Economic Impact
Congress Introduces DREAM Act as Momentum for Immigration Reform Escalates
Today, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA) and Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-FL), along with several other Republican and Democratic Representatives introduced in both chambers the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM) Act. These bipartisan bills would allow immigrant students who… Read More
Hispanic Caucus Gets Optimistic Forecast from President Obama
Yesterday, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with President Obama to discuss the prospects for advancing such a reform this year. Obama had made a commitment to reforming the broken immigration system during his campaign, and has sent many signals that he remains enthusiastic about its prospects. At yesterday's meeting, the President echoed the affirmative call for comprehensive immigration reform already made by Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Read More
Condoleezza Rice Wants Undocumented Immigrants Out of the Shadows
Like many in the Bush administration who recently recognized that comprehensive immigration reform is not a roadblock but a vehicle to America’s economic recovery, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice highlighted the need for comprehensive reform last week as an economic and social imperative at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research summit. Now a political science professor at Stanford and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, Rice put the Bush administration’s failure to achieve real reform of our immigration laws ahead of the Middle East conflict in terms of her “deepest regret” as secretary of state. Read More
“New American” Idols
Last fall, IPC produced a report about The New American Electorate: The Growing Political Power of Immigrants and Their Children discussing how immigrants and their native-born children, born after 1965, were closely connected to the issue of immigration and that it would prove to be an important factor in their voting decisions. Fast forward to now and it becomes clear that "New American" power extends beyond the voting booth and into the living rooms of more than 20 million viewers each week through the wildly popular reality television show, American Idol. The 8th season of America Idol is underway and two-finalists on the show are themselves New Americans: Read More
Pelosi Joins the Hispanic Caucus’ Call for Reform, Not Raids
This past weekend, House Speaker Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took a stand on immigration raids and met hundreds of families Saturday evening at a church in San Francisco's Mission District to demand an end to deportations and the separation of families. Pelosi's stop was part of a larger, 17-city national "Family Unity" tour led by leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in response to immigration raids. An estimated 3.1 million US citizen children have at least one parent who is undocumented. Many others have at least one parent who is a permanent legal resident who can be subject to deportation for minor legal infractions or errors while filing for a change of immigration status. Every year thousands of children are either separated from a parent who has been deported, or forced into exile. Read More
New Americans: A Springboard for California’s Economy
Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that analysts across the country have been worried that the economic crisis has fueled an increase in hate groups and racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric. With its large immigrant population and current economic woes, California is in the belly of the beast. Yet, while many restrictionists and anti-immigrant groups are exploiting the recession and using immigrants as scapegoats, an undeniable truth lies beneath their feeble facts: California's immigrants and their children climb up the socioeconomic ladder over time and most Californians have economically benefited as a result. California exemplifies not only the enormous political and economic clout of immigrants, but also accounts for innumerable stories of immigrants who experience remarkable upward mobility over time, master English, and own their own homes, according to a new Immigration Policy Center report. Immigrant workers and entrepreneurs make up a large part of taxpayers and are vital when it comes to the success of California's new budget. Read More
FAIR Blames Florida’s Budget Woes on Immigrants and Children
On January 29, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—an anti-immigrant hate group headquartered in Washington, DC—issued a press release claiming that Florida's current budget crisis "would be lessened by ending illegal immigration costs." In support of this assertion, FAIR argues that "the current fiscal cost outlays for the illegal alien population in Florida now amount to more than $2.8 billion annually." However, FAIR's estimate is rendered meaningless by the statistical chicanery used to produce it. Read More
Latino Experts Look Beyond Legalization and Citizenship
Former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros and several other leading Latino experts met at the Center for American Progress Monday to discuss Latinos’ role in shaping America’s future. Panelists such as Sarita Brown of Excelencia in Education and Janet Murguia of NCLR joined Cisneros in affirming that without vast improvements to the Latino community’s economic and educational status, the United States will not advance as a global competitor in the future. Read More
Task Force Calls for Federal Immigrant Integration Effort
While some fear that demographic shifts threaten American identity, yet another piece of research has come out showing that today's immigrants want to and are integrating into American society just like generations of immigrants before them. After more than two years of collaboration and initiatives among 20 federal agencies and a variety of stakeholders, the Task Force on New Americans delivered a report this past Monday. The Task Force was assembled in 2006 with a call to "strengthen the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security and federal, state, and local agencies to help legal immigrants embrace the common core of American civic culture, learn our common language, and fully become Americans." The Task Force's recommendations are based in the belief that immigrants can and do integrate into U.S. society and that integration is also a federal responsibility. Read More
2,000 Approved Naturalization Applicants Blocked from Voting
Red tape and a tightfisted judge blocked nearly 2,000 people who should've been able to vote this past Election Day from receiving their naturalization oath in time to register for November's general election. Lawful permanent residents with approved naturalization applications must take the oath of allegiance to become a U.S. citizen. According to a new government report and immigration analysts, federal judges in some parts of the U.S. may be refusing USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) requests for oath ceremonies and delaying the swearing-in of new citizens. Some USCIS district offices administer naturalization oaths themselves. But in a few districts-including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit-only federal district courts have power to so and are then reimbursed by USCIS for all oath ceremonies they perform. Los Angeles itself received $2.4 million for the 169,799 oaths it administered in 2008. According to the Washington Post, the ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Michael Dougherty, stated: Read More
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