Undocumented Immigration
USCIS Convenes Summit to Consider Streamlined Path for Immigrant Entrepreneurs
By KIRSTEN SCHLENGER, MANAGING PARTNER AT WEAVER SCHLENGER MAZEL LLP. The business community has long heralded the vital role immigrant-owned startups play in creating American jobs. This month, it seems like someone at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was listening. USCIS recently hosted its first in a series of summits dedicated to gathering expertise on how U.S. immigration law can enable foreign innovators to come to or remain in the U.S. lawfully while they start and grow businesses that benefit the U.S. economy. The informational summits, part of USCIS’s new Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) initiative, will result in the creation of a team of entrepreneurs and experts who are charged with designing and implementing USCIS policy that eases a path to the U.S. for talented immigrant entrepreneurs. Read More
Courts, State Legislators Pull Back on Restrictive Immigration Legislation
Although several states were eager to introduce their own restrictive immigration bills following Arizona and Alabama’s harsh laws, some legislators and federal judges are now pulling back on these costly bills. A federal judge in Utah this week refused to issue a ruling on the state’s immigration law in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s law while a federal judge in Nebraska struck down part of a restrictive city ordinance, finding a housing provision to be “discriminatory.” Meanwhile, legislators in Kansas and Virginia also failed to move forward on a series of restrictive immigration bills this week, due in part, as one article suggests, to the “political blowback to similar measures that have been enacted in states such as Arizona, Alabama and Georgia.” Read More
Kris Kobach, a Romney Immigration Advisor, Puts Number on Self-Deportation Plan
A recent Salon.com article quotes long-time immigration restrictionist Kris Kobach putting a figure on his self-deportation policy for the first time. “If we had a true nationwide policy of self-deportation,” Kobach said, “I believe we would see our illegal alien population cut in half at a minimum very quickly.” Salon.com did the math, finding that “with an estimated 11 million undocumented residents in the country, Kobach is hoping to force 5.5 million people to leave the country by 2016.” Kobach insists, however, that he does not want “to do it at gunpoint.” Instead, he said undocumented residents “should go home on their own volition, under their own will, pick their own day, get their things in order and leave. That’s a more humane way.” Read More
Kris Kobach, a Romney Immigration Advisor, Puts Number on Self-Deportation Plan
A recent Salon.com article quotes long-time immigration restrictionist Kris Kobach putting a figure on his self-deportation policy for the first time. “If we had a true nationwide policy of self-deportation,” Kobach said, “I believe we would see our illegal alien population cut in half at a minimum very quickly.” Salon.com did the math, finding that “with an estimated 11 million undocumented residents in the country, Kobach is hoping to force 5.5 million people to leave the country by 2016.” Kobach insists, however, that he does not want “to do it at gunpoint.” Instead, he said undocumented residents “should go home on their own volition, under their own will, pick their own day, get their things in order and leave. That’s a more humane way.” 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
What the President’s 2013 Budget Means for the Administration’s Immigration Priorities
This month, President Obama released his FY2013 budget proposal, estimating $3.8 trillion in total spending in 2013. This budget proposal signals the beginning of the annual federal budget process. Congressional budget and appropriations committees will now spend months deliberating over the appropriations bills, which are unlikely to look anything like the president’s budget proposal. However, the president’s budget request does provide a window into the administration’s immigration priorities and plans. Read More
New Mexico Governor Fails to Repeal State Driver’s License Law Yet Again
Yesterday, the New Mexico Legislature ended its 2012 session, leaving intact the 2003 state law that allows driver’s licenses to be issued to individuals regardless of immigration status. This marks the third unsuccessful attempt by Republican Governor Susana Martinez to repeal the state’s driver’s license law. HB103, the bill backed by Martinez, passed the House earlier this month but failed to make it through the Senate. An alternative Senate bill, SB235, which would have tightened residency requirements but not repealed the 2003 law, passed the Senate. Governor Martinez, however, vowed to veto that Senate bill. New Mexico and Washington are the only states that issue driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status (Utah issues a driving certificate that can’t be used for identification). Read More
At Supreme Court, Arizona Gets Help from the Usual Suspects
Following the filing last week of Arizona’s brief defending SB 1070, the Supreme Court has received a barrage of briefs supporting the notorious immigration law from a none-too-surprising array of suspects. As might be expected, the arguments range from the predictable (that the Obama Administration fails to enforce the immigration laws) to the provocative (that states can carry out all immigration functions short of deportation) to the preposterous (that the Constitution allows Arizona to wage war against an “invasion” of immigrants). Of course, while neither Arizona nor their lawyers can be held responsible for the arguments of outside organizations, the briefs still offer a revealing look at the identities and motivations of SB 1070’s most ardent supporters. 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
Retiring Baby Boom Generation Will Rely on Immigrant, Hispanic Workforce
The U.S. population is rapidly growing older, which is having a dramatic impact on the U.S. labor force. The far-reaching effects of this demographic transformation are very much apparent in the projections released in January by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). As explained by Rakesh Kochhar of the Pew Hispanic Center, the BLS numbers indicate that “the aging of the non-Hispanic white population is expected to reduce their numbers in the labor force.” At the same time, “the Hispanic population is growing rapidly due to births and immigration.” For those reasons, says Kochhar, the BLS projections indicate that Latinos “will account for three-quarters of the growth in the nation’s labor force from 2010 to 2020.” Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
