Immigration Policy Center

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/16375-1

Published on Mon, Oct 11, 2010

Immigrants in Illinois hold a considerable amount of voting clout, according to a new census study to to be released Thursday by the Immigration Policy Center in Washington.

Wendy Sefsaf, with the American Immigration Council, says the study found more than six million voters registered in Illinois, and one in ten of those voters is either an immigrant or a child of an immigrant. That's well over a half-million potential voters, and Sefsaf says they could be a powerful force - if they get out and cast ballots on election day next month.

"Absolutely. I mean when ten percent of all registered voters in Illinois are immigrants or the children of immigrants, they certainly have a big political muscle that they can begin to use."

Sefsaf says studies showed that immigrants did have a big impact on the last Presidential election.

"So we know that they can actually swing elections in key districts and in key states."

Published in the Public News Service

Published on Fri, Oct 08, 2010

Indeed, there is conclusive evidence that granting amnesty to illegal immigrants enables them to boost their income, reducing socio-economic disparities. As part of the last attempt at immigration reform 25 years ago, the United States granted amnesty to nearly 3 million immigrants. A study carried out last November by the American Immigration Council found that whereas their homeownership rates and skills levels lagged those of equivalent ages who had been born in the United States, this gap had almost completely disappeared by 2006. Indeed, many of those who came to the United States in their late 20s and early 30s without the equivalent of a secondary education had improved their levels of qualifications, suggesting that they had invested time and money in remedial education.

Published in the Statesman

Published on Fri, Oct 01, 2010

According to the Immigration Policy Center, in 2008, immigrants made up almost a quarter of the Florida’s workforce, while unauthorized immigrants accounted for 8.2 percent of the state’s workforce.

Published in the Florida Independent

Published on Wed, Oct 06, 2010

According to the most recent data from the 2010 Census, Latinos make up 11.5 percent of Utah’s population. The Immigration Policy Center revealed 32 percent of immigrants in Utah in 2008 were naturalized citizens who can vote. That number continues to rise.

Published in the Salt Lake City Examiner

Published on Fri, Oct 01, 2010

Ben Johnson, the executive director of the Washington-based American Immigration Council, says Hatch’s bill is simply more of the same rhetoric that’s been tossed around for a while and does nothing to move the debate forward.

“The reality is that there too many politicians, and I think, unfortunately, Senator Hatch is beginning to fall into that category, introducing legislation not in any effort to actually get it passed but to send messages to their constituents,” Johnson said.

Johnson added some parts of Hatch’s legislation are already addressed in existing law.

“Declaring that we should deny visas to gang members and members of organized crime is like outlawing dinosaurs in Utah,” Johnson

Published in the Salt Lake Tribune

Published on Mon, Sep 27, 2010

A report by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) finds that mass deportation would reduce U.S. GDP by reduce U.S. GDP by 1.46 percent. Comprehensive immigration reform, on the other hand, would increase in U.S. GDP by at least 0.84 percent.

Published in the The Huffington Post

Published on Mon, Sep 27, 2010

The Immigration Policy Center writes:

Acknowledging the large numbers of illegal Europeans in the U.S., the government devised ways for them to remain in the U.S. legally. *Deserving* illegal European immigrants could benefit from various programs and legalize their status. The 1929 Registry Act allowed *honest law-abiding alien[s] who may be in the country under some merely technical irregularity* to register as permanent residents for a fee of $20 if they could prove they had lived in the U.S. since 1921 and were of *good moral character.* Roughly 115,000 immigrants registered between 1930 and 1940—80% were European or Canadian. Between 1925 and 1965, 200,000 illegal Europeans legalized their status through the Registry Act, through *pre-examination*—a process that allowed them to leave the U.S. voluntarily and re-enter legally with a visa (a *touch-back* program)—or through discretionary rules that allowed immigration officials to suspend deportations in *meritorious* cases. Approximately 73% of those benefitting from suspension of deportation were Europeans (mostly Germans and Italians).

Published in the Washington Times

Published on Wed, Sep 29, 2010

The plight of the DREAM Act students encapsulates many facets of today’s immigration crisis, says the American Immigration Council. (http://www.immigrationpolicy.org)

Published in the Lubbock-Avalanche Journal

Published on Wed, Sep 22, 2010

Some African Americans have been fearful that the migration of our undocumented neighbors might have an adverse affect on their employment. The truth is, according to a May 2009 report from the Immigration Policy Center, there is no correlation between immigrants entering the labor workforce and the unemployment rate among native-born African Americans. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate in the African American community sits at 14.8%. This is due to broader macroeconomic developments, such as the loss of jobs in the auto and steel industries. We must work to address these issues head on, as opposed to using immigration as a scapegoat.

Published in the Seattle Medium

Published on Thu, Sep 16, 2010

Meanwhile, the anti-immigrant movement is starting to lose steam, as more localities are outright rejecting popular anti-immigrant measures. They fear inviting costly lawsuits and garnering unwanted attention from the federal government. AlterNet's Seth Hoy reports that Tomball, Texas and Fremont, Nebraska are the latest cities to opt against strict anti-immigrant enforcement ordinances. Similarly wary of attracting exorbitant lawsuits, legislators in Ohio and Idaho are feverishly revising their own, once-embraced versions of Arizona's SB 1070.

Published in the The Huffington Post