Wendy Feliz
Wendy Feliz is the Director of Communications at the American Immigration Council. Prior to joining the Council, Ms. Feliz served as Director of Development at New America Media, after having worked at the Open Society Institute, and public radio station WAMU 88.5 as the Manager of Foundation Relations and Public Information. Ms. Feliz has spent much of her career in the non-profit world including with The California Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in East Los Angeles and The Young Adult Institute and Latino Worker’s Center in New York City. Ms. Feliz received her M.A. in Public Communication from the American University in Washington D.C. and she holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the New School University in New York.
Fremont, Nebraska, has become ground zero for one of the longest-standing anti-immigrant experiments in the United States. In 2010, the small, Midwestern town of 26,000 voted on an ordinance that would create unwieldy and costly housing permits to verify the immigration status of all Fremont renters and would force businesses to use E-Verify (an electronic [...]
As Congress continues their protracted debate on immigration reform, state governments are taking the lead on moving positive measures forward. Thus, anti-immigrant groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform and Numbers USA will be on the defensive in 2014, devoting time and resources towards preventing pro-immigrant state policies from taking root. They are certain [...]
Unfortunately, there is a new fallback position for some members of Congress when it comes to finding ways to save money. That position is eliminating the Additional Child Tax Credit for immigrant taxpayers. This has been proposed in the past by other members of Congress; however, the latest iteration is in the form of an [...]
On the National Mall today, the four core fasters leading the “Fast 4 Families” ordained new fasters and ended their 22-day, water-only fast. Members of Congress, the faith community and civil and immigrant rights groups turned out to witness the four fasters passing the baton over to others who will continue the fast until House [...]
The rumors of immigration reforms’ death have been greatly exaggerated over the years. In only the past few months, we’ve seen headlines like “Immigration Reform Heads for a Slow Death,” “Immigration Reform is Probably Dead,” and “RIP: Immigration Reform Bill is Dead.” Everyone wants to be the first to call it, the first to declare [...]
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) recently released a paper with the inflammatory title “Paying Illegals to Stay.” The paper highlights a two-year-old report from the Treasury Department’s Inspector General which enumerated what immigrant taxpayers who file their taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) were receiving in tax refunds through the Additional Child [...]
As they have done during previous weather-related emergencies, the Department of Homeland Security issued guidance directing that immigration enforcement activities be suspended. The directive notes: “…to the extent that Karen impacts law enforcement operations and/or the storm triggers the need for an officially ordered evacuation or an emergency government response, there will be no immigration [...]
On the 50th Anniversary of the historic “March on Washington” which led to some of the most significant legislative victories in the civil rights movement, it’s hard to not reflect on the influence that activists and legislators in the 1960’s have had and should have on the immigrant rights movement today. There are, in fact [...]
For most people who follow the immigration debate, it is an issue which at its core is about values like fairness, faith, and family. Those who support immigrants’ rights and want to see our immigration system reformed follow the ins and outs of the debate via nightly news, daily media clips, or blogs like this [...]
Today, on a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to pass Senate Bill 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, out of the committee and on to the Senate floor for a full vote in the coming days. The Senate committee mark-up spanned three weeks and covered [...]
