Immigration Policy Center

Published on Fri, Apr 30, 2010

Last week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a statewide law forcing local police officers to question and potentially detain anyone they "reasonably suspect" to be an undocumented immigrant. If you believe our local law enforcement agencies, who will be required to implement the mandates of this law, it will lead to mistrust between police and the people they have sworn to protect. The law violates due process, civil rights, and federal sovereignty over immigration policy. While I believe the courts will quickly overturn it, I am concerned that the damage to my home state's credibility has already been done.

Published in the The Hill

Published on Thu, May 06, 2010

Many proponents of Arizona's harsh new immigration law cite rampant crime and violence at the border as the impetus behind the push to turn police into immigration agents and undocumented workers into criminals.

But immigrants are less likely than native-born residents to commit crimes, and presence in the US without papers is a civil, not a criminal offense. As the Immigration Policy Center points out, Arizona's crime rates have been steadily falling in recent years despite increased flows of undocumented immigration. It is unclear how directing police officers, under threat of lawsuit, to target these residents will make Arizona safer. In fact, law enforcement officials from across the country warn that SB 1070 may have the opposite effect, and compromise public safety by diverting scarce police resources away from targeting criminals, regardless of citizenship status.

Published in the Huffington Post

Published on Sun, May 02, 2010

Brandon Hernandez is a typical American teenage boy. Clad in sneakers and baggy sweatshirt, the ninth-grade student is standing outside Central High School in Phoenix with a friend, flirting in vain with groups of girls passing by.

School has finished for the day and Brandon, who was born in Arizona to Hispanic parents, should be looking forward to the weekend. But the 14-year-old is worried: the state’s new immigration law could make him a target of police searching for illegal immigrants, he says.

Published in the The Financial Times

Published on Tue, May 04, 2010

A new New York Times-CBS poll on immigration reports some surprising numbers: 51 percent of Americans support Arizona's controversial immigration law and 57 percent say immigration laws should be determined by the federal government and not by states. Those positions would seem on the surface to be mutually exclusive. But that's just the beginning of this poll's unusual results. Here's what pundits are concluding about immigration and Americans' unique attitudes.

Published in the The Atlantic Wire

Published on Fri, Apr 30, 2010

Arizona's harsh new immigration law has taken quite a beating in the past week.

President Obama has called it “misguided” and promised to keep an eye on it. Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government may challenge the law. Calls for boycott are multiplying, threatening to stagnate Arizona’s already weakened economy.

But maybe the state's lawmakers should see all these potential obstacles as a blessing. Because the truth is, Arizona may not be able to afford this law anyway.

Published in the Salon

Published on Mon, May 03, 2010

It's not every day in Arizona that the police are so eager not to do their job. Yet the state's latest anti-immigrant crack down has evoked protests from cops across the state, who fear that a new measure to criminalize undocumented immigrants will only make it harder to deal with local crime.

Broad opposition to the law, SB 1070, has produced some of the immigration debate's strangest bedfellows: civil rights advocates have aligned with police chiefs to warn of the consequences of entangling local police in federal immigration policy. And law enforcement officials nationwide have warned that the growing trend of localizing immigration enforcement undermines years of progress in establishing “community policing” techniques that are believed effective in preventing crime.

Published in the Colorline Magazine

Published on Wed, May 05, 2010

The 287(g) program, a lightning rod for criticism, is slowly and quietly melting into an expanded version of Secure Communities, a different and more under-the-radar government program.

Advocates and experts have noticed the switch, as the line to sign up for 287(g), a program that deputizes local police officers to enforce immigration law, has slowed, and the support for Secure Communities, a program screening prisoners for immigration status, grows.

Published in the Latin American Dispatch

Published on Fri, Apr 30, 2010

Two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s new immigration law – and the promise of more to come – represent the latest in a surge of outrage over the first-of-its-kind measure to crack down on illegal immigration. The lawsuits follow high-profile protests, calls for boycotts, and a travel advisory from Mexico urging its citizens to steer clear of Arizona.

Published in the The Christian Science Monitor

Published on Fri, Apr 30, 2010

Michele Waslin, senior research analyst, American Immigration Council; Washington, D.C.: This law is very problematic, and I believe there are several groups that are already preparing lawsuits challenging it. The White House is also taking a look to see if there is anything that can be done by the federal government. More than anything, this law highlights the fact that our immigration system is badly broken. We’re seeing more and more of these harsh anti-immigrant laws at the state and local level.

Published in the The Columbian Missourian

Published on Thu, Apr 29, 2010

The Senate leadership is planning to introduce a summary outline of an immigration bill shortly before 6 p.m. on Thursday, one day after circulating a draft to advocacy groups. The framework—whose existence I reported earlier this week and which is spearheaded by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)—seems to have been written with the intention of attracting support from moderates on both sides of the aisle. But if Dems can't get Republicans to sign on, will they go it alone?

Published in the Mother Jones