American Immigration Council

Immigration reform for an up or down economy

Published on Fri, Oct 09, 2009

Immigration is overwhelmingly about economics. If any doubts linger, they should be wiped away by the decline in the U.S. foreign-born population last year.

Published in the Long Island Business News

Guatemalan janitor in R.I. wins permanent residency

Published on Sat, Oct 03, 2009

Gustavo Cabrera, one of 31 janitors arrested last year in a high-profile raid on state courthouses, yesterday won the right to remain permanently in the United States, based on a 1997 law that legal experts say has provided relief to fewer than 200,000 people.

Published in the The Providence Journal

Immigration Issue Drifts Into Olympics Bid

Published on Fri, Oct 02, 2009

Is the U.S. losing some of its juice as a destination for foreign tourists? Syed Shahid Ali, a member of the International Olympic Committee from Pakistan, raised that issue ahead of the IOC picking Rio to host the 2016 Summer Games over Madrid, Tokyo and last-place finisher Chicago.

Published in the NY Daily News

New Report Highlights Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Released on Thu, Jan 07, 2010

For Immediate Release

New Report Highlights Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

January 7, 2010

Washington D.C. - As the U.S. slowly pulls free from a deep recession, a groundbreaking new study concludes that comprehensive immigration reform would provide just the type of boost our economy needs. Today, the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Immigration Policy Center (IPC) released a joint report, Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which shows that legalizing the roughly 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. through comprehensive immigration reform, as well as making future flows more flexible, would grow the economy by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The stark number cuts into the credibility of claims by immigration restrictionists that immigration reform during an economic recession is implausible. Read more...

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Secretary Janet Napolitano Testifies Before Congress

Released on Wed, Dec 09, 2009

Washington D.C. - Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano. The Secretary's opening statement reiterated her view that immigration enforcement is a necessity, but that enforcement alone is not a solution for our broken immigration system. Secretary Napolitano noted, "We can no longer perpetuate a status quo that is unacceptable for workers, employers, law enforcement, faith leaders, and America as a whole. We must seize this moment to build a truly effective immigration system that deters illegal immigration, provides effective and enduring enforcement tools, protects workers from exploitation and retaliation, and creates a tough but fair path to legalization for the millions of illegal immigrants already here."

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Letter to the Editor: Immigration and Employment

Published on Mon, Dec 07, 2009

In his Dec. 3 Ideas piece, “Recovering Stolen Jobs Key to Recovery,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) misconstrues the relationship between unauthorized immigration and unemployment among native-born workers. Smith seems to think that deporting the 8 million unauthorized-immigrant workers now in the United States would magically create 8 million job openings for unemployed, native-born Americans. In the real world, however, it’s not that simple. Immigrant and native-born workers cannot simply be exchanged for one another like batteries.

Published in the Politico

White House Plan on Immigration Includes Legal Status

Published on Fri, Nov 13, 2009

The Obama administration will insist on measures to give legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants as it pushes early next year for legislation to overhaul the immigration system, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.

Published in the New York Times

Napolitano Sees Hope for Immigration Reform

Published on Sat, Nov 14, 2009

The government has beefed up border security and workplace immigration enforcement, and now should begin the work of overhauling immigration laws, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.

Published in the L.A. Times

Statement from the American Immigration Council on Secretary Janet Napolitano's First Speech on Immigration Reform

Released on Fri, Nov 13, 2009

Today, in her first speech on immigration reform, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke in great detail about the security and enforcement measures that her agency has taken under her tenure to enforce current immigration laws, but she noted "the more work we do, the more it becomes clear that the laws themselves need to be reformed."

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Military Families Act Honors America's Immigrant Soldiers and Families

Released on Tue, Nov 10, 2009

Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY), and Russ Feingold (D-WI) have introduced the Military Families Act (S. 2757). The Military Families bill would allow immediate family members of active military service members to become lawful permanent residents even when the sponsoring solider has lost his or her life in service. Also included in the bill are the sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans whose immigration status has been long deferred due to numerical limitations on immigrant visas.

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