Economics
States Playing with Enforcement-Only Fire Likely to Get Burned
The steady drumbeat of protest continued this week in states considering restrictive immigration measures. Indiana, for example, got a taste of forthcoming economic backlash when two organizations threatened to pull conventions from the state if enforcement legislation passed—a costly lesson Arizona knows well. Legislators in other states considering similar measures—Nebraska, Michigan, Arizona and Alabama—also heard from concerned members of the community this week who fear the economic and social damage these measures will cause in their state. Although playing with enforcement-only immigration measures might have helped some of these state lawmakers light up their political careers, taxpayers are starting to realize that they're ultimately going to get burned. Read More
Businesses Fear Restrictive Immigration Measures Will Drive Jobs to Other States
As Arizona-style enforcement legislation continues to work its way through state legislatures, local business and industry groups are beginning to realize just how much these laws will affect the way they do business. They fear the racial profiling often associated with laws targeting undocumented immigrants will create an unwelcoming environment in their state, limiting their ability to attract new business and potential workers. With many states facing severe budget deficits this year, business leaders across the U.S. are asking their legislators if their state can really afford to drive new business and jobs to neighboring, friendlier states. Read More
Mayor Bloomberg: The DREAM Act Makes Dollars and Sense
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently banded together with other titans of industry—media magnate Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sach’s Lloyd Blankfein, Kenneth Chenault of American Express—to reiterate what academics and advocates have been saying for years: immigrants are critically important in “doing the work and creating the businesses that keep our economy strong and growing.” Mayor Bloomberg is one of the founders of Partnership for a New American Economy, a growing bipartisan group of mayors and business leaders who are urging others to consider the economic benefits of immigration reform. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis (the daughter of immigrants) also recently stepped forward to highlight the benefits of DREAM and the value of keeping talented students in the U.S. Read More
New Report Describes Peril Immigrant Women Face in U.S. Food Industry
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report called Injustice on our Plates: Immigrant Women in the U.S. Food Industry which looks at the conditions under which immigrant women work. It documents and personalizes the stories of women who have made the dangerous journey to the U.S. seeking a better life for themselves and their families, only to end up working long hours under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions. Read More
Titans of Industry Bloomberg and Murdoch Remind Congress How to Do Their Jobs in Immigration Hearing
Today, the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership held a hearing on the "Role of Immigration in Strengthening America's Economy" featuring New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fox owner Rupert Murdoch (an immigrant himself). The two media moguls formed a new coalition earlier this year to press for immigration reform. They asked lawmakers to make it easier for skilled immigrants to get visas to work in the U.S. to keep the U.S. competitive and decried deporting the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, calling it “impossible.” Read More
Congressional Committee Attempts to Tackle AgJOBS, Again
Last week, the House Immigration Subcommittee held a hearing on immigration and farm labor. The substance of the hearing is likely to be eclipsed by the presence of Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, who testified about his participation in United Farm Workers’ (UFW) “Take Our Jobs” campaign. While Colbert's presence insured that it wasn’t your ordinary committee hearing, in many ways this hearing was simply more of the same rhetoric which demonstrated Congress’s inability to get beyond partisan sniping and sound bites and pass any type of immigration reform. Read More
Secretary Solis Continues the Drum Beat for Immigration Reform, But Is Anyone Listening?
Earlier today, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka discussed the complicated intersection of labor, immigration, and the United States economy. “The immigration system has always been important to the labor movement,” said Trumka. Both Secretary Solis and Trumka advocated for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)—acknowledging the obvious economic benefits to all U.S. workers—and lamented the fact that Republicans have been unwilling thus far to come to the negotiating table on the issue. The lack of Republican cooperation is surprising, considering a CIR bill would be beneficial to U.S. workers and businesses, and was part of the impetus for Solis and Trumka to come together for the webinar. Read More
Undocumented Youth Pin DREAMs on Congressional Action
Every year, undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. along with their young children. These kids grow up in the U.S., speak English, and hang out with their friends just like other American kids. But unlike their classmates, they cannot join the military, work, or pursue their dreams because they don’t have legal status. Every year, roughly 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school, but many don’t apply for college, even when they’re at the top of their class, because they can’t afford it. These hard-working students are not eligible for loans or work study and must often pay high out-of-state or international tuition rates. They often live in fear of detection by immigration authorities. The DREAM Act—which would benefit these students as well as the U.S. economy—proposes to fix these problems, but not without the political will of Congress. Read More
Supporting Immigration Reform in Nevada is More Pragmatic than Political
In Sunday’s local Las Vegas newspaper, the Review Journal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated his support for immigration reform and pushed back on the paper’s editorial staff who have long rallied against fixing our broken immigration system. Senator Reid’s reiterated support came on the heels of a speech he gave a week earlier in Nevada where he called for immigration reform to be completed this year and a later comment stating a timeframe for moving legislation. There is, however, more to Senator Reid’s recent support for immigration reform than mere political gains. 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
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