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A Long Journey to the Voting Booth
For some people, this year’s journey to the voting booth started years ago, in El Salvador or China or Cameroon, when it became clear that they had to leave their country and start over in America. For those people, (whom U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services calls “Americans by choice,”) the journey to the polls has […]
Read MoreNativist Group Releases Hopelessly Flawed Report on Immigrants and Job Creation
By Patrick Oakford, Research Assistant for the Economic Policy Team at the Center for American Progress. Last week the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a shocking report claiming that most new jobs created under President Obama have gone to immigrants. Aside from the sheer incorrectness of the claim, being founded on flawed methodologies, CIS […]
Read MoreAssociated Press Issues Misleading Defense of Term “Illegal Immigrant”
Unlike lawyers and policymakers, journalists have an obligation to use language that ordinary people understand. Although the practice is generally helpful, it can sometimes result in oversimplification, or sacrificing accuracy for the sake of supposed clarity. A perfect example is the memo issued by the Associated Press last week endorsing use of the term “illegal […]
Read MoreICE Scaling Back 287(g) Program
The 287(g) program has been controversial and criticized for years, and immigrant advocates have demanded that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terminate the program. Section 287(g) of the INA allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to enter into agreements that delegate immigration powers to local police, but only through negotiated agreements, documented in Memoranda […]
Read MoreChina, Immigration And The Presidential Debate’s Clueless Moment
The Washington Post October 17, 2012 The moderator, CNN host Candy Crowley, asked a great question during Tuesday night’s presidential debate: “iPad, the Macs, the iPhones, they are all manufactured in China. One of the major reasons is labor is so much cheaper here. How do you convince a great American company to bring that […]
Read MoreCalifornia Passes Groundbreaking Legislation to Prevent “Shattered Families”
By Yali Lincroft, Policy Consultant, First Focus Campaign for Children. Late last month, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law two bills – AB2015 and SB1064 – which address the nightmare scenarios that can befall parents and their children caught up in the immigration system. The recent report Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigrant […]
Read MorePresidential Debates: Brought to You by an Immigrant
Millions of Americans will tune into tonight’s vice-presidential debate, but few will know the origins of the presidential debate process. While we’ve come to think of these debates as a way to learn more about the candidates vying for our votes, the idea of holding public debates, like so many other great American ideas, can […]
Read MoreWhat If The U.S. Economy Stopped Growing-Forever?
The Washington Post September 28, 2012 Presidential candidates, Congress and the Fed love to talk about what they can do to help the economy grow. Lower taxes, higher taxes. More regulation, less regulation. Smarter immigration policy. Quantitative easing. Everyone has a pet solution. But what if the economy is already all grown up? “There was […]
Read MoreAuthor of Torture Memos Challenges Legality of DACA
As a high-ranking Justice Department attorney after 9/11, John Yoo authored an infamous legal memo arguing that the President, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, possessed irrevocable authority to order the torture of alleged “enemy combatants.” Although the memos were subsequently revoked, Yoo has remained an ardent defender of presidential power—except, it appears, when it […]
Read MoreThe Harmful Effects of Using Border Patrol as Interpreters Along the Northern Border
Most people are aware of increasing collaboration between state and local police and federal immigration officers. Programs like 287(g) and the Secure Communities program, as well as state laws like SB1070, create a new role for local police, who are now put in the position of identifying immigrants for possible deportation. It has meant that […]
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