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When Does Border-First Become Border-Only?
Yesterday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer met with President Obama to discuss immigration and border security. Gov. Brewer described the meeting as “cordial,” but neither the President nor the Governor discussed the Justice Department’s plan to move forward with a lawsuit against Arizona’s controversial immigration enforcement law—a law which President Obama has publicly criticized as “misguided.” […]
Read MoreThe Anti-Immigrant Movement and the Politics of Exceptionalism
The capacity of these groups to stymie attempts to reform our broken immigration system should not be underestimated.
Read MoreNew Report Highlights Economic Gains from Immigration and Immigration Reform
In a report released this week, the New Policy Institute (NPI) synthesizes much of the available research on the ways in which immigration ultimately raises wage levels for the vast majority of native-born workers and benefits the U.S. economy as a whole. The report, entitled The Impact of Immigration and Immigration Reform on the Wages […]
Read MoreDo We Really Have to Explore Dora’s Immigration Status?
Absurdity takes many forms in the immigration debate. For example, restrictionists have blamed immigrants for everything from global warming and our mortgage crisis to the swine flu epidemic and leprosy. (Where did my other sock go? Immigrants!) But this week, we reach a new level of absurdity—the exploitation of a bi-lingual cartoon character. In a […]
Read MoreRiding the Anti-Immigration Wave: The Short- and Long-Term Political Implications
Despite the mounting pressure (boycotts, legal challenges, protests) to repeal Arizona’s enforcement law (SB 1070), polls indicate that the majority of Americans support the law by almost two to one—and, at last count, as many as 17 other states are considering similar legislation. However, while it may seem advantageous for some in the GOP to […]
Read MoreDoes Sarah Palin Support Arizona’s Law? You Betcha She Does!
In her latest right-wing cheerleading routine, former Alaska Governor/Tea Party Squad Captain, Sarah Palin, shook her political pompoms for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer at a press conferences defending Arizona’s controversial immigration law (SB 1070). Palin, who appeared shoulder to shoulder with Gov. Brewer on Saturday, used the opportunity to take a few pot shots at […]
Read MoreNot All States Target Immigrants or the Slightly Suntanned
Despite the commotion around Arizona’s SB 1070, a recent report shows that more laws expanding immigrants’ rights are being enacted than those contracting them. The Wilson Center’s study, Context Matters: Latino Immigrant Civic Engagement in Nine U.S. Cities, found that in 2007, 19 percent of 313 bills expanding immigrant rights were enacted and only 11 […]
Read MoreA Race to the Bottom: The Best of the Worst in Recent Anti-Immigrant Proposals
Just when you think you’ve heard it all—someone, somewhere, sets the bar even lower. It’s not an overstatement to say that the immigration debate is ripe with contention. It inspires commentary from a wide range of political spectra—from the libertarian no-border folks to the “don’t retreat, reload” tea partiers. But regardless of political leaning, nearly […]
Read MoreRepairing Immigration
Yesterday’s release of the framework for an immigration bill—Real Enforcement and Practical Answers for Immigration Reform (REPAIR) has been praised as a positive step forward in the immigration debate by the President and dismissed as a cynical play for votes by Senators Graham and Kyl. They are aghast that immigration is moving because promoting it […]
Read MoreDigging Immigration Out of Midterm Election Politics
The world of immigration reform can seem, at times, a lot like being stuck in an avalanche—it’s difficult to know which way is up. The closer we get to midterm elections, the more political drift and white noise we have to dig through to discern whether immigration reform is actually going to see the light […]
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