Blog: Think Immigration
We believe that immigration law is an integral part of America’s past, present and future. We also know that immigration law is complicated. Here you’ll find experts writing in an accessible way about immigration issues, from big, broad ideas down to specific cases. Our members bring knowledge they’ve gleaned from the daily practice of immigration law to this space and offer their expertise to readers.
Browse the Blog: Think Immigration collection
The Language of Immigration Reform: Saying what people want to hear
By: Lori Chesser Frank Luntz, pollster, strategist, Fox news commentator, and author of The New York Times best seller, Words that Work: It's Not What You Say it's What People Hear has some advice for immigration reform advocates. It might not be what all of us want to hear, but we need to listen. L
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Don't worry, be happy. The elevator played it each and every time we reached the lobby floor of the AILA National Fall conference hotel. I consider it the theme song for this year's conference. How apropos. Despite the fact that our conversations and panels were dominated by the fact that adjudicati
The Morton Memo: Supplemental Guidance for ICE Agents
There is a joke developing out here in the field: How many ICE agents does it take to apply the June 17, 2011, Morton Memo? Answer: Two—one to read it and another to ignore it. That's how I felt last week when the ICE Detroit Field Office issued a terse denial to a well documented application [̷
A Conservative’s Memo to GOP Presidential Candidates
To: Rick Perry (and any other Republican Candidate that wants to win in 2012) Re: Proudly Support Immigration Reform Because It Will Put Americans Back To Work As an immigration advocate and proud conservative who resides in Oklahoma City, a place that even Sarah Palin would agree is smack in the mi
Fixing Secure Communities: A View From Inside The Advisory Task Force
By Laura Lichter, AILA President-Elect Why would anyone agree to volunteer a significant amount of time to serve on an advisory task force representing nearly two dozen wildly divergent perspectives on immigration enforcement tasked with studying, analyzing, and offering solutions to a problem that
So where is the Border Security Goal Post?
By: Kathleen Campbell Walker Has the goal of immigration reform for our current dysfunctional system truly met its match in the constantly changing condition precedent of “Border Security?“ The Secure Border goal has been a consistent roadblock thrown up against any form of immigration reform
The Miracle of the Moment: Reflections On The 10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001
By the AILA Executive Committee As we go through life most of us are rarely present in the moment. Our minds are elsewhere. What shade of green was the tree you passed a month ago on the way to work? What were you thinking about? What did you feel? Were you sad, happy, or anxious? […]
It’s Time to “Work Side-by-Side with America’s Businesses”
Last night, President Obama laid out a plan to create desperately needed jobs in the United States, and made an urgent plea to Congress to pass that plan immediately. As an attorney who works every day with small and emerging businesses that seek to grow and expand opportunities in the U.S., I was
Who Won The Republican Debate Last Night?
A few days ago while channel surfing, I discovered “Me TV“ the “Memorable Entertainment Network“ which runs such classics as “The Dick Van Dyke Show“, “The Mary Tyler More Show“, “M*A*S*H“, and “The Bob Newhart Show“ to name a few. So I faced a hard choice last ni
Demystifying the Immigrant Detention System
By Stephen Manning Immigrant detention is a labyrinth; it is a maze of interconnected facilities where the United States government has the power to detain people like cattle. A lost, confused expression crosses our collective face each time we search for a reasoned explanation as to why people are
Obstacles, Dead Ends, and Lost Opportunities – Are We Open for Business?
By Tony Weigel and Sonal Verma, AILA Media Committee The 2006 Pixar movie Cars tells the tale of a fictional city, Radiator Springs, a once thriving oasis of commerce located along historic Route 66. As time passed, the then new, nearby Interstate highway diverted both people and business. In spite
Yes, Facts Do Matter In the Immigration Debate
In a blog published yesterday, Cecilia Munoz, White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, argued that the Secure Communities program is critical to smart and effective enforcement of the immigration laws. Ms. Munoz listed some statistics showing that the removal of immigrants with criminal re
ICE Targeting Immigrants LEAVING the Country
By Greg Siskind, AILA Media Committee The New York Times recently reported on ICE's new policy of boarding buses at the US-Mexican border that are headed south and asking for passengers to document their immigration status. Persons suspected of being in the country illegally are being arrested and t
Reform Immigration, Jump Start the Economy
Today, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security that reminded me of a piece I wrote a couple of years ago to explain why I became an immigration lawyer. The hearing was entitled, “The Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigr
Lamar Smith Tries To “HALT!” Smart Enforcement
House Judiciary Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) is in a position to do great things for America. For the good of our country, he can rise above the partisan rancor that paralyzes Washington, roll up his sleeves, get to work, and fashion an immigration overhaul that will protect American worke
Does Representative Goodlatte Think “Safety” Is Just Keeping Out Immigrants?
Today, the House Judiciary Committee will mark up HR 704, the completely mis-named “Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act of 2011.“ With that name, you would think the bill was many hundreds of pages of proposed changes to the court system, or enhanced funding for law enforcement,
Arizona All-Stars
The baseball players at Chase Field were not the only all-stars in Arizona last night. Although there were no big salaries or major league teams involved, the good citizens of West Mesa Arizona hit a home run when they forced Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to sign off on a proclamation recalling Arizon
“The Righteous Among Nations”
A visitor walking through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum starts at the top floor of the museum, viewing film clips, photos and other documentation of the ominous and jarring beginnings of the Nazi regime in Europe - a regime that succeeded in great part because of a vast propaganda mach
Why Immigration Reform Helps Our Economy
By Karol Brown, AILA Media Committee Discussions about immigration reform often focus on the issue of “undocumented“ or “illegal“ aliens. But fixing our broken immigration system is about more than the determining the fate of the estimated ten million people currently living and working
Not Letting Go Of The Dream
Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) just won't let it go. And that's a good thing when it comes to the DREAM Act, a bill that will provide a pathway to immigration compliance to thousands of undocumented students and young adults. Fueled by his passion for justice, Durbin is determined to see the DREAM Ac
ICE’s Union “On The Water Front”
The ICE union's reaction to ICE Director John Morton's prosecutorial discretion memorandum shows that the union leadership, apparently out of touch with its own members, is hell bent on maintaining the status quo-indiscriminate arrest, detention, prosecution, and deportation of immigrants-without th
Jose Antonio Vargas Takes His Seat
The success of a civil rights movement depends on people who are willing to take extraordinary personal risk. Yesterday Jose Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, did just that by outing himself as an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times, the nation's leading newspaper of r
The Wrong Help Can Hurt: The Administration Acts to Protect Vulnerable Immigrants
By T. Douglas Stump Every year, thousands of immigrant families fill in their forms, pay sometimes tens of thousands of dollars in fees, and still face deportation. They've tried to make better lives for themselves, tried to enter the U.S. legally, and, in the process, they've fallen victim to imm
Hey Kid, Show Me Your Papers
By David Leopold and Eleanor Pelta Remember Kindergarten? For us it was long time ago, but we both still have vivid memories of our teachers, some of the other kids of the class, and, of course, the playground. It can be frightening for young children to start school and learn to separate from the
Momentum Builds For Nationwide End To “Secure Communities”
Guest blog by Michael Mandel, Co-Chair, AILA-NY Advocacy/Media Committee In this era of record deportations, enforcement only policies and an all around refusal by Congress and the Obama administration to ease the daily terror felt by millions of immigrants, advocates welcomed the recent news that M