Legalization

Published on Tue, Nov 27, 2012

IPC Director Mary Giovagnoli was quoted in USA Today's article on Senators Kyl and Hutchison's ACHIEVE Act legislation.  Here's an excerpt:

WASHINGTON -- Arizona Sen.Jon Kyl and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced legislation Tuesday to give legal status to young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

The bill by the two Southwest Republicans -- and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. -- would offer special student and work visas and ultimately permanent legal status to those who earn a college degree or serve four years in the military.

"We need to have a discussion that is sensible, that is calm," said Kyl, who, like Hutchison, is retiring in January. "This particular piece of immigration reform seemed a logical place to begin."

Unlike several previous "Dream Act"-style bills, it does not offer a special pathway to citizenship, a conscious omission that is likely to be opposed by immigrant rights' groups and many Democrats.

"I think this is a doubled-edged sword," said Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, which advocates for immigrants' rights. "On one hand, I think it's great that people are putting ideas out there about how to go forward on immigration. At the same time, I think it's really unfortunate that the choice is being made to put solutions out there that don't include the opportunity for people to become citizens."

Published in the USA Today

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/16375-1

Published on Mon, Oct 11, 2010

Immigrants in Illinois hold a considerable amount of voting clout, according to a new census study to to be released Thursday by the Immigration Policy Center in Washington.

Wendy Sefsaf, with the American Immigration Council, says the study found more than six million voters registered in Illinois, and one in ten of those voters is either an immigrant or a child of an immigrant. That's well over a half-million potential voters, and Sefsaf says they could be a powerful force - if they get out and cast ballots on election day next month.

"Absolutely. I mean when ten percent of all registered voters in Illinois are immigrants or the children of immigrants, they certainly have a big political muscle that they can begin to use."

Sefsaf says studies showed that immigrants did have a big impact on the last Presidential election.

"So we know that they can actually swing elections in key districts and in key states."

Published in the Public News Service

Published on Wed, Nov 24, 2010

The DREAM Act has generated a lot of debate — immigration research centers like the Migration Policy Institute and the Immigration Policy Center have published information on the impact of this proposed legislation.

Published in the Florida Independent