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Immigration Watchdogs: Keep Calm and Press On
We’ve hit a point in the life cycle of the long awaited Senate immigration reform bill that a lot of parents will remember well. It’s those last few days before the baby is born, when anxiety and excitement are present in equal measure. Rather than speculating about the baby’s eye color or who the baby […]
Read MoreCollege and University Presidents Urge More Than 1,200 Fellow Education Leaders to Join the Push for Smart Immigration Reform to Attract and Retain the World’s Leading Minds
In an open letter to more than 1,200 university and college presidents across the country, the presidents of Cornell University, Arizona State University, and Miami Dade College are urging their fellow leaders in higher education to join them in pushing for smart immigration policies that will help attract and retain the world’s best and brightest. […]
Read MoreBREAKING: House Passes Expanded Violence Against Women Act
After a failed vote on a Republican-supported version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that took out many of the bill’s expanded protections, the Republican-controlled House passed the Senate version of VAWA that adds additional coverage for immigrant, LGBT, and Native American victims. The Senate passed the bill earlier in February, so now it […]
Read MoreSCOTUS Narrows Protections For Noncitizens Who Received Poor Legal Advice
Almost three years ago, in the landmark decision Padilla v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court acknowledged the severity of deportation and that our current immigration laws make “removal nearly an automatic result” for many noncitizens convicted of crimes. Consequently, the Court held that a criminal defense attorney must advise noncitizen clients about the risks of deportation […]
Read MoreReaching the Six-Month Mark on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
The Department of Homeland Security has issued its latest data on the Obama Administration’s initiative that offers deferment from deportation and temporary work permits to young undocumented immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. In the first six months of the program (August 15–February 14), 423,634 out of the roughly 936,933 immigrants […]
Read MoreSenate Likely Will Pass Expanded Violence Against Women Act Today
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) promised that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) would be the first bill he pushed in the 113th Congress after the House failed to vote on a version of VAWA that the Senate passed last year. The Senate version expanded protections for immigrant, LGBT, and Native American victims, which […]
Read MoreThe Dividends of Citizenship: Why Legalization Must Lead to Citizenship
The most concrete proposals for immigration reform thus far in 2013 include earned legalization with a path to U.S. citizenship for unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States. This is a process that essentially permits unauthorized immigrants to come forward and receive a provisional legal status that—after paying taxes, proving they understand English and civics, passing all criminal and other background checks, and showing they are committed to the United States—allows them to become lawful permanent residents (LPRs). From there, like other LPRs before them, they will have to decide whether or not to make the final commitment to their adopted country by becoming American citizens. Some critics of the new proposals argue that citizenship is too good for unauthorized immigrants, or that legal status is really all they need to thrive in this country. But that kind of short-sighted thinking ignores some very important facts: more than half a century ago the U.S. finally abandoned the idea that there should be a second-class status for any group by denying them citizenship and, in fact, today the vast majority of Americans support a path to citizenship.
The integration of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living in the United States into full citizenship is not only good for those individuals, but the country as a whole. Citizenship, and the quest for citizenship, facilitates integration in myriad ways that legal status alone does not. From the learning of English and U.S. civics to the earning of higher incomes, serving jury duty, and voting in elections, citizens and would-be citizens benefit from a deeper form of incorporation into U.S. society than do legal immigrants who have no hope of ever applying for naturalization.
Legalize Who?: A Portrait of the 11 Million Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States
As the immigration debate heats up in Congress, the central question will be what to do about the 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living and working in the United States. The media often portrays this population as barely literate young men who pour over the southern border and live solitary lives, rather than providing a nuanced understanding of who the 11 million really are: adults and children, mothers and fathers, homeowners and churchgoers who are invested in their communities. This fact sheet attempts to provide a basic understanding of who the unauthorized are as people: where they live, where they’re from, how long they have been here, and what family and community ties to the United States they have.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources provide this very necessary social context to the immigration debate. And what the data reveal are that most of the unauthorized have been here for over a decade. While they are concentrated in California, Texas, Florida, and New York, there are sizeable unauthorized populations in other states across the country. Three-fifths of unauthorized immigrants come from Mexico, but significant numbers also come from Central America and the Philippines. Nearly half of all adult unauthorized immigrants have children under the age of 18, and roughly 4.5 million native-born U.S.-citizen children have at least one unauthorized immigrant parent. More than half of unauthorized immigrant adults have a high-school diploma or more education. Nearly half of longtime unauthorized households are homeowners. And approximately two-fifths of unauthorized immigrant adults attend religious services every week. In other words, most unauthorized immigrants are already integrating into U.S. society not only through their jobs, but through their families and communities as well.
President Lays Out His Vision For Immigration Reform
After eight Republican and Democratic senators yesterday released their framework for comprehensive immigration reform, President Obama laid out his administration’s vision today of what he thinks should be included in the bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. He praised the bipartisan principles, which mirror the White House’s 2011 blueprint for immigration reform. “At this […]
Read MoreWill USCIS Develop Fair, Humane Travel Policies for DACA Recipients?
For many young immigrants who are now lawfully present under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative—which grants them the right to work and live in the United States for at least two years—the next question may be, when will they be able to travel outside of the United States? Depending on what guidance […]
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