Immigration Legislation
Former Attorney General Gets it Wrong on DOMA and Same Sex Immigration Benefits
Former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is advocating in the New York Times that the Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Windsor, which invalidated Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), should not allow the Obama administration to afford immigration benefits to married, same-sex bi-national couples. Rather, he argues, the administration is bound by a disturbing, 30-year-old Ninth Circuit case, Adams v. Howerton, which rested on discriminatory and outdated law and facts. Essentially, Mr. Gonzales is urging that the administration ignore 30 years of social progress and legal developments and return to a 20th century mentality and jurisprudence. He is mistaken. Read More
Immigration Reform Fattens State Economies, Too
“Should the United States be pro-immigrant?” asked Tax Watchdog Grover Norquist. “That’s like asking whether McDonald’s should make hamburgers. It’s made the United States work for several hundred years. It’s what’s made us different, what’s made us more successful,” said Norquist during a recent call summarizing a new report from Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) on the economics of immigration reform. Read More
Faith Groups Make The Religious Argument For Immigration Reform
As the focus on immigration reform turns to the House of Representatives, faith leaders continue to push for members of Congress to support a comprehensive measure to improve immigration policies. In late May, evangelical groups launched a $250,000 national ad campaign that featured pastors urging people to support congressional immigration reform efforts. And after the Senate passed S. 744, four religious organizations sent letters to House members pushing them to act on comprehensive immigration legislation. Read More
New Estimates of State and Local Taxes Paid by Undocumented Immigrants
Undocumented immigrants who live and work in the United States pay billions of dollars in taxes every year to state and local governments. Given the chance to earn legal status, they would pay even more. Those are the simple yet powerful conclusions of a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). According to ITEP, “undocumented immigrants paid an estimated total of $10.6 billion in state and local taxes in 2010.” Moreover, “allowing undocumented immigrants to work in the United States legally would increase their state and local tax contributions by an estimated $2 billion a year.” In short, legalization pays. Read More
DREAMers Push For A Path To Citizenship
Ahead of a Wednesday meeting of House Republicans to discuss various options on immigration reform, hundreds of DREAMers—young immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children—held their own version of a citizenship ceremony and rally yesterday to push for legislation that will provide a roadmap to citizenship for not only themselves but for millions of other undocumented immigrants as well. “We have come today to claim our citizenship,” said United We Dream’s Lorella Praeli. “2013 is not the time for separate but equal. It is not the time for legalization for some and citizenship for others.” Read More
White House Report Outlines the Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform
As Republicans in the House of Representatives search for a way forward on immigration reform, they should keep in mind a critical point: overhauling the U.S. immigration system would help jump start the sluggish U.S. economy. In other words, any Member of Congress who has expressed a desire to cut the federal budget deficit, create new jobs and businesses, boost wages, and increase U.S. economic output should be for immigration reform—not against it. Conversely, those who stand against reform should carefully consider the price that will be paid by the U.S. economy, and U.S. workers, if reform does not occur. Read More
Spotlight Moves to House After Senate Approves Immigration Bill
Now that the Senate has passed a sweeping measure to improve U.S. immigration policies, the attention turns to the House of Representatives, where it is unclear exactly when or how they will take up an immigration bill. The Associated Press reported that President Obama called House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after the Senate vote to urge them to have the House act on an immigration bill. Earlier this week, Boehner said the House would not take up S. 744 and would do its own bill instead. If the House passed a separate immigration measure, then a conference committee with members from both chambers would meet to reconcile the differences. Read More
Senate Passes Landmark Immigration Reform Bill
The Senate approved a massive overhaul of the nation’s immigration policies today in a historic vote. They voted 68-32 to approve S. 744, the Gang of Eight’s immigration reform measure that the Senate Judiciary Committee passed in May. Immediately after the vote, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Gang of Eight and sponsor of the DREAM Act, tweeted, “Today, we have accomplished something great, made America a stronger nation & honored our heritage as a nation of immigrants.” Before they cast those votes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reminded senators of the human side of immigration. “We’re here to talk about people, not pages of legislation,” he said. Read More
Beyond the Border Surge, What Else Is In the Senate Compromise?
On Monday, the Senate voted 67 to 27 to invoke cloture on Leahy 1183, an amendment to substitute the current version of the Senate’s immigration reform bill, S. 744, with a revised version of the bill that includes a host of amendments that have been referred to as the Corker/Hoeven compromise—or, more simply, the border surge. Thirty hours from that vote—sometime Wednesday morning—the Senate will actually vote on whether to adopt Leahy 1183. The cloture vote is a strong indicator of passage of the amendment and, many predict, of the bill overall. Read More
Nativist Group Fears an Immigration Tsunami Under Senate Immigration Bill
Throughout its history, the United States has benefited in innumerable ways from immigration. Men and women from every corner of the globe, with every conceivable skill set and educational background, have come here and added value to the U.S. economy and U.S. society. Likewise, the arrival of every new “wave” of immigrants has elicited shrill cries from nativists afraid that all of these newcomers will swamp the nation, throw native-born workers out of their jobs, and undermine “our” way of life. The nativists never seem to learn the lessons of history in this regard, because they keep making the same baseless claims, and indulging the same irrational fears, every generation. It doesn’t matter who the newcomers are—Germans, Italians, or Mexicans; Slavs, Africans, or Arabs—the arguments are always the same. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
