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Perspectives on Immigration

Perspectives offers fresh ideas and alternative viewpoints on immigration policy from writers inside and outside the immigration debate.

Missing the Target: Anti-Immigrant Ordinances Backfire

In the wake of congressional failure to pass immigration reform legislation this year, hundreds of state and local governments across the country are considering thousands of legislative proposals that target undocumented immigrants. IPC Research Associate Walter Ewing rebuts the arguments of

Published On: Wed, Aug 01, 2007 | Download File

Beyond Border Enforcement: Enhancing National Security Through Immigration Reform

Since 9/11 the watchword in the debate over immigration reform has been “security.” As a result, most policymakers and pundits now approach the subject of immigration largely from a law-enforcement perspective. However, the current border-enforcement strategy, which tends to lump together terrorists and undocumented jobseekers from abroad as groups to be kept out, ignores the causes of undocumented immigration and fuels the expansion of the people-smuggling networks through which a foreign terrorist might enter the country.

Published On: Wed, May 02, 2007 | Download File

Serving the Under-Served: Banking for Undocumented Immigrants

In recent years, there has been a great deal of controversy over the efforts of some banks to offer financial services to individuals without Social Security numbers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants. More and more banks now allow people to open checking and savings accounts and to apply for credit cards and home mortgages using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or an identification card issued by a foreign consulate in the United States.

Published On: Thu, Mar 01, 2007 | Download File

The Sins of the Fathers: The Children of Undocumented Immigrants Pay the Price

How should the U.S. treat the children who come to the U.S. with their undocumented parents? If they grow up here like children who are born here, should they be able to go to college or to enlist in the military?  Or should their futures be limited because of a decision to immigrate in which they had no voice? Former Arizona State Senator Alfredo Gutierrez and talk show host on Arizona’s Radio Campesina Network argues against requiring children of undocumented immigrants to pay the price for their parents' decision. Read more...

Published On: Mon, Jan 01, 2007 | Download File

Sometimes Imperfect Reform is Better than Perfect Deportation

Former Arizona state senator Alfredo Gutierrez, who hosts a daily talk show on Arizona

Published On: Fri, Dec 01, 2006 | Download File

Less Rhetoric and More Substance on Immigration

Voters rebuffed anti-immigration hardliners in this month’s midterm elections. Despite their best efforts to use immigration as a wedge issue, many of the hardliners were rejected by voters who want more than just tough talk and a 700-mile fence to nowhere. As a result, the stage is set for Congress to find a workable solution to the immigration issues we face.

Published On: Wed, Nov 01, 2006 | Download File

The Rush to Limit Judicial Review

A provision of the House immigration bill that hopefully has been set aside for the year would

Published On: Fri, Sep 01, 2006 | Download File

The Top Ten Ways America Gets Immigration Wrong

The most striking thing about today’s immigration debate is how many times America has been here before—and how many times it has made the same mistakes. With respect to David Letterman, here is a list of the biggest errors that U.S. policymakers have made in designing immigration policy. As Congress wrestles to find the right mix of immigration enforcement and immigration reform, it should keep in mind what it has done wrong in the past so that it has a chance to get it right this time.

Published On: Tue, Aug 01, 2006 | Download File

Managing Immigration as a Resource

Benjamin Johnson, Director of the Immigration Policy Center, discusses the futility of an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform and the need for a more comprehensive strategy to deal with the problem of undocumented immigration. In this new "Perspective," he argues that immigration cannot be treated simply as a law-enforcement issue. Rather, the United States must begin managing immigration as a national resource.

Published On: Tue, Aug 01, 2006 | Download File

Immigration Adds Billions of Dollars to U.S. Economic Growth Every Year

IPC Research Fellow Dan Siciliano told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that immigration is directly responsible for billions of dollars annually in U.S. economic growth. Siciliano, who also is Executive Director of the Program in Law, Economics and Business at Stanford Law School, explained to the Committee that "if the United States were to reform the immigration system to better address the demand for foreign-born labor, the economic benefits of immigration could be even greater than what we have already experienced."

Published On: Sun, Apr 16, 2006 | Download File