Michele Waslin: Attrition through enforcement — “self-deportation” — has gone from being a catchy phrase coined by immigration restrictionists to a frightening reality in many parts of the U.S.
Harsh Enforcement May Not Drive Unauthorized Immigrants Out
By
Seth Hoy: The idea that harsh state immigration enforcement policies are “working”—that is, forcing unauthorized immigrants to return home—just doesn’t seem to hold water.
Immigration Case Backlog At All-Time High
By
Michelle Waslin: The growing backlog means that more immigrants are being kept in detention for longer periods of time. Making matters worse, a bill by Rep. Lamar Smith (H.R. 1932) to allow the U.S. to detain immigrants indefinitely is currently making its way through the House of Representatives.
Why Making E-Verify Mandatory Doesn’t Solve Anything
By
Michele Waslin: Advocates are going to expend much time and energy fighting yet another enforcement-only program that—absent legalization and other reforms—does nothing to fix our broken immigration system but has extremely negative consequences for law abiding employers and U.S. workers.
Wheels Falling Off DHS’s Immigration Enforcement Wagon?
By
Seth Hoy: Instead of defending the Administration’s enforcement strategy, however, maybe Secretary Napolitano should take a serious look at the egregious enforcement actions taking place right under her nose.
Restrictive Immigrations Measures Dying
By
Seth Hoy: The legislative graveyard got a little bit bigger this week as lawmakers in Mississippi pronounced a series of restrictive immigration measures dead.
States Reframing Approach to Immigration
By
Seth Hoy: Recognizing the vital role immigrants play in our economy, workforce, and communities would go a long way in crafting fair and workable solutions that go beyond enforcement.
States Playing with Enforcement-Only Fire Likely to Get Burned
By
Seth Hoy: Perhaps if state lawmakers listened to their constituents and considered the economic consequences, they might realize that playing with enforcement-only immigration is a surefire way to burn down your state’s economy.
Will State Legislators Continue to Pull the Plug on Restrictive Immigration Measures?
By
Seth Hoy: While some state lawmakers reject the enforcement-only approach to immigration, others—like state Sen. Russell Pearce, author of Arizona’s SB 1070—continued to sink their state in restrictionist quicksand.
Some States “Just Say No” to Harmful Immigration Enforcement Laws
By
Seth Hoy: Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arizona are still pursing harmful enforcement legislation, but they do so in full light of the social and economic consequences—consequences for which Arizona and other states are still paying.
Mandatory E-Verify Is Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be
By
Michele Waslin: While everyone agrees that high unemployment levels must be addressed, simplistic measures like mandating E-Verify are not going to open up jobs for millions of unemployed workers.
What’s in Your Wallet? Fiscal Notes Give States Pause Over Enforcement Laws
By
Seth Hoy: As many states face budget deficits in 2011, lawmakers might be asking their constituents the same question as those Capitol One commercials, “What’s in your wallet?”
States Contemplating Enforcement Legislation Continue to Walk the Line
By
Seth Hoy: Sadly, however, state legislators seem determined to act against their state’s best interests and move forward on restrictive immigration laws, which have been proven time and time again to hurt small businesses, law enforcement and the pocket books of the constituents they claim to represent.
Will “Stepping on the Gas” of Immigration Enforcement Drive Us into a Brick Wall?
By
Michele Waslin: Most importantly, worksite enforcement can only be truly effective if done in conjunction with comprehensive immigration reform—something President Obama alluded to in the State of the Union Address last night and Rep. Zoe Lofgren addressed in today’s hearing.
Inch by Inch, Hearing by Hearing: A Look Ahead at the GOP’s Immigration Agenda
By
Seth Hoy: Revitalizing the economy and growing jobs are never part of the equation when it comes to ramped-up state and federal immigration enforcement measures.
Will Local Lawmakers Take the Immigration Enforcement Bait?
By
Seth Hoy: As local lawmakers begin to lay the groundwork for next year’s legislative agenda, some conservative legislators are attempting to prioritize immigration enforcement ahead of efforts to jump-start flagging economies.
Prisonomics 101: How ALEC and the Prison Industry Got Arizona’s SB1070 onto Gov. Jan Brewer’s Desk
By
Seth Hoy: private prison corporations, who stand to make hundreds of millions in profits from the detention of immigrants, not only had a hand in drafting Arizona’s controversial immigration enforcement law, SB1070, but contributed millions to the bill’s cosponsors and continue to push the legislation in other states.
U.S. Border Czar Calls on Congress to Get Serious about Immigration Reform
By
Seth Hoy: While some candidates continue to make political fodder out of immigration and border security on the campaign trail, administration officials are pushing Congress to get real about overhauling our broken immigration system.
Counties Say No to ICE’s Secure Communities Program; Is Opting Out Possible?
By
Michele Waslin: The Santa Clara and Arlington County votes come after questions and confusion regarding local jurisdictions’ ability to opt-out of the program.
States Pushing Anti-Immigration Legislation Forced to Run Costly Damage Control
By
Seth Hoy: As politicians continue to take a “get tough on immigration” stance in the run up to midterm elections, voters may decide that their pocketbooks trump their politics when it comes to immigration.
Florida Legislators Oppose Proposed Anti-Immigration Legislation
By
Seth Hoy: Bipartisan opposition to Florida’s proposed anti-immigrant legislation is a rare example of those who actually prioritize policy over politics.
States Might Jump Off Arizona’s Immigration Bandwagon
By
Seth Hoy: State legislators are citing fear of costly lawsuits and a charged political environment in which restrictive immigration legislation might not pass as factors in their decision.
J.D. Hayworth Challenges Administration on Immigration Enforcement Weeks Before National Guard Deploys to Border
By
Seth Hoy: Campaign politics aside, challenging the Obama Administration on immigration enforcement—an issue that immigration advocates have criticized the President as being too heavy-handed on, in fact—just doesn’t make sense.
The Right Side of History: Religious Leaders Urge Immigration Reform
By
Seth Hoy: Conservative religious leaders made the case for common sense solutions to our immigration system—comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) that secures our borders, follows the rule of law and provides a pathway to citizenship for the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.
Border More Secure than Ever: Now What?
By
Michele Waslin: Once again, those who call for “enforcement first” have been put on the spot. Will any amount of enforcement ever be enough to move them to the next step? Will they continue to move the goalposts? Or will they finally recognize that comprehensive immigration reform is ultimately about securing our borders?
Napolitano Announces Next Steps for Southwest Border
By
Seth Hoy: Although Secretary Napolitano trumpeted DHS’s new border initiatives as well as past achievements, she also acknowledged that the border can never be hermetically sealed and that stalling immigration reform by highlighting border security issues is not the answer to our immigration problems.
SB 1070 “Gets Tough” on Arizona’s Housing Market
By
Seth Hoy: According to the Arizona Republic, housing experts anticipate that SB 1070 will not only drive illegal immigrants out of the state, but legal residents and potential new homebuyers with them—“departures from a state where growth is the economic foundation.”
Ending Birthright Citizenship Won’t Solve Our Immigration Problems
By
Michele Waslin: Now immigration restrictionists want to turn back the clock and implement Dred Scott II by denying birthright citizenship to the U.S.-born children of immigrants who are here illegally—or even on temporary visas.
A Lopsided Approach to Border Violence Doesn’t Solve Anything
By
Seth Hoy: while advocating for the allocation of more money and manpower to “secure the border” may make for good campaigning in an election year, experts find that beefing up the border actually does little to curb border violence. In fact, these “get tough” border initiatives—more troops, fencing and operations that target non-violent border crossers—pull valuable resources away from solving violent crimes.
Physician Warns That Arizona Immigration Law Could Turn Doctors Into Criminals
By
Andrea Nill: Lucas Restrepo, M.D., published a piece in the New England Journal of Medicine that provided a whole new angle on the effect SB-1070 will have on the medical profession. Restrepo points out that, under the law, health care providers who treat undocumented immigrants could be considered criminals.
PCL offers monthly Open House Events on the 2nd Saturday at 2pm and 3rd Thursday at 6pm. Click here to learn more.
Recent Comments