Immigration at the Border
Fatal Flaws: Social Security Administration Shows Us How E-Verify Doesn’t Work
The E-Verify website claims that the process for verifying whether workers are authorized for employment in the United States is simple. The practices of the Social Security Administration (SSA), the agency that jointly administers E-Verify with the Department of Homeland Security, tell a different story. According to a report released this month by the SSA Inspector General, though required by law, the agency failed to use E-Verify on nearly 20 percent of their new hires. The report documenting SSA’s myriad mishaps is proof of what workers’ rights advocates have long believed: E-Verify is still not ready for widespread use. Read More
Granting Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to Unauthorized Haitians Now an Urgent Matter
Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti is the latest and deadliest tragedy to befall one of the world’s poorest countries. As the death toll mounts and the full measure of the destruction is taken in, the call for urgent humanitarian relief is already being answered by the United States. Presumably, those relief efforts will be supplemented by additional long-term foreign aid packages, much like the relief that followed a series of hurricanes and tropical storms in 2008. Whenever a disaster of this magnitude occurs, however, the immigration arm of the government also must respond. DHS has already announced that it is temporarily suspending the removal of Haitians scheduled to be returned to their country. Thousands more—some here as temporary visitors, others seeking asylum or currently in immigration proceedings, and many more here as undocumented immigrants—face an uncertain future. Read More
ICE Detention Cover-Up Has Advocates Calling for Transparency
Despite claims of increased transparency, accountability, and oversight, Nina Bernstein of the New York Times has unearthed more cover-ups at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These new findings have attorneys, advocates, and the public wondering if and when ICE will make good on its promise to reform the immigration detention system in demonstrable ways. Two issues that have recently come to light cast doubt on these promises. Read More
Immigration Reform Now a Matter of “How”
There are plenty of genuine issues worthy of debate in immigration reform—how to really create secure borders and communities, how to predict and manage future immigration flows, how to implement a fair and workable employment verification system, and how to ensure that legal immigration incorporates key values represented by family and work. But what is no longer on the table is whether we should be doing immigration reform, particularly legalization of the undocumented. Yesterday’s release of the IPC/CAP report finally puts to rest the question of whether immigration reform is good for the country. The answer—a resounding “Yes!” Read More
A Closer Look at Immigration Reform Legislation in the New Year
Everyone pulled out the sports analogies last week when Congressman Luis Gutierrez and his 91 co-sponsors introduced H.R. 4321, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009—and rightly so, as this bill marks the opening bell in the 2010 immigration debate. It is not only the first major piece of comprehensive reform legislation introduced in the 111th Congress, but the first since the last debate on immigration reform, which took place in May and June of 2007 in the Senate. Read More
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Long Term Resident Can Be Deported Based on Possession of Anxiety Drug
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would decide whether a permanent resident who was convicted of a second drug possession offense can be deported without an opportunity to make a case for why he should be allowed to remain in the United States. This case, which will resolve a split in the federal courts, will affect hundreds of immigrants who face deportation each year. It also serves as an unfortunate reminder that we still struggle with the adverse effects of the overbroad and unforgiving immigration laws passed by Congress in 1996. Read More
Greyhound Lines, Inc. Accused of Racially Profiling Latino Passengers
Traveling home for the holidays might not be as cheerful as you may think if you plan on taking a Greyhound bus. According to a recent article in the Contra Costa Times, an immigrant rights group in San Bernardino, CA, is accusing Greyhound Lines, Inc. of racially profiling their Latino customers. The rights group, Immigration Raids Response Network, alleges that Greyhound Lines Inc. targets Latino riders by allowing Border Patrol agents—along with Greyhound employees—to “conduct immigration checks of passengers upon their arrival at the San Bernardino Greyhound bus station.” The rights group is now urging Latinos not to ride Greyhound buses nationwide. Read More
The BIA Has the Chance to Prevent the Wrongful Deportation of Immigrant Children
While there is no question that Congress needs to step up to the plate and repair our broken immigration system through legislative reform, there are some fixes that can be made now without waiting for Congressional action. If the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) would stop narrowly interpreting existing immigration law, many noncitizens would be eligible to complete applications for legal status in the manner Congress intended. Read More
ICE Will Halt Detention of Asylum Seekers on January 4
According to the Associated Press, the Obama Administration said today that it will no longer detain asylum seekers who, in addition to other criteria, have displayed a credible fear of persecution in their home countries. According to the article: Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton says beginning… Read More
Shenandoah is a Cautionary Tale for How to Debate Immigration Reform
This week a police chief and two of his officers were charged with obstruction of justice in connection with their investigation of the beating death of Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant, in Shenandoah, PA, last year. The two teenagers acquitted of his murder were also indicted on federal hate crime charges. While some measure of justice may eventually be served in the Ramirez case, this tragedy should serve as a cautionary tale as we move into 2010 and gear up for a new round of immigration reform debates. Policy makers and the media must understand that when the debate devolves from reasoned, fact-based discussions into fear and hate-mongering the consequences can be dire. Read More
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