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.
Congress-Passed Spending Bill Leaves DHS in Limbo
Following the close vote in the House last week, the Senate passed a spending bill 56-40 on Saturday to fund most of the government for the next year and avoid a government shutdown. Excluded from that full-year deal is the Department of Homeland Security, which is only funded until… Read More
The Economic Potential of Executive Action on Immigration
Mayors from cities across the country met in New York City earlier this week to discuss the implementation of President Obama’s immigration plan. These mayors support of executive action because they recognize the economic benefit to their cities as well as the role that executive action will… Read More
Final Immigration Hearings of 2014 Preview More Gridlock in 114th Congress
When the 113th Congress kicked off nearly two years ago, hopes were high that this would be the Congress to pass lasting immigration reform. “I think a comprehensive approach is long overdue, and I’m confident that the president, myself, others, can find the common ground to take care of this… Read More
Reagan-Bush Family Fairness: A Chronological History
From 1987 to 1990, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, Sr. used their executive authority to protect from deportation a group that Congress left out of its 1986 immigration reform legislation—the spouses and children of individuals who were in the process of legalizing. These “Family Fairness” actions were taken to avoid separating families in which one spouse or parent was eligible for legalization, but the other spouse or children living in the United States were not—and thus could be deported, even though they would one day be eligible for legal status when the spouse or parent legalized. Publicly available estimates at the time were that “Family Fairness” could cover as many as 1.5 million family members, which was approximately 40 percent of the then-unauthorized population. After Reagan and Bush acted, Congress later protected the family members. This fact sheet provides a chronological history of the executive actions and legislative debate surrounding Family Fairness. Read More
President’s Plan for Border Security Could Make a Bad Situation Worse
The debate surrounding the Immigration Accountability Executive Actions that President Obama announced last month mostly has centered on the millions of unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States who are likely to receive a three-year reprieve from deportation. But there is another aspect of the president’s announcement that… Read More
How Immigration Executive Action Opens Doors for Foreign Entrepreneurs
Much of the attention on President Obama’s executive action on immigration has focused on his use of prosecutorial discretion to defer deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants, including certain parents of U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents. But as part of the November announcement, President Obama also signed a… Read More
Immigration Council Strongly Reaffirms Research on Reagan-Bush Family Fairness Policy
Washington D.C. – This week, the Washington Post issued another editorial in its campaign against President Obama’s decision to authorize temporary deportation relief for several million undocumented parents of U.S citizen children. In particular, the Post argues that there is no historical precedent for President Obama’s action, discounting the parallel… Read More
States Sue Over President Obama’s Immigration Executive Action
Seventeen states filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging President Obama’s decision to temporarily defer deportation for millions of immigrants who qualify for DACA of the new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program. The lawsuit argues that the president’s executive actions “violated his constitutional duty to enforce the laws and illegally… Read More
House Passes Bill to Block Immigration Executive Action
The House of Representatives voted 219 to 197 on largely party lines to approve a bill from Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) that blocks President Obama’s executive action on immigration. Three Democrats voted in favor of the measure while seven Republicans voted against it; three members voted present. Yoho’s bill effectively… Read More
Committee Fails to Question Legality of President’s Immigration Executive Action
The House Judiciary Committee held a held a hearing Tuesday on President Obama’s recent Immigration Accountability Executive Action, focusing on the administration’s executive action that defers deportation for the parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Known as the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program, this… Read More
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