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A Guide to H.R. 15: The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act
On October 2, 2013, Democrats in the House of Representatives proposed an immigration reform bill addressing border security, legalization of the undocumented, interior enforcement of immigration laws, and fixes for our dysfunctional legal immigration programs. The bill is based on S.744, the bipartisan bill passed by the Senate by a vote of 68-32 on June 27, 2013. However, the bill removes the Corker-Hoeven border security amendment and replaces it with the bipartisan House border security bill, H.R. 1417, which was passed unanimously by the Homeland Security Committee in May 2013.
Read MoreReport Documents Dramatic Shift in State Immigration Policies
For more than 100 years, the federal government has had authority over U.S. immigration policies while states possessed only limited power to regulate the “lives and livelihoods” of immigrants living within their borders. However, the past decade has seen an increase in immigration-related legislation including anti-immigrant laws, which have failed both as policy and as […]
Read MoreHouse Members to Introduce Discharge Petition on Immigration Reform
The press is reporting that Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will file a discharge petition to bring HR 15, the bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill that has been languishing in the House since October, to the floor. A discharge petition is a procedural move that requires the signature of 218 House members; if successful it forces House […]
Read MoreWhile Congress Recesses, Activists Organize for Immigration Reform
While Congress is on recess and members travel home to their districts to hear from their constituents on the issues that matter to them, immigration advocates are turning up the heat through a series of grassroots and netroots organizing events. Today, the Alliance for Citizenship is organizing a national digital day of action, encouraging supporters […]
Read MoreAmerican Workers Can’t Wait Another Minute
As Congress returns to Washington in a few days, no more pressing issue faces leaders in the House of Representatives than immigration reform. In 1990, Congress recognized how important immigration was to our economy and passed the Immigration Act of 1990. This law created a new visa category tied to U.S. job creation. Yet over […]
Read MoreBroken H-1B Visa Program is Costing American Jobs
Compete America, an association of high-tech companies advocating for reform of immigration policies affecting higher-skilled workers, launched a job loss calculator today estimating the numbers of American jobs lost due to the lack of H-1B visas, the primary work visa for higher-skilled workers. The calculator estimates that 500,000 new U.S. jobs could have been created […]
Read MoreLabor Shortages Increase U.S. Reliance on Imported Foods, Harming Local Economies
While U.S. consumers increasingly seek out locally grown produce in grocery stores and farmers markets, imported fruits and vegetables are making up a growing share of the produce consumed in the United States. U.S. agricultural production is out of alignment with the demands of consumers and one problem is the difficulty in finding skilled farm […]
Read MorePresident Calls for Review of U.S. Deportation System
As the number of deportations under President Obama near the 2 million mark and Congress stalls on immigration reform legislation, President Obama said Friday that administration officials are reviewing what could be done to make the immigration enforcement system more humane. The announcement follows votes in the House of Representatives last week attempting to limit […]
Read MoreIncrease in Deportations Harms Native-Born Workers and Economy
More immigrants are being “removed” from the United States than ever before by a deportation system that has grown larger and more aggressive coupled with an agency with misplaced priorities in which most immigrants deported pose no threat to anyone. “For nearly two decades, the federal government has been pursuing an enforcement-first approach to immigration […]
Read MoreHouse Limits Administrative Action Instead of Acting on Immigration Reform
Work on existing bills that lay out legislative options to fix the nation’s immigration system is languishing in the House while its members focus on legislation that rolls back the president’s power to help immigrants caught in the broken system. Following up on Wednesday’s vote to approve the ENFORCE Act (HR 4138), the House on […]
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