Comprehensive Immigration Reform

A new report prepared for the Immigration Policy Center finds that illegal immigrants who gained legal status in the 1980s via the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) went on to earn substantial gains in their socioeconomic status. The report suggests that, contrary to the idea that legalizing immigrants will increase competition for scarce jobs [...]

The immigration restrictionist group Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) said it’s flooding Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and planning another round of Tea Parties, to motivate what they hope will be a huge backlash against any attempt to legalize any undocumented immigrants in the United States. The group is gearing up to fight comprehensive immigration [...]

The polling wars on immigration reform have officially begun. Today, the Center for Immigration Studies, which aims to restrict immigration to the United States and deport those who are here illegally, sent around the findings of a recent Zogby poll which finds that — surprise! — a majority of Mexicans say they think their friends [...]

Pro-immigrant religious groups with about 700 members from nine different states plan to rally this afternoon on the West Lawn of the Capitol to press for immigration reform.
Immigrants, including veterans fighting deportation, will speak at the event, as will Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who, with House and Senate allies, will set out key principles of [...]

The changing demographics of the United States suggest that there would be a lot of support for comprehensive immigration reform that includes legalization of undocumented immigrants who pay a fine and pay their taxes. But both parties have failed to present a comprehensive immigration bill so far and risk losing the support of a key [...]

A new study from the libertarian CATO Institute concludes that legalizing the more than eight million undocumented workers in the United States would have significant economic benefits for the country, while simply enhancing border enforcement and applying restrictive immigration laws would actually hurt the U.S. economically.

A comprehensive immigration reform bill might be drafted by the end of this year, but President Obama said in Mexico today that he would not expect anything to pass until 2010, according to The Hill.
Immigration reform has never been at the top of the president’s agenda, although he’s said he supports it, but today he [...]

Even as the numbers of illegal immigrants entering the United States plunges and the Obama administration steps up enforcement of the immigration laws, comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a path to legalization for some undocumented immigrants already living here is in peril.
As University of California-Davis law professor Kevin Johnson writes in a post on [...]

Just as many advocates were hoping, the debate over immigration has begun. Where and when it will end is anybody’s guess.
Right after yesterday’s meeting at the White House, after being personally thanked by President Obama for his role in getting discussion started, Sen. John McCain (D-Ariz.) told reporters that a guest worker program has to [...]

As expected, today’s immigration summit at the White House didn’t yield any big news, unless you happen to be waiting for an update on your citizenship application, in which case you’ll soon be able to check that online.
Other than that, President Obama simply acknowledged the obvious, which is that “there’s not by any means consensus [...]