Reform
House Inaction Escalates Community’s Demands for Immigration Reform
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) reassured a few die-hard anti-immigration reform activists when he said he would never agree to a conference to reach agreement on a House immigration bill and the Senate’s bipartisan immigration that passed in June. But his comments fired up those who want to see Congress improve the nation’s broken immigration system. Despite some in the House dragging their feet on considering immigration reform legislation—House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy told advocates last week there weren’t enough days for them to act on it this year—immigration advocates in Washington, D.C., and across the country continued to push for the House to act on immigration reform. Read More
How Latino and Asian Voters Made the Difference in 2013 Gubernatorial Elections
In a Dickensian tale of two campaigns for governor, the Republican Party watched two very different strategies unfold on how to embrace or reject Latino voters on Tuesday. A majority of Latino voters voted for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as he soundly won reelection, while Ken Cuccinelli lost his campaign to be Virginia’s governor after alienating Latinos with his anti-immigrant positions. As Jordan Fabian at Fusion explains, Christie offered Republicans a path for how to make inroads with Latinos, but “Cuccinelli’s campaign, on the other hand, fell into the same traps that have doomed Republicans in the last two elections.” Read More
How Immigrants on a Pathway to Citizenship can Revitalize Rust Belt Cities
Like Rust Belt cities such as Baltimore and Detroit, rural towns across America have experienced population declines in recent decades. Some places, however, are an exception to that trend thanks in part to the arrival of immigrants. For example, while other Iowa towns experienced population decline over the past several decades, West Liberty’s population grew because of immigration. As Steve Hanson, superintendent of West Liberty Community School District, notes, “in the last 20-30 years we would have had a population decline if we hadn’t had immigrants come in [for] jobs in the food manufacturing business. They provide a source of labor that wouldn’t have been there.” And West Liberty’s Mayor, Chad Thomas, said immigration has “kept a lot of storefronts and businesses open that probably otherwise would have closed.” Read More
Latino Voters Poised to Again Play Key Role in Elections
One year after the 2012 elections, in which the Latino vote played a pivotal role in the re-election of President Obama, the Republican Party is still attempting to figure out how to attract Latinos and new immigrant voters to the fold. Tomorrow, voters head to the polls to decide several state elections and the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, and it looks like how a politician talks about immigration will continue to be a litmus test for Latino and Asian voters—many of whom see immigration as a personal issue. Consequently, the contrast between the Virginia and New Jersey races couldn’t be more telling. Read More
How Would Immigration Reform Help the U.S. Economy?
A growing consensus has emerged among both liberals and conservatives that immigration reform would serve as a stimulus to the U.S. economy. Reform would not only raise the wages—and therefore the tax payments and consumer purchasing power—of newly legalized immigrants, but would ensure future flows of immigrant workers, taxpayers, and consumers that are sufficient to meet the labor-force needs of our rapidly aging society. Conversely, trying to enforce our way out of a dysfunctional immigration system only wastes taxpayer dollars while exacting a high toll in both human lives and missed economic opportunities. Read More
Rumors of Immigration Reform’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, Again
The rumors of immigration reforms’ death have been greatly exaggerated over the years. In only the past few months, we’ve seen headlines like “Immigration Reform Heads for a Slow Death,” “Immigration Reform is Probably Dead,” and “RIP: Immigration Reform Bill is Dead.” Everyone wants to be the first to call it, the first to declare it, or the first person to have seen it coming. It’s not a terribly difficult story to write; some legislator or group of legislators say they don’t know how to get it done yet, or that it’s a hard issue to tackle, and presto, the stories come rolling out about the demise of reform. It may make a sexy headline, but for those who follow, understand and care about reform, these headlines become meaningless. In large part, because as soon as another legislator says or does something (like this week’s addition of three Republican members of Congress to the house immigration bill, H.R. 15) the headline quickly changes to “Immigration Reform Isn’t Dead Yet” and “Immigration Reform is Dead. Or Maybe it Isn’t.” Read More
California Republican Becomes First to Join Comprehensive House Immigration Bill
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) announced over the weekend that he will be the first Republican to become a co-sponsor of HR 15, the comprehensive House immigration bill introduced earlier this month. He confirmed the news to Univision anchor Jorge Ramos during an interview that aired on “Al Punto” Sunday, and he said he was going to urge other members of his party to join the bill as co-sponsors as well. “It’s about coming up with a solution that’s bipartisan; Republicans and Democrats coming together.” Read More
Three Ways Congressional Inaction on Immigration is Hurting Children
Last week, First Focus released a new report, “The Cost of Inaction: Why Children Can’t Wait for Immigration Reform.” The report highlights the particularly vulnerable position children are placed in within our broken immigration system. Read More
After Government Reopens, Calls for Immigration Reform Build
Now that Congress has ended the government shutdown and narrowly averted hitting the nation’s debt ceiling, it should come as no surprise that immigration reform is back in the news. Supporters of reform are pushing for House leadership to bring a path to citizenship and other immigration bills to the floor for a vote, while President Obama has called on lawmakers to improve the U.S. immigration system by the end of the year. “It’s really important for the country. And now is the time to do it,” Obama said in a recent interview. Read More
Ongoing Government Shutdown Disrupts Immigration Processing
With the shutdown of the government in its second week, many immigration-related agencies continue to be closed, affecting availability of services and information necessary for applications for immigration benefits and litigation of immigration cases. Because multiple federal agencies play a role in contributing to the functioning of the immigration system, the impact of the shutdown varies from case to case and issue to issue, but the cumulative impact is placing additional strain on an already over-burdened system. Read More
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