Economic Impact

How Investing in English Language Learning Can Boost Local Economies
As local leaders explore ways to grow their local and regional economies, one area to address is access to English language learning opportunities for all members of a community. A new report by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, Investing in English Skills: The Limited English Proficient Workforce… Read More

New Report Highlights Innovative Integration Initiatives in the Midwest
Last week, the Detroit City Council unanimously passed a resolution for Detroit to become a “welcoming city.” As Global Detroit notes, “The designation,” part of the Welcoming Cities and Counties initiative, “recognizes places that support locally-driven efforts to create more welcoming, immigrant-friendly environments that maximize opportunities for… Read More

Cities Recognize the Power of Naturalization During Citizenship Day and Welcoming Week
Each year on September 17, the United States observes Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, a combined event that commemorates the anniversary of the signing of the constitution in 1787 and recognizes all those who are or have become U.S. citizens. This week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is celebrating… Read More

Cities Find Creative Ways for Civic Immigrant Integration
Shifts in where immigrants are settling once they arrive in the U.S. have encouraged local governments across the country to cultivate creative opportunities to better meet challenges and promote newcomer integration into the life of a city. Continuing its new series, Cities and Regions: Reaping Migration’s Local… Read More

States and Counties Continue to Create Policies that Integrate Immigrants and Boost Communities
Before Congress left for August recess, members failed to pass a supplemental spending bill to cover the costs of managing the influx of unaccompanied minors and families at the southern border. Most have given up on hoping the House of Representatives will take up comprehensive immigration reform after House… Read More

Iranian-American Woman Breaks Glass Ceiling with Math Prize
The Fields Medal is frequently called the “Nobel Prize” of mathematics, and since it was first awarded in 1936, 16 of the 28 honorees affiliated with United States institutions were foreign-born, including two of the medals awarded last week. But before last week, a woman had never won the… Read More

Seven Reasons Why Undocumented Immigrants are Rooted in America
With immigration legislation now moribund in Congress, all eyes have turned to the White House to see what sorts of non-legislative fixes to the immigration system might be implemented by the Obama administration. While the administration’s deliberations remain private, it is almost certain that one of the fixes being… Read More

Nativist Group Falsely Blames Immigrants for Unemployment in Tennessee
From the narrow, nativist perspective of groups such as the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), every immigrant worker who enters the U.S. economy is stealing a job from a native-born worker. In this view of the world, employment is a zero-sum game in which immigrants and the native-born… Read More

Remembering the Promise and Power of the American Dream on Independence Day
More than 200 years ago, our Founding Fathers declared our nation’s independence from England, and ever since, men and women from around the world have sworn to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America” as they become U.S. citizens. The Fourth of July… Read More

Supreme Court Decides Immigrants Can “Age-Out” of Visa Petitions
In Scialabba v. Cuellar de Osorio, a heavily-divided Supreme Court ruled against thousands of aspiring young immigrants who were included on their parents’ visa petitions as minors, but who turned 21—known as “aging-out”—before visas became available. Aging-out is tantamount to someone losing his place in the visa line… Read More
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