Visas
Nativists Fail to Grasp Economics of Immigration Reform
This week, the New York Times gave voice to the nativist argument that legalizing unauthorized immigrants would drain the federal budget because newly legalized immigrants will start using public benefits. However, this flawed fiscal accounting overlooks the myriad ways in which immigrants, just like the native-born, contribute to the U.S. economy over the course of their adult lives. As workers, they add value to the economy through their labor. As taxpayers, they fund government services and programs at the federal, state, and local levels. As consumers, immigrants purchase goods and services from U.S. companies, big and small, sustaining U.S. jobs in the process. And, as entrepreneurs, many immigrants create jobs through the businesses they establish. In other words, the economic contributions of any person, immigrant or native-born, come in many forms and span a lifetime. Read More
President Lays Out His Vision For Immigration Reform
After eight Republican and Democratic senators yesterday released their framework for comprehensive immigration reform, President Obama laid out his administration’s vision today of what he thinks should be included in the bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. He praised the bipartisan principles, which mirror the White House’s 2011 blueprint for immigration reform. “At this moment, it looks like there’s a genuine desire to get this done soon,” he said in his speech from Nevada. “And that’s very encouraging.” Read More
Will USCIS Develop Fair, Humane Travel Policies for DACA Recipients?
For many young immigrants who are now lawfully present under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative—which grants them the right to work and live in the United States for at least two years—the next question may be, when will they be able to travel outside of the United States? Depending on what guidance they reference, the answer could vary, adding confusion to what has been a reasonably straightforward implementation process. Read More
The U.S. Has Been Implementing an “Enforcement-First” Immigration Policy for More Than a Decade
Anti-immigrant activists often say that we must first enforce current U.S. immigration laws before even considering any reforms that might grant legal status to unauthorized immigrants already living in the country. However, as the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) documents in a comprehensive new report (and a more condensed Report in Brief), that is what we have been doing for more than a decade. Ever since 9/11, the expansion and intensification of immigration enforcement has been the one approach to immigration policy that the majority of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have whole-heartedly endorsed. This suggests that the “let’s wait a while” approach advocated by anti-immigrant groups is completely unjustified, and has been for a long time. 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
Boston Globe Series Exposes Pitfalls of Immigration Detention
Last week, the Boston Globe ran an important series of articles on a topic that receives far too little attention: the vast network of civil detention centers that last year held more than 400,000 immigrants in the United States. The product of a year-long investigation, the series shines a spotlight on a system in which detainees often have no right to a bail hearing, are not given attorneys if they cannot afford one, and are transferred between facilities at the whim of federal immigration officials. Although one article misleadingly faults immigration officials for releasing certain detainees, the series as a whole is worth reading. Read More
The U.S. Economy Still Needs High-Skilled Immigrant Workers
With the U.S. economy in the midst of a prolonged slump, it’s hard to believe that a labor shortage exists anywhere in the country. But that is precisely the case when it comes to the high-tech industries which depend upon highly skilled scientists and engineers. The United States has long faced a dilemma in this respect: the U.S. educational system is not producing high-tech professionals in numbers that are sufficient to meet labor demand. That is one reason so many U.S. scientists and engineers are immigrants. And it is one of the reasons that even more U.S. scientists and engineers would be immigrants if not for the arbitrary limits imposed by the U.S. immigration system. For the sake of the U.S. economy’s recovery and long-term competitiveness, lawmakers should revise the antiquated rules that currently govern how many and which high-tech professionals from abroad are allowed to work in the United States. Read More
America: Start-Up Nation of Immigrants
AOL co-founder Steve Case brought an important message to the National Strategy Session on Immigration in Washington, D.C. this week: America is a start-up nation. Over the last 200 years, America has built the most dynamic economy in the world through the hard work and innovation of its entrepreneurs. Read More
Bibles, Badges, Business and Bush + DREAMers Make Immigration Reform Demands Known
While some thought the immigration reform talk immediately after the election was just chatter, a series of convenings and speeches this week demonstrate that the topic of broad immigration reform is on plenty of tables. From DREAMers to President Bush, the call for reform goes on. Read More
Will the Third Time Be the Charm for the TRUST Act in California?
For the third time in three years, lawmakers in California will seek passage of the TRUST Act, a so-called “anti-Arizona” bill that would limit the ability of local authorities to honor requests from immigration authorities to continue detaining individuals on behalf of the federal government. Although Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar version of the bill in September, supporters hope the third time for the bill will be the charm. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
