Just the Facts

The political debate over undocumented immigrants in the United States has largely ignored the plight of undocumented children who, for the most part, have grown up and received much of their primary and secondary education in this country. A new report from the Immigration Policy Center by Roberto Gonzales,   Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams: The Lost Potential of Undocumented Students, makes clear that without a means to legalize their status, these children are seldom able to go on to college, cannot work legally in the United States, and therefore cannot put their educations to good use. Moreover, at any time, they can be deported to countries they barely know (www.ailf.org/ipc/infocus/WastedTalent.pdf). This wasted talent imposes financial and emotional costs not only on undocumented students themselves, but on the U.S. economy and U.S. society as a whole.

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Published On: Sat, Oct 18, 2008 | Download File

Numerous studies by independent researchers and government commissions over the past 100 years repeatedly and consistently have found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born.

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Published On: Sat, Oct 25, 2008 | Download File

Answers the question, "why don't undocumented immigrants simply come legally?" and provides basic information on how the U.S. legal immigration system works.

Published On: Thu, Feb 28, 2008 | Download File

Immigration has begun to level off and immigrants are climbing the socio-economic ladder and becoming increasingly important to the U.S. economy as workers, taxpayers, and homebuyers supporting the aging Baby Boom generation.

Published On: Tue, Feb 26, 2008 | Download File

As the debate over illegal immigration continues to rage, some pundits and policymakers are claiming that unauthorized immigrants do not pay taxes and rely heavily on government benefits.  Neither of these claims is borne out by the facts. Undocumented men have work force participation rates that are higher than other workers, and all undocumented immigrants are ineligible for most government services, but pay taxes as workers, consumers, and residents.

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Published On: Thu, Nov 01, 2007 | Download File

Many who support deportation-only immigration measures are advocating for a universal electronic employment verification system (EEVS). Bills such as the “Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act” (H.R. 4088) and the “New Employee Verification Act of 2008” (H.R. 5515) would place enormous additional responsibilities on the Social Security Administration (SSA)—a critical but overburdened agency. In fact, H.R. 5515, authored by Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), would saddle the SSA with the job of administering the new mandatory and massive employment verification system.

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Published On: Thu, Mar 13, 2008 | Download File

During the current contentious and highly emotional national debate over U.S. immigration policy, many pundits and policymakers have tried to draw a connection between undocumented immigrants and high rates of crime and incarceration. However, the

Published On: Thu, Mar 13, 2008 | Download File

Provides a summary of the new proposed "no-match" regulations and their harmful impact on workers, employers, and the Social Security Administration.

Published On: Thu, Mar 27, 2008 | Download File

The Impact on America's Children Study of Three Raid Sites Finds One Child Affected for Every Two Adults

As the number of worksite immigration raids has increased in recent years, the number of families affected by the raids continues to grow.  The number of undocumented immigrants arrested at workplaces increased more than sevenfold from 500 to 3,600 between 2002 and 2006.  The Urban Institute and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) closely examined the sites of three workplace raids – in Greeley, Colorado; Grand Island, Nebraska; and New Bedford, Massachusetts.  Their recent report, Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children, highlights one of the most harmful unintended consequences of the raids – the devastation to families and children, many of whom are U.S. citizens.  The report does not address whether enforcement activities should take place.  Rather, it questions how enforcement is done and the impact that enforcement policies have on Americans.  The focus is on children “because they have strong claims to the protection of society, especially when they are citizens and integrated into their schools and communities, and the Unites States is the only country they have known and consider home.” Read more...

Published On: Mon, Mar 31, 2008 | Download File

Information and examples on how the immigration debate has spurred discrimination, hate, and violence.

Published On: Sun, Mar 30, 2008 | Download File