Legalization

Undocumented Workers in Georgia Prepare to File Taxes

Published on Mon, Apr 16, 2012

Midnight on Tuesday is the deadline for filing your state and federal income taxes and a portion of Georgia’s taxpayers are undocumented workers.

It’s hard to say exactly how many of the state’s workers are illegal.

Workers who don’t have social security numbers can still file a tax return, using a nine-digit Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or I-TIN. The Georgia Department of Revenue doesn’t know how many people with ITINs are here illegally. But the Immigration Policy Center says in 2010, undocumented workers in Georgia paid more than $85,000,000 in income taxes.

Grace Williams is an Atlanta accountant who filed some of those returns. She says there are two reasons why undocumented workers file tax returns. Some want a refund. But Wilson says those who owe hope paying their taxes will lead to bigger things.

“A lot of people in the community are telling them that that’s the responsible thing to do,” Williams says, “And if they aspire to become legal one day, the first thing that they’re going to look at is, ‘Did you do your taxes?” she says.

Williams says those workers hope to become U.S. citizens. But DA King, president of the Dustin Inman Society, which advocates enforcement of immigration laws, says that’s not the real motivation.

“They are getting a refund on the Additional Child Tax Credit,” King says, “Refund is not the right word. They’re getting a rebate from the government for having U.S.-born children,” he says.

King calls the segment of undocumented workers who pay taxes “microscopic.” He points to the Center for Immigration Studies. The group doesn’t have Georgia-specific numbers, but nationally, they say illegal immigrants who file tax returns receive billions more in refunds than they pay in taxes.

So, what’s next? It’s hard to say. Immigrants’ rights groups advocate a path to citizenship, while opponents want tougher enforcement.Read more...

Published in the 90.1 WABE Atlanta

Quick Fact: The cost of Alabama's HB 56

Alabama’s HB 56 could shrink the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by up to $10.8 billion.

Litigation Clearinghouse Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 3

This issue covers lawsuits challenging Arizona’s immigration enforcement law SB 1070; two Supreme Court decisions issued this spring involving immigrants; a lawsuit challenging continued detention after the expiration of a detainer; an overview of several “material support” mandamus cases challenging delay in adjudicating adjustment applications, and important reminders from the LAC (including dates and locations for the Council’s litigation and detention meetings at AILA’s Annual Conference, as well as LAC litigation and practice advisory updates).

Published On: Friday, May 21, 2010 | Download File

Roman Totenberg

Professor Emeritus of Music at Boston University

Across the continents and the span of seven decades, violinist Roman Totenberg has been singled out by critics as an outstanding violinist, a sensitive musician and a brilliant teacher. Roman Totenberg was born in Poland in 1911 and made his debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic when he was 11 years old. Soon after his Berlin debut, he was performing with every major European orchestra, making recordings and eventually playing with major orchestras in the United States, at the White House and the Library of Congress. His work as a chamber music performer was widely acclaimed when he played regularly with the New Friends of Music in New York and in 1940 when he became Director of live chamber music concerts for New York radio station WQXR. As a young artist he toured South America with Arthur Rubinstein and met composer Darius Milhaud after Totenberg's Paris debut which Milhaud had reviewed. More than two decades later, Totenberg, with the composer conducting, would play a premiere performance of Milhaud's 2nd Violin Concerto in Aspen, Colorado and in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic. These concerts were among a number of first performances of composers' works that Totenberg would play over the years.

Totenberg continues performing as a soloist with orchestra in recital and in chamber music concerts. As his reputation for concert performances has grown, so too has his reputation for fine teaching and musical expertise. In 1983, he was named Artist Teacher of the Year by the American String Teachers Association. Currently teaching at Boston University, he headed the String Department there from 1961 to 1978. He taught at the Mannes School of Music in New York, headed the string department of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, and the Longy School of Music which he was the Director from 1978 to 1985.Read more...

New York Reviews Deportation Policies for Immigrants

Published on Tue, May 11, 2010

Immigrants arrested for decades-old or minor violations, like marijuana possession, may soon be less subject to deportation in at least one state.

Last week, New York state officials promised to ease deportations of immigrants who had committed minor violations. The New York Times reported that the state’s governor, David Paterson, plans to grant more pardons to immigrants facing deportation.

Published in the Latin American Dispatch

Sarita A. Mohanty, M.D., M.P.H.

Sarita Mohanty is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Unequal Access: Immigrants and U.S. Health Care (IPC Special Report, June 2006)

The United States v. Arizona: Drawing a Clear Line Between Federal and State Immigration Authority

Released on Tue, Jul 06, 2010

Washington, D.C. - Today, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona in federal court. The lawsuit, prompted by passage of SB 1070 in the Arizona legislature, will argue that federal law trumps the state statute and enforcing immigration law is a federal responsibility. The Department has requested a preliminary injunction to delay enactment of the law, arguing that the law's operation will cause "irreparable harm."

"The federal government is taking an important step to reassert its authority over immigration policy in the United States," said Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council. "While a legal challenge by the Department of Justice won't resolve the public's frustration with our broken immigration system, it will seek to define and protect the federal government's constitutional authority to manage immigration."

Although states have always played a role in federal immigration enforcement, over the last 10 years more and more states have chosen to impose their local policies, priorities, and politics on our national immigration system. America can only have one immigration system, and the federal government must make clear where states' authority begins and where it ends. The federal government must assert its authority to establish a uniform immigration policy that it can be held accountable for. In the current environment it is unclear who is responsible for setting immigration enforcement priorities and who is responsible for their success or failure.Read more...

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The Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform

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View our resource page on how comprehensive immigration reform will benefit the United States economy.

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AIC Commends Latest Ruling Allowing Immigration Judges to Consider Evidence of Hardship

Released on Tue, Nov 13, 2012

For Immediate Release

American Immigration Council Commends Latest Ruling
Allowing Immigration Judges to Consider Evidence of Hardship

Washington, D.C.—Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a unanimous ruling that will allow Immigration Judges to exercise discretion in cases involving lawful permanent residents (LPRs) whose removal would cause extreme hardship to family members in the United States. The ruling is the latest opinion from a federal appellate court to reject a contrary decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals. The American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center, which filed an amicus brief in the case and participated in the oral argument, applauds today’s ruling and repeats its call for the Board to overturn its decision in Matter of Koljenovic, 25 I&N Dec. 219 (2010).

The case involved a 1996 amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act that prevents Immigration Judges from considering evidence of hardship in certain cases involving immigrants who were “admitted” to the United States as LPRs. For many LPRs facing removal, the ability to obtain such hardship waivers is the only means to avoid separation from U.S. family members. In its amicus brief, the Council argued that the Board ignored the plain language of the statute, which distinguishes between applicants who entered the country as LPRs and those who gained LPR status post-entry.Read more...

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What Does the Border Security Bill Mean for Comprehensive Immigration Reform?

Published on Fri, Aug 06, 2010

“You can make the argument that it can reinforce the Obama administration efforts to disentangle the border issues from the immigration issues, but that’s probably not how it’s going to play out,” Mary Giovagnoli, director of Immigration Policy Center, told TWI. “When you see actions like this at the end of a session, you can bet it’s more politics than policy that’s driving their decisions.”

Giovagnoli said she does not expect the bill to help the comprehensive immigration reform effort, but that it could help pave the way for senators who previously supported reform, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), to re-enter discussions.

Published in the The Washington Independent