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One Year After SB 1070, States Are Still Grappling with Cost of Immigration Measures
One year ago this month, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer put her star on the political map when she signed SB 1070, a controversial immigration law which required state and local law-enforcement officials to inquire about immigration status during any lawful stop, detention, or arrest. Some states learned from Arizona—the numerous protests, Supreme Court challenge, costly […]
Read MoreTuition Equity Legislation for Undocumented Students Picks Up Speed
Updated 04/12/11: The State of Maryland is well on its way to making higher education accessible to undocumented students, as both houses passed the Maryland DREAM Act and Governor O’Malley has pledged to sign into law. Last Friday, Maryland’s House of Delegate passed an in-state tuition bill (HB 470) by a vote of 74-66. On […]
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 MoreImmigrants Are Not the Cause of Minority Unemployment and Low Wages
Nativists are fond of grandstanding over the plight of minority workers in the United States. While not particularly concerned with civil-rights issues, anti-immigrant activists are quick to cast themselves as defenders of the downtrodden when they blame immigrants for the high unemployment rates and low wages that are all too common among minorities. For instance, […]
Read MoreThe Rally Against State Immigration Legislation Continues
A Washington Post article this week highlighted what many state business groups, law enforcement officers and concerned legislatures have been cautioning for months—at a time of economic uncertainty, states simply cannot afford the costly legal battles and political backlash caused by Arizona-style immigration legislation. Over the past month, SB1070 copycat bills in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, […]
Read More“100,000 Strong” Initiative Strengthens U.S.-China Relations, But Does It Go Far Enough?
Chinese President Hu Jintao’s State Visit put all eyes on Washington, D.C. last week. While much of the political buzz focused on human rights, trade and the economy, President Hu’s visit stood out in its effort to show mutual cross cultural respect. Part of that ongoing effort is the “100,000 Strong” initiative—a program Secretary of […]
Read MoreState Legislators Attempt to Turn Back Clock to Antebellum South
At a press conference this morning at the National Press Club, a coalition of state legislators and immigration restrictionists known as the State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) presented their proposal to turn back the clocks to the pre-Civil War era to create a new definition of “state citizenship,” create a new second-class citizenship, and […]
Read MoreColin Powell, Military Personnel Make Case for the DREAM Act
Yesterday, former Secretary of State and retired General, Colin Powell, not only called for Republicans to stop driving the anti-immigrant bandwagon, but made an economic case for immigration as well as the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act is attached to the Department of Defense (DOD) authorization bill; the Senate votes tomorrow on whether to proceed […]
Read MoreThe Right Side of History: Religious Leaders Urge Immigration Reform at Hearing
At a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration hearing today, a panel of conservative religious leaders made the case for common sense solutions to our immigration problems—comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) that secures our borders, follows the rule of law and provides a pathway to citizenship for the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the […]
Read MoreDepartment of Justice Attempts to Reassert Federal Authority Over Immigration Policy
Today, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona in federal court. The lawsuit, prompted by passage of SB 1070 in the Arizona legislature, argues that federal law trumps the state statute and enforcing immigration law is a federal responsibility. The DOJ has requested a preliminary injunction to […]
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