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About Us
New American Economy is a bipartisan research and advocacy organization fighting for smart federal, state, and local immigration policies that help grow our economy and create jobs for all Americans. We make the economic case for immigration in four ways: We use powerful research to demonstrate how immigration impacts our economy. We organize champions at […]
Read MoreAppellate Court Hears Arguments in Case Challenging DOMA, Bi-National Married Couples File New Suit
Same sex couples face often insurmountable hurdles when it comes to immigration status. Under the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), lesbian and gay U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents are barred from obtaining immigrant visas for their spouses. When Congress enacted DOMA in 1996, no state celebrated marriages between gay and lesbian couples. But, the […]
Read MoreCongressional Budget Cuts Threaten Vital USCIS Integration Grant Program
This month, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced $5 million in government grant opportunities available to service providers who help immigrants integrate and prepare for the naturalization exam. The money for these grants, awarded through the Citizenship and Integration Grant program, however, was not appropriated through Congress. Congress actually voted not to fund […]
Read MoreRomney Uses Restrictionist Code Words to Describe Immigration Policy
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney stole a page from the restrictionists’ playbook this week when he promoted the idea of “self-deportation” during a presidential debate. “If people don’t get work here,” Romney stated, “they’re going to self-deport to a place where they can get work.” Rather than initiate a constructive solution to our nation’s immigration […]
Read MoreGovernor Jerry Brown Signs Immigration Bills that Help, Not Hurt, California’s Economy
Take note, Alabama. Over the weekend, Governor Jerry Brown signed two immigration bills that seek to boost California’s struggling economy, rather than saddle it and small businesses with costly enforcement programs. Governor Brown signed the “Employment Acceleration Act of 2011” (AB 1236), a bill that prohibits the state from requiring employers to use E-Verify, as […]
Read MoreThe Difference between E-Verify in a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill and E-Verify Alone
Last month, Rep. Lamar Smith introduced the “Legal Workforce Act of 2011” (H.R. 2164), a bill which would make the E-Verify system mandatory for all employers within three years. While the Smith bill version of mandatory E-Verify has been criticized for snagging U.S. citizens and legal workers, burdening employers with additional costs and not actually […]
Read MoreSecure Communities Program Continues to Take Heat for Targeting Non-Criminals
At a conference last week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano raised a few eyebrows when she implied those who are fingerprinted through ICE’s Secure Communities program are presumably guilty of a crime—a particular sticking point considering the program’s reputation for sweeping up non-criminals. Although ICE officials claim the program targets criminal aliens, nearly 28% of people […]
Read MoreStates Playing with Enforcement-Only Fire Likely to Get Burned
The steady drumbeat of protest continued this week in states considering restrictive immigration measures. Indiana, for example, got a taste of forthcoming economic backlash when two organizations threatened to pull conventions from the state if enforcement legislation passed—a costly lesson Arizona knows well. Legislators in other states considering similar measures—Nebraska, Michigan, Arizona and Alabama—also heard […]
Read MoreWhat’s in Your Wallet? Fiscal Notes Give States Pause Over Enforcement Laws
As states continue to crowd the immigration enforcement debate with rhetoric and white noise, other states are getting down to brass tacks. On Monday, Utah’s Legislative Fiscal Analysts office hung an $11 million price tag around HB 70, Utah’s immigration law requiring local law enforcement to check the citizenship status of those they suspect are […]
Read MoreNon-Citizens with Mental Disabilities
In 2009, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained approximately 380,000 people. Roughly 15 percent of the non-citizen population in detention, or around 57,000 people, have a mental disability. Unfortunately, these mental disabilities often go unrecognized by law enforcement and immigration officials, resulting in less access to justice for the individual and greater confusion and complexity for the attorneys and judges handling the cases. The consequences of immigration enforcement for unauthorized immigrants, long-term permanent residents, asylum-seekers, and other non-citizens with mental disabilities can be severe. Even U.S. citizens have been unlawfully detained and deported because their mental disabilities made it impossible to effectively defend themselves in court.
Teasing out the complicated issues of fair treatment for people with mental disabilities caught up in our broken immigration system is not easy, particularly because it must be disentangled from the many challenges facing all immigrants who find themselves in immigration custody or in proceedings before the immigration court. As a report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union aptly put it:
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