American Immigration Council

Published on Wed, Oct 02, 2013

The AIC's Executive Director, Ben Johnson, wrote a recent article in Boulder, Colorado's Daily Camera, focusing on the cost of inaction if Congress should do nothing to pass immigration reform.  The article was based on the recent IPC publication, "The Cost of Doing Nothing:  Dollars, Lives, and Opportunities Lost in the Wait for Immigration Reform."

Published in the Daily Camera

Published on Mon, Sep 30, 2013

The AIC's Executive Director, Ben Johnson, had an op-ed titled "The High Cost of Inaction" published in Virginia's Roanoke Times.  In it, he draws attention to the recent IPC Fact Sheet, "The Cost of Doing Nothing:  Dollars, Lives, and Opportunities Lost in the Wait for Immigration Reform," released last week. 

"Yet, three months after the Senate passed immigration reform legislation (S. 744), the House of Representatives continues to dawdle. Other than giving speeches and mulling over a few backward-looking, enforcement-only bills, the House has done nothing to revamp the broken U.S. immigration system or put forward any vision of what to do with the 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living in the United States — 210,000 of whom call Virginia home. The standard excuse for this inaction is that there are too many other high-priority items on the legislative agenda right now — so immigration reform will have to wait.

"But while Congress waits, dollars and lives are being lost."

Published in the Roanoke Times

Published on Tue, Sep 24, 2013

The Immigration Policy Center was cited in a recent USA Today article titled, "Temporary Visa Opens Up World for Young Immigrant."  The article, focusing on Iowa DACA recipient Eren Sanchez, mentions the IPC's oft-cited number of potentially eligible DACA recipients.

"Sanchez, 24, is among the more than 565,000 young immigrants in the U.S. who have received two-year visas in the past year. The permits are offered under a year-old federal program for people ages 15 to 30 who have grown up in the U.S., but arrived illegally in the country as children.

Under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy put in place in August 2012 by the Obama administration, about 950,000 immigrants nationwide were eligible for the visas, according to an estimate from the Immigration Policy Center in Washington, D.C."

Published in the USA Today

Published on Wed, Sep 11, 2013

Rob Paral, a Senior Fellow at the Immigration Policy Center and the author of our recently published Special Report, "Stepping Up:  The Impact of the Newest Immigrant, Asian, and Latino Voters," made the case in the Houston Chronicle that the long-term demographic shift in many Republican and Democratic districts makes immigration reform even more of an urgent priority:

"A new analysis of immigration trends and demographic composition of U.S. House districts shows that many Republican congressional districts have emerging electorates that care deeply about immigration reform.

"Many Republican representatives will see their constituency profiles evolve in the coming years. Asian and Latino youth and newly naturalized U.S. citizens will make up 34 percent of newly eligible voters in 55 Republican-held congressional districts."

Published in the Houston Chronicle

Published on Mon, Sep 09, 2013

The IPC's Senior Policy Analyst, Guillermo Cantor, was interviewed on CNN Spanish regarding immigration reform and the IPC's recently released Special Report, "Stepping Up: The Impact of the Newest Immigrant, Latino, and Asian Voters," which explains the effect those groups will have on future elections in the United States.  Watch it here:

Published in the CNN

Published on Wed, Sep 04, 2013

A recent article on VOXXI featured a recent Special Report created by IPC Fellow Rob Paral, entitled, "Stepping Up:  The Impact of the Newest Immigrant, Latino, and Asian Voters."

The report, which details the future changes the U.S. Congress can expect in terms of voter demographics, was the central focus of the article: 

"The newly released study shows that the electoral composition in congressional districts is on track to change as more naturalized U.S. citizens and young Latinos and Asians — many of whom support immigration reform — become eligible to vote in the next few years.

“Representatives contemplating their eventual vote on immigration reform need to weigh the numerous policy arguments in favor of reform and make an informed decision, but they must also understand the shifting demographic dimensions of their districts,” stated Rob Paral, the author of the study."

Published in the VOXXI

Published on Wed, Aug 28, 2013

Guillermo Cantor, the Senior Policy Analyst at the Immigration Policy Center, was published in Aging Today in an article titled, "Will Immigration Reform Address Our Need for Eldercare Workers?"

In it, Cantor writes:

"The implications of S. 744 are manifold. First, by offering a path to citizenship for undocumented workers currently living in the country, the bill would certainly help stabilize the direct care workforce, which would in turn improve the quality of care. In particular, as a 2011 report by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA) has shown, once unauthorized care workers become legalized, they can legally drive, undergo enhanced background checks and access better opportunities for training and career advancement.

While the legalization of undocumented workers constitutes a significant step forward in strengthening the direct care workforce of current undocumented workers, the bill’s implications for the future flow of immigrant care workers must also be considered. Several signs suggest that the new legal immigration system created by S. 744 falls short of providing a sustainable solution to the eldercare shortage."

Published in the Aging Today

Published on Wed, Aug 21, 2013

In a Santa Fe Reporter article titled, "American DREAMers," a recent IPC state fact sheet and infographic were used to point out the importance of immigrants in New Mexico:

"According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, for instance, the US economy would grow by $1 trillion if immigration reforms pass.

On the flip side, state-by-state data released by the Immigration Policy Center shows that removing the 5.6 percent of New Mexico’s workforce that is unauthorized would eliminate more than 12,000 jobs and cost the local economy as much as $1.8 billion a year. "

Published in the Santa Fe Reporter