Monthly Archive: November 2011
It’s been almost six months since ICE Director John Morton issued new guidelines on prosecutorial discretion to help ICE agents, attorneys and other officials distinguish between high priority cases (national security threats and serious criminals) and low priority cases (DREAM Act students). A recent survey released by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/14/prosecutorial-discretion-survey-demonstrates-need-for-more-training-consistency-across-ice-field-offices/
BY MARGARET D. STOCK, COUNSEL TO THE FIRM, LANE POWELL PC This Veterans Day, we celebrate those who have proudly served in the U.S. military, including immigrants. Immigrants have long served in all branches of the U.S. military as infantry soldiers, medics, foreign-language translators, and in every other job open to them. At last count, …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/11/non-citizens-eager-to-serve-in-u-s-military-blocked-by-government-bureaucracy/
You know things are bad when a company as popular as Facebook has problems finding qualified talent. In a recent interview, Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, remarked that our outdated immigration policy is a big reason Silicon Valley tech companies are fighting each other for highly skilled workers. Current immigration policy limits high-skilled worker …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/10/even-facebook-feels-brunt-of-broken-u-s-immigration-policy/
Arizona state senator Russell Pearce, the leading force behind Arizona’s SB 1070 and other anti-immigrant legislation, was defeated in a recall election Tuesday. Fellow Republican Jerry Lewis—a moderate on immigration issues—won with 54% of the vote. Citing Pearce’s narrow anti-immigrant agenda and the damage SB 1070 inflicted on the state, a group called Citizens for …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/09/arizona%e2%80%99s-sb1070-champion-state-senator-russell-pearce-loses-in-recall-election/
It’s no stretch to call Alabama’s new immigration law (HB 56) extreme—especially the provision (since enjoined) which required schools to check the immigration status of students and made it a criminal misdemeanor for an unauthorized immigrant to fail to carry immigration documentation. Two provisions that may have flown under the radar, however, are the contract …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/08/provisions-in-alabama%e2%80%99s-immigration-law-go-further-than-you-think/
Twenty five years ago this week, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), an immigration reform bill which, despite a contentious debate, managed to pass a Republican Senate and a Democratic House. In fact, Reagan called the immigration bill one of the “most difficult legislative undertakings of recent memory” but one …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/07/remembering-the-benefits-of-irca-25-years-later/
A report released this week reveals yet another devastating consequence of the enforcement-only approach to immigration—a startling number of children whose parents have been detained and deported are placed in foster care and face enormous barriers reuniting with their families. According to the Applied Research Center, 1 in 4 people deported in FY 2011 (nearly …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/04/thousands-of-children-stuck-in-foster-care-after-parents-deported-report-finds/
In the days following passage of Alabama’s extreme immigration law (HB 56), many business, religious and civil rights leaders spoke out about the law’s damaging impact on immigrant communities, farms, businesses, and schools. Since then, many notable community and civil rights leaders have stepped forward to add their voice to those demanding a repeal of …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/03/congressional-members-to-join-civil-rights-groups-in-fight-against-alabama%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cjuan-crow%e2%80%9d-law/
New data on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) controversial Secure Communities reveals the program’s devastating impact on immigrants, Latinos and U.S. citizens. Released by the Warren Institute at Berkeley Law School, the report, “Secure Communities by the Numbers,” examines the profile of individuals who have been apprehended through the program and funneled through the …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/02/new-data-highlights-devastating-impact-of-secure-communities-on-immigrant-and-latino-communities/
BY KAREN TUMLIN, MANAGING ATTORNEY, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against South Carolina, challenging the state’s extreme anti-immigration law (SB 20). With this action, the Department of Justice charges that South Carolina, like Arizona and Alabama, have passed unconstitutional immigration laws. Civil rights groups (including the National …
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Permanent link to this article: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/11/01/doj%e2%80%99s-lawsuit-against-south-carolina-latest-challenge-to-state-immigration-laws/