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.
Long Island Immigrant Dies from Brutal Hate Crime
After living in the U.S. for 16 years, Marcello Lucero, an Ecuadoran immigrant living in Long Island, was senselessly stabbed to death by a group of seven teenagers, who Police say were looking to kill a Hispanic - any Hispanic. According to the blog Long Island Wins, [The assailants] said that they were on patrol to go "Beaner jumping". "Beaner" is a derogatory word for Mexican. The attackers told police that they said 'Let's go find some Mexicans to -- -- up,' Marcello Lucero fell victim to a startling rise in anti-Latino and anti-immigrant hate crimes in the U.S. Just last month, the FBI released a report showing a 40% increase in anti-Latino hate crimes. The report's findings are consistent with the swelling nativist movement that has become larger and more vitriolic in recent years and its impact undeniable as anti-Latino hate crime incidents reach unprecedented levels. Read More
GOP Senator Admits Immigration Debate Tarnished Republican Brand
This past Sunday, on Meet The Press, RNC Chair Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) acknowledged that the current climate of undeterred public immigrant-bashing along with an immigration policy of "attrition through enforcement" has put Republican candidates at a disadvantage when it comes to the Latino vote. Sen Martinez urged all of his fellow GOP colleagues to take a rational stance on immigration reform and to cease all anti-immigrant, anti-Latino rhetoric. MR. BROKAW: Senator Martinez, as you know, politics is about keeping score. I know this is tough for you to hear, probably, but you were 0-for-3 last Tuesday. You're a Republican; you are from Florida, that went to the Democrats; and you're Hispanic, or Latino in some parts of this country, and the Hispanics went overwhelmingly for the Democrats this time. Jill Lawrence wrote in USA TODAY: "`If the Republicans don't make their peace with Hispanic voters, they're not going to win presidential elections anymore. The math just isn't there.'" That's according to Simon Rosenberg, head of the NDN, a Democratic group that studies Hispanic voters." How do you get back to the Hispanics? SEN. MARTINEZ: Governor Jeb Bush--former Governor Jeb Bush last week made a comment that if Republicans don't figure it out and do the math that we're going to be relegated to minority status. I've been preaching this for a long time to my colleagues within my party. I think that the very divisive rhetoric of the immigration debate set a very bad tone for our brand as Republicans. The fact of the matter is I think in Florida there was not a great ideological shift, but I think there was plenty of room for improvement in how that state was looked upon. Read More
Reports Confirm: The Sleeping Giant is AWAKE
Video by America's Voice. Interviews conducted in Los Angeles and Miami between October 23 and November 4 by Bendixen & Associates [for America’s Voice] confirm what immigration experts were predicting all along: the "giant" is awake. Andy Hernandez, a Texas pollster commented, "Latinos are flipping red states to blue...in this election, Latinos contributed to Virginia flipping. They were responsible for Nevada flipping. They contributed to Colorado flipping. And New Mexico went overwhelmingly Democratic, and Latinos were responsible for that." The votes of Latinos, particularly those Latinos who are “New Americans,” tipped the scale for President-elect Barack Obama’s electoral victory on November 4. Of the record-breaking 10 million Latinos who voted, 66-67% voted for Obama. In fact, if not for the support of these voters, Obama would have lost the battleground states of Indiana, Colorado, and New Mexico. Read More
Latinos Help Tip Election
In the weeks leading up to the election, immigration experts were predicting that a "sleeping giant" was about to awake in the U.S. Yesterday, that giant opened its eyes, casted its vote, and changed the face of the American electorate forever. Immigrant voters--particularly Latinos--are said to have played a decisive role in last night's election outcomes. According to the Associated Press: Democrat Barack Obama gained lopsided support from Hispanics in Tuesday's election, winning solidly among voters with whom President Bush had made inroads in 2004... Read More
Powerful New American Vote Trumps Nativist Dogma
FBI reports don't get a lot of attention, especially in the final days of a Presidential election season, but this week's release reporting on a 40% increase in anti-Latino hate crimes should at least give us pause. The report's findings are consistent with the swelling nativist movement that has become larger and more vitriolic in recent years and its impact undeniable as anti-Latino hate crime incidents reach unprecedented levels. The nativists, ranging from skinhead extremists to your everyday politician or cable news anchor, and fueled by an administration myopic in its pursuit of deportation only proposals, are taking its toll on the immigrant and Latino community. A September survey by the Pew Hispanic Center shows half of all Latinos, immigrant and non-immigrant, say that their situation in this country is deteriorating and is worse now than it was a year ago. One in ten Hispanic adults -- native-born U.S. citizens and immigrants alike -- report that, in the past year, the police or other authorities have stopped them and asked them about their immigration status. Read More
NC Candidate for Governor Trashes Immigrant Voting Bloc
Last week, North Carolina's candidate for governor, Pat McCrory, potentially isolated upwards of 83,000 New American voters in his state when his emails viciously attacking immigrants were leaked online. According to the Daily Kos, McCrory--citing the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)--a fiercely anti-immigrant hate group that is known for its direct ties to John Tanton, a pioneer of the anti-immigrant movement and avid supporter of eugenics--wrote, How would you like to be one of these kids who doesn't get pregnant, works hard in school, doesn't join a gang, goes to church on Sunday, but when they go down to the fast food restaurant, they are told we can't hire you because we need bi-lingual employees. Read More
Wash Post Reports: Latinas are Swaying the Vote
Immigration reform, along with education, taxes, health care, and "values" make up the list of priorities identified by one of the nation's new and powerful political blocs: Latinas. The Washington Post reports: Latina McCain supporters give the Republican candidate enduring credit for being a champion of immigration reform, even if lately he has somewhat backed away from his former position. Meanwhile, Latina Obama supporters question McCain's continued commitment to immigration reform and see Obama as representing the sort of change that would spearhead the comprehensive immigration reform that the country needs. Latinas were also said to view immigration as a moral issue: "Yes, we're not for abortion, but immigration is a deal-breaker," Roxana Cazares Olivas of Latinas por Obama tells the Washington Post. Read More
Presidential Debates Ignore 12 Million Elephants in the Room, Bypass Immigration
What do the economy, health care, and foreign policy have in common? They are all topics that are related to a critical issue that was not discussed in the election 2008 debates: immigration. Everyone from the Latino community to immigration advocates to probing journalists have been eagerly awaiting to hear more about what the two candidates plan to do about the 12 million undocumented people living in the United States. To date, they've heard very little. Our immigration problem isn't going to disappear just by not talking about it. As Barack Obama and John McCain were preparing for their debate last night, 300 workers were rounded up in an immigration raid at a chicken processing plant in South Carolina. In fact, as the two candidates were taking shots at one another, we can guess about 100 children in South Carolina--both citizens and non-citizens--were still left stranded, not knowing where their parents were or when they would see them again. Read More
Immigration: The Elephant in the Presidential Debates
After two presidential debates and one vice-presidential showdown, the American public is still waiting to hear what John McCain and Barack Obama have to say about the elephant in the room: immigration. Everyone from the Latino community to immigration advocates to probing journalists have been eagerly awaiting the immigration topic to be addressed by both candidates. Obama and McCain have been more than willing to address immigration in their conflicting Spanish-language ad campaigns. The debate is an opportunity for both candidates to set their records straight once and for all, including: Who really was responsible for the fall of 2007's immigration bill? What should be done about the 12 million immigrants here in the U.S. without papers? How will Obama and McCain address the problem of unscrupulous employers who hire workers, take advantage of them, and undercut their competitors? Opponents to a path to citizenship say anything that provides legal status to those here illegally is amnesty: how do Obama and McCain define amnesty? Do they support amnesty? If not, what do they support? How can Obama and McCain promise they will actually fix our immigration system rather than pass reforms that perpetuate the problem and lead to another 12 million coming in illegally in the future? Read More
Immigration Stunts in Face of Faltering Economy
Several reports including the Pew Hispanic Research Center's new study have come out over the past few months showing that the undocumented population is shrinking. However, while some restrictionists continue to hold on to the notion that the decrease in immigration is primarily due to remarkably harsh stepped-up enforcement measures, Jeffrey Passel of Pew told the New York Times that "the trend was the result of a combination of factors, led primarily by a weakening economy and rising rates of unemployment in the construction and service industries, which rely heavily on immigrant labor." Most researchers agree: "The drop reflects the weakness of the economy, particularly the sectors that employ undocumented workers like construction," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at UC Berkeley specializing in labor issues. Shaiken also said that there are a number of powerful forces reducing the numbers of undocumented immigrants. "People are less likely to risk everything to get here if they can't get a job." "They don't migrate if they are not assured a job when they get to the United States," said Wayne Cornelius, Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California at San Diego. "For unattached males with no economic base in the U.S. and no prospects for stable employment, it may make sense to go home and try their luck again when the U.S. economy improves," he added. USA Today reported: "William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a centrist think tank in Washington, warns against giving too much credit to enforcement. He believes fewer illegal immigrants are coming because jobs are disappearing in fields such as construction." Read More
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