Legislation
The Sooner Immigrants Become Citizens, the Better it is for the Economy
As lawmakers negotiate the contours of an immigration reform bill, they should keep in mind that the granting of legal status to undocumented immigrants would be a boon for the U.S. economy—and allowing undocumented immigrants to eventually become U.S. citizens would be an even bigger boon. Such is the finding of a report from the Center for American Progress (CAP), entitled The Economic Effects of Granting Legal Status and Citizenship to Undocumented Immigrants. The report was authored by Robert Lynch, a Visiting Senior Fellow at CAP and the Everett E. Nuttle professor and chair of the Department of Economics at Washington College, and Patrick Oakford, a Research Assistant at CAP. The authors explain succinctly why legalized immigrants and newly minted U.S. citizens are so economically valuable: Read More
Republican Party Officially Backs Immigration Reform
Today, the Republican National Committee formally endorsed comprehensive immigration reform, bringing its position back in line with the Republican Party platform of 2004. Championing immigration reform was among the suggestions offered in a report released today about how the RNC can reinvent itself as part of a $10 million plan to reach out to minority groups. "We must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform," says one recommendation in the 100-page report, according to the Associated Press. "If we do not, our party's appeal will continue to shrink." Read More
Budget Cuts Led ICE To Release Immigrants From Detention
Along with every other government agency, on March 1, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials had to begin making mandatory cuts to their budget as a result of sequestration. ICE’s choice to shift some of its detainees from expensive detention facilities to non-detention alternatives was questioned yesterday by Members of Congress, but more importantly the decision demonstrates that alternatives to detention are a feasible choice—regardless of sequestration. Read More
The Promise and Challenges of Family-Based Immigration
Today the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary is hosting a hearing on “The Separation of Nuclear Families under U.S. Immigration Law”. The issue to be addressed relates specifically to the obstacles that many legal permanent residents (LPR) currently living in the United States face when they try to bring their immediate relatives to the country. While there are neither country nor yearly caps for immediate relatives (currently defined as opposite-sex spouses and minor children) of U.S. citizens who want to immigrate to the United States, there are only 87,900 immigrant visas available each year for immediate relatives of LPRs. In addition, no country can receive more than 7 percent of the visas available for all immigration categories in a fiscal year. In 2012, for example, the maximum number of visas available per country was 47,250. And because the demand for visas in some countries is much larger than the number of visas available, some LPRs have to wait several years to be able to bring their spouses and unmarried children. Read More
Recognizing Immigrant Women’s Needs in Immigration Reform
While the recent debate over reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act may have reminded the nation that there are “women’s issues” in immigration law, it doesn’t necessarily follow that most people regard immigration reform as a woman’s issue. Despite the fact that immigrant women make up a growing share of workers, entrepreneurs, single heads of households, and new voters—while remaining primary caregivers in families—the laws we craft to reform our broken immigration system have often been insensitive to the obstacles and challenges immigrant women face in applying for immigration status. Read More
Jeb Bush Backs Away From Mainstream With His Opposition To A Path To Citizenship
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has been a longtime supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, so it caught many off guard this week when, in his new book, Bush came out against a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. “It is absolutely vital to the integrity of our immigration system that actions have consequences -- in this case, that those who violated the law can remain but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship," Bush argues in the book, Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, which was co-authored with lawyer Clint Bolick. “To do otherwise would signal once again that people who circumvent the system can still obtain the full benefits of American citizenship.” Instead, Bush and Bolick write, undocumented immigrants should not be allowed to apply for citizenship until they return to their countries of origins. Read More
Skilled Immigrants Come Through All Immigration Channels
Note: Today’s blog features the oral testimony of Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council before the House of Representatives, Committee of the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security today. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and provide testimony on behalf of the American Immigration Council, a non-profit educational organization that for 25 years has been dedicated to increasing public understanding of immigration law and policy and the role of immigration in American society. Read More
Building Bipartisan Bridges in Congress for High-Skilled Immigration and Entrepreneurship
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will hold a hearing to discuss, “Enhancing American Competitiveness through Skilled Immigration.” The hearing is likely to highlight both the bipartisan support for high-skilled immigration reform, and a series of new bills that would increase the supply of STEM visas. Read More
Immigration Policy in the States: A Roundup
As Congress begins to debate how to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws on the federal level, state governors who previously staked out anti-immigrant positions are quieter. And in a change from previous years, few measures that mimic provisions of Arizona’s SB-1070 have been proposed in state legislatures. That’s not to say there isn’t still some anti-immigrant legislation bubbling up in states. In Mississippi, for example, a bill to strengthen enforcement of the mandatory E-Verify was introduced but died in the House, however a measure to prevent undocumented immigrants from purchasing public lands is still pending in the Senate after the House passed it. Read More
A Bipartisan Bridge to Prosperity: High-Skilled Immigration Legislation in the 113th Congress
In the spirit of bipartisan immigration reform, a geographically diverse contingent from both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation to strengthen high-skilled immigration and spur economic growth by recruiting and retaining entrepreneurial talent. Research is clear that high-skilled immigrants and immigrant entrepreneurs are a source of strength for America’s economy and innovative competitiveness. Currently, the most common routes for high-skilled immigrants and immigrant entrepreneurs to come to the U.S. include: H-1B visas for “specialty occupations” (which most commonly refers to occupations requiring “the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s or higher degree”), L-1 visas for “intracompany transferees,” O-1A visas for individuals with “sustained national or international acclaim” in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, and E-2 visas for treaty investors, which are available to citizens of countries with treaties of commerce and navigation with the U.S. The three new pieces of legislation include the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013, the StartUp Visa Act of 2013, and the Startup Act 3.0. Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 Read More
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