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Win, Lose or….Draw? The Supreme Court Tackles Arizona’s Employer Sanctions Law
Those following the Obama Administration’s legal challenge to Arizona’s SB 1070 have likely heard about “preemption”—the legal concept governing when state laws conflict with, and are therefore superseded by, acts of Congress. The heart of the dispute over SB 1070 is whether states have a right to provide assistance that the federal government does not […]
Read MoreWhite House Continues Drumbeat for DREAM
Amidst the steady stream of action by DREAM Act supporters over the last few weeks—candlelight vigils, hunger strikes, Hill visits—the White House has also upped its game, turning out its political heavyweights to emphasize the importance of DREAM. This morning, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Dr. Clifford Stanley joined White House Director […]
Read MoreWhy the DREAM Act Just Makes Sense
The pieces may just be starting to fall together for passage of the DREAM Act as more and more high profile figures lend their support with one simple message—the DREAM Act just makes sense. After ten long years, the House looks poised to take up DREAM next week. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has declared […]
Read MoreWill Local Lawmakers Take the Immigration Enforcement Bait?
As local lawmakers begin to lay the groundwork for next year’s legislative agenda, some are attempting to prioritize immigration enforcement ahead of efforts to jump-start flagging economies. In Oklahoma, for example, an internal storm is brewing between a House Republican and the Speaker-elect about where the party’s “social agenda” (read: immigration enforcement) fits on the […]
Read MoreHow Much Conservative Muscle Will It Take To Lift the DREAM Act?
While some would have you believe that immigration reform is a liberal issue championed only by Democrats, past debates and prior attempts to pass immigration reform have shown us that Republicans and conservatives are champions as well. Granted some of the most stalwart Republican supporters have recently turned their back on reasonable debate (think John […]
Read MoreHow to Talk Turkey on Immigration
My daughter had a knock-down drag out fight on the playground a few weeks ago over immigration. She was preaching immigration reform and another little girl said that immigrants steal American jobs. They reached no resolution and walked away furious. A couple of days ago, Rebecca told me how nice this girl was and that […]
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:
Who Will Pass the DREAM Act Test?
After Senator Harry Reid’s announcement Wednesday that he will bring the DREAM Act to the Senate floor in the lame duck as a stand-alone bill, DREAM supporters gathered in Washington yesterday to plead their case. Yesterday’s events signaled the beginning of yet another intense campaign to pass the DREAM Act—a bill that would offer a […]
Read MoreNew Report Estimates Economic Loss Due to Arizona Boycott
Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant law, S.B. 1070, is proving to be a costly mistake. That is the message of a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) which estimates some of “the economic and fiscal consequences of the tourism boycott that occurred in response to the passage of S.B. 1070” in April of this […]
Read MoreMormon Church, Business Leaders Endorse Utah Compact for Immigration Reform
Utah state Rep. Stephen Sandstrom’s argument that there is “popular support for Arizona’s controversial legislation [SB 1070]” just got a little thinner. A number of state and local governments, corporations, businesses, community and faith groups recently signed the Utah Compact—a declaration of five principles created “to guide Utah’s immigration discussion.” The guidelines are a far […]
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