Immigration 101
Immigration in the United States is complex and ever-evolving. Start here to understand the fundamental aspects of immigration policy, its history, and its impact on both individuals and the country at large. Learn commonly used terms about immigration law and how the U.S. immigration system is designed. Explore layered topics like how and whether immigrants can become citizens, as well as what individual protections look like under the law.
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
Nativist Group Recycles Discredited Economic Arguments About Immigration
In a report released late last month, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) rehashes a number of tired, discredited arguments about the impact of immigration on wages and job opportunities for native-born workers. The report, entitled Poverty and Low-Wage Earners, tries to discount the findings of numerous studies in recent years which have found that immigrants tend to complement rather than compete with native-born workers in the labor market, and that immigrant workers do not undermine wages for their native-born counterparts. FAIR pretends to refute these studies by misrepresenting their findings and their methodologies; creating caricatured “straw men” that can easily be knocked down. Behind that charade, however, a growing body of economic and demographic literature remains which demonstrates that immigrants do not “steal” jobs from natives, and do not create ruinous labor-market competition that drives down wages. 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
Pending a Resolution of DOMA, Immigration Judges Should Exercise Discretion to Stay Removal Cases
BY BETH WERLIN AND VICTORIA NEILSON To date, five states plus the District of Columbia celebrate marriages of gay and lesbian couples and several other states honor such marriages. In addition, five countries, including Canada, permit marriages of gay and lesbian couples and at least fourteen additional countries recognize same-sex relationships for immigration purposes. Yet, because the U.S. immigration agencies rely on section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)—defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman—lesbian and gay U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents are barred from obtaining immigrant visas for their spouses, visas that are available to heterosexual U.S. citizens and residents with foreign-born spouses. Gay and lesbian noncitizens also are precluded from obtaining other immigration protections, including relief from removal, based on a marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. As a result, families are separated and spouses of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents are deported from the United States. 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
Filed Under “M” for “Myth Busted”: Unauthorized Immigrants Pay Taxes, Too
Sadly, myth and misinformation continue to be a major part of the immigration debate. One of the biggest myths perpetuated by restrictionist groups is that the roughly 12 million unauthorized immigrants currently living in the U.S. use a variety of public services yet paying nothing in taxes. Hard data recently released by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) however, backs up what economists have been saying for years—undocumented immigrants do, in fact, pay taxes. A new report released yesterday by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) uses ITEP data to show that unauthorized immigrant households paid a whopping $11.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2010 alone. Read More
Restrictionist Group Blames the Children of Immigrants for America’s Budget Woes
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released another report today attempting to blame our economic woes and budget shortfalls on immigrants—this time using the children of immigrants, most of whom are U.S. citizens, as scapegoats for benefits usage (here Medicaid, food assistance, cash assistance, and housing programs). As are most restrictionists’ attempts to blame immigrants for all of America’s problems, the report is rife with methodological problems. Despite the headline that 57 percent of households headed by an immigrant with children used at least one benefits program, compared to 39 percent for native households, the results actually show that when controlled for income, immigrant households use benefits at the same rate as native born households. Read More
New Census Data Suggest Nativists May Be Headed for Extinction
Newly released data from the 2010 Census reveal the rapid growth of something that is anathema to the nativist agenda: ethnic diversity. The data, analyzed in reports from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Hispanic Center, show that the numbers of Hispanics and Asians in the United States are rising fast. This does not bode well for the anti-immigrant ideology of nativist politicians and their followers. Immigrants account for more than one-third of Hispanics and nearly two-thirds of Asians. Plus, more than one-quarter of both Hispanics and Asians are the native-born children of immigrants. As Hispanics and Asians come to comprise more and more of the population—and the electorate—nativists will become ever more marginalized. Read More
Report on Birthright Citizenship Low on Facts, High on Fantasy
Sometimes it’s easy to miss the most outlandish and unrealistic statements made in the immigration debate given the level of dialed up rhetoric. A recent report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), however, appears to have been written to test just how far into the realm of fantasy the debate can be taken. In Birthright Citizenship for the Children of Visitors: A National Security Problem in the Making?, author W.D. Reasoner (a pseudonym) makes so many preposterous assumptions and calculations that one wonders whether the author used an alias to avoid embarrassment. Read More
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