American Immigration Council

Published on Sun, Feb 13, 2011

According to the Washington D.C. based non-profit Immigration Policy Center, when a person is arrested and booked into jail, "...his or her fingerprints are checked against the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (US-VISIT), and the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT)...This fingerprint check allows state and local law enforcement and ICE automatically and immediately to search the databases for an individual’s criminal and immigration history."

When a match between the person and an immigration violation arises, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and local law enforcement are notified, and a "detainer" or an order to hold the person arrested is issued, giving federal authorities jurisdiction over that individual, according to the Center's fact sheet.

Published in the Open Media Boston

Published on Tue, Feb 15, 2011

Targeting birthright citizenship appears to be the latest pet project of anti-illegal immigrant lawmakers across the country, said Michele Waslin, a policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Immigration Policy Center.

"It's kind of an idea that's always been around with the extreme anti-immigrant folks," Waslin said. "This year it seems to be more popular as more people try to be tough on illegal immigration."

Waslin said Oklahoma risks expensive court costs trying to defend such laws and being alienated by businesses and industry who view such measures as extreme.

"Arizona has lost millions of dollars from people who have boycotted tourism there and withdrew conferences," she said. "If police are going to be arresting people for their immigration violations, that means an increase costs to detain and prosecute these people."

Published in the Associated Press

Published on Sun, Feb 13, 2011

If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Florida the state would lose $43.9 billion in economic activity, $19.5 billion in gross state product, and approximately 262,436 jobs, according to the left-leaning American Immigration Council, a research organization that studies immigrants and immigration policy.

Published in the Naples News

Published on Wed, Feb 09, 2011

According to the Immigration Policy Center, “If ICE does not take custody within 48 hours, the detainer automatically lapses, and the state/local law enforcement agency is required to release the individual.”

Published in the CNS News

Published on Sat, Feb 05, 2011

According to an Immigration Policy Center report, around 30% of those deported through the program between Oct. 2009 - Sept. 2010 were non-criminals. Other Immigration and Customs Enforcement sources have placed the number at almost half of those arrested. Previous efforts to focus on high-level criminals have seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement arresting and likely deporting up to 83% of folks convicted of minor traffic violations or no crime at all, says IPC.

Published in the Change.Org

Published on Wed, Feb 09, 2011

Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, a think tank arm for the American Immigration Council, said predicting whether the 112th Congress would see UAFA as part of comprehensive immigration reform at this stage in talks is difficult.

“It’s hard to know whether it would make it into the final formalized piece of legislation because there’s just so many intangibles, especially when you don’t know who all the sponsors might be, where they’ll draw their lines in the sand,” she said.

Published in the Washington Blade

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

Published on Wed, Jan 26, 2011

While the loss of Head Start would be devastating, it would be far from the only loss the Bluegrass State would suffer if SB 6 became law. The American Immigration Center's Immigration Policy Center recently projected that passage of this bill would cost Kentucky $1.7 billion in economic activity and more than 12,000 jobs.

Published in the Lexington Herald Leader

Published on Tue, Jan 25, 2011

Wendy Sefsaf, a spokeswoman for the D.C.-based Immigration Policy Center, which supports comprehensive immigration reform, commended the idea. “We don’t want to lose skilled workers after we’ve educated them. That’s crazy. Particularly when we’re talking about ways to stimulate the economy.”

Sefsaf said there’s long been concern on the part of immigration reform advocates to piecemeal out more politically palatable items, whether that be addressing the needs of highly-skilled workers, agricultural workers or college students.

But now, she said, “It’s hard to say what will happen in this new Congress and whether there will be more of an appetite for piecemeal. If Flake had the wind at his back and lots of people supporting him, we would bring to bear what we could to make those things happen.”

Published in the Arizona Daily Star

Published on Fri, Jan 21, 2011

The American Immigration Council reports:

This week, another batch of state legislators in Nebraska, Indiana, Colorado and Texas dipped their toes in the enforcement-only waters, but found themselves facing an even louder chorus of opposition from their communities.

In South Carolina, the farming lobby is putting pressure on lawmakers considering “papers please” Arizona-style legislation to also consider farmers who need seasonal labor. Last week, amidst questions on the bill’s legality, South Carolina legislators sent an Arizona copycat bill (SB 20 ) to committee for further discussion. This week, however, the American Farm Bureau said it would pursue a policy that “assists the federal government in helping states create programs that give growers access to enough legal labor”—that is, temporary legal status.

Published in the Florida Independent