Immigration Policy Center

Internet tool helps employers check workers' immigration status

Published on Fri, Apr 02, 2010

You might not realize it when you get a new job, but soon your name may be checked against a government database to answer the question: Are you an illegal immigrant?

Thousands of employers in Florida and tens of thousands nationwide have enrolled in a voluntary government program known as E-Verify, which allows them to find out whether their new hires are entitled to work in the U.S.

Published in the Orlando Sentinel

U.S.: Audit Finds Major Problems in Immigration Policing

Published on Tue, Apr 06, 2010

NEW YORK, Apr 5 (IPS) - A controversial government programmeme that enlists local police officers and sheriff's deputies to help enforce U.S. immigration laws is verging on being out of control and unable to assess whether it is meeting its stated goals.

Published in the Australia News

National report offers ‘damning critique’ of 287(g)

Published on Mon, Apr 05, 2010

The Immigration Policy Center in Washington, D.C., released on Friday what it called a “damning critique” of the federal 287(g) program.

The report on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program issued by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General highlights what the IPC calls “numerous shortcomings that lead to abuse and mismanagement and raises serious questions about the wisdom of state and local immigration enforcement partnerships with ICE.”

Published in the Nashville City Paper

Immigration program needs better supervision, report says

Published on Mon, Apr 05, 2010

A federal immigration enforcement program used in Prince William and Loudoun counties needs better oversight, according to a report from the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

The report includes 33 recommendations to strengthen management and controls of the 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement agents to enforce certain federal immigration laws.

Published in the Washington Examiner

Before Brown, There Was Mendez: Immigrants' Role in Desegregating Schools

Published on Fri, Mar 26, 2010

I'm sure most everybody learned about Brown v. Board of Education at some point during their schooling, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that ruled segregating black and white students was unconstitutional. But what you probably didn't learn was that before there was Brown, there was Mendez v. Westminster.

Published in the Change.org

Immigration reform hits the streets

Published on Wed, Mar 24, 2010

Last Sunday, a crowd estimated at 200,000 by its organizers gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to rally for comprehensive immigration reform; President Obama appeared in a video at the demonstration endorsing a bipartisan plan proposed by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Published in the Anchorage Press

Immigrants on the March

Published on Thu, Mar 25, 2010

In the weeks leading up to the March 21 demonstration for comprehensive immigration reform, organizers were careful to tamp down turnout expectations, stating only that "tens of thousands" would descend on Washington. It was just a few days before the event--with reports of countless buses heading toward the nation's capital--that they hinted that the crowd could reach 100,000.

Published in the The Nation

When is Enough, Enough?

Meeting on Comprehensive Immigration Reform Ends with Call for More Enforcement

Released on Tue, May 25, 2010

Washington, D.C. - Following a meeting to discuss comprehensive immigration reform with Senate Republicans, President Obama announced that he would send 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and would request $500 million for additional border personnel and technology as part of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill.

As we have seen time and time again, efforts to overhaul the entire immigration system have taken a back seat to the political expediency of pouring more money into border enforcement. While it is clear that border violence must be addressed, it is also clear that enforcement alone is not a solution to our country's immigration problems.

Over the last two decades, the United States has spent billions of dollars on border enforcement. Since 1992, the annual budget of the U.S. Border Patrol has increased by 714 percent. At the same time, the number of Border Patrol agents stationed along the southwest border has grown by 390 percent. Interior enforcement has expanded as well, and detentions and deportations are at record levels. However, during the same time period, the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has roughly tripled from 3.5 million in 1990 to 11.9 million in 2008. Yet close family members of American families continue to wait in visa backlogs that routinely last 5 to 7 years, and Americas competitiveness in the global market place is challenged by difficulties recruiting and retaining exceptional foreign workers. Read more...

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Second Grader Speaks to First Lady on behalf of 5.5 Million Children in the U.S.

Released on Thu, May 20, 2010

Washington D.C. - In the midst of a loud, long and contentious battle over immigration, a soft voice emerged yesterday which spoke volumes about our nation's broken immigration system - and the fear and havoc it creates in the lives of million of young people in America. "My mom... she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn't have papers," whispered a second grade girl in Silver Spring, Maryland, to Michele Obama during her visit to that school yesterday. Her honesty was powerful testimony on behalf of 5.5 million children (75% of which are U.S. Citizens) in America, who have at least one parent without proper immigration status.

For several years a range of academics have documented the powerful effect this uncertain future is having on the lives of children in America. The Immigration Policy Center has produced fact sheets and provides links which highlight these various studies.Read more...

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Anti-Immigrant Group Recommends Economic Self-Destruction for Arizona

Released on Tue, May 18, 2010

Washington D.C. - In data released "exclusively to FoxNews.com," the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) - architects of the new Arizona law SB1070 - claim that unauthorized immigrants in Arizona are costing the state's taxpayers $2.7 billion per year for education, medical care, and incarceration. The release of this "fiscal analysis" takes advantage of the absence of any legitimate economic analysis by the state on what SB1070 will cost. However, judging from FAIR's track record when it comes to these kinds of state estimates, it is likely that their numbers are virtually meaningless. In its most recent state studies on unauthorized immigration in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, for instance, FAIR has dramatically exaggerated the fiscal "costs" imposed by unauthorized immigrants by including schooling and medical care for their native-born, U.S.-citizen children in its estimate, and conveniently forgetting to account for the economic role that unauthorized workers play as consumers who help support local economies.Read more...

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