Jan
27

Following State of the Union, President Obama Needs to Follow Through on Immigration Reforms

The President’s State of the Union address this week re-iterated some of his key themes on immigration—support for comprehensive reform, dismay that DREAM Act students and foreign students educated in this country have no way to legalize their status, and a belief that he’s done enough to the secure the border. More importantly, he framed these themes in context to America’s economic recovery, innovation and growth. However, while any mention of immigration in the State of the Union is welcome, it’s what the President didn’t say that may have more of an impact on how his administration is remembered this year on immigration—and how his vision is measured by voters in the coming election.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/27/following-state-of-the-union-address-president-obama-needs-to-follow-through-on-immigration-reforms/

Jan
26

Romney Uses Restrictionist Code Words to Describe Immigration Policy

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney stole a page from the restrictionists’ playbook this week when he promoted the idea of “self-deportation” during a presidential debate. “If people don’t get work here,” Romney stated, “they’re going to self-deport to a place where they can get work.” Rather than initiate a constructive solution to our nation’s immigration problems, Romney is jumping in bed with immigration restrictionist groups who support policies that tear American families and communities apart, devastate local economies, and place unnecessary burdens on U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/26/romney-uses-restrictionist-code-words-to-describe-his-immigration-policies/

Jan
25

New Report Highlights Contributions of Immigrant Entrepreneurs to U.S. Economy

BY MARCIA HOHN, IMMIGRANT LEARNING CENTER

At last night’s State of the Union Address, two immigrant entrepreneurs were among the President’s guests—Japan-born Dr. Hiroyuki Fujita, founder, president and chief executive officer of Quality Electrodynamics (QED) in Cleveland, Ohio and Brazil-born Mike Krieger, co-founder of Instagram, a fast growing social mobile startup. Dr. Fijuita and Mike Krieger were rightfully recognized for their entrepreneurial drive and hard-earned success (both businesses are now worth millions of dollars), but they are just two examples of immigrants who came to this country and started businesses. There are many more unsung immigrant entrepreneurs whose U.S. businesses continue to create jobs for Americans and strengthen the U.S. economy.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/25/new-report-highlights-contributions-of-immigrant-entrepreneurs-to-u-s-economy/

Jan
24

New Report Draws Connections Between Anti-Immigrant and Tea Party Movements

The lines between the anti-immigrant movement and the Tea Party movement are blurred. That is the most important finding of a new report from the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR), entitled Beyond FAIR: The Decline of the Established Anti-Immigrant Organizations and the Rise of Tea Party Nativism. As its title suggests, the report finds that the revenue and membership of traditional anti-immigrant groups have declined in recent years, at the same time some of the Tea Parties have become hot beds of anti-immigrant activism. The report, however, overstates its case in concluding that “to a significant extent, the Tea Parties have usurped the Nativist Establishment and in the process swallowed up many of its activists.” This conclusion discounts the large amount of money and political power that some of the traditional anti-immigrant groups still possess. After all, it is the anti-immigrant groups and not the Tea Parties that have been moving anti-immigrant legislation through state legislatures and town councils from Arizona to Alabama over the past few years.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/24/new-report-draws-connections-between-anti-immigrant-and-tea-party-movements/

Jan
23

It’s Time to Improve Noncitizens’ Access to Counsel

In the United States, most immigration decisions impacting noncitizens are made by immigration officials in informal proceedings far from a courtroom. While the right to an attorney (at the noncitizens’ own expense) in immigration court proceedings is widely recognized, the right to counsel in administrative settings outside of a courtroom is often overlooked or explicitly not recognized. As a result, many noncitizens are forced to navigate the immigration process alone. For those noncitizens that are represented, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) often restricts their access to their lawyers.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/23/its-time-to-improve-noncitizens-access-to-counsel/

Jan
20

Holding the Obama Administration to Its Word on Prosecutorial Discretion

Signs that ICE is invested in the “Morton Memo” and subsequent guidance on prosecutorial discretion are beginning to show up at both ends of the legal spectrum.  At one end, the New York Times reported yesterday that approximately one in six cases reviewed in a pilot program at the Denver immigration court may be indefinitely suspended.  At the other end, a government attorney invoked ICE’s prosecutorial discretion policy during an argument this week before the Supreme Court.  While both instances offer encouraging signs, they also demonstrate that the strength of the policy depends not on what’s been said in the past, but on how it will be implemented in the future.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/20/holding-the-obama-administration-to-its-word-on-prosecutorial-discretion/

Jan
19

Border Patrol to Roll Out New “Get Tough” Policy on Unauthorized Immigrants

This month, the U.S. Border Patrol is set to end the practice of sending unauthorized Mexican immigrants back to Mexico without any sort of punishment. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the Border Patrol believes it now has sufficient resources and personnel “to begin imposing more serious consequences on almost everyone it catches from Texas to San Diego.” This new policy, however, is as misguided as it is ambitious.  While protecting our borders is certainly important, the Border Patrol will waste even more resources than it already does on criminalizing unauthorized immigration rather than targeting the dangerous cartels that smuggle unauthorized immigrants into the country. Furthermore, the Border Patrol’s new policy threatens to inundate federal courts and prisons with even more non-violent immigration offenders.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/19/border-patrol-to-roll-out-new-get-tough-policy-on-unauthorized-immigrants/

Jan
18

New Report Says Legalization Would Result in $1.4 billion in Revenues for Houston, Texas

A new report issued this month by the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), a business advocacy organization, confirms that legalization of unauthorized workers would result in those workers earning higher wages and paying more taxes. Potential Tax Revenues from Unauthorized Workers in Houston’s Economy uses data from the Pew Hispanic Center to estimate the number of unauthorized immigrant workers, by industry, in the Houston area. Then, assuming that legalized workers would earn the prevailing wage in their industry, GHP estimates their projected incomes to which it applies the standard tax rate.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/18/new-report-says-legalization-would-result-in-1-4-billion-in-revenues-for-houston-texas/

Jan
17

Advocates Call Romney’s Relationship with Anti-Immigrant Hawk “Political Suicide”

As if Mitt Romney’s repeated promise to veto the DREAM Act wasn’t alienating enough, advocates warn that Romney’s continued relationship with famed anti-immigrant hawk Kris Kobach is killing future support from Latino voters, especially in key states like New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Florida. Kobach, co-author of Arizona and Alabama’s extreme immigration enforcement laws, appeared in South Carolina Monday night to spin for the Romney campaign following the GOP debate.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/17/advocates-call-romneys-relationship-with-anti-immigrant-hawk-political-suicide/

Jan
13

ICE Releases Memo Outlining Justification for Making Secure Communities Mandatory

An October 2010 ICE memo from ICE Deputy Legal Advisor Riah Ramlogan to ICE Assistant Deputy Director Beth Gibson has finally been made public after a protracted legal battle. The nine page memo, obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation, presents ICE’s legal arguments for making the Secure Communities Program  mandatory for all jurisdictions in 2013. This memo overrides and contradicts an earlier ICE memo that argued that S-Comm was not mandatory.
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/01/13/ice-releases-memo-outlining-justification-for-making-secure-communities-mandatory/

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