• Publication Date: November 26, 2012

Kris Kobach Continues Digging Immigration Hole

Despite a general consensus that adopting “self-deportation” as immigration policy helped sink Mitt Romney’s White House aspirations, the architect of this philosophy, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, isn’t ready to give in. Kobach doesn’t seem to care that most in his party have awakened to the fact that they are in a “death spiral” with Latino voters because of intolerant rhetoric around immigration. Nor does he seem fazed that dozens of young DREAM activists in his state protested at his office last week, demanding his resignation. Read More

• Publication Date: November 21, 2012

Talking Turkey on Immigration 2012

After cheers for football, some of the loudest shouting at many Thanksgiving feasts will come from political discussions gone awry.   You might think that you can take it easy on the immigration issue this year, as the political chatter is now heavily in favor of immigration reform.  But the blessings of conservative politicians and pundits won’t necessarily translate into harmony and world peace at the dinner table, especially if your relative is part of the 35% of voters that don’t support legalization for unauthorized immigrants. Read More

• Publication Date: November 21, 2012

Talking Turkey on Immigration 2012

• Publication Date: November 21, 2012

Talking Turkey on Immigration 2012

After cheers for football, some of the loudest shouting at many Thanksgiving feasts will come from political discussions gone awry.   You might think that you can take it easy on the immigration issue this year, as the political chatter is now heavily in favor of immigration reform.  But the blessings of conservative politicians and pundits won’t necessarily translate into harmony and world peace at the dinner table, especially if your relative is part of the 35% of voters that don’t support legalization for unauthorized immigrants. Read More

• Publication Date: November 15, 2012
• Reform

Conservatives Who Support Immigration Reform Need to Rethink Border Security

The elections have produced nothing short of an immigration epiphany among some conservative commentators and politicians. Spurred by the electoral beating that Republican candidates suffered at the hands of Latino voters, pundits and lawmakers who once advocated an enforcement-only solution to the problem of unauthorized immigration are now talking about a pathway to legalization. While this new-found pro-legalization stance is highly commendable, it is being coupled with distinctly old-fashioned notions of border security. Legalization programs are being proposed along with border walls as the solution for our border-security weaknesses. However, walls which try (and fail) to keep people out of the country won’t make us safer. The real target of border-security measures should be the cartels that smuggle immigrants, money, drugs, and guns across the border—not the immigrants, money, drugs, and guns themselves. Read More

• Publication Date: November 13, 2012
• Business & the Workforce, Economics

Understanding the Important Symbolism of the Maryland DREAM Act Victory

While much of last week’s energy was focused on Latino voter turnout in the Presidential race— and the subsequent recognition that immigration reform was all but inevitable—there was another major victory for immigration policy that came out of Maryland. Voters in the state supported through referendum their legislature’s decision to provide in-state tuition to undocumented students. This was the first vote of its kind in the nation and one where African-American voters were an important voting bloc in support of the measure. Read More

• Publication Date: November 9, 2012
• Economics, Reform

Election Results Reignite Conservatives’ Interest in Immigration Reform

Recognizing the inevitable, Speaker of the House John Boehner endorsed comprehensive immigration reform on Thursday noting “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 issue once and for all.” Read More

• Publication Date: November 8, 2012
• Reform

In Presidential Election, “Self-Deportation” Goes Down to Defeat

It did not become certain until late Tuesday night that President Obama would win re-election. But for Mitt Romney, the campaign may have been lost during the Republican primary, when he cited “self-deportation” as the solution to our nation’s immigration problems. With the post-election dust now settled, it has become increasingly clear that supporting the idea is not only bad as a matter of policy, but also a losing political strategy. Read More

• Publication Date: November 7, 2012
• Reform

Elections Demand a New Way Forward on Immigration

Even before the election was called for President Obama last night, pundits and pollsters were remarking on the fact that immigration—or more specifically, anti-immigrant policies—were a death knell for Mitt Romney.   Today, the analysis of whether and how the Republican party recovers from its devastatingly poor showing among Latinos—the key demographic group of the 21st century—is also focusing on immigration.   CNN’s David Gergen noted that immigration reform would become a reality because Democrats want it and Republicans need it; even Fox news commentators grumpily acknowledged that immigration reform has got to be on the table now. Read More

• Publication Date: November 6, 2012

A Long Journey to the Voting Booth

For some people, this year’s journey to the voting booth started years ago, in El Salvador or China or Cameroon, when it became clear that they had to leave their country and start over in America.   For those people, (whom U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services calls “Americans by choice,”) the journey to the polls has involved hardship, struggle,  hundreds of hours learning English and civics, and studying for the naturalization test.  They bring not only their vote to the polls, but a reminder to all of us that our precious democracy can only succeed when we believe in this country enough to take the time to vote. Read More