Immigration Policy Center

Published on Mon, Jun 14, 2010

Delaware Rep. Michael Castle speculated that the economy would eclipse immigration on the national congressional agenda. Citing an extensive and well documented report titled “Raising the Floor for American Workers” published jointly by the Center for American progress and the Immigration Policy Center, I stated that comprehensive immigration reform would raise wages, increase consumption, create jobs and generate additional tax revenue, resulting in $1.5 trillion in cumulative U.S. gross domestic product over the next 10 years. On the other hand, mass deportations would lead to a loss of $2.6 trillion in gross domestic product over the next 10 years. Therefore, comprehensive immigration reform can be a part of the solution to the national economic crisis.

Published in the Delaware Tomorrow

Published on Sat, Jun 12, 2010

During a teleconference hosted by the Immigration Policy Center last week, Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at the Berkeley School of Law, said Operation Streamline is an example of “a misdirected policy.”

Published in the Green Valley News (FL)

Published on Sat, Jun 12, 2010

Benjamin Johnson, a researcher with the American Immigration Institute, said the immigration debate in the United States has become entirely fixed on the issue of “securing the border.” He cited the recently signed Arizona state law that gave police greater power to enforce federal immigration laws. Fear and uncertainty about the border led to the passage of that law, Johnson insisted.

“This appetite for enforcement at the border seems almost insatiable,” he said. “The focus of legislative efforts and debate seem to always come back to this question of border enforcement.”

Published in the Valley Morning Star (TX)

Published on Tue, Jun 15, 2010

Adopting such a practice in the U.S. would be not only unconstitutional but also impractical and expensive, said Michele Waslin, a policy analyst with the pro-immigrant Immigration Policy Center in Washington.

"Every single parent who has a child would have to go through this bureaucratic process of proving their own citizenship and therefore proving their child's citizenship," she said.

Published in the Associated Press

Published on Tue, Jun 08, 2010

Legislators in at least 22 states have introduced or are considering similar legislation to Arizona's, according to the Washington, D.C., based Immigration Policy Center -- a research arm of the American Immigration Council that advocates comprehensive immigration reform.

Not all state legislation related to immigration is punitive -- much of it falls within traditional state jurisdiction, such as attempts to improve high school graduation rates among immigrants, according to the Center.

Published in the Bethany Beach Wave

Published on Sun, Jun 06, 2010

There are plenty of features of the law that critics find objectionable. Among them are the penalties. Under federal law, violations of immigration statutes by someone in the U.S. illegally may in some cases be punished with a jail sentence but are often penalized by deporting the individual instead, if the government proves its case to a judge through a comprehensive set of procedures. Arizona, lacking the authority to deport anyone, will enforce jail sentences laid out in its new law for, say, failing to carry one’s immigration authorization documents or soliciting day work by the side of the road, said Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, a pro-immigrants’ rights group. While the federal system is far from perfect (thousands of people are locked up in federal detention centers indefinitely awaiting deportation decisions), the addition of new immigration crimes at the state level with jail time attached isn’t the answer, she added.

Published in the Tuscon Sentinel

Published on Mon, Jun 07, 2010

Walter Ewing, a senior researcher at the Immigration Policy Center in Washington, D.C., had read the headlines, listened to the television commentators, and witnessed the ongoing, thorny and evolving health care debate that polarized elected officials and much of America over the last years.

Published in the Hispanic Outlook Magazine

Published on Mon, Jun 07, 2010

Should they wait for the comprehensive package, gambling that some heretofore elusive breakthrough will land on their plates? Or should they slice off what they can, when they can?

"That's the question everyone is asking right now," said Wendy Sefsaf, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Immigration Policy Center, which advocates a comprehensive approach.

Published in the Arizona Daily Star

Published on Tue, Jun 08, 2010

Arizona, lacking the authority to deport anyone, will enforce jail sentences laid out in its new law for, say, failing to carry one's immigration authorization documents or soliciting day work by the side of the road, said Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, a pro-immigrants' rights group. While the federal system is far from perfect (thousands of people are locked up in federal detention centers indefinitely awaiting deportation decisions), the addition of new immigration crimes at the state level with jail time attached isn't the answer, she added.

Published in the York Dispatch

Published on Fri, Jun 04, 2010

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision that upheld Arizona's right to punish employers for hiring illegal immigrants.

The Arizona law gives the state the right to suspend or terminate business licenses.

Published in the Milwaukee Live