Immigration 101
The U.S. immigration system is complex and can be difficult to understand. These resources provide key data points, historical information, and background on hot topics in immigration. Learn the basics about immigration. Immigration in the United States is complex and ever-evolving. Start here to understand the fundamental aspects of immigration policy, its history, and its impact on both individuals and the country at large. Learn commonly used terms about immigration law and how the U.S. immigration system is designed. Explore layered topics like how and whether immigrants can become citizens, as well as what individual protections look like under the law.
How the United States Immigration System Works
- How the Immigration System Works
- June 24, 2024
U.S. immigration law is very complex, and there is much confusion as to how it works. This fact sheet provides basic information…
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Birthright Citizenship in the United States
- Birthright Citizenship
- October 16, 2024
This fact sheet explains birthright citizenship, the Fourteenth Amendment, and its interpretations. Who is…
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Asylum in the United States
- Asylum
- August 27, 2014
Asylum seekers must navigate a difficult and complex process that can involve multiple government…
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Think Progress Reports: Saltsman out of the running for RNC chair
Think Progress has reported that Chip Saltsman is no longer in the running for the next chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Yesterday, we reported on Saltsman's offensive inclusion of a song called "The Star Spanglish Banner” in a controversial holiday CD that he sent to RNC members as a Christmas gift. Think Progress explains: Read More
Anti-Immigrant Groups Invite GOP to Join Their Sinking Ship
This week at the National Press Club, anti-immigrant groups Team America PAC and American Cause (chaired by regular CNN and MSNBC contributors Bay Buchanan and Pat Buchanan) hosted an event to discuss why the GOP should continue to use an anti-immigrant platform in order to save their party and bring them back to majority status. Their basic premise is that America (for now) is still a majority white nation and the only way to win back majority status is to focus on and win the "White" vote. Participant Peter Brimelow went as far as to pine about the idea that, had this last presidential election taken place in 1975, and had McCain won the same percentage of the white vote he won against Obama, then McCain would have beaten Jimmy Carter. Read More
Candidate for RNC Chair Chip Saltsman Stirs Controversy with “Star Spanglish Banner”
At a time when the GOP should be warming up to key Latino and immigrant voting blocs, Chip Saltsman-candidate for the next chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC)-chose to ring in the New Year with a song called "The Star Spanglish Banner." Saltsman, who is also known as the former head of the Tennessee Republican Party who managed the Mike Huckabee campaign, included the song on his controversial holiday CD that he sent to RNC members as a Christmas gift. The story-which NDN's Melissa Merz officially broke-exposes yet another example of the xenophobic and bigoted rhetoric put forth by reckless public figures that has fueled rising hate crimes and violence against Latinos. Today's Huffington Post's head-lining article, "Star Spanglish Banner: RNC Candidate Chip Saltsman Causes Immigration Stir," described the song as: Read More
CIS Ignores the Facts: Immigration Important Concern for Latino Voters
The Center for Immigration Studies tries to snatch anti-immigrant victory from the jaws of electoral defeat in a new report about Latino voters in the 2008 election. According to the report, the widespread perception among Latinos that the Republican Party is hostile to immigrants played no appreciable role in their decision about whether to vote Democratic or Republican last November. Read More
Latino Experts Look Beyond Legalization and Citizenship
Former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros and several other leading Latino experts met at the Center for American Progress Monday to discuss Latinos’ role in shaping America’s future. Panelists such as Sarita Brown of Excelencia in Education and Janet Murguia of NCLR joined Cisneros in affirming that without vast improvements to the Latino community’s economic and educational status, the United States will not advance as a global competitor in the future. Read More
Gov. Paterson Stuns Immigrant Community With Gillibrand Senate Pick
The State of New York has, throughout its history, been both a haven and a hotbed for immigrants and diversity. That's why New York State Governor David Paterson's decision to pick Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as U.S. Senator raises deep concern among immigrants and advocates in the state and across the country. Read More
Push Still Strong for Immigration Reform in Early Obama Administration
Today, Barack Obama stepped into the Oval Office on his first full day in the White House as President of the United States and met with economic advisors to start "making early progress on the change he promised." In the spirit of both economic recovery and social change, immigration should be addressed in President Obama's early conversations. Latinos are demanding it ought to, experts and advocates are confident it will. Read More
Napolitano Brings New Day to the Department of Homeland Security
Although many questions were left unanswered at the confirmation hearing of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano this week, make no mistake that she has always been a vocal supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. She has made countless numbers of statements in support of smart, sensible and thorough solutions to our broken immigration system. Watch the speech she made in June of 2007 at the National Press Club. Read More
Hate Group Blames Immigrants for Potholes
The hate group Social Contract Press, which takes a dim view of dark-hued people in general and immigrants in particular, yesterday released a new report entitled The Twin Crises: Immigration and Infrastructure. The report is based on a simplistic and fundamentally flawed premise: that immigration is a major factor in the deterioration of the nation's infrastructure because immigration-fueled population growth "has overwhelmed the ability of government to productively spend the vast sums it already devotes to infrastructure." Read More
Presidential Leaders Want Comprehensive Immigration Reform on Front Burner
President Bush counted immigration reform as one of his major regrets this week when cautioning the GOP not to be perceived as so "anti-somebody." While Bush's promise of comprehensive immigration reform took a back seat to the Iraq War back in 2001, current headlines suggest Obama's immigration reform campaign pledge is similarly taking a backseat to our economic woes. But in a step toward more immediate immigration reform, President-Elect Barack Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon yesterday for lunch at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., to discuss, among other things, comprehensive immigration reform as a priority. Read More
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