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

Immigrants Bring Home the Gold for the U.S. Olympics Team

February 14, 2018

From their meme-worthy Opening Ceremony gloves to some stunning wins on the halfpipe, Team USA has started the 2018 Winter Olympics off with a bang. Early victories in the Pyeongchang, South Korea...

  • Blog

What Views Do Millennials Hold Around Immigration?

February 12, 2018

The Millennial Generation constitutes the most racially and ethnically diverse generation America has ever known. Millennials are the largest living generation by population size (79.8 million in...

  • Blog

A New Report Shows the Continuing Overcriminalization of Immigrants

February 9, 2018

After more than a century of research and analysis, it has become quite clear that immigrants are far less prone to criminal conduct than the native-born population. And yet researcher John R....

  • Blog

U.S. Government Skews Terrorism Data to Add Fuel to the Anti-Immigrant Fire

January 23, 2018

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report which comes to a rather predictable conclusion: most of the “international terrorists” in the United...

  • Blog

What You Need to Know About Foreign-Trained Doctors in the U.S. Healthcare System

January 17, 2018

There are more than 247,000 doctors with medical degrees from foreign countries practicing in the United States. A fourth of all physicians in the nation are foreign-trained—the majority of whom...

  • Blog

Trump’s Derogatory Comments Revive Racist Legacy in Immigration Policy

January 12, 2018

Media outlets around the globe reported on President Trump’s disparaging comments regarding nationals of certain countries. According to the Washington Post, during a discussion with lawmakers in...

  • Blog

How Criminalizing Communities of Color Has Driven the Anti-Immigrant Narrative

January 11, 2018

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, taken away Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans in the United States, and staged raids...

  • Blog

Nativists Can’t Back Up Their Claims on Immigration and Crime

January 3, 2018

Social scientists have concluded that immigrants are far less likely than the native-born to commit serious criminal offenses or end up behind bars. More than one hundred years of research has...

  • Blog

Three Year Anniversary of Family Detention Center Is Sad Reminder of America’s Cruelest Immigration Policy Practice

December 20, 2017

December marks the three-year anniversary of the opening of the country’s largest family detention center for non-citizen mothers and their minor children located in Dilley, Texas. Referred to as...

  • Blog

‘Sanctuary’ Policies Do Not Foster Crime, Research Shows

December 18, 2017

During its first ten months in office, the Trump administration has made aggressive immigration enforcement a priority. One of the areas in which this approach was crystalized was around so-called...

  • Blog

Trump Administration Considers Lowering the Refugee Cap to Zero

September 13, 2019

The Trump administration is considering decreasing the maximum number of refugees accepted into the United States to 10,000 and as possibly low as zero, administration officials confirmed last...

  • Fact Sheet

The High Cost and Diminishing Returns of a Border Wall

Publication Date: 
September 6, 2019
The fact is that building a fortified and impenetrable wall between the United States and Mexico is unnecessary, complicated, ineffective, expensive, and would create a host of additional problems.
  • Blog

The Opportunity Immigration Presents to the Changing US Economy

September 5, 2019

The U.S. economy is changing—and immigration can play a major role in how it looks in the future. But how immigration shapes the future of the U.S. economy and its workforce is dependent on a...

  • Blog

Iraqi Interpreters Who Risked Their Lives Working With US Military Shut Out by Trump Administration

September 3, 2019

Iraqi interpreters who risked their lives to work with the American military have been effectively shut out from obtaining the special U.S. visa they were promised. The Trump administration issued...

  • Blog

Immigration “Restrictionists” Hitting Their Stride Under Trump, But We Can Stop Them

August 23, 2019

Short-term thinking is inferior to long-term thinking, some argue, because it does a disservice to the future and those who will live it.  Two long-term thinkers who have profoundly impacted U.S....

  • Blog

New Public Charge Rule Imposes Wealth Test on Newcomers

August 13, 2019

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the final version of its new “public charge” regulation on Monday morning. The rule would make it easier for the government to deny a green card...

  • Press Release

New Public Charge Rule Guts Legal Immigration Eligibility

August 12, 2019
The Department of Homeland Security announced a new regulation that redefines who can be considered a “public charge” under immigration law. The new regulation will likely have a chilling effect on America’s family-based immigration system, drastically limiting who will be permitted into the United States.
  • Blog

Community Support Flows Into El Paso After Mass Shooting

August 7, 2019

El Paso, Texas suffered a horrific tragedy on Saturday when a gunman entered a local Walmart and opened fire. The gunman—who was emboldened by racist rhetoric to specifically target immigrants and...

  • Blog

Filipino WWII Veterans Are Prevented From Reuniting With Families After Trump Cuts Program

August 5, 2019

The Trump administration announced on Friday that it is ending a family reunification program for Filipino World War II veterans. This places a needless burden on our country’s veterans, many of...

  • Blog

Census Bureau Asked 250,000 Households About Their Citizenship Status, Despite Court Ruling

July 17, 2019

Despite losing at the Supreme Court, the Trump administration still managed to ask nearly a quarter of a million U.S. households about the citizenship status of their household members. That’s...

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