Immigration Policy Center

Published on Mon, Mar 08, 2010

Imad Doski applied for his U.S. citizenship five years ago with dreams of a high-dollar job translating Kurdish and Arabic.

Since then, the native of Iraq has discovered one private contractor pays U.S. citizens $60,000 more per year than other immigrants. Another only hires citizens.

"When you are a citizen, opportunities are different, pay is sometimes different, people sometimes look at you differently," said Doski, a Nashville bookkeeper.

Published in the The Tennessean

Published on Tue, Mar 02, 2010

The Immigration Policy Center today has released a thoughtful and detailed analysis on the Obama administration's work on immigration. The report focuses on all the key areas: worksite raids, E-verify, detention, immigration benefits, reform, etc.

Here's just one quick excerpt on specific issues such as enforcement and border strategy.

Published in the Houston Chronicle

Published on Wed, Mar 03, 2010

More than one year into the administration of President Barack Obama, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) still must pursue some key changes in support of immigration reform to embrace Obama's intended immigration policy objectives, a policy group said Tuesday.

DHS must move forward in due process for illegal immigrants by creating an ombudsman at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to investigate complaints and keep its focus on detention reform at ICE, recommended the Immigration Policy Center in its report, The Challenge of Reform: An Analysis of Immigration Policy in the First Year of the Obama Administration.

Published in the Homeland Security Today

Published on Mon, Mar 01, 2010

After warning federal prosecutors for two years, Judge Sam Sparks was fed up with the parade of nonviolent illegal aliens in the overburdened courtrooms in his Texas division. What he did next, said lawyers across the country, was astounding and unprecedented.

While other judges simply complained about a prosecution policy initiated by the Bush administration, the Republican-appointed judge in Austin issued an order challenging the U.S. attorney's office to justify each illegal re-entry case brought before him.

Published in the National Law Review

Published on Fri, Feb 26, 2010

A new report by the anti-immigration think-tank, Center for Immigration Studies, tells Republican leaders to give up on the Latino vote. The center suggests that only after reducing Hispanic immigration into the country can that voting block begin assimilating and becoming Republican. The Immigration Impact writes in an article, “In other words, the CIS report offers not only a grim view of Republican political prospects, but a stereotypical and insulting portrayal of Latino voters who are perceived as too poor and ignorant to vote Republican, and who should therefore be ignored by Republican political strategists until they grow out of their Democratic phase….Apparently, an immigrant has not really become fully part of American society until he or she fervently supports a Republican Party that officially looks down upon immigrants.”

Published in the The Washington Independent

Published on Sun, Feb 21, 2010

From listening to the more vigorous critics of illegal immigration, our porous borders are a grave threat to safety. Not only can foreign terrorists sneak in to target us, but the most vicious criminals are free to walk in and inflict their worst on innocent Americans.

In xenophobic circles, this prospect induces stark terror. Fox News' Glenn Beck has decried an "illegal immigrant crime wave." A contributor to Patrick Buchanan's Web site asserts, "Every day, in the United States, thousands of illegal aliens unleash a reign of terror on Americans."

Published in the Chicago Tribune

Published on Thu, Feb 18, 2010

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - An immigration policy reform group says Alaska's foreign-born and minority populations have a growing presence in Alaska and its economy.

In a new publication, the Immigration Policy Center based in Washington, D.C., says one in 10 Alaskans are Asian or Latino, and those communities have more than $2 billion in buying power. It says the information comes from Census data and economic information from other research.

Published in the Associated Press

Published on Mon, Feb 22, 2010

For nearly a year, Fairfax County's Adult Detention Center has quietly helped pilot a far-reaching program designed to identify criminal illegal immigrants and assist the federal government in removing them from the United States.

For nearly a year, Fairfax County's Adult Detention Center has quietly helped pilot a far-reaching program designed to identify criminal illegal immigrants and assist the federal government in removing them from the United States.

Published in the Washington Post

Published on Fri, Feb 19, 2010

"What is clear, however, is that the United States cannot fully rebuild a strong, robust economy on top of a broken immigration system," said Wendy Sefsaf of the Immigration Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Published in the Cap Code Times

Published on Thu, Feb 18, 2010

A federal program to identify and deport dangerous criminal immigrants has been routinely scooping up legal and unauthorized immigrants with little or no criminal history, according to a locally generated study released this week by the Immigration Policy Center in Washington.

According to the study, 57 percent of immigrants identified by the Criminal Alien Program in 2009 had no criminal convictions, up from 53 percent in 2008.

Published in the The Statesman