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.
White House Report Outlines the Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform
As Republicans in the House of Representatives search for a way forward on immigration reform, they should keep in mind a critical point: overhauling the U.S. immigration system would help jump start the sluggish U.S. economy. In other words, any Member of Congress who has expressed a desire to cut the federal budget deficit, create new jobs and businesses, boost wages, and increase U.S. economic output should be for immigration reform—not against it. Conversely, those who stand against reform should carefully consider the price that will be paid by the U.S. economy, and U.S. workers, if reform does not occur. Read More
A Guide to S.744: Understanding the 2013 Senate Immigration Bill
This guide to provide policymakers, the media, and the public with an easy-to-understand guide to the main components of S. 744 and the purpose behind them. Read More
The Civics Lessons Many Undocumented Immigrants Have Already Learned
If the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill becomes law, many undocumented immigrants who apply for and become Registered Provisional Immigrants (RPIs) would have to pass an English and civics test before becoming Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs). These tests are administered so New Americans can show their commitment to this country by demonstrating that they speak English and understand the basic tenets of our democracy. Although the test is a formal set of questions about American democracy—How many branches of government? Who was the first President? What is the Declaration of Independence?—the work leading up to passage of the Senate bill was itself a lesson in democracy. For many immigrants who may one day be RPIs, their participation in efforts to pass legislation shows that they have already participated in their first civics lesson. Read More
Immigrants are Key Driver of U.S. Talent and Economic Competitiveness
U.S. workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have been important contributors to American innovation, job creation, rising incomes, and global economic competitiveness throughout the years. And not surprisingly, immigrants have played a critical role in American innovation through STEM fields and all parts of the U.S. economy. A new report by Gordon Hanson (University of California, San Diego) and Matthew Slaughter (Dartmouth) describes these important relationships between talent, economic competitiveness, and immigration in the United States. In their paper, the authors present data in support of three critical points: Read More
Immigrants Boost Economic Vitality through the Housing Market
Abundant research shows that immigration is a net benefit to the United States’ economy. It leads to higher wages, business formation, job creation, and greater innovation – nationally and locally. Foreign workers who immigrate to the U.S. help alleviate labor force gaps left by a workforce increasingly nearing and entering retirement age. Furthermore, immigrants help fulfill growing healthcare needs of an aging population. In addition to these positive benefits of immigration, the favorable effect immigrant home-buyers have on the housing market is another important economic impact. Indeed, new research from the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the Partnership for a New American Economy describes how the 40 million immigrants residing in the United States added $3.7 trillion to housing wealth in the U.S. The research, prepared by Jacob Vigdor at Duke University, uses county-level data on population and housing from the U.S. Census Bureau and American Community Survey from 1970 to 2010. The results show that immigration led to a boost in home values, particularly in neighborhoods hit hardest by the U.S. housing bust. Read More
Spotlight Moves to House After Senate Approves Immigration Bill
Now that the Senate has passed a sweeping measure to improve U.S. immigration policies, the attention turns to the House of Representatives, where it is unclear exactly when or how they will take up an immigration bill. The Associated Press reported that President Obama called House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after the Senate vote to urge them to have the House act on an immigration bill. Earlier this week, Boehner said the House would not take up S. 744 and would do its own bill instead. If the House passed a separate immigration measure, then a conference committee with members from both chambers would meet to reconcile the differences. Read More
Senate Passes Landmark Immigration Reform Bill
The Senate approved a massive overhaul of the nation’s immigration policies today in a historic vote. They voted 68-32 to approve S. 744, the Gang of Eight’s immigration reform measure that the Senate Judiciary Committee passed in May. Immediately after the vote, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Gang of Eight and sponsor of the DREAM Act, tweeted, “Today, we have accomplished something great, made America a stronger nation & honored our heritage as a nation of immigrants.” Before they cast those votes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reminded senators of the human side of immigration. “We’re here to talk about people, not pages of legislation,” he said. Read More
The American Immigration Council Applauds Senate Passage of Historic Immigration Reform Legislation
Washington D.C. – The American Immigration Council applauds the U.S. Senate for passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation (S. 744) by a vote of 68-32 (including 14 Republicans). This vote reflects how far the country has come in understanding the significance of immigration reform to the health and well-being of the… Read More
Beyond the Border Surge, What Else Is In the Senate Compromise?
On Monday, the Senate voted 67 to 27 to invoke cloture on Leahy 1183, an amendment to substitute the current version of the Senate’s immigration reform bill, S. 744, with a revised version of the bill that includes a host of amendments that have been referred to as the Corker/Hoeven compromise—or, more simply, the border surge. Thirty hours from that vote—sometime Wednesday morning—the Senate will actually vote on whether to adopt Leahy 1183. The cloture vote is a strong indicator of passage of the amendment and, many predict, of the bill overall. Read More
Nativist Group Fears an Immigration Tsunami Under Senate Immigration Bill
Throughout its history, the United States has benefited in innumerable ways from immigration. Men and women from every corner of the globe, with every conceivable skill set and educational background, have come here and added value to the U.S. economy and U.S. society. Likewise, the arrival of every new “wave” of immigrants has elicited shrill cries from nativists afraid that all of these newcomers will swamp the nation, throw native-born workers out of their jobs, and undermine “our” way of life. The nativists never seem to learn the lessons of history in this regard, because they keep making the same baseless claims, and indulging the same irrational fears, every generation. It doesn’t matter who the newcomers are—Germans, Italians, or Mexicans; Slavs, Africans, or Arabs—the arguments are always the same. Read More
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