Immigration Reform
The last time Congress updated our legal immigration system was November 1990, one month before the World Wide Web went online. We are long overdue for comprehensive immigration reform.
Through immigration reform, we can provide noncitizens with a system of justice that provides due process of law and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. Because it can be a contentious and wide-ranging issue, we aim to provide advocates with facts and work to move bipartisan solutions forward. Read more about topics like legalization for undocumented immigrants and border security below.
The Court Decision on Deferred Action Everyone Should Be Talking About
Yesterday, in Crane v. Johnson, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (the same court deciding whether or not to keep in place the preliminary injunction blocking the President’s executive actions) unanimously dismissed a lawsuit challenging the original 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The court held that… Read More
Leaders From Across U.S. Urge Court to End Injunction in Immigration Action Case
Multiple legal briefs are being filed today in support of ending the injunction against the Obama Administration’s expansion of deferred action. On February 16, 2015, a Texas federal judge issued a preliminarily injunction against the implementation of the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents… Read More
Adding Up the Economic Benefits of the President’s Deferred Action Initiatives
As the Center for American Progress (CAP) points out in a new analysis, immigrants with legal status earn more than immigrants who don’t have legal status. Immigrants who earn more also buy more goods and services from U.S. businesses (not to mention paying more in taxes). And all of this extra spending creates new jobs in U.S. businesses for native-born and foreign-born workers alike. This is not a complicated economic argument to grasp. In fact, it’s common sense; workers who have legal status can change jobs more easily and don’t find themselves stuck in the lowest-wage jobs. Hence the importance of passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation—or, as a stop-gap measure until Congress gets its act together, implementing the Obama Administration’s “deferred action” initiatives. Read More
Charlotte, NC Capitalizing on the Benefits of Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Charlotte, North Carolina, like many southern metropolitan areas, has grown rapidly in recent decades. In 2013, when Charlotte declared itself a “welcoming city,” one in ten residents (10.1 percent) in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metropolitan area were foreign-born, while one-third (32.6 percent) of “Main Street” business… Read More
Senate Hearing on Border Security Targets Transnational Crime
At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, which was titled “Securing the Border: Assessing the Impact of Transnational Crime,” lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were largely in agreement as to what the biggest security problem is along the northern and southern… Read More
House Judiciary Committee Signs Off on Comprehensive Mass Deportation Plan
Although comprehensive immigration reform was not brought to a vote by House of Representatives, the public still overwhelmingly and consistently supports reform. Yet yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would take the opposite approach—not only repealing President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, but imposing the most… Read More
The Power and Potential of High Skilled Immigration
Note: This article features the oral testimony of Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Read his full written testimony here. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today… Read More
DOJ Files Emergency Appeal In Immigration Executive Action Case
Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an emergency motion of stay pending appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in response to Texas District Court Judge Hanen’s decision to issue a preliminary injunction ordering a temporary halt to President Obama’s expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood… Read More
House Judiciary Considers Same Costly, Enforcement-Only ‘Reform’
The House Judiciary Committee devoted two days this week to the markup of three enforcement-only immigration bills. The legislation would strip much-needed protections from an already vulnerable population–including children and asylum seekers–impact the agriculture industry, place burdensome requirements on small business owners, and cost the American taxpayer a lot of… Read More
Groups Recommend How the White House Could Boost Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Immigrant entrepreneurs and small business owners contribute to local economies, often forming the backbone of neighborhoods. As part of his November announcement on immigration executive action, President Obama signed a presidential memorandum that creates a White House Task Force on New Americans to explore ways to… Read More
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