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Pelosi Joins the Hispanic Caucus’ Call for Reform, Not Raids
This past weekend, House Speaker Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took a stand on immigration raids and met hundreds of families Saturday evening at a church in San Francisco’s Mission District to demand an end to deportations and the separation of families. Pelosi’s stop was part of a larger, 17-city national “Family Unity” tour led by […]
Read MoreCIS’ Dubious Data Deflects Rational Immigration Debate
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), as well as the Heritage Foundation, have recently claimed that up to 300,000 construction jobs created by the economic stimulus bill could be filled by undocumented immigrants. CIS arrives at this scary number by using a job-creation formula designed for highway expenditures in 2007, and then tacking on an […]
Read MoreA Stimulus for Fear: Anti-Immigration Groups Raise Specter of Undocumented Construction Workers and Call for Ensnaring All U.S. Workers in
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), as well as the Heritage Foundation, have recently claimed that up to 300,000 construction jobs created by the economic stimulus bill could be filled by undocumented immigrants. CIS arrives at this scary number by using a job-creation formula designed for highway expenditures in 2007, and then tacking on an estimate of the undocumented construction workforce from 2005—before the mass layoffs that have plagued the construction industry. Beyond the use of fuzzy math, CIS also suggests that the federal government’s “E-Verify” employment-verification pilot program could prevent undocumented immigrants from securing these new jobs. Yet numerous reports—from the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security Administration’s Inspector General, and a Department of Homeland Security contractor, among others—indicate that rushing to implement E-Verify on a national scale would be a costly mistake that would ensnare U.S. citizens in database errors and wouldn’t actually stop undocumented immigrants from getting jobs. “Enforcement-only” attempts to stop undocumented immigration have failed repeatedly for more than 20 years. Only a comprehensive approach to immigration reform that allows exploited undocumented immigrants to become legal workers will fix our broken immigration system in a way that benefits all workers.
Read MoreCIS Stokes Terrorism Fears to Promote Anti-Immigration Agenda
In yet another attempt to use the “t” word to promote its restrictionist agenda, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has recently put out a video blurring the line between violent terrorists and hard-working immigrants who come to this country with hope — not hostility — towards the American Dream. The video, narrated by former […]
Read MoreNew Americans: A Springboard for California’s Economy
Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that analysts across the country have been worried that the economic crisis has fueled an increase in hate groups and racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric. With its large immigrant population and current economic woes, California is in the belly of the beast. Yet, while many restrictionists and anti-immigrant groups are […]
Read MoreUNC Report Confirms Police Immigration Enforcement Misses Target
A new report from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the North Carolina ACLU examines the 287(g) partnership between DHS and local police in North Carolina. The 287(g) program–in which DHS and local police enter into Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) allowing local police to act as immigration officers in the course of […]
Read MorePew Report Shows: “Deportation Only” Immigration Approach Undermines Courts
A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center illustrates the degree to which the U.S. government is wasting money and manpower on the pursuit and punishment of undocumented immigrants who are non-violent and pose no threat to public safety or national security. According to the data in the Pew report, the federal government’s ever-intensifying (and […]
Read MoreNapolitano Outlines DHS Immigration Policies on NPR
In an interview yesterday with NPR’s Day to Day host, Madeleine Brand, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano thoughtfully outlined the department’s immigration priorities. DHS was recently scrutinized in a report by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) assessing DHS’s past performance under the Bush administration and offering “recommendations for policy and operational changes.”
Read MoreCommunities Across the Nation Rethink Hard-Line Immigration Laws
Amidst a deep economic recession and a growing climate of fear and alienation within immigrant communities, many states, cities and counties that “plunged into the immigration debate are having second thoughts,” reports USA Today. In states like Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, hard-line immigration legislation has been repealed or modified by lawmakers that have come to […]
Read MoreSteele Rewords, not Redefines GOP’s Immigration Stance
New RNC Chairman, Michael Steele declared in his acceptance speech that it’s “time for something completely different.” Yet when it comes to immigration, Steele is side-stepping pragmatic politics and choosing to stick with the same hard-line position that soured Latino and immigrant voters and contributed to the GOP’s devastating losses this past election year. When […]
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