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A 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 MoreWhat Can the GOP Learn from the Boy Scouts and M&Ms?
What have the Boy Scouts of America and the candy company that brings us M&M’s figured out that the GOP leadership has yet to come to terms with?–That Hispanics are the fastest growing share of the American population and they need a plan to engage them. This week NBC aired a series of stories on […]
Read MoreBush Immigration Enforcement Tactics Haunt the Obama Era
On Tuesday ICE raided the Yamato Engine Specialists plant in Bellingham, Washington. The ICE agents arrested 28 people – 25 men and 3 women – for allegedly using fake Social Security documents to gain employment. It was the first worksite raid since President Obama took office. ICE claims the raid was the result of an […]
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 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 MorePrince William County Crusader Hangs Up Anti-Immigration Hat
Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman, Corey Stewart, has been at the forefront of an anti-immigrant crusade, setting the gold standard for local law enforcement “crackdowns” on the immigrant community in the last few years. Recent shifts in the political wind, however, have conveniently blown this Virginia Republican away from his undocumented immigration crusade […]
Read MoreUnemployed Americans Are Just Collateral Damage in War on Immigrants
It would seem that the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the Heritage Foundation regard unemployed Americans as little more than collateral damage in their endless war against immigrants. Both groups have concocted a new and predictably anti-immigrant argument against passage of the economic stimulus bill now under consideration in the U.S. Senate, which is […]
Read MoreHow Expanding E-Verify in the Stimulus Bill Would Hurt American Workers and Business
Expanding mandatory E-Verify as part of the stimulus package would threaten the jobs of thousands of U.S. citizens, decrease productivity, saddle U.S. businesses with additional costs, and hinder the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) ability to provide benefits to needy and deserving Americans – all at a time when we need to stimulate our economy. The fact is: expanding E-Verify now would decelerate the Stimulus Package and slow America’s economic recovery.
Read MoreNY’s Gillibrand Softens on Immigration
“In a lot of these [immigration] issues, it’s a case of learning more and expanding my view,” said Kirsten Gillibrand-the new Senator of New York who has recently indicated that she’s rethinking her hard-line approach to immigration and opting for more pragmatic solutions. Gillibrand’s change of heart in part has to do with the 8,142,871 […]
Read MoreFAIR Blames Florida’s Budget Woes on Immigrants and Children
On January 29, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)—an anti-immigrant hate group headquartered in Washington, DC—issued a press release claiming that Florida’s current budget crisis “would be lessened by ending illegal immigration costs.” In support of this assertion, FAIR argues that “the current fiscal cost outlays for the illegal alien population in Florida now […]
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