Immigration Policy Center

Published on Sat, Jul 03, 2010

"When we look at history, you see that immigration goes up in times of economic prosperity and down when the economy is not doing so well," said Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Immigration Policy Center. The influx spurred opposition from many citizens, who said Irish immigrants were taking Americans' jobs and opposed the immigrants' religion. Politicians demanded laws to make it harder for foreigners to become U.S. citizens.

In 1875, the U.S. passed its first restrictive immigration law. It prevented prostitutes and convicts from entering the country.

"Throughout history, it is the laws that really define who is legal and who is illegal," Waslin said. "At different parts of U.S. history, different groups have been illegal depending on what law there was at the time."

Published in the Arizona Republic

Published on Tue, Jul 06, 2010

Among groups applauding the lawsuit Tuesday was the American Immigration Council, which said the government was taking an important step to reassert federal authority over U.S. immigration policy.

"America can only have one immigration system," it said.

Published in the Associated Press

Published on Wed, Jul 07, 2010

Benjamin Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council, called the lawsuit filed yesterday an important step for the federal government to reassert its authority over immigration policy.

"While a legal challenge by the Department of Justice won't resolve the public's frustration with our broken immigration system, it will seek to define and protect the federal government's constitutional authority to manage immigration," Johnson said.

Published in the New Hampshire Union Leader

Published on Thu, Jul 29, 2010

BOISE, Idaho -- A new study shows how immigrants, both legal and illegal, effect Idaho's economy.

Numbers from the Immigration Policy Center show immigrants made up 7.2 percent of Idaho's workforce in 2008. Of that, 3.1 percent were illegal immigrants.

The study also says that if all undocumented immigrants were removed from the state, Idaho would lose nearly $430 million in economic activity. "These immigrants are an integral part of our economy, they're an integral part of our communities and if they were to leave, there would be huge economic repercussions. So if the Federal Government acts, people will be able to come out of the shadows and legalize and pay their fair share on the economy," said Tyler Moran of the National Immigration Law Center.

The study also showed the purchasing power of immigrants in Idaho. Latinos purchasing power totaled 2.5 billion dollars. That a more than 500 percent increase from 1990.

WATCH:

Published in the Fox News

Published on Tue, Jun 01, 2010

The new law, which won't take effect until the summer, compels police to seek identification of individuals they suspect might be in the country illegally - something civil rights advocates believe will lead to racial profiling and other abuses. Despite those concerns, 12 state legislatures have introduced, or are considering, similar legislation, according to a recent analysis by the Immigration Policy Center, the research arm of the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group.

Published in the Government Executive

Published on Wed, Jun 23, 2010

“There are many reports that confirm immigrants contribute to the economy,” said P.U.E.B.L.O. Executive Director Belen Seara, referring directly to studies from the Immigration Policy Center and the University of Southern California.

The Immigration Policy Center reported via the Texas-based Perryman Group, “If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from California, the state would lose $164.2 billion in expenditures, $72.9 billion in economic output, and approximately 717,000 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time.”

These figures are based in part on income and sales tax revenues and Social Security revenues.

Published in the New Times

Published on Mon, Jun 28, 2010

A January report by the liberal Center for American Progress and Immigration Policy Center noted that a large population of unauthorized immigrants — 10 to 12million, per most estimates — depresses wages for low-skilled jobs. Unscrupulous employers can hire and underpay unlawful workers, who have no ability to unionize or push back politically. In other words, the larger the undocumented population, the smaller the clout of organized labor.

Legalizing unlawful immigrants and ensuring the rights of all workers, the CAP and IPC study concluded, would “help American workers” by “rais[ing] the ‘wage floor’ for the entire U.S. economy.” Newly naturalized workers could also give unions a boost, particularly if they view them as allies early on.

Published in the New Mexico Independant

Published on Sun, Jun 27, 2010

A report by the Immigration Policy Center pointed out that "all American parents would, going forward, have to prove the citizenship of their children through a cumbersome bureaucratic process."

This obligation is not something "we" are going to impose on "them." It would be a burden on all new parents, including those whose ancestors debarked at Plymouth Rock.

Published in the Chicago Tribune

Published on Mon, Jun 21, 2010

“There is a concern that police officers working in areas that have secure communities in their local jails may have an incentive, or at least the ability, to make arrests based on race or ethnicity, or to make pretextual arrests of persons they suspect to be in violation of immigration laws, in order to have them run through immigration databases once they are jailed,” according to a 2009 by the Immigration Policy Center on the Secure Communities program and a similar effort, the Criminal Alien Program.

Published in the Texas Tribune

Published on Mon, Jun 21, 2010

"Migrants come here for a reason," says Michele Waslin, a senior policy analyst at the Immigration Policy Center. "They will continue to exist even if their life is made more difficult for them in the U.S. They have to weigh their lives here with their lives back home."

Published in the Salon