Interior Enforcement
Secure Communities Program Continues to Take Heat for Targeting Non-Criminals
At a conference last week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano raised a few eyebrows when she implied those who are fingerprinted through ICE’s Secure Communities program are presumably guilty of a crime—a particular sticking point considering the program’s reputation for sweeping up non-criminals. Although ICE officials claim the program targets criminal aliens, nearly 28% of people deported through the Secure Communities program are actually non-criminals. But that’s just one of the many problems immigrant advocate and community groups are voicing over this rapidly expanding program. Read More
New “E-Verify Self Check” Pilot Program is Not a Cure-All
BY TYLER MORAN, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER E-Verify has a problem: Washington politicians want to force American employers to use the electronic employment verification system, but the system is still not ready for prime time. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took a step toward remedying the database error rates by announcing E-Verify “Self Check.” This pilot program will allow people in select states and the District of Columbia to go online and verify their identity and authorization to work in this country—and to fix any errors before applying for a job with an employer who uses E-Verify. While a positive step, the pilot program is only one piece of the puzzle in fixing E-Verify and will likely be inaccessible to many—including the low-income workers who most need it. Read More
Police Forum Recommends Limitations on Investigating Immigration Status
The role of local police in immigration enforcement continues to be a complex policy and legislative issue at both the state and federal level. State legislatures, for example, are contemplating bills designed to increase the role of local police in immigration enforcement while federal legislation targets cities with so-called “sanctuary policies.” And as programs like 287(g), Secure Communities and other federal/local partnerships continue to expand, local police are now more involved in identifying undocumented immigrants than ever before. Many law enforcement officers, however, find that enforcing federal immigration law may interfere with their ability to prevent crime and keep neighborhoods safe, so they have designed tailored local policies to ensure that they maintain the best possible relationship with their communities. In a new report by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), local police speak out on the difficulties of enforcing immigration laws and talk about best practices for navigating immigration issues in the future. Read More
Georgia State Legislature Pursuing Budget Busting Solutions to Immigration
Washington D.C. – In the face of a $1.7 billion budget shortfall in fiscal year 2011, Georgia state legislators are currently pursuing anti-immigrant legislation that could further damage the state’s bottom line. House Bill 87, a copycat of Arizona’s SB1070, is currently working its way through the state legislature… Read More
New DHS Documents Highlight Internal Confusion Over Secure Communities Program
Since the Secure Communities program was announced in 2008, immigrant advocates have consistently asked whether the program is voluntary or mandatory. ICE’s response to the question has changed many times over the years. While ICE has said that the agency will eventually install Secure Communities in all state and local detention facilities nationwide (which makes it seem like a federal mandate), they have also indicated that the program is voluntary. After repeated questions about whether or not localities could opt-out of the program, ICE gave increasingly confusing and conflicting responses. This month, new documents recently released by DHS in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) only further highlight the internal confusion and shifting definition of the voluntary or mandatory nature of the Secure Communities program. Read More
Mandatory E-Verify is Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be
Today, the House Immigration Subcommittee held a hearing on the E-Verify system, a tool to help employers electronically verify that their employees have permission to work in the United States. Although E-Verify remains largely voluntary—except for federal contractors, employers in certain states that have made it mandatory, and a few other exceptions—some members of Congress and immigration restrictionists have decided that expanding E-Verify and making it mandatory will flush unauthorized workers out of the workforce, create jobs for unemployed U.S. citizens, and resolve our immigration problems. While everyone agrees that high unemployment levels must be addressed, simplistic measures like mandating E-Verify are not going to open up jobs for millions of unemployed workers. Read More
Mandatory E-Verify without Legalization Would Hamper Economic Recovery and Cost U.S. Workers Jobs
Since 1986, controlling illegal immigration by regulating who is entitled to work in the United States has been a key component of U.S. immigration policy. The ritual of showing proof of one’s identity and work authorization and filling out an I-9 form is part of every new hire’s paperwork haze. Read More
E-Verify: Burdens Businesses and Displaces U.S. Workers
Washington D.C. – Today, the House Immigration Subcommittee held its second hearing of the new session. Ironically, the hearing was titled “E-Verify – Preserving Jobs for American Workers.” Some members of Congress persist in their belief that expanding E-Verify and making it mandatory is a magic-bullet solution to our immigration… Read More
Deeper into the Shadows
Before the onset of the Great Recession, immigrant labor was cited as a boom to the U.S. economy. In towns and cities across the country, immigrant labor—documented or otherwise—filled positions in growing businesses and industries where demand outpaced the supply of native-born workers. Since the onset of the economic downturn in 2008 and the rise in U.S. unemployment, some analysts and politicians—looking for a convenient scapegoat—have turned on that immigrant workforce and their employers, arguing that deporting eight million undocumented immigrant workers will create eight million new jobs for the native-born. This over-simplified equation ignores the complicated and inter-dependent roles that immigrants play in our economy. A 2010 study by the Fiscal Policy Institute on the economic contributions of immigrants in the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States makes the point well: The results were clear: immigrants contribute to the economy in direct relation to their share of the population. In the 25 largest metropolitan areas combined, immigrants make up 20 percent of the population and are responsible for 20 percent of economic output. Together, these metro areas comprise 42 percent of the total population of the country, 66 percent of all immigrants, and half of the country’s total Gross Domestic Product. Read More
Study Shows 287(g) Program Fails to Prioritize Serious Criminals
This week the Migration Policy Institute released a new study on ICE’s 287(g) program, Delegation and Divergence: A Study of 287(g) State and Local Immigration Enforcement. The study, which assesses the implementation, enforcement outcomes, costs, community impacts of the program generally, and provides an in-depth study in seven jurisdictions: Cobb County, GA; Frederick County, MD; Gwinnett County, GA; Los Angeles County, CA; Prince William County, VA; Las Vegas, NV; and the state of Colorado, found that 287(g) program is not living up to its promise. In fact, the study finds that ICE’s allows jurisdictions to “operate the 287(g) program in fundamentally different ways across the country.” Read More
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