Undocumented Immigration
Keeping the Dream Alive: Sens. Durbin and Lugar Ask Administration for Deferred Deportation for DREAM Act Kids
Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) have done something that is increasingly rare in Washington—they have issued a bipartisan request for a concrete change in immigration policy. Today, Senators Durbin and Lugar asked Secretary Janet Napolitano to defer deportation of students who would qualify for the DREAM Act. As the lead sponsors of this bipartisan legislation (S. 729)—which would give legal status to students who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 15, have lived in the U.S for at least five years, and are pursuing their education or serving in the military—they have a particular interest in the fate of students who are caught right now in the clutches of deportation. Read More
The Nativist Resurgence of the Radical Right
The April 19th anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing is a grim reminder that the United States is far from immune to the dangers posed by home-grown extremists on the radical right. In fact, as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) notes, the radical right is experiencing a resurgence at the moment that is “driven largely by an angry backlash against non-white immigration… the economic meltdown and the climb to power of an African American president.” SPLC has found that the number of “nativist extremist” groups in particular, “organizations that go beyond mere advocacy of restrictive immigration policy to actually confront or harass suspected immigrants—jumped from 173 groups in 2008 to 309 last year.” Hate crimes against Latinos are up as well. The recent guilty verdict in the killing of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero serves as an example of how deadly these hate crimes can be. Read More
Supporting Immigration Reform in Nevada is More Pragmatic than Political
In Sunday’s local Las Vegas newspaper, the Review Journal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated his support for immigration reform and pushed back on the paper’s editorial staff who have long rallied against fixing our broken immigration system. Senator Reid’s reiterated support came on the heels of a speech he gave a week earlier in Nevada where he called for immigration reform to be completed this year and a later comment stating a timeframe for moving legislation. There is, however, more to Senator Reid’s recent support for immigration reform than mere political gains. Read More
Razing Arizona: How Local, State and Federal Authorities are “Rooting Out” Arizona’s Immigration Problems
A perfect storm hit the state of Arizona this week. On Tuesday, the Arizona House passed SB1070—a bill which would compel local police officers to investigate people’s immigration status based on a “reasonable suspicion” he/she was in the country illegally. Two days later, Arizona residents witnessed local police descending onto their streets (along with hundreds of ICE and other federal enforcement agents) in a sweep of 52 people suspected to be part of a large-scale human-smuggling ring. More than 800 law enforcement officers took part in what was dubbed “Operation in Plain Sight”—the result of a year-long investigation targeting transportation companies allegedly involved in smuggling unauthorized immigrants across the border. According to ICE, the agents and officers represented nine federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies resulting in a large and disproportionate show of force, as 54 suspects were taken into custody. Arrests were made in Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales, and Rio Rico, as well as in Nogales, Mexico. Those arrested were charged with serious crimes—including money laundering, alien smuggling, and conspiracy. Read More
Immigration Reform Raises Revenue, While Enforcement-Only Strategies Throw Tax Dollars Away
Tax Day is a fitting time to consider the billions of dollars which the federal government wastes each year attempting to put a stop to unauthorized immigration through an “enforcement only” strategy—and the billions of new taxpayer dollars which would flow from comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants already in the United States. As the IPC points out in a new fact sheet, “we spend huge sums of taxpayer money on immigration enforcement, yet unauthorized immigrants have not been deterred from coming to the United States when there are jobs available.” As a result, enforcement resources are needlessly wasted tracking down unauthorized job seekers and people trying to reunite with family members in the United States, rather than focused on finding individuals who are actually a threat to national security or public safety. Read More
Senator Reid’s Commitment to Moving Immigration Reform Still Firm
At the beginning of every new work session in the Senate, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) lays out his plans for the coming few weeks—a sort of roadmap for the Senate and those who follow its sometimes glacial progress towards passage of a bill. Given Senator Reid’s recent statements… Read More
Immigration Reform and a Younger Generation of Voters
Age isn’t just a number anymore—it’s also a number that turns out at the voting booth en masse. The same generation that brought you hope and change now hopes to change the way our country responds to our broken immigration system. A recent article in the L.A. Times examined a new poll which found that California voters are almost evenly split when it comes to proposals that deny public services to unauthorized immigrants—a far cry from Proposition 187 which passed in California with almost 60% of the vote in 1994 (and was later found to be unconstitutional). So who’s responsible for the shift in public sentiment on immigration? Voters, age 18 to 29—and they don’t want to stop there. Read More
Support for Immigration Reform Picks Up Steam
Congress certainly has a lot on their plate as they reconvene from a long recess this week—a jobs bill, financial reform and now the confirmation of a new Supreme Court Justice. Over the weekend, however, congressional leaders put immigration reform at the top of their legislative to-do lists, calling for bipartisan cooperation to pass reform this year. Thousands of immigration supporters flocked to rallies in cities all over the country this weekend—in Las Vegas, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Providence, El Paso, New York and Lakewood—all calling on President Obama and Congress to fix our broken immigration system. The question remains, however, with midterm elections around the corner and a projected lower Latino turnout, will Congress have the courage to put aside partisan politics and actually tackle reform this year? Read More
New Report on the Benefits of Legalization Comes Up Short
A new report released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) this week attempts to assess the economic benefits of a legalization program on immigrants and native born workers. The report, Immigrant Legalization: Assessing the Labor Market Effects, however, falls short on research and methodology. While the report accurately concludes that legalization would not have a negative impact on native workers' wages and employment, the report takes a myopic approach to legalization’s impact on wages and mobility of the newly legalized. A wide range of economic studies—studies which consider legalization’s impact in both the long term and in context to comprehensive immigration reform—conclude that legalization does in fact benefit both native-born and immigrants alike. Read More
Two Pieces of Refugee Legislation Show Promise of Bipartisan Reform Effort
Regardless of the prolonged and often controversial fight over comprehensive immigration reform, immigration bills do occasionally make it through Congress. Such bills tend to be very specific, concrete, almost technical changes to existing laws. Not surprisingly, many of those bills are tied to issues that have broad bipartisan support like perfecting refugee provisions or making it easier for people to work for the military. Two bills that fit this description are The Return of Talent Act (S. 2974) and The Refugee Opportunity Act (S. 2960), both very discrete and positive bills that have nothing to do with comprehensive immigration reform and that may become law later this year. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
