The open-border media continues to mislead the American public about the DREAM Act, which Sen. Harry Reid has said he will offer as an amendment to the defense spending bill as soon as next week. You wouldn't know it from reading a newspaper or scrolling through your favorite online news site, but the proposed amnesty is an amnesty for children and adults – illegal aliens up to 35 years of age (see Senate Bill S.729). This fact does not seem to have made it into the newsrooms across the nation: Read more...

The media has been busy highlighting the supposed moral superiority of law enforcement officers opposed to Arizona’s SB 1070. Read more...

The American Bar Association is taking some heat from its dues-paying members for filing an amicus brief aimed at stopping Arizona's S.B. 1070.

As explained on its website, the ABA "provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public."

Now, the ABA seemingly advocates on behalf of illegal aliens who violate the rule of law. Read more...

The media used up quite a lot of ink covering U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's meeting with a number of pro-amnesty, anti-S.B.1070 police chiefs last week. It fit the media's agenda of promoting mass immigration and therefore was highlighted as exemplary of law enforcement's position on Arizona's effort. Read more...

Immigration attorneys have been pushing to expand the definition (and application) of asylum in order to create an asylum policy that welcomes many and denies entry to very few. For at least the past three decades, a number of activist-minded attorney groups have pushed for this expansion, even though it has meant advancing analysis that contradicts the original intent and traditional interpretation of the law. Read more...

The criminal justice system and the immigration enforcement system often operate independently, like two trains on parallel tracks. Although communication between law enforcement and federal immigration officials has improved dramatically over the past decade, there remain some loopholes and inconsistencies. When communication is strong, a criminal illegal alien picked up by local authorities is reported to ICE as soon as he is taken into custody and then turned over to ICE for deportation at the end of any jail term. Read more...

The Green Party has called for reducing future immigration to a more sustainable level. Unfortunately, it's the Australian Greens, not the U.S. ones.

In response to a new government plan to dramatically increase Australia's population, the Greens' leader, Senator Bob Brown, said the following: Read more...

There is no question that we should treat illegal-alien detainees as humanely as possible. Our system should expedite the removal process so that individuals are not detained any longer than is necessary. But while improvements can certainly be made, detention centers serve an important purpose and should not be abandoned, regardless of how loudly the open-border crowd yells. Read more...

Taxpayers will have difficulty finding dialysis treatments due to illegal immigration, reported the New York Times over the weekend. Our open-border immigration policy is resulting in increased costs to taxpayers and medical patients, layoffs of hospital employees, and is simultaneously endangering public health. Read more...

Despite gloating from the open-border groups about DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano's immigration address at a liberal advocacy group Friday morning, her message was clear: "When Congress is ready to act, we will be ready to support them." In other words, the White House will not advance an amnesty until Congress makes the first move. The underlying message directed at amnesty advocates: Go bug the legislators and leave us alone. Read more...

President Obama has announced the elimination of immigration provisions which ban entry of immigrants with HIV in a move that will undoubtedly increase HIV infection cases in the United States. The background to this change and the Bush Administration’s role was discussed in an earlier Center for Immigration Studies blog. Read more...

The California state Senate recently passed a resolution in support of non-enforcement of immigration law. It was authored by State Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), a man who has made a name for himself by constantly pushing for driver’s licenses for illegal aliens. The resolution’s purpose is to “urge Congress and the President of the United States to declare an immediate moratorium” on the enforcement of certain immigration laws until an amnesty is passed on the federal level. While the resolution does not have the force of law, it does illustrate how radical some lawmakers are in their support for open borders. It passed the Senate by a margin of 23-14. Read more...

I appeared on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight for a segment on the Obama administration's changes to 287(g), a highly-successful program that allows state and local law enforcement officers to assist ICE in carrying out immigration enforcement. Many activist groups opposed to enforcement of our immigration laws are seeking to end the program. Read more...

In June, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the formation of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) Southwest Border Task Force. Secretary Napolitano explained:

"I have asked this group to present me with concrete recommendations to address the complex challenges we face in this region, and their collective expertise will be a critical asset as we work to secure the border while facilitating legal travel and trade."

As members of Congress get an earful from their constituents on the proposed health care overhaul, one topic is becoming front and center: immigration. How the legislation addresses both legal and illegal immigration will have a significant effect on public support, but as of this writing, the 1,000-page health care bill only includes a few, ambiguous and entirely inadequate clauses on immigration. Read more...

Evidence suggests that Judge Sonya Sotomayor has repudiated over a century of Supreme Court jurisprudence aimed at limiting judicial involvement in immigration matters.

A simple analysis of Sotomayor’s post-2000 immigration-related holdings shows that she has ruled against the government – and for the alien – over 60 percent of the time. Read more...

President Obama has just affirmed his absolute support for secure borders:

"State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order," said Mr Obama.

"Just as all states should have the right to choose their leaders, states must have the right to borders that are secure, and to their own foreign policies.

"Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. That is why this principle must apply to all nations—including Georgia and Ukraine."

A new report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) highlights the problem of our nation’s growing backlog of immigration cases but fails to address one obvious, and frequently overlooked solution: less immigration.

The report explains that due to more immigration matters being brought before the immigration courts over the past decade, the backlog has increased by 64 percent, the wait for a resolution has increased 32 percent, and in 2008, the court received a total of 351,477 matters, the highest volume recorded over the last decade. Read more...

On Anniversary of Brutal Slaying, S.F. Mayor Appoints Sanctuary Advocate as Police Chief.

A year after the brutal killing of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Matthew, 20, and Michael, 16, on the streets of sanctuary city San Francisco, the illegal alien suspect and possible MS-13 gang member Edwin Ramos appeared in court. Read more...

Open-border advocates often claim that fences don't work. Why, then, does the White House have a secure, dual perimeter fence (both metal and "virtual") and limited points of entry—with officials doing quick background checks at each? Read more...

According to Montgomery County, Maryland’s Chief of Police J. Thomas Manger, his jurisdiction is experiencing an increase in gang violence, particularly from Hispanic gangs like MS-13 and the Latin Kings. A great majority of these gang members are illegal aliens, as detailed in our recent Center for Immigration Studies report, “Taking Back the Streets.” Read more...

The University of North Carolina School of Law recently joined forces with the ACLU and published a report aimed at stopping ICE cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The paper also advocates mass, illegal-alien amnesty. Read more...

From the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics:

During 2008, there were 175 million nonimmigrant admissions to the United States according to DHS workload estimates. These included tourists and business travelers from Canada, Mexican nationals with Border Crossing Cards, and all admissions requiring the submission of an I-94 form. I-94 admissions accounted for 23 percent (39 million) of the total admissions. The majority (90 percent) of I-94 admissions were short-term visitors, such as tourists and business travelers, while the remaining 10 percent (3.7 million) were temporary residents characterized by a longer duration of stay, such as specialty workers, students, and nurses. The leading countries of citizenship for I-94 admissions were Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

The report is online: “Nonimmigrant Admissions to the United States: 2008” Read more...

Rhode Island’s Superior Court has dismissed an ACLU lawsuit aimed at stopping the use of E-Verify. It is a significant loss for the ACLU and a big win for state government.

On March 27, 2008, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri signed an executive order requiring state agencies and all companies, contractors, and vendors doing business with Rhode Island to use E-Verify, the successful and rapidly-expanding program that prevents the illegal employment of illegal aliens.

Governor Carcieri was pleased with the ruling, saying: Read more...

President Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango was finally deported today, exactly six years after being ordered by a judge to leave the country.

April fools!

At her hearing today in a Boston immigration court, Onyango was granted an extended stay until at least February 4, 2010. As expected, this morning’s hearing was simply a preliminary hearing; a hearing on the merits will be held on this new date. It remains unclear what argument Onyango’s lawyers will present next winter, but they claim to have new evidence that will prevent her existing 2004 deportation order from being enforced. The media has speculated that the new evidence may focus on Onyango’s health problems, political unrest in her homeland of Kenya, or will bolster her previously-rejected asylum case in some way. Read more...

Vice President Joe Biden provided some rational commentary on immigration yesterday. And it sure isn’t going to make the amnesty advocates in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus very happy. While speaking to journalists in Costa Rica, the V.P. said the following:

“It’s difficult to tell a constituency while unemployment is rising, they’re losing their jobs and their homes, that what we should do is in fact legalize (illegal immigrants) and stop all deportation.”

The Obama Administration's somewhat skittish approach to border security is unfounded. According to a new Rasmussen Reports survey, 79 percent of U.S. voters now say the military should be used along the U.S.-Mexico border to protect American citizens if drug-related violence continues to escalate in that area. Read more...

Twenty-eight illegal aliens were detained during a workplace enforcement effort undertaken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bellingham, Wash., last week in what was the first workplace enforcement since President Obama took office. It was part of a gang investigation, and it likely took dangerous individuals off the streets. In a recent Center for Immigration Studies report on gangs, we explained how workplace enforcement is an important component of anti-gang efforts because of the fact that many illegal alien gang members hold jobs during the day, saving their violence for the dark of night. Much of this violence is directed at the immigrant community. Read more...

The D.C. Police Department announced today that illegal alien Ingmar Guandique will be charged for the May 2001 murder of 24-year-old congressional intern Chandra Levy. Since the media has focused largely on the relationship between Levy and then-Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.), the possible immigration connection went largely unnoticed. Even now news agencies from CBS to Fox News refuse to acknowledge that Guandique is in the country illegally. Read more...

Open borders are rendering some asylum claims arguably pointless, particularly when it comes to claims based on fear of gangs. Read more...