Immigration Reform
Two Pieces of Refugee Legislation Show Promise of Bipartisan Reform Effort
Regardless of the prolonged and often controversial fight over comprehensive immigration reform, immigration bills do occasionally make it through Congress. Such bills tend to be very specific, concrete, almost technical changes to existing laws. Not surprisingly, many of those bills are tied to issues that have broad bipartisan support like perfecting refugee provisions or making it easier for people to work for the military. Two bills that fit this description are The Return of Talent Act (S. 2974) and The Refugee Opportunity Act (S. 2960), both very discrete and positive bills that have nothing to do with comprehensive immigration reform and that may become law later this year. Read More
So-Called ‘Smart Enforcement’ Cuts Corners on Immigrants Rights
In a March 29 meeting with immigration advocates that I attended, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief John Morton asked to be judged on ICE’s record, not on rumors. But that’s just why I’m concerned. At a hastily called meeting following the leak of a memo setting quotas for non-criminal removals, Morton repudiated the February 2010 memo, but not earlier “performance standards” which set numbers for identifying and removing non-citizens in jails. He claimed that the law required him both to fill—not just have available—33,400 detention beds a day and to implement the 287(g) program, a voluntary arrangement which shifts immigration enforcement authority to state and local police. This was a surprise to the advocates in the room, since the law authorizes, but does not require, ICE to fill detention beds or impose state and local agreements. Read More
Steele Pledges to Find Second Republican, Maybe
In a meeting yesterday with immigration advocates, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele reportedly committed to working with Senator Lindsey Graham to find another Republican senator for a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill. Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, remained skeptical, stating that while “Chairman Steele clearly understands that the future of the Republican Party is dim if his party continues to play politics with immigration reform…we need to see if Republicans will deliver additional cosponsors on the bill before April 30.” Read More
Immigration and the Future of American Innovation: Does America Need to Pump Up the Volume?
It should come as no surprise to anyone following the global economy that when it comes to innovation and competition, America has lost that loving feeling. Numbers in key areas of innovation—percentage of patents issued, government funded research and venture capitalists' investments—are all down. While some point a finger at a weaker economy, others look to poor domestic policy and increased global competition. Either way, American innovation is slowly fading on the global stage. Read More
Immigration Reform: The Not So Merry Go Round of Washington Politics
First, Republicans said they wouldn’t work with Democrats on immigration if health care passed—now they will. The Obama administration announced that immigration enforcement would target dangerous criminals only—but as it turns out, they aren’t. Senator Chuck Schumer said we’re moving forward on immigration, while his partner, Senator Lindsey Graham, insists that the President write a bill and take the lead first. Senator John McCain was a staunch immigrant supporter—that is, until he received political challenges from the right. Lou Dobbs hates immigrants—or does he? Immigration reform is dead, alive, dead, no alive. Our nation is facing a deficit and immigration reform could help fill the hole—but some feel that reform is too big a lift. If you aren’t studying the day-to-day actions of politicians and administration types in Washington, you can miss a lot. And if you are, it’s all a bit dizzying. Read More
Senator Schumer Urges Senator Graham to Get Immigration Reform Done
In the latest development on their bipartisan push for immigration reform, Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Graham (R-SC) appeared on Meet the Press yesterday to discuss immigration reform in a post-health care political environment. Amid criticism over his reaction to the passage of health care reform—the process of which he referred to as “sleazy,” Sen. Lindsey Graham called immigration reform a “heavy lift” and again threw down the gauntlet for more support on the issue from the President. Meanwhile, Schumer took a slightly more hopeful approach to the future of immigration reform—citing the wide range of support from key players, demonstrating the importance of fixing our broken system now and urging Sen. Graham to get this done. Read More
Nativist Group Blames Immigrants for Unemployment and Low Wages
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) yesterday released a report, Amnesty and the American Worker, which recycles a number of discredited claims about the supposedly negative impact that immigrants have on U.S. workers and the U.S. economy. According to FAIR, unauthorized immigration has “put Americans out of work and reduced wage levels for all workers across broad sectors of the economy.” The FAIR report also claims that granting legal status to currently unauthorized immigrants would be a drain on the U.S. economy because newly legalized immigrants would qualify for tax credits. FAIR ignores the fact that there is no correlation between immigration and unemployment in the United States—that immigration has provided a small wage boost to most native-born workers and helped “grow” the economy—and that newly legalized immigrants would earn higher wages and therefore spend more in U.S. businesses and pay more in all kinds of taxes. Read More
Marching Forward: Thousands Gather in Washington, D.C. to Demand Immigration Reform
Yesterday, an estimated 200,000 from at least 35 states gathered in Washington, D.C. to raise their voices for comprehensive immigration reform—reform President Obama promised to address within his first year in office. The National Mall and surrounding streets were full of supporters carrying signs with messages such as “Family Unity,” “Reform Not Raids,” “Friends Keep Their Promises” and “$1.5 Trillion to the U.S. Economy.” Representing a broad coalition of supporters, the immigration rally came on the heels of a series of White House meetings on the issue as well as Sens. Schumer and Graham’s rough legislative blueprint of an reform bill expected later this year. Read More
Strength in Numbers
The positive impact of Sunday’s rally on the mall for immigration reform is already in evidence. Yesterday, after months of pressure, Senators Schumer and Graham finally released their blueprint for immigration reform and President Obama immediately pledged to help push bipartisan legislation forward. Next was Senator Reid who promised to make time for legislation on the floor this year and Senator Leahy also pledging his support. Read More
Restrictionist Group Strikes Back
Today, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report which attacks the decision of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to designate the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) a “hate group,” and thereby impugn the reputation of two FAIR spin-offs: CIS and NumbersUSA. The report offers a defense of FAIR and its founder, John Tanton (a man who has expressed sympathy for eugenics—that is, selective human breeding), and attacks SPLC and its work with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and other organizations belonging to the “Stop the Hate” campaign. Leaving aside SPLC’s rebuttal of the report, or the question raised by the report of why it took so long for FAIR’s (hateful) past to catch up with it, the fact remains that FAIR, CIS, and NumbersUSA have engaged in an intellectually dishonest analysis of immigration that sometimes devolves into name-calling. Read More
Make a contribution
Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.
