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Celebrating a Legislative Victory for Refugees and Religious Freedom
BY MELANIE NEZER, HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY (HIAS) Tucked into the fiscal year 2012 spending bill the President signed before the holidays was an extension of a provision known as the “Lautenberg Amendment.” The inclusion of the extension is good news for refugees seeking religious freedom at a time when Congress has deadlocked on immigration […]
Read MoreWashington Post Lists Treating “Immigrants as People” as “In” for 2012
You wouldn’t know it from listening to the ridiculous anti-immigrant rhetoric over the past year, but treating immigrants like actual human beings is a concept some hope catches fire in 2012. The Washington Post recently added “immigrants as people” on “The List: 2012”—their annual zeitgeist-inspired list of ins and outs for the new year. Granted, […]
Read MoreWashington Post Lists Treating “Immigrants as People” as “In” for 2012
You wouldn’t know it from listening to the ridiculous anti-immigrant rhetoric over the past year, but treating immigrants like actual human beings is a concept some hope catches fire in 2012. The Washington Post recently added “immigrants as people” on “The List: 2012”—their annual zeitgeist-inspired list of ins and outs for the new year. Granted, […]
Read MoreValue Added: Immigrants Create Jobs and Businesses, Boost Wages of Native-Born Workers
Immigrants are not the cause of unemployment in the United States. Empirical research has demonstrated repeatedly that there is no correlation between immigration and unemployment. In fact, immigrants—including the unauthorized—create jobs through their purchasing power and their entrepreneurship, buying goods and services from U.S. businesses and creating their own businesses, both of which sustain U.S. jobs. The presence of new immigrant workers and consumers in an area also spurs the expansion of businesses, which creates new jobs. In addition, immigrants and native-born workers are usually not competing in the same job markets because they tend to have different levels of education, work in different occupations, specialize in different tasks, and live in different places. Because they complement each other in the labor market rather than compete, immigrants increase the productivity—and the wages—of native-born workers. In the words of economist Giovanni Peri, “immigrants expand the U.S. economy’s productive capacity, stimulate investment, and promote specialization that in the long run boosts productivity,” and “there is no evidence that these effects take place at the expense of jobs for workers born in the United States.”
Read MoreNew Reports Track Devastating Impact of Alabama’s Extreme Immigration Law on Residents
Despite recent court decisions and interpretations from the state’s Attorney General that limit implementation of Alabama’s draconian immigration law, HB 56, much of damage has already been done. Two recent reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the AFL-CIO further illustrate the ways in which HB 56 is complicating many aspects of daily life. Both […]
Read MoreAs Iowa Caucuses Approach, Signatories of Iowa Compact Hope to Reframe Immigration Debate
Exhausted by the base immigration rhetoric prevalent in the GOP presidential debate, a group of concerned Iowans is seeking to reframe the issue in anticipation of the Iowa Caucuses next month. Last week, business, faith and city leaders in Iowa signed the Iowa Compact—a list of five principles meant to guide how people discuss immigration. […]
Read MorePress Release: Groundbreaking Study From the American Enterprise Institute and the Partnership for a New American Economy Finds Immigration Creates Jobs for U.S. Workers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 15, 2011 For Every 100 Foreign-Born “STEM” Workers with Advanced Degrees from U.S. Universities, Analysis Shows that an Additional 262 U.S. Workers Have Jobs Data Point to Legislative Proposals that Would Boost U.S. Employment The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and The Partnership for a New American Economy today released a report analyzing […]
Read MoreFederal Judge Blocks Yet Another Provision of Alabama’s Extreme Anti-Immigrant Law
As if people needed more proof that Alabama’s extreme anti-immigrant law, HB 56, is bad for the state, a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of yet another provision of the law this week. U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson temporarily enjoined enforcement of Section 30 that, as applied, requires mobile home owners to provide proof […]
Read MorePolls Reveal Even Conservative Voters Favor Path to Legal Status for Unauthorized Immigrants
Immigration is a hot issue in the GOP primary debates, complete with extreme anti-immigrant rhetoric and far-fetched policy proposals. Michele Bachman, for example, promised to deport every undocumented immigrant in the country—a costly and unworkable task. And she’s not the only one. Herman Cain recently “joked” that he would electrify the border fence as a […]
Read MoreNew Report Challenges Notion that Harsh Enforcement Measures Drive Unauthorized Immigrants Out
Last week, a new report released by the Pew Hispanic Center found that nearly two-thirds of all unauthorized adult immigrants currently living in the U.S. (10.2 million) have been here for at least 10 years and nearly half of them (4.7 million) are parents of minor children. The longevity of their U.S. residency and pattern […]
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