not Eliminate It
Over the last six months, Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), along with other members of the House Judiciary Committee, have engaged in an all-out effort to turn back the clock on our immigration laws through a series of bills that may tackle one issue at a time, but equal a comprehensive overhaul. This week, the restrictionists’ Comprehensive Immigration Reform package (RCIR, as we call it) became complete with the introduction of the “Hinder the Administration’s Legalization Temptation Act” (HALT Act), a bill that would suspend discretionary forms of immigration relief until January 21, 2013. Yes, until the day after the next inauguration. Read More
ACLU, Civil Rights Groups File Suit Against Alabama’s Immigration Law
More than just stars fell on Alabama last week when civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit against the state’s restrictive immigration law, HB 56, charging that the law unconstitutionally interferes with federal law and will lead to racial profiling. Filed on Friday, the lawsuit makes Alabama the fifth state (joining Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia) to defend itself against a costly legal challenge to Arizona-style immigration laws. Federal courts have blocked key provisions of restrictive immigration enforcement laws in every state that passed them, save South Carolina, which only recently passed a copycat law. Read More
Sen. McCain Blames Unauthorized Immigrants for Arizona Wildfires
During a press conference Saturday, Sen. McCain blamed undocumented immigrants for the devastating wildfires sweeping through Arizona and southern states, suggesting they started fires to “divert law enforcement agents.” While a U.S. Forest Service official stated there is no evidence suggesting undocumented immigrants are to blame, Sen. McCain, like many restrictionists, took the opportunity to turn tragedy into talking points by exploiting a natural disaster for a sound bite, calling for the need for more border security. Read More
New Americans Are Among the Nation’s Top Entrepreneurs, Report Says
Anyone who fails to recognize that immigration fuels a sizable chunk of the U.S. economy would be well-advised to read the report released this week by the Partnership for a New American Economy, entitled The “New American” Fortune 500. According to the report, two in five Fortune 500 companies (41%) “had at least one founder who was either an immigrant or raised by someone who immigrated to the United States.” Collectively, these companies had $4.2 trillion in annual revenues and employed 10.9 million people worldwide. This is compelling evidence, argues the report, that “immigrants and their children create American jobs and drive our economy.” Yet, the report concludes, our immigration laws all too often force immigrant workers and entrepreneurs away, rather than welcoming them. As New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently put it, that amounts to “national suicide.” Read More
Immigration Tops Economy as Most Important Issue for Latino Voters
According to a poll released yesterday, “U.S. immigration policy” beat out “economy and jobs” as the issue most important for Hispanic voters. The poll, conducted by independent research firm Latino Decisions, asked 500 registered Hispanic voters to name the most important issues facing Hispanics. 51% of respondents said “immigration;” 35% said “economy and jobs;” and 15% said “education.” Pollsters suggest voters’ “direct and personal connection with the problems of the undocumented” as a reason immigration topped the economy—personal relationships that even “affect the political choices of a second or third generation of Latinos born here.” With reform efforts stalled in Congress, many are wondering what kind of political choices Hispanic voters will make in the upcoming 2012 election cycle. Read More
More Immigrants are Educated, Skilled Than Ever Before, Report Finds
A new report released by the Brookings Institution dispels the myth that all immigrants are unskilled, uneducated, and illegal. The report, entitled The Geography of Immigrant Skills: Educational Profiles of Metropolitan Areas, finds that the share of working-age immigrants in the United States who have at least a bachelor’s degree is greater than the share who lack a high-school diploma. Moreover, immigrants with college degrees outnumber immigrants without high-school diplomas by wide margins in more than two-fifths of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. Read More
Republicans Attempt to Change Outgoing Message on Immigration, Again
This week, the conflicting messaging on immigration from Republican politicians is particularly hard to follow. Voters can “press one” for Senator Lindsay Graham’s message that immigration reform is reality if we just pass a border bill; “press two” for Senator Orrin Hatch’s message that Utah voters want to welcome immigrants by stopping them from coming; or “press three” for House Republicans’ message that DHS shouldn’t spend any money on immigrant integration. While the first option at least acknowledges the importance of the growing immigrant voting bloc, the other two options do not. Read More
The Aftermath of the Ellensburg, WA Immigration Raid and Lessons from Past ICE Enforcement Efforts
BY JUAN PEDROZA, THE URBAN INSTITUTE* On Thursday morning, January 20, ICE agents descended on mobile homes in the Ellensburg area, east of Seattle, WA. Federal agents drove in with 11 search warrants and a helicopter search light, making simultaneous arrests at 22 different locations. The coordinated effort followed an investigation involving eight federal, county, and local law enforcement entities. ICE agents arrested 14 Mexican immigrants for criminal charges (for instance, using false documents or falsely claiming U.S. citizenship) and then 16 others for non-criminal "administrative" violations. But the aftermath of the recent raid in Ellensburg replayed familiar scenes of trauma from past enforcement efforts—enforcement efforts upon which ICE can and should improve upon. Read More
The Rally Against State Immigration Legislation Continues
A Washington Post article this week highlighted what many state business groups, law enforcement officers and concerned legislatures have been cautioning for months—at a time of economic uncertainty, states simply cannot afford the costly legal battles and political backlash caused by Arizona-style immigration legislation. Over the past month, SB1070 copycat bills in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah, have been met with considerable hesitation and criticism from constituents worried about the social and economic impact on their state. Some states, like Mississippi and Wyoming, have even rejected initial versions of copycat bills due to high costs. But as other states consider enforcement legislation (California joined the fray this week, as did Georgia’s state Senate), those worried about how enforcement legislation will cost their state feel they can no longer afford to be quiet. Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
