Border Enforcement
Migration at the border is a multifaceted issue, challenging the U.S. to secure our borders while upholding the human rights of individuals seeking safety and better opportunities. Balancing national security with compassion and our legal obligations to asylum seekers presents intricate dilemmas, and we collaborate with policymakers to advance bipartisan, action-oriented solutions.
Beyond A Border Solution
- Asylum
- May 3, 2023
America needs durable solutions. These concrete measures can bring orderliness to our border and modernize our overwhelmed asylum system. Read…
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Congress Beware: Don’t Touch the Fence
As Congressional appropriations committees meet over the coming months to craft legislation funding immigration-enforcement operations for next fiscal year, they would do well to continue to steer clear of one of the Bush administration’s more costly border boondoggles: the border fence. The Associated Press reported yesterday that construction of the final 40 miles of the 670-mile “vehicle and pedestrian barrier,” which the former administration called for along the U.S.-Mexico border, has been held up for months by costly legal battles between the federal government and owners of the private property through which the fence must pass in Texas. However, the costs of this misguided attempt to wall off the United States from Mexico are far greater than the legal costs associated with acquiring the land upon which to place a fence. Read More
Department of Homeland Security Suspends “Widow Penalty”
Photo by Kratka Photography. This week, the Obama administration took another step toward restoring fairness and humaneness to the immigration system. On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that she would grant a two-year reprieve to immigrants who were married to U.S. citizens but did not complete the permanent residency process because their American spouses died during the application process. Under U.S. law, a foreign-born spouse of a U.S. citizen is eligible for permanent residency, but must complete a two-year conditional residency period first. In cases where the U.S. citizen spouse died during the conditional residency status, the application for permanent residency was effectively revoked leaving the foreign spouses without legal immigration status and vulnerable to deportation. DHS’s decision also protects children of widowed immigrants from deportation for a two-year period. Read More
Salt Lake City Police Chief Takes a Bite Out of Local Immigration Enforcement
Yesterday, a small group of Utah Minutemen gathered to protest Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s and Police Chief Chris Burbank’s decision not to enforce some provisions of SB81—Utah’s immigration legislation that allows the cross-deputization of city officers to enforce federal immigration laws. The legislation is slated to take effect on July 1st. Utah Minuteman President, Eli Cawley, however, claims that the city’s refusal to enforce SB81 is actually protecting lawbreakers at the American people's expense. In their arrogance and wrong-headed insistence on pandering to illegal aliens at the expense of the rule of law and the safety of our people, Becker and Burbank have chosen, by their refusal to enforce SB81, to protect lawbreakers instead of citizens. Right. This coming from the man who when asked about his “biggest concern” with the “Obama presidency” responded, “Amnesty for illegal aliens because he is one.” Although Cawley claims the group is not racially motivated, several protesters were heard shouting at nearby Latino construction workers with such gems as “Go home!” and “Give us back our jobs!” without knowing anything about their immigration status. Clearly, "race" is not a part of this debate. Wait, how does an immigrant look undocumented again? Read More
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Adds More Flash to His Pan
Anti-immigrant media glutton, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, doesn’t stay out of the headlines for very long. In March, the menacing Sheriff Arpaio, known for transforming Arizona’s Maricopa County Police Department into an immigration-enforcement agency, made headlines when he became the focus of a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation for “allegations of discriminatory practices based on a person’s national origin and unconstitutional searches and seizures.” The federal investigation, a result of racial profiling allegations, only makes this latest headline all the more ironic—Sheriff Arpaio now says the Department of Justice is not playing fair in its investigation. Read More
Pollsters Believe a Majority of Voters Support an Immigration Overhaul
Despite anti-immigrant groups repeated attempts to sway public opinion by scapegoating immigrants for the recession, new polling data suggests that the majority of likely voters actually support an overhaul of our broken immigration system—an overhaul that includes a path to citizenship for the roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants living in America. A recent survey by Benson Strategy Group—a group who conducts polling for President Obama and Fortune 100 Companies—found that 71% of likely voters think undocumented immigrants should take steps to become legal taxpayers. Similarly, Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners said recent polling data suggests that voters want undocumented immigrants out of the shadows and on the books: If anything, the economic climate has actually improved the environment for immigration reform, at least as far as the public is concerned. A salient issue is that reform would make immigrants all taxpayers. [Voters] want a level playing field and they don't have one today. There's a huge pool of workers that are playing by a different set of rules than they are. Read More
The Anti-Immigrant Arithmetic of NumbersUSA Doesn’t Add Up
The anti-immigration group NumbersUSA blames immigrants for just about every environmental and economic ill to befall the United States, from air pollution and urban sprawl to unemployment and high taxes. But, as the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) explains in a new fact sheet entitled Fuzzy Math, NumbersUSA bases its immigrant-bashing on an overly simplistic and fundamentally flawed arithmetic of “over-population” in which “more people” is automatically (and incorrectly) equated with more pollution, more competition for scarce jobs, and higher taxes. In reality, “over-population” is not the main cause of the environmental or economic problems confronting the United States, so trying to impose arbitrary limits on immigration that are divorced from reality will not create a better environment or a stronger economy. Read More
The American People are Calling for Change
Yesterday the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign kicked off its efforts to mobilize millions of supporters across the country and press for fair, practical, and humane immigration policies. While small-but-vocal anti-immigrant groups continue to voice their negative and divisive messages, more and more people across the country are speaking out in support of an immigration reform that is consistent with American values and that would benefit American families and the U.S. economy. Today’s newspapers report on rallies in San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Lincoln, Las Vegas, Omaha, Augusta, San Bernardino, and Salinas, among others. Monday’s events will be followed by events throughout the week, culminating with a press conference on Wednesday and a three-day campaign summit in Washington, DC. Read More
A New Study Reinforces Growing Influence of Second Generation Latinos
A new study by the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that only 7% of all Latino children are undocumented immigrants. Pew also found that a growing share of the children with unauthorized immigrant parents—4 million or 73%—were born in this country and are U.S. Read More
High School Teens Deported on the Way to School
Three high school students were deported to Mexico last week when they were swept up in a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) raid at the Old Town transit center on their way to school in San Diego, California. Border Patrol confirmed that 21 people were detained. According to reports, TSA and Border Patrol agents inquired about the 16-year-old girl’s and two boys’, ages 15 and 17, residency status before taking them into custody and eventually deporting them. The teens were allowed to speak with their U.S.-based parents and Mexican Consulate officials before being deported. Read More
Local Police Report Makes the Case for Federal Enforcement of Immigration Laws
This week the Police Foundation issued a long awaited report, The Role of Local Police: Striking a Balance Between Immigration Enforcement and Civil Liberties. The Police Foundation found that because Congress has failed to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform, states and localities have spent more time and resources curbing immigration themselves at the high cost of protecting their communities from more serious threats to public safety. Among its conclusions, the Police Foundation found that: The costs of participating in the 287(g) program outweigh the benefits. Police officers should be prohibited from arresting and detaining persons to solely investigate immigration status in the absence of probably cause of an independent state criminal law violation. If a local agency enters into a 287(g) MOU, its participation should be focused on serious criminal offenders. Police should develop policies and procedures for monitoring racial profiling and abuse of authority. Local law enforcement agencies should employ community-policing and problem-solving tactics to improve relations with immigrant communities and resolve tension caused by expanding immigration. Read More
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