Immigration 101

Immigration 101

How the United States Immigration System Works

U.S. immigration law is very complex, and there is much confusion as to how it works. This fact sheet provides basic information…

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Birthright Citizenship in the United States

This fact sheet explains birthright citizenship, the Fourteenth Amendment, and its interpretations. Who is…

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Asylum in the United States

Asylum seekers must navigate a difficult and complex process that can involve multiple government…

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 An Opening for Republicans on Immigration Reform

An Opening for Republicans on Immigration Reform

Immigration and Latino advocates continue to take stock after last week’s State of the Union Address, which some interpreted as the final nail in immigration reform’s coffin for 2010. Predictably, Democratic leadership reasserted their ongoing commitment to immigration reform legislation the day after. Less predictably, however, Senator Schumer’s main Republican partner in the Senate, Lindsay Graham, came out the following day in support of moving forward on reform in an interview with The Atlantic: Read More

An Opening for Republicans on Immigration Reform

An Opening for Republicans on Immigration Reform

Immigration and Latino advocates continue to take stock after last week’s State of the Union Address, which some interpreted as the final nail in immigration reform’s coffin for 2010. Predictably, Democratic leadership reasserted their ongoing commitment to immigration reform legislation the day after. Less predictably, however, Senator Schumer’s main Republican partner in the Senate, Lindsay Graham, came out the following day in support of moving forward on reform in an interview with The Atlantic: Read More

Dear Reps. Smith and Miller, Don’t Confuse Your Talking Points with Facts

Dear Reps. Smith and Miller, Don’t Confuse Your Talking Points with Facts

Representatives Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Gary Miller (R-CA) would like the public to think that they have the same concerns as most Americans today, releasing a joint statement expressing anxiety over the 15 million Americans currently without work. On its face, their statement—“we must enforce our current immigration laws to ensure illegals do not take away jobs that rightfully belong to American and legal workers”— makes sense. In a vacuum, if our economy provided only a set number of jobs available for American workers, Messrs. Smith and Miller would be correct. However, this is just not the case. Read More

What Does Scott Brown’s Victory Mean for Immigration Reform?

What Does Scott Brown’s Victory Mean for Immigration Reform?

The election of Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown in Massachusetts provides an interesting twist in 2010 electoral politics. While some may argue that this loss is essentially a referendum on the current Administration and its agenda, the less dramatic but more likely conclusion is that the results were more about the candidates themselves. Democratic candidate Martha Coakley’s well-documented gaffes in the media made for entertaining fodder during a news cycle dominated by depressing news from Haiti. Her loss, while bad news for the Democrats in Congress who prefer having a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, does not necessarily derail the President’s agenda. To make wholesale assumptions that Republican Senator-Elect Scott Brown is going to automatically derail all of the President’s upcoming initiatives is not only pre-mature but impossible to determine. Read More

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Intersection of Immigration and Civil Rights

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Intersection of Immigration and Civil Rights

Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man whose dream of equality and human rights changed the course of history. His legacy will be remembered this week by people of all colors and creeds who still believe in the American dream and who continue to fight for equality, civil rights and the basic human dignity they deserve. Over the weekend, thousands of human rights activists took to the street in Phoenix, Arizona, to march for civil rights and for “long-overdue federal action on immigration.” Read More

New Report Estimates Economic Benefit of Legalizing Unauthorized Immigrants in California

New Report Estimates Economic Benefit of Legalizing Unauthorized Immigrants in California

A new report from researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) provides further evidence that immigration reform which includes the creation of a pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants already in the United States would yield tangible economic benefits. The report, The Economic Benefits of Immigrant Authorization in California, by Dr. Manuel Pastor and co-authors at USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII), estimates that “unauthorized Latino immigrants in California…missed out on approximately $2.2 billion in wages and salary income last year alone due solely to their legal status, and the state lost out on the multiplied impacts of that potential income and spending, suggesting a total potential gain of $3.25 billion annually from authorization.” Read More

Heritage Foundation Takes Aim at IPC/CAP Report, Issues a Series of Misfires

Heritage Foundation Takes Aim at IPC/CAP Report, Issues a Series of Misfires

Today, the Heritage Foundation responded to a recent report from the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) and the Center for American Progress (CAP), Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, in a failed attempt to rebut the report’s finding—that comprehensive immigration reform which includes a legalization program for unauthorized immigrants and flexible limits on future immigration would result in a large economic benefit: $1.5 trillion in additional U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over 10 years. Read More

New Report Quantifies Benefits of Immigration Reform to U.S. Economy

New Report Quantifies Benefits of Immigration Reform to U.S. Economy

Those policymakers and commentators who argue that we simply cannot afford to enact comprehensive immigration reform in the middle of an economic recession have their facts woefully wrong. According to a new report released jointly by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) and the Center for American Progress (CAP), the economic benefits which would flow from comprehensive immigration reform would be dramatic. The report, Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, uses a “computable general equilibrium model” to estimate that comprehensive reform which includes a pathway to legal status for currently unauthorized immigrants, as well as the creation of flexible limits on future immigration, would “yield at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over 10 years.” Moreover, comprehensive reform would “boost wages for native-born and newly legalized immigrant workers alike.” Read More

Connecting the Dots Between Immigration and Health Care Reform

Connecting the Dots Between Immigration and Health Care Reform

As Congress continues to broker the specifics of health care legislation, some reports cite key Democrats as allegedly holding out their support of the bill contingent on a solid White House promise that a comprehensive immigration reform bill will be addressed this year—a reform bill that would provide health care coverage options to all immigrants, including undocumented immigrants on an earned path to citizenship. Read More

And They’re Off! Immigration Reform for a New Decade

And They’re Off! Immigration Reform for a New Decade

Thousands of organizations, activists, and citizens are already out of the gate and will spend 2010 racing towards the finish line of fixing our broken immigration system. Some dedicated students have even embarked on a 1,500 mile walk from Miami to Washington D.C. in hopes of bringing attention to the human needs and costs behind our outdated system. Read More

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