Immigration News
Check out daily roundups of immigration-related news stories, read articles that quote and cite AILA and AILA leadership, and check out analysis from AILA members and leadership on the AILA blog.
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21st Century America – or 18th Century Poland?
Two weeks ago, the immigration world was abuzz due to the bipartisan support received for a narrow, extremely technical fix to employment- and family-based immigration quotas. We learned yesterday, however, that one senator has blocked the bill from coming to a vote without substantial changes, mak
The US Department of Justice Weighs In On Sheriff Joe Arpaio
It's fortuitous that the Republicans scheduled a debate for tonight. In light of the findings released today by the U.S. Department of Justice, they'll all have an opportunity to weigh in on whether Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a tough law-and-order sheriff whose famous crusade ag
Newt Gingrich’s Immigration Plan: The Devil Is In The Details
I'd like to think that Newt Gingrich, the current GOP front runner, has come out squarely in favor of a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Not because I support his presidential candidacy, but because rejection of mass deportation as a solution to America'
It’s All About Enforcement
Enforcement. It is the current catch-word of the presidential race. I hear it every day. Governor Perry said it in last night's debate. “I believe in enforcement. We must enforce the laws as they are on the books.“ I agree with him. Bet you never thought you'd hear me say that. But yes, I agre
Iowa Poll Shows Likely Caucus-Goers Favor Immigration Solutions, Not Pat Sound Bites
Remember Pete Wilson? JD Hayworth? Tom Tancredo? That's what I thought. These guys are a few of the politicians whose anti-immigrant agenda played a big part in the demise of their political fortunes. And the list continues to grow. Just ask former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, author of A
The Definition of Insanity
It happened again yesterday. A foreign worker—this time from Honda—was arrested in Alabama and cited under the state's new immigration law. Sound familiar? It should. The same thing happened a couple of weeks ago to Detlev Hager, a German executive from Mercedes-Benz, who was in Alabama to check on
Doesn’t America Get It? High-Skilled Talent Helps Us!
Written by: Warren Leiden, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee One month ago, barely three weeks into the new federal fiscal year, the entire annual quota of temporary visas specially set aside for foreign national professionals with advanced degrees (at least a Master's) was used up. And as of November 2
The Cost Of Doing Business Under Alabama’s Immigration Law
You can't make this stuff up. A foreign executive from Mercedes-Benz gets arrested in Alabama and charged criminally under the state's new immigration law. Was he alien smuggling? Drug trafficking? Committing a violent crime? Nope. He left his visa in his hotel room. Under Alabama's new immigration
The Utah Compact, One Year Later
Written by: Peter Ashman, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee Recently in Salt Lake City, Utah, a diverse group of government and business leaders held a press conference to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Utah Compact. The compact was the result of a collaboration of business, religious and e
Prosecutorial Discretion – It isn’t that hard
Written by: Palma Yanni, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee On November 10, 2011, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American Immigration Council (AIC) issued a report chronicling the implementation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton's June 17, 2011
Undone By His Politics Of Hate: The Political Demise of State Senator Russell Pearce
Certain politicians owe soon-to-be former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce a big “Thank You.“ He just single handedly proved that the politics of hate, in particular the politics of hating Latino immigrants, is a sure ticket to the dustbin of history. A year out from the 2012 elections the
Making it Easier for New Immigrant Entrepreneurs – Changes in Policy and Law Can Facilitate Job Creation in the U.S.
Written By: Deborah Notkin, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee For many years, I have received inquiries from foreign students attending U.S. universities about post-graduation employment visa options. What is strikingly different this year is that many students are not interested in visas to fit prospec
USCIS Must Embrace Job Creating Immigrants
By David Leopold and Eleanor Pelta You know that your country's immigration system is really dysfunctional when . . . a job-creating entrepreneur must be the subject of a national news story in order to get his visa approved. ABC News reported this week that Amit Aharoni, an Israeli national and a g
Something’s Happening Here…
Written by: Tony Weigel, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee What it “is“ is becoming more clear. We pro-immigration advocates have a lot of work to do. Our country has had an ongoing policy war over immigration since its inception. This history includes both positive and negative periods, each infl
Have We Hit Rock Bottom?
Written by: Mo Goldman, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee October 18, 2011: A day that will live in U.S. immigration infamy. ICE proudly boasts the news that in Fiscal Year 2011 the U.S. deported a record number of individuals (396,906). On PBS Frontline: Lost in Detention, Maria Hinojosa exposes the d
Violent Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric: “It Will Kill You – Warning.”
Last January, Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in Arizona during a public meeting with constituents. In the wake of the shooting, the media began a national dialogue about how violent political rhetoric can spark actual violence. After reading about GOP front-runner Herman Cain's immigrati
Dehumanization of the Majority
Written by: Ally Bolour, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee A new attitude seems to have taken hold in American society these days - one that appears to be spreading through every medium and every social group. I see it on television, in newspapers, and on the internet; I hear it on the radio and in ever
Secretary Napolitano’s Immigration Policy Speech, Prosecutorial Discretion, and Decency
This week a teacher in Alabama asked a 4th grade girl for her immigration papers. That it happened in Alabama, a state whose very name still conjures up bloody images of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, may not be surprising. That it happened in an American classroom in 2011 is horrifying. C
The Issue Has Not Changed
By: Ally Bolour, AILA Media-Advocacy Committee Two seemingly unrelated events happened recently that reaffirmed my belief in legal immigration. First, I attended a panel discussion on Secure Communities co-sponsored by the American Immigration Council and my alma mater, Southwestern Law School in Lo
IIRAIRA 15 Years Later
Today is an anniversary that will go virtually unnoticed. It marks 15 years since the Congress enacted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA). For many practicing young lawyers who came into the field wanting to keep families united, this law suddenly chang
Waiting For Godot…And For Senator Grassley’s Follow-up Letter to President Obama
The other day 19 Senators, lead by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), sent President Obama a letter expressing concern about his “immigration policies“ and asking that he direct the Department of Homeland Security to “overturn recent directives regarding the increased use of prosecutorial discretion.
Silly in Alabama
This week a federal judge in Alabama enjoined key sections of that state's radical “make life miserable for the undocumented and so what if others get caught up in it too“ law. However, she let stand some other provisions of the statute, including the “papers please“ provision for traffi
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 [̷