Immigration 101

The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.

Recent Features

Why Don’t Immigrants Apply for Citizenship?

There is no line available for undocumented immigrants and the “regular channels” do not include them.

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Temporary Protected Status: An Overview

This fact sheet provides an overview of how Temporary Protected Status designations are made, what benefits TPS confers, and how TPS beneficiaries apply for and regularly renew their status.

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How the United States Immigration System Works

U.S. immigration law is very complex. Here's basic information about how the U.S. legal immigration system is designed.

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All Immigration 101 Content

  • Blog

Why Restricting Immigration Won’t Improve Work Opportunities for Natives

September 6, 2016

Serious economists know that immigrant and native-born workers cannot simply be swapped for one another like batteries. On average, immigrants and the native-born differ in terms of formal...

  • Blog

Why Restricting Immigration Won’t Improve Work Opportunities for Natives

September 6, 2016

Serious economists know that immigrant and native-born workers cannot simply be swapped for one another like batteries. On average, immigrants and the native-born differ in terms of formal...

  • Blog

The Fossilization of Donald Trump’s Views on Immigration Complete

September 1, 2016

Recent rumors that Donald Trump was considering “softening” his immigration policy positions were nothing but a ruse. In fact, what has happened in the past few days has been a hardening, and...

  • Blog

Why Going Home First to Get Legal Status (“Touchback”) Makes No Sense

August 30, 2016

No one is quite sure where Donald Trump stands on immigration anymore. More precisely, experts are trying to divine what Trump would do with the 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in...

  • Blog

Softening Rhetoric but No Immigration Policy Shift From Donald Trump

August 25, 2016

When it comes to immigration, Donald Trump is big on rhetoric and short on substance. This is why no one is quite sure what to make of Trump’s change in tone as to what should be done about the 11...

  • Blog

No Pivot Here: Donald Trump’s Rhetorical Tricks on Immigration

August 24, 2016

The media has swooned over a few vague statements made of late by presidential candidate Donald Trump. He has spent the past few days hinting that he may “soften” his immigration policy with...

  • Blog

Will a Questionnaire Catch a Terrorist? Donald Trump’s “Extreme Vetting” Plan

August 23, 2016

One of Donald Trump’s more recent, outrageous ideas having to do with immigration is to conduct what he calls “extreme vetting” of prospective immigrants to the United States. The basic idea is to...

  • Blog

Donald Trump’s Shortsighted Immigration Plans Won’t Secure the Homeland

August 16, 2016

As any serious national security expert will tell you, trying to find a potential terrorist by treating all immigrants or Muslims as security risks is far too vague to be effective. Accurate...

  • Blog

Lincoln v. Trump on Immigration

August 2, 2016

Although much has been written about how the party of Abraham Lincoln became the party of Donald Trump, one additional area where these two men parted ways is immigration. The world of today is...

  • Blog

Democratic National Convention Highlights the Need for Immigration Reform

July 29, 2016

Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted the nomination to serve as the Democratic Party’s pick for President Thursday night in Philadelphia, making her the first woman to ever top a mayor party ticket....

  • Blog

5 Ways to Prevent the Next Migrant Caravan

October 23, 2018

Just two weeks ahead of the midterm elections, much attention is being placed on a migrant caravan of Central Americans making their way north through Mexico. Now reported to include more than 7,...

  • Blog

The Proposed Changes to Public Charge: What You Need to Know

September 24, 2018

Over the weekend, the Trump administration took steps to radically transform a little-known provision of immigration law that could have an outsized impact on legal immigration. In proposed...

  • Blog

This Citizenship Day Marred by Government’s Focus on Stripping People of Their Citizenship

September 17, 2018

Each year on September 17, America marks Citizenship Day, an annual opportunity to reflect on the benefits and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship. In years past, it was used as a day to...

  • Blog

Rural Communities Get Boost From Growing Immigrant Population

September 12, 2018

In rural communities throughout the United States, immigration has been a demographic lifeline that offsets—at least in part—the dwindling number of native-born Americans. In fact, as a report...

  • Practice Advisories

Motions for a Continuance

Publication Date: 
September 10, 2018
This Practice Advisory provides a practitioner-focused overview of motions to continue a case in removal proceedings, from the basics of making the motion to advanced issues of jurisdictional bars to appellate review of continuances.
  • Blog

John McCain’s Legacy on Immigration

August 28, 2018

The United States Senate and Republican Party lost one of their biggest champions for bipartisan immigration reform and most vocal critics of President Trump’s immigration policies when Senator...

  • Blog

USCIS’ Wait Times for Citizenship Have Doubled

August 20, 2018

The average wait time on a U.S. citizenship application was about five months in 2014. Today, the average time a green card holder will wait for their citizenship application to be processed by U....

  • Blog

White House Residents Directly Benefit from America’s Generous Immigration System

August 14, 2018

America’s generosity is reflected in our immigration system. Throughout our nation’s history (with some shameful exceptions), we have allowed individuals to come to the United States to reunite...

  • Blog

How Long Does It Take USCIS to Issue a Green Card?

July 24, 2018

How long does it take to process an application for permanent residence in the United States, or a “green card?” You might be surprised by how difficult it is to find a reliable answer to this...

  • Fact Sheet

How USCIS Estimates Application and Petition Processing Times

Publication Date: 
July 18, 2018
This fact sheet provides an overview of how USCIS calculates processing times and the concerns over the accuracy of these estimates.

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