Reform
After White House Meetings, What’s Next for Immigration Reform?
In the midst of trying to wrap up health care, President Obama carved time out of his schedule yesterday to meet with reformers and key Senators on comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). After yesterday’s meetings, some are reporting that the President is again committed to moving CIR this year. Supporters of immigration reform are wary, but hopeful, that this time he means business. Read More
President Obama’s Statement on Fixing our Broken Immigration System
Today, President Obama met with a variety of immigration advocates, including Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who are working together on a bipartisan bill to fix our broken immigration system. Following the meeting, the President issued this statement: “Today I met with Senators Schumer and… Read More
Congressional Members Call for Presidential Leadership and Bipartisanship on Reform
Expectations are running high when it comes to moving forward with comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). Apparently the White House is taking note of the concerns voiced by grassroots groups and the mobilizing around a March 21 march. The White House had three scheduled meetings on immigration today—one with immigration advocates, another with Senators Schumer and Graham and a third with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. While immigration advocates eagerly await outcomes of today’s meetings, the recent momentum of reform has created a buzz among some Congressional members on how exactly an immigration bill might move forward. Read More
Restrictionist Front Group Still Pushing Green Xenophobia
In a new report, Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR)—a front group for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—regurgitates an argument as tired as it is flawed: that immigration hastens the destruction of the environment in the United States. Specifically, the report claims that immigration-driven population growth is increasing the nation’s “ecological footprint” and exceeding the country’s “carrying capacity.” This is a faulty line of reasoning that overlooks the degree to which destruction of the environment is a function not of population size, but of how a society utilizes its resources, produces its goods and services, and deals with its waste. Read More
Wide Cast of Characters Discuss the Benefits of Legalization
While comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) remains stalled somewhere between the House, Senate, and the Administration, four noted experts were interviewed by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) about how immigration reform would affect the U.S. economy. These interviews were posted on CFR’s website yesterday. David Scott Fitzgerald, Associate Director for the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego; Heidi Shierholz, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute; Mark Krikorian, Executive Director for the Center for Immigration Studies; and James Carafano, Director for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation offered opinions on immigration and the economy. While their opinions varied widely, there were notable areas of agreement: our system is in need of repair, and legalization would not be the great harm to our economy that restrictionists tout. Read More
Is President Obama Doing Enough to Move Immigration Reform?
This week, President Obama is scheduled to meet with two key congressional players in the movement for immigration reform—Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC)—who are working together behind the scenes to draft a bipartisan immigration bill. The President is expected to ask Sens. Graham and Schumer to produce a reform bill blueprint that “could be turned into legislative language.” While some will interpret this week’s meeting as another positive signal from the White House and others as a “last-ditch effort in an election year,” the White House affirms that the President is still committed to reforming our immigration system. Read More
Proposed “Start-Up Visa Act” Would Help Create American Jobs
With the passage of the $15 billion jobs bill in the Senate last week, job creation is certainly at the top of the Congressional priority list. As a way to further stimulate the economy, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), introduced the Start-Up Visa Act of 2010 last week which incentivizes job creation through the promise of legal residence status—that is, “drives job creation and increases America’s global competiveness by helping immigrant entrepreneurs secure visas to the United States.” Read More
Progress Report: Is DHS Making the Grade?
Yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its immigration agencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It also corresponds to the due date set by Secretary Janet Napolitano for completion of a sweeping internal review of DHS. While the internal review results have never been made public, an external review reveals that DHS is struggling with the challenges of reform—both administrative and legislative—and finds itself attempting to create more humane ways to enforce broken laws, which is ultimately a losing proposition. Read More
The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of the Latino Vote
A new report by America’s Voice (AV) “The Power of the Latino Vote in the 2010 Elections” highlights several things even the most amateur political bystander knows by now: Latino voters are growing in number, states with large immigrant and Latino populations are likely to gain congressional seats after the 2010 Census, and Latinos are a growing force in non-traditional states (like Georgia and the Carolinas). However, two very interesting insights emerge deeper into the report. The first is a discussion of not just how but why Latinos vote as they do and the second is a look into a unique Latino “sub group” called “Spanish Dominant Voters: A Hidden Swing Demographic.” Read More
Budgeting Immigration: Secretary Napolitano Talks Dollars and Programming
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano spent the past two days testifying in front of congressional committees addressing concerns over President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2011 DHS budget. Mixed in among the complaints over proposed cuts in cyber security and the Coast Guard were a number of budget decisions with immigration implications. Chief among those decisions were a cut in border patrol agents, the status of the troubled SBInet program, and worksite enforcement efforts—including the oft-maligned E-Verify program. Read More
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