Immigration at the Border
ICE Will Not Use Health Care Application Information for Immigration Enforcement Purposes
Last Friday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a clarification stressing that information provided by those applying for insurance under the Affordable Care Act will not trigger immigration enforcement. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health care under the Affordable Care Act (ACA); however, this clarification should bring peace of mind to mixed-status families. Eligible members of those families will now be able to seek coverage under the ACA without fear of placing some family member at risk of deportation. Read More
It’s Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month in Massachusetts!
Massachusetts is no stranger to the many benefits immigrant entrepreneurs bring to communities. From family owned restaurants and shops along small town main streets, to large Fortune 500 companies, immigrant-owned businesses make sizeable contributions to Massachusetts. And as a growing number of places around the country make efforts to attract and welcome immigrants, Massachusetts continues to expand the state’s efforts. October 15 marked the start of the third annual Massachusetts Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month, which will officially run through November 15. State groups—including the Immigrant Learning Center (ILC), the New Americans Integration Institute at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), and the state’s Office for Refugees and Immigrants—are leading the initiative, which recognizes the contributions of immigrant business owners and innovators to Massachusetts’ economic development. Read More
Three Ways Congressional Inaction on Immigration is Hurting Children
Last week, First Focus released a new report, “The Cost of Inaction: Why Children Can’t Wait for Immigration Reform.” The report highlights the particularly vulnerable position children are placed in within our broken immigration system. Read More
Holding the Detention System Accountable for Alleged Post 9/11 Abuses
A dozen years ago, in the days after 9/11, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn served as the site of unimaginable horror: twenty-three hour cell confinement; sleep and food deprivation; widespread physical abuse; endless humiliation through sexual harassment and constant strip-searches; and relentless taunting and insults. The subjects of these atrocities were not enemy combatants or even convicted criminals; they were simply a group of noncitizens suspected of minor, non-criminal, immigration offenses. Their primary “offense”: the misfortune of being or appearing to be Muslim or Arab in a post 9/11 world. Read More
Nativist Group Pretends That All Unauthorized Immigrants Are Criminals
Unauthorized immigrants come to this country primarily for two reasons: to work, and to be reunited with family members who are already here. They would obviously prefer to come to this country legally, but our legal limits on immigration have for decades not matched either the realities of U.S. labor demand or the natural human desire for family unity. And so they opt to make the expensive, difficult, and dangerous decision to come without authorization because that is what they judge to be the best chance they and their families have for a better future. In other words, the overwhelming majority of unauthorized immigrants are as far from being hardened criminals as you could possibly get. They are gardeners and housekeepers; husbands and wives; parents with children. They are members of U.S. society and integral to the U.S. economy. Read More
From Coast to Coast, Immigrants Drive Local Economies
Immigrant entrepreneurship has transformed Atlanta’s northeastern suburbs along and near Buford Highway into “International Village” – an area filled with immigrant restaurants, markets, specialty stores, and other businesses. Through ventures such as Chinatown Square, Asian Square Mall, and Plaza Fiesta immigrants have “economically and socially revived an area that faced economic stagnation and population decline.” As one researcher noted, “the five-mile stretch of highway running through Chamblee, Doraville, and Norcross constitutes the greatest concentration of ethnic-owned businesses in the southeastern U.S.” Read More
California Governor Signs Sweeping Immigration Reforms into Law
On the same day thousands of immigrant activists rallied across the country for immigration reform, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed several bills into law that put the state at the forefront of the efforts to fix immigration policies at the state and local level. Among the measures Brown approved was the TRUST Act, which limits who state and local police can hold for possible deportation. "While Washington waffles on immigration, California's forging ahead," Brown said in a statement. "I'm not waiting." Read More
DHS Issues Tropical Storm Karen Guidance
As they have done during previous weather-related emergencies, the Department of Homeland Security issued guidance directing that immigration enforcement activities be suspended. The directive notes: “…to the extent that Karen impacts law enforcement operations and/or the storm triggers the need for an officially ordered evacuation or an emergency government… Read More
ICE Detainers Continue to Target Immigrants with No Criminal Convictions
This week, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) released a troubling new report showing that only about 10% of ICE detainers target “individuals who pose a serious threat to public safety or national security.” Although the agency’s highest enforcement priorities are threats to public safety and national security, government data shows that, in recent months, the majority of detainers were issued for individuals who had no criminal convictions. Read More
House Democrats Introduce New Comprehensive Immigration Bill
Several Democrats in the House of Representatives proposed H.R. 15, an immigration reform bill today that addresses border security, legalization of undocumented immigrants, interior enforcement of the immigration laws, and fixes for our dysfunctional legal immigration programs. This bill is based on S.744, which the Senate passed in June, but removes the Corker-Hoeven border security amendment. Instead, the House Democrats’ bill replaces it with Rep. Michael McCaul’s (R-TX) bipartisan House border security bill, H.R. 1417, which the Homeland Security Committee passed unanimously in May. Read More
