Immigration 101
The U.S. immigration system is complex and can be difficult to understand. These resources provide key data points, historical information, and background on hot topics in immigration. Learn the basics about immigration. 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.
How the United States Immigration System Works
- How the Immigration System Works
- June 24, 2024
U.S. immigration law is very complex, and there is much confusion as to how it works. This fact sheet provides basic information…
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Birthright Citizenship in the United States
- Birthright Citizenship
- October 16, 2024
This fact sheet explains birthright citizenship, the Fourteenth Amendment, and its interpretations. Who is…
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Asylum in the United States
- Asylum
- August 27, 2014
Asylum seekers must navigate a difficult and complex process that can involve multiple government…
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CIS Adds to Falsehoods about Health Care Reform
It would seem that the Center for Immigration Studies has decided to jump on the talk-radio bandwagon of far-right commentators who are loudly attempting to derail substantive health care reform through fear-mongering and falsehoods. Although CIS has so far steered clear of the baseless rants about “death panels” and “socialized medicine,” it has issued a new report that seeks to buttress an equally farcical claim: that health care reform will leave American taxpayers footing the bill for millions of unauthorized immigrants who will receive federally subsidized health insurance. Specifically, the report argues that H.R. 3200 (America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009) could give health insurance to 6.6 million unauthorized, low-income immigrants at an annual cost to the federal government of $30.5 billion. Read More
New Report Measures Widening Gap Between Republicans and Latino Voters
A New York Times article from 1882 stated, “It is a trite saying that in a free country public opinion rules. […] It often happens that a question of policy becomes of pressing importance before public opinion develops in regard to it.” More than one-hundred years later, this idea remains true—especially in regard to Latino voters and the Republican Party. Read More
Myth: Illegal Immigrants Will Receive Free Health Care
In a Newsweek article this week, “The Five Biggest Lies in the Health Care Debate,” the myth that illegal immigrants will receive free health care ranked ranked number three on the list of health care lies gone viral. The article names Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who claimed in… Read More
Will Florida’s New Republican Senator Focus on Immigration Reform?
Immigration advocates around the country let out a heartfelt sigh when Florida Republican Senator, Mel Martinez, announced his resignation earlier this month. Senator Martinez, whose term was set to expire January 3, 2011, is Cuban-born and a long-time immigration supporter. Florida Republican Governor Charlie Crist, who plans to run for the Senate seat himself, appointed George LeMieux, his closest political advisor to fill the seat—a choice met with heavy criticism from Democrats. While no one is quite sure how George LeMieux will fare on issues critical to Florida voters (since LeMieux has never held public office before), one thing is sure: GOPers would do well to keep immigration reform at the top of the priority list considering that Latinos comprised roughly one-in-seven of the swing-state’s voters in the 2008 presidential election. Read More
Plugging into the Millennial Generation
Today, the Center for American Progress released a new publication, The Coming End of the Culture Wars, which explains that the conservative white working-class population is waning while the younger “millennial” generation, who is much more liberal on social issues including immigration reform, is expanding. The report states: Millennials—the generation with birth years 1978 to 2000—support gay marriage, take race and gender equality as givens, are tolerant of religious and family diversity, have an open and positive attitude toward immigration, and generally display little interest in fighting over the divisive social issues of the past. Read More
South Carolina Senator in Search of Solutions
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chairman of the Immigration, Refugee and Border Security Subcommittee, has tapped Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to help garner GOP support for a comprehensive immigration bill this year. While not always voting in favor of common sense solutions to our broken immigration system, Senator Graham has shown himself to be at least one Republican leader who understands the importance of our nation’s changing demographic—especially in his home state of South Carolina—on future electoral races. Read More
Health Care Reform and Immigration: The Sideshow Antics of the Anti-Reform Crowd
Today, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a new fact sheet about immigrants and the health care system. At a public event, CIS made it clear that while immigrants may not be to blame for all the problems with the U.S. health care system, they certainly are part of the problem, and the only solution is to step up immigration enforcement and reduce future immigration. Hmmm, isn’t that their solution to everything? While stating that free health care for “illegals” is a problem (even though the bills in Congress explicitly deny coverage to undocumented immigrants), CIS focused on health care benefits for legal immigrants, implying that legal immigrants should be denied affordable health care and that comprehensive immigration reform would destroy the health care system. This is simply the latest attempt to silence any constructive discussion about important issues and scare the American public by using immigrants as a handy scapegoat. Read More
CIS Misses the Mark on Immigration and the Economy
In a pair of new reports released yesterday, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) presents an array of demographic and employment data from the U.S. Census Bureau to obliquely suggest that the recession-plagued U.S. economy doesn’t really “need” immigrant workers. Although both of these reports are surprisingly nuanced in their analysis compared to many previous CIS efforts, they nevertheless present a portrait of immigration and the U.S. economy that is over-simplified and off the mark. In gauging the potential impact of immigrant workers on native-born workers, for instance, CIS fails to fully account for the many differences between immigrants and natives in terms of where in the country they live, how much education they have, what occupations they’ve worked in, and how long they’ve been in the labor market. In contrast, an IPC report that was also released yesterday explores all of these variables. Read More
Asian American Community Flexes Political Muscle in Fight for Immigration Reform
As the Obama administration continues to lay the groundwork for the introduction of a comprehensive immigration reform bill sometime this year, many in the immigrant community are growing restless—a restlessness which may well be reflected in future election cycles. Recently released Census Bureau data reveals a significant increase in the number of Asian voters over the last four years. This week, the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are putting that political power to use as they mobilize for the first ever National Week of Action in support of comprehensive immigration reform. “For this national week of action, we tell our stories as immigrants, and as descendants of immigrants,” said Titi Liu, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus. “We are workers, neighbors and small-business owners who revitalize communities and contribute to the economy.” Read More
Anti-Immigrant Minutemen Join White-Supremacist Militias on the Radical Right
Anti-immigrant groups like the “Minutemen” vigilantes are not only proliferating, but are rapidly beginning to resemble the white-supremacist and anti-government militias that have populated the netherworld of the Radical Right since the early 1990s. Adding insult to injury, the farcical conspiracy theories that circulate among both extreme nativist groups and right-wing militias are now being mainstreamed by commentators on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. Although the various strains of far-right extremism have by no means coalesced into a single movement, the ideological lines that once distinguished them have begun to blur. Read More
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