Immigration at the Border
Supreme Court Asks Hard Questions at Oral Arguments Over Arizona SB 1070
Almost two years to the day after Arizona enacted the notorious immigration law known as SB 1070, the Supreme Court heard arguments in what could be the first of many cases over the validity of the measure. Although most critics of the law have focused on its potential for civil rights violations, the only question before the Justices was whether federal immigration laws “preempt” four provisions of SB 1070 that were blocked by lower courts. While the ultimate fate of those provisions will not be known until a ruling is announced, a few preliminary observations can be made based on the questions posed by the Justices. Read More
Several Factors Cited for Drop in Net Migration from Mexico
Net migration from Mexico to the United States, both legal and illegal, now stands at zero—or less. In other words, the number of migrants coming here from Mexico is equal to, or less than, the number of migrants leaving or being deported from the United States and returning to Mexico. That is the main conclusion of a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center, which echoes last year’s findings by researchers in the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) at Princeton University and the Universidad de Guadalajara. The Pew report points out that this trend is the result of several factors, ranging from U.S. economic conditions to Mexican birth rates. The report also cautions that the trend could conceivably be reversed when the U.S. job market recovers and labor demand grows. Read More
Five Things to Know Before the Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Arizona SB1070
In less than 48 hours, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Arizona v. United States, the long-anticipated dispute over the legality of SB 1070. More than any case in recent history, the dispute raises fundamental questions about the role of states in the enforcement of federal immigration law. The Court’s decision could thus determine not only the future of SB 1070, but the fate of other state immigration laws being challenged in court and the odds of similar laws being passed around the country. While much ink has already been spilled about the case, below we’ve highlighted five important facts to remember before the argument. Read More
Report Brings Border Patrol Abuses to Light in Washington State
The borderlands of the southwestern United States are not the only place where immigration enforcement tramples upon the most basic of civil and human rights. Many communities along the northern border are also subject to such abuses, as detailed in a recent report from OneAmerica and the University of Washington Center for Human Rights. The report, entitled The Growing Human Rights Crisis Along Washington’s Northern Border, is based on a year’s worth of interviews and observations in border communities in Washington State. This investigation found that Border Patrol agents, often acting in collaboration with local police, repeatedly harass and abuse immigrants, as well as native-born U.S. citizens perceived to look or sound like immigrants. Read More
FAIR’s Economic Analysis of HB56 Ignores Reality in Alabama
While the original sponsors of Alabama’s extreme anti-immigrant bill HB56 have acknowledged that the law is deeply flawed, as evidenced by a new bill to modify some of the harsher provisions, the restrictionist stalwarts at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) want Alabamians to remember what it has supposedly done for the state. In a recent article, FAIR continues to make the unsubstantiated claim that HB56 is exactly what Alabama’s economy and workers need. It does this by using its trademark technique of pitting Alabama’s native-born workers against immigrants and their children, many of whom are U.S. citizens. Read More
Immigrant Tax Contributions and the Future of the U.S. Economy
When it comes to the topic of immigration, Tax Day is a reminder of two important and often-overlooked points. First, immigrants pay billions in taxes every year. This is true even of unauthorized immigrants. Second, the federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars each year on immigration-enforcement measures that wouldn’t be necessary if not for the chronic inability of Congress to reform our badly outdated immigration system. In other words, there is a strong fiscal case to be made for immigration reform. Were the U.S. immigration system to be given a 21st century overhaul, we would likely increase the tax dollars flowing from the immigrant community, and we would spend far less taxpayer money on immigration enforcement. Read More
What Arizona v. United States May Mean for States with Similar Immigration Laws
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Arizona v. United States, a case addressing the legality of the Arizona immigration law known as SB 1070. According to the statement of legislative intent, the law was designed to make “attrition through enforcement” the official policy of all state and local agencies in Arizona. Following the passage of SB 1070, numerous other states—including Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Utah—passed legislation with similar provisions, which have also been challenged in court. Read More
Q&A on Office of Inspector General Reports on Secure Communities Program
In April 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released two long-awaited reports on the Secure Communities Program: Operations of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Secure Communities and Communication Regarding Participation in Secure Communities. Why did the DHS OIG issue these reports?The reports were issued at the request of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) in April 2011 due to concerns about the implementation of Secure Communities, as well as concerns that DHS misled the public and local officials regarding whether the program was mandatory or voluntary. Read More
Colorado, Hawaii and Delaware Progress on Tuition Equity for Undocumented Students
Legislation intended to make college education more affordable for undocumented students continues to work its way through state legislature across the U.S. Last week, the Colorado Senate approved SB 15 (or ASSET), a tuition equity bill that would provide a standard tuition rate to qualifying students regardless of immigration status. Likewise, bills in Hawaii and Delaware which provide in-state tuition and financial aid to eligible students regardless of status are also moving through their respective legislatures. Currently, twelve states have laws on their books that permit certain undocumented students who have attended and graduated from their primary and secondary schools to pay the same tuition as their classmates at public institutions of higher education. Read More
Non-Deportable Immigrants Languish in Alabama Detention Center at Taxpayers’ Expense
Immigration violations are civil, not criminal infractions. But for many non-criminal immigrant detainees living alongside criminal inmates at the Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama, that distinction carries little meaning. Far removed from families and legal orientation programs, many of the 350 immigrant detainees housed at the Etowah Detention Center have received deportation orders, but for various reasons cannot be deported. Many are serving the maximum allowable time in detention, and are doing so under poor living conditions at a great cost to American taxpayers. In fact, a recent report by the Women’s Refugee Commission reveals that ICE continues to operate facilities like Etowah that fail to meet even its own detention standards. Read More
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