Connecticut, District 2

New Americans in Indianapolis
Accounting for just 6.3 percent of the overall population, immigrants were responsible for nearly a quarter of overall population growth in the Indianapolis region between 2009 and 2014, and held $2.3 billion in spending power in 2014 alone. The brief, New Americans in Indianapolis, finds: Immigrants contributed $9.2 billion to… Read More

After Fleeing Pinochet, Family Endures the Long Wait of U.S. Policy
Though born in Connecticut, successful entrepreneur and videographer Max Moraga has experienced xenophobia and the consequences of U.S. immigration policy firsthand. As a child, the first-generation Chilean-American was targeted for his Hispanic heritage. He was walking past the supermarket in his largely white, rural Connecticut town one day, when a… Read More

WFTS Tampa Bay: Florida documentary series ‘Making it in America’ features Ybor City immigrants
A Florida documentary series titled ‘Making it in America’ highlights Ybor City and the success of immigrant entrepreneurs. The video by Explica Media was independently produced to show the wide-range of entrepreneurs that includes an immigrant from Panama. Roberto Torres, owner of the Blind Tiger Cafe, is highlighted in the video by showcasing… Read More

WSVN: South Florida politicians express concern over Trump’s immigration order
South Florida politicians express concern over Trump’s immigration order Members of South Florida’s congressional delegation and community leaders expressed fears, Tuesday, that President Trump’s new immigration order could affect the legal immigrant community. During a press conference Tuesday, the White House Press Secretary said that Trump’s order is not mass… Read More

Misplaced Priorities: Most Immigrants Deported by ICE in 2013 Were a Threat to No One
No one can say with certainty when the Obama administration will reach the grim milestone of having deported two million people since the President took office in 2008. Regardless of the exact date this symbolic threshold is reached, however, it is important to keep in mind… Read More

When Immigrants Move to Take Pork Industry Jobs, Businesses in Downtown Guymon Thrive
As the program director of Main Street Guymon, a resource center dedicated to helping businesses in the small city of Guymon, Oklahoma, succeed, Melyn Johnson has unique insight into what allows her community to thrive. Since its founding in 2005, her group has accumulated roughly $10 million in private funding. Read More

Assistant Public Defender for Prince George’s County Knows First-hand the Difficulties Many Immigrants Face
After growing up in the United States as the daughter of two undocumented immigrants, Llamilet Gutierrez decided to dedicate her career to protecting the rights of immigrants by becoming an assistant public defender for Maryland’s Prince George’s County. Yet current deportation fears have made life harder than ever… Read More

Proportionality in Immigration Law: Does the Punishment Fit the Crime in Immigration Court?
Proportionality is the notion that the severity of a sanction should not be excessive in relation to the gravity of an offense. The principle is ancient and nearly uncontestable, and its operation pursuant to diverse constitutional provisions is well-established in numerous areas of criminal and civil law, in the United States and abroad. Immigration law, however, which is formally termed “civil” but is functionally quasi-criminal, has not previously been subject to judicial or administrative review for conformity to constitutional proportionality principles. Yet it is undisputed that the Due Process Clause—one of the sources of the proportionality principle in American law—applies to immigration proceedings. This Perpsectives suggests that understanding the use of proportionality in criminal and civil law offers immigration practitioners a new way to challenge the status quo, particularly in cases where the underlying basis for the removal order and the resulting consequences of removal are so disparate. Applying established proportionality principles, attorneys and policymakers can both argue for a more sane and balanced approach to immigration enforcement, one that measures the relative nature of an immigration offense against the severity of the current removal system, while securing judicial review of individual removal orders for consistency with constitutional proportionality requirements. Listen to Michael Wishnie discuss this paper: Read More
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