American Immigration Council

The IPC's Mary Giovagnoli in the Christian Science Monitor

Published on Thu, Apr 25, 2013

The IPC's Director, Mary Giovagnoli, was quoted in a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor on what could be expected from the new reform package from the Senate:

"Pro-reform analysts say that’s a good thing: The bill is replacing illegal workers with legal ones, these advocates argue, thus allowing American employers legally to meet legitimate business needs and uniting families kept apart by poorly fashioned immigration laws.

“You’re having to play catch-up for 20 years of neglect of this system,” says Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center and a former aide to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts during the 2007 immigration reform effort.

Without creating a functional (and larger) legal immigration system, they say, the lures for illegal immigration will remain."

Published in the Christian Science Monitor

The IPC's Mary Giovagnoli in Talking Points Memo

Published on Wed, Apr 24, 2013

Mary Giovagnoli, the Director of the IPC, was quoted in a Talking Points Memo article discussing the effect that the Boston marathon bombing would have on the current immigration debate:

"Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center and a former immigration adviser to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), told TPM that she saw nothing in the law that would affect the screening side of the process. She noted that procedures had been tightened significantly over the last decade already, especially in regards to “high risk” countries.

“The changes are not changes that implicate national security or have any connection to Boston,” she said."

Published in the Talking Points Memo

The American Immigration Council Welcomes Bi-Partisan Senate Immigration Bill

Released on Wed, Apr 17, 2013

Washington D.C. – The American Immigration Council applauds the “Gang of Eight” Senators who have introduced the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act." The Senators and their staff have been working tirelessly, for months, to create a bi-partisan solution that attempts to fix our broken immigration system. The Senate is to be commended for having the courage to lean into this difficult issue and bring forth a detailed and comprehensive proposal. In addition, labor and business groups should be acknowledged for their role in negotiating, in advance, some of the toughest sticking points to help ensure a smooth path through Congress.

In the coming days and weeks as the bill is analyzed and debated, there will be many who criticize both the policy remedies in the bill, as well as the sheer length of the legislation. It is important to keep in mind, however, that developing a comprehensive solution requires striking a delicate balance between a diverse cross section of stakeholders and impacted constituencies. Furthermore, the dysfunctional system that we have developed over the past two decades is in dire need of deep and precise reforms. While there will be fair criticisms of some of the bill’s contents it is important to keep the spirit of the debate productive and to ensure room for compromise. Read more...

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AIC Executive Director Ben Johnson in the New York Times

Published on Thu, Apr 04, 2013

The AIC's Executive Director, Ben Johnson, was quoted in the New York Times on Thursday. The article, focusing on the pathway to citizenship expected to be included in the upcoming immigration bill, called on Johnson's expertise on how the process is expected to work:

“There is broad recognition that these folks will have to go through a process of atonement,” said Benjamin E. Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council, a group in Washington that works to build support for immigration. “But ultimately at the end of the process they would become full-fledged members of our society through American citizenship.”

Published in the New York Times

Two Systems of Justice Paper Highlighted in Voxxi and the Huffington Post

Published on Thu, Mar 21, 2013

The IPC and LAC's Special Report, "Two Systems of Justice: How the Immigration System Falls Short of American Ideals of Justice," was highlighted in a piece by Voxxi, which was then reposted by the Huffington Post:

"The United States’ justice system is supposed to operate equally for all defendants, but a new report reveals that the immigration system operates under a different set of rules for immigrants facing deportation.

The American Immigration Council issued on Tuesday a report that reveals the immigration system fails to provide “a fair process” to immigrants in removal proceedings and “lacks nearly all of the procedural safeguards we rely on and value in the U.S. justice system.” The report, titled “Two Systems of Justice: How the Immigration System Falls Short of the Ideals of Justice”, also explores the major operational differences between the criminal justice system and the immigration removal system."

You can read the full report here.

Published in the Voxxi

Carmen A. DiPlacido – A Champion and a Friend

Released on Tue, Feb 05, 2013

The American Immigration Council mourns the loss of Carmen A. DiPlacido, an extraordinary lawyer known as much for his kind and gentle spirit as for his singular expertise in citizenship, naturalization and consular practice. He had superb intellect, enormous practical knowledge, huge institutional memory, and unstinting and consistent generosity in sharing it all.

Before joining the private bar in 1997, Carmen had a distinguished 27-year career in the U.S. Department of State, where he served in numerous positions, including Director, Office of Citizens Consular Services and Director, Office of Policy Review and Interagency Liaison, Overseas Citizens Services, as well as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Overseas Citizens Services. A singular contribution of his was the landmark Child Citizenship Act of 2000, which Carmen authored to imbue derivative citizenship with his trademark fairness and compassion.

In addition to his long-time support for our work here at the Immigration Council, Carmen was an ardent supporter of individuals with special needs, and was the president of the board of directors of Porto Charities, Inc., a charitable organization dedicated to actively assisting people with developmental or intellectual disabilities; their community and their environment.

Carmen is survived by his wife, Ann, and his daughter, Christie.

Carmen was a colleague and a dear friend to us all. He will be missed by all those who had the pleasure of knowing him.

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AIC Executive Director Ben Johnson Published in The Hill

Published on Tue, Feb 05, 2013

The American Immigration Council's Executive Director Ben Johnson wrote this Op-Ed for The Hill's Congress Blog, focusing on the problems with border security in the Immigration Reform debate.

"The recent immigration-reform proposals unveiled by President Obama and a bipartisan group of Senators are very much in accord when it comes to general principles. Both proposals advocate smarter and more effective immigration-enforcement measures at the border and in the interior of the country. Both stress the creation of a pathway to legal status and eventual U.S. citizenship for the nation’s 11 million unauthorized immigrants, as well as reforming the way we treat the best and the brightest who come here from around the world. And both call for reforms in the family-based and employment-based immigration systems to reduce backlogs and make limits on future flows more flexible. However, there are significant differences in the specifics of each proposal, particularly those having to do with immigration enforcement."

Published in the The Hill

President Obama Provides Moral Imperative for Immigration Reform

Released on Tue, Jan 29, 2013

Washington D.C. - Today, in Las Vegas, President Obama urged the country to join him in moving forward on immigration reform, offering a proposal that addresses the pressing economic, cultural, and moral crisis facing the nation over immigration. In doing so, he brought policies and principles down to one very important idea—that our American identity is directly tied to our heritage as immigrants and thus we owe it to each other to fix the immigration system once and for all. In laying out a moral and economic imperative for immigration reform, the President argued for a rational and productive debate, free of rancor and fear, reminding Americans that the nation was built by immigrants and “most of us used to be them.” His remarks today follow yesterday’s announcement from the United States Senate that a “gang of eight” bipartisan members have developed a set of principles to move immigration reform forward in the 113^th Congress.Read more...

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The American Immigration Council Welcomes Senate's Bipartisan Principles on Immigration Reform

Released on Mon, Jan 28, 2013

Washington D.C. - Today, a bipartisan group of eight Senators unveiled a new set of comprehensive immigration reform principles, adding to the growing body of evidence that legislation to fix our nation’s broken immigration system is not only necessary, but possible. Although the framework offers only a very rough outline of what comprehensive immigration reform legislation might look like, the principles are a very strong starting point for legislative negotiations that should now begin in earnest.

In presenting their proposal, the Senators reflect an understanding of the important role immigrants play in shaping our social and economic futures, and the critical need to create a fair and workable roadmap to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented individuals living and working in the United States. Many issues remain to be debated and refined, and elements of the principles raise some real concerns that will need to be addressed in the months ahead.

The following is a statement from Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council:

“The American Immigration Council congratulates Senators Schumer, McCain, Durbin, Graham, Menendez, Rubio, Bennett and Flake for reaching across the aisle and beginning an honest, bipartisan effort to confront the many difficult issues that must be resolved for immigration reform to become a reality. With the addition of a renewed commitment from President Obama, and the strengthened voices of those whose lives and livelihood have been damaged by the failure to act, the environment is better than it has been in many years for restoring fairness and integrity to our broken immigration system.”

###Read more...

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AIC Executive Director Ben Johnson in ABC-Univision Report

Published on Mon, Jan 14, 2013

AIC's Executive Director, Ben Johnson, was quoted in this recent ABC-Univision article:

"Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will remain at her post during President Obama's second term, a development that could have implications for the debate over immigration reform.

Officials from the White House and the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to ABC/Univision on Monday that Napolitano will stay in her current job...

'I think with Secretary Napolitano as the head of the Department of Homeland Security, it certainly is very hard to argue that the Obama administration isn't serious about enforcement. She has been very aggressive in enforcing the law,' said Benjamin Johnson, the executive director of the American Immigration Council in Washington, D.C. 'She's bringing a lot of credibility and a lot of experience in making the case that we've done enforcement, and it's time to start thinking about other areas of immigration policy that have to be changed.'"