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Use of Segregation in Immigration Detention has Harmful Effects
The U.S. immigration system continues to detain more and more noncitizens in federally-operated detention facilities, in private prisons, and in state and local prisons and jails across the country. Currently, DHS detains approximately 34,000 persons every night, the majority of whom have no criminal history. Over the last several years there have been numerous reports […]
Read MoreArizona’s Immigration Policies are an Economic Disaster
Faced with a battered, post-recession economy, lawmakers in Arizona adopted a unique approach to fostering economic recovery; they passed a law that beat down or drove out tens of thousands of the state’s workers, consumers, and taxpayers. The rationale for this counterintuitive action was that the workers, consumers, and taxpayers in question were unauthorized immigrants, […]
Read MoreAuthor of Torture Memos Challenges Legality of DACA
As a high-ranking Justice Department attorney after 9/11, John Yoo authored an infamous legal memo arguing that the President, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, possessed irrevocable authority to order the torture of alleged “enemy combatants.” Although the memos were subsequently revoked, Yoo has remained an ardent defender of presidential power—except, it appears, when it […]
Read MoreOpinion: Why New York Still Welcomes Immigrants
The Wall Street Journal July 27, 2012 Many states across the U.S. have passed restrictive immigration measures in recent years. But New York under Gov. Andrew Cuomo is bucking the trend. “We are a state of immigrants,” he declared in his 2012 State of the State address. “While other states build walls to keep people […]
Read MoreChicken Little in the Voting Booth: The Non-Existent Problem of Non-Citizen Voter Fraud
A wave of restrictive voting laws is sweeping the nation. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law counts “at least 180 restrictive bills introduced since the beginning of 2011 in 41 states.” Bills requiring voters “to show photo identification in order to vote” were signed into law in Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Adding insult to injury, Alabama, Kansas, and Tennessee went a step further and required voters to present proof of U.S. citizenship in order to vote. In addition, Florida, Colorado, and New Mexico embarked upon ultimately fruitless “purges” of their voter rolls for the ostensible purpose of sweeping away anyone who might be a non-U.S. citizen.
All of these actions have been undertaken in the name of preventing voter fraud, particularly illegal voting by non-citizens. Proponents of harsh voter laws often assert, without a shred of hard evidence, that hordes of immigrants are swaying election results by wheedling their way into the voting booth. However, repeated investigations over the years have found no indication that systematic vote fraud by non-citizens is anything other than the product of overactive imaginations.
Fighting Phantoms: No Evidence of Widespread or Systematic Vote Fraud by Non-Citizens
Immigrants Critical to Our Economic Future
Sun Journal Maine July 06, 2012 As the presidential campaign heats up so will the debate over the role of immigrants in our economy and our communities. That has been an ongoing conversation in Lewiston-Auburn for the past 10 years and a hot-button topic in southwestern border states for decades. But the controversy will likely […]
Read MoreDHS’s NSEERS Program, While Inactive, Continues to Discriminate
For a long time after 9/11, immigration reform was only discussed as a national security issue, and many policies were put in place aimed at stopping terrorists from entering the country. Unfortunately, some of these policies—such as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) program—targeted particular ethnic groups, promoted profiling, and resulted in discrimination and […]
Read MoreA Breakdown of DHS’s Deferred Action for DREAMers
While today’s headlines assess the significance of President Obama’s deferred action announcement on Friday, many are still sorting through the news to get answers to basic questions about who is covered under the new program. Prior to President Obama’s statement that DHS would halt the deportation of immigrant youth who met criteria similar to the […]
Read MoreUpdated Figures Highlight Shortfalls of Prosecutorial Discretion Program
As reported in today’s New York Times, the Department of Homeland Security has reviewed nearly 300,000 pending deportation cases over the past seven months in search of low-priority immigrants deserving prosecutorial discretion. While immigrant advocates cheered the policy when it was announced, figures released yesterday suggest that the program is not only falling short of […]
Read MoreNew Border Patrol Strategy Changes Rhetoric More than Substance
The U.S. Border Patrol’s newly released strategic plan is a decidedly mixed bag when it comes to border security—just like the Border Patrol’s last strategic plan, released in 2004. On the plus side, both documents advocate an intelligence-driven, risk-based approach to border security which focuses on the greatest security threats. Both plans also call for […]
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