Immigration Reform

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.

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All Immigration Reform Content

Publication Date: 
November 5, 2009
Nearly everyone agrees that our immigration system is badly broken and in urgent need of reform. Under the existing system people are dying at the border, immigrants are living and working in abject...
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October 21, 2009
While some characterize our immigration crisis as solely an issue of the 11 to 12 million unauthorized immigrants living in this country, our problems extend beyond the number of undocumented people...
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September 1, 2009
The public debate over immigration reform, which all too often devolves into emotional rhetoric, could use a healthy dose of economic realism. As Congress and the White House fulfill their recent...
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July 24, 2009
America’s immigration laws are some of the most complex and archaic provisions that can be found in the U.S. statutes. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA) rivals the tax code in the...
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April 28, 2009
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has culled the words of leading economists and numerous experts who agree that immigration reform is an economic necessity and a net gain to the U.S. economy.
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April 1, 2009
Now more than ever, Americans are seeking real solutions to our nation’s problems, and there is no better place to start than protecting our workers, raising wages, and getting our economy moving...
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September 9, 2008
Critics of H.R. 5882, a bill that would would allow visas that have gone unused due to bureaucratic delays to be "recaptured" and issued to family- or employment-based legal immigrants, claim it will...
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April 17, 2008
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released an estimate of the costs of the “Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act” (“SAVE Act,” HR 4088), and concluded that the “SAVE...
Publication Date: 
December 15, 2007
The “SAVE Act” was introduced in November 2007 by Reps. Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA). A companion bill (S. 2368) has been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Mary...
Publication Date: 
October 1, 2007
The current political debate over undocumented immigrants in the United States has largely ignored the plight of undocumented children. Yet children account for 1.8 million, or 15 percent, of the...
June 21, 2018

President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday in response to public outcry about family separation – a horrific policy that has led to the forced separation of over 2,000 minor children...

May 16, 2018

The Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative set off a slew of lawsuits attempting to stop the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from...

May 8, 2018

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced they will be stepping up prosecutions of individuals along the southern border. There is much folly in deciding...

May 7, 2018

Failure to get H-2B (seasonal worker) visas approved has put Maryland’s seafood industry in jeopardy. Almost half of the Eastern Shore’s crab houses do not have workers they need to pick the meat...

April 9, 2018

In an era of increased immigration enforcement, it is even more important to understand the ways in which some states and localities collaborate with the federal government. Recent research also...

March 23, 2018

This week Congress passed a $1.3 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, running through September 30, 2018. Though the legislation includes record levels of...

March 7, 2018

A lawsuit challenging several California laws filed Tuesday is the U.S. Justice Department’s latest salvo in the ongoing policy and legal battle regarding “sanctuary” policies. The complaint,...

February 16, 2018

The United States Senate had a golden opportunity this week to legislate a permanent solution for Dreamers—however a week that began full of hope ended as a dud, with no bill passing and the...

February 15, 2018

The U.S. Senate failed again to provide a permanent solution for Dreamers on Thursday when it rejected multiple bipartisan bills. The Senate voted on three different proposals that would have...

February 13, 2018

President Trump released his formal budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, which doubles down on his aggressive immigration enforcement agenda. The proposed budget seeks to fund the...

January 7, 2010

For Immediate Release

New Report Highlights Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

March 11, 2021

It’s been one year since the COVID-19 pandemic first affected immigration on a global scale. The impact has been swift, devastating, and long-lasting. On March 11, 2020, former President Trump...

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March 9, 2021
The American Immigration Council joined other organizations in urging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to fully implement the provisions of the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act,...
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February 9, 2021
The American Immigration Council urged President Biden to end the illegal and inhumane asylum and border policies implemented by the Trump administration.
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February 8, 2021
The American Immigration Council urged Members of Congress to amend the criminal bars to legalization in H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, to ensure a more inclusive bill.
February 3, 2021

On February 2, 2021, following the confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of Homeland Security, President Biden signed three executive orders that take steps to further unwind the Trump...

January 22, 2021

On his first day in office, President Biden took significant steps towards undoing the harm of the Trump administration’s immigration policies—and reforming our punitive and inhumane enforcement...

January 20, 2021
President Joseph R. Biden announced a welcoming and inclusive vision for immigration in a legislative proposal that provides a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants who call the United States home.
Publication Date: 
January 20, 2021
Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the federal government has spent an estimated $324 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement.
Publication Date: 
January 15, 2021
The Biden administration should take steps immediately upon entering office to expand federally funded legal representation programs for people facing removal. Here's why.
January 4, 2021

This article is part of the Moving Forward on Immigration series that explores the future of immigration in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.  When the Biden administration takes...

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