Immigration Policy Center

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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Introduction of Immigration Reform Bill Jump Starts Reform Talks Going into 2010

Released on Tue, Dec 15, 2009

Today, Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), in the House of Representatives. The 87 original co-sponsors of the bill include members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Black Caucus, Asian Pacific American Caucus, and Progressive Caucus.

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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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An Historical Perspective on the Success of Immigrants and Latinos

Released on Mon, Dec 07, 2009

As a front-page story in today's Washington Post reminds us: "Not since the last great wave of immigration to the United States around 1900 has the country's economic future been so closely entwined with the generational progress of an immigrant group." The story highlights the degree to which the children of immigrants from Latin America have become crucial to sustaining the working-age population and tax base of the nation as the 75 million Baby Boomers retire. The parents of these children most likely would not have even come to this country if not for the U.S. economy's past high demand for workers to fill less-skilled jobs; demand which was not being adequately met by the rapidly aging and better-educated native-born labor force.

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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

CIS Report Attempts to Erase 100 Years of Data

Wishful Thinking on Immigration and Crime

Released on Wed, Nov 18, 2009

A new report from the restrictionist group Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Immigration and Crime: Assessing a Conflicted Issue, attempts to overturn a century’s worth of research which has demonstrated repeatedly that immigrants are less likely than the native-born to commit violent crimes or end up behind bars.

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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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Naturalización en 1986 trajo beneficios al país

Published on Thu, Nov 05, 2009

Undocumented Mexican migrants who won their legalization during the 1986 amnesty showed a marked improvement in their economic status, education levels increased substantially and thousands visibly moved out of poverty without relying on public assistance.

Published in the La Opinión

The Unemployment and Immigration Disconnect

New Report Finds No Significant Relationship between Native Unemployment and Immigrants

Washington D.C. - As Congress once again takes up the mantle for comprehensive immigration reform, it is critically important for policymakers to understand the real impact immigration has on native unemployment. Research conduced by Rob Paral and Associates for the Immigration Policy Center demonstrates that there is little apparent relationship between unemployment and the presence of recent immigrants at the regional and state levels. Read more...

Policy and Politics: Senator Durbin and Education Experts Discuss DREAM Act

Washington, D.C. - Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), the chief sponsor of the DREAM Act (the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), has placed the bill on the Senate calendar for debate later this week. A new report shows that, while the benefits of the DREAM Act to individual immigrant students may be obvious, the benefits to society as a whole of a more highly educated, higher income tax-base are substantial. Leaders from the field of education will comment on the DREAM Act and the benefits it could provide if adopted. Read more...