Legalization

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Take part in our "People's Mark-up" of the new Senate immigration bill.

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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

On June 15, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memorandum announcing that prosecutorial discretion should be applied to certain individuals who came to the United States as children. It explains that young noncitizens who do not present a risk to national security or public safety and meet specified criteria may receive deferred action for two years, subject to renewal, and may apply for work authorization.

Since June, USCIS has issued FAQs providing more details about the eligibility criteria and request process for DACA, as well as a form and instructions. The DACA policy does not supersede ICE’s previously issued prosecutorial discretion guidance outlined in the June 17, 2011 Morton memo. Those in removal proceedings who do not meet the eligibility criteria under DACA may still be eligible for prosecutorial discretion based on the prior guidance.Read more...

Births to Illegal Immigrants Are Studied

Published on Wed, Aug 11, 2010

Some researchers noted that the Pew figures did not identify families where both parents were illegal immigrants. “If anything, the Pew report highlights how complicated this issue is, given that so many unauthorized immigrants live in families that include U.S. citizens and legal immigrants,” said Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst for the Immigration Policy Center, a group that supports legalization for illegal immigrants.

Published in the New York Times

Application Instructions 2013

African Americans In The Immigration Reform Debate: Debunking Myths And Raising Our Voices

Published on Wed, Sep 22, 2010

Some African Americans have been fearful that the migration of our undocumented neighbors might have an adverse affect on their employment. The truth is, according to a May 2009 report from the Immigration Policy Center, there is no correlation between immigrants entering the labor workforce and the unemployment rate among native-born African Americans. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate in the African American community sits at 14.8%. This is due to broader macroeconomic developments, such as the loss of jobs in the auto and steel industries. We must work to address these issues head on, as opposed to using immigration as a scapegoat.

Published in the Seattle Medium

Americans pessimistic heading into Election Day 2010 -- but about what issues?

Published on Mon, Nov 01, 2010

Counters Michele Waslin of the Immigration Policy Center: "Legalized immigrants will earn more, pay more taxes, consume more, buy houses, start businesses, and contribute more to the economy."

Published in the The Christian Science Monitor

What Will Happen When Citizens Have to Ask the Government For Permission to Work?

Released on Tue, Apr 01, 2008

Many on Capitol Hill are eyeing favorably bills that create a massive electronic employment databases. While proponents of the Shuler-Tancredo "SAVE Act" (HR 4088) and the Johnson "New Employee Verification Act of 2008" (HR 5515) talk tough about cracking down on illegal immigrants, the truth is their bills' nationwide mandatory electronic employment verification system require all American workers, foreign- and native-born alike, to seek the government's permission to work.

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GOP Senators Push to End Birthright Citizenship

Published on Fri, Jan 28, 2011

Critics of the proposal, among them the Immigration Policy Center's Michele Waslin, argue that eliminating birthright citizenship "would punish the innocent children of undocumented immigrants, which flies in the face of American values." CBS News polling finds Americans split on the issue.

Published in the CBS News

Quick Fact: Latino-owned Businesses Add Billions to the U.S. Economy

At last count, the nation’s 2.3 million Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $350.7 billion and employed 1.9 million people.

A Conversation with Johnathan Ben Dor

May, 2011

Congratulations to Johnathan Ben Dor, our Exchange Visitor of the Month! Johnathan came here from Israel to study game cinematics at Blur Studio, Inc. in California. I recently sat down with Johnathan to chat about his exchange experience so far.

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