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Public Charge Doctrine: A Fundamental Principle of American Immigration Policy

Download this Backgrounder as a pdf The public charge doctrine is one of the oldest and most venerated components of American immigration policy. It continues to be debated by policymakers and reported in the news, for this provision is as timely and central today as it was in America's earliest days. Read more...

New USCIS Data Show How DACA Delays Decisions in Other Programs

USCIS statistics released Wednesday reveal how seriously the new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty has slowed work on all other agency programs. That analysis does not come from the agency, but a simple review of the numbers shows the negative impact of the new caseload on the continuing work of USCIS. Apparently the agency has not added enough additional staff to cope with all the young people, primarily from Mexico, who entered the nation illegally before the age of 16, and who now want the short-term legal status offered by that program. Read more...

The Jewish Stake in America's Changing Demography: Reconsidering a Misguided Immigration Policy

Download this Backgrounder as a pdf Preface: Challenging A Crumbling Consensus Read more...

Many Hands, Few Jobs

Many Hands, Few Jobs: Population, Unemployment and Emigration in Mexico and the Caribbean By Leon Bouvier and David Simcox CIS Paper #2 Winter 1986 Contents Read more...

North American Borders: Why They Matter

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California's Drive to Give Illegal Aliens Driver's Licenses

Last week, Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca said that it would be "sensible" to issue California driver's licenses to illegal aliens, endorsing a plan that pits California against the rest of the country and federal law for driver's license issuance. It's ironic that a major law enforcement figure naively endorses a plan that would prevent the U.S. citizens and legal residents he is charged with protecting from using a California license for identity purposes at airline security checkpoints. Read more...

More Green Cards for Alien STEM Grads with Advanced Degrees, Advances

Thanks in part to two strong performances by two strong women, the cause of more green cards for foreign students with advanced U.S. high-tech degrees seemed to advance at a House of Representatives hearing yesterday. The pro-migration tone of the hearing of the House Subcommittee on Immigration had been set by the catchy title of the event: “STEM the Tide: Should America Try to Prevent an Exodus of Foreign Graduates of U.S. Universities with Advanced Science Degrees?” Read more...

Immigration-Related Theses and Dissertations, 2007

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Law Profs: Obama's Deferred Action Not Supported by Constitution

A new paper by John Yoo (UC Berkeley School of Law) and Robert J. Delahunty (University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minnesota) raises many questions about President Obama's decision to grant legal status to nearly two million illegal aliens under deferred action and concludes that the president's act "threatens to vest the executive branch with broad domestic policy authority that the Constitution does not grant it." If taken to its logical conclusion, President Obama's lawless action has the power to undermine the entirety of immigration law, while expanding the presidential power in all domestic policy areas. Read more...

DHS to Create a Class of Undocumented Permanent Resident Aliens in 2013

Starting on February 1, 2013, America will have a new legal class of aliens — they will be undocumented permanent resident aliens. This bizarre new category of immigrant was created by a notice in the December 14 Federal Register by order of United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), a part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Read more...

Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border: Coyotes, Bears, and Trails

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The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Immigration Debate

Download a pdf of this Backgrounder James K. Hoffmeier is Professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern Archaeology at Trinity International University. All translations are from the ESV unless otherwise specified. Read more...

An Examination of U.S. Immigration Policy and Serious Crime

Table of Contents Introduction Immigrant Crime as an Exaggerated Fear: The Evidence Immigrant Crime as an Underestimated Problem: Evidence and Practical Considerations Federal Immigration Law Enforcement: Procedures and Complaints Controlling Immigrant Crime: The Challenge Ahead Bibliography Introduction Read more...

Are Immigration Preferences for English-Speakers Racist?

As many as 1.9 billion people, one-third of humanity, have some knowledge of the English language, and most of these people are non-whites in developing countries. Therefore, claims that English-language preferences or requirements for immigration to the United States would be racially discriminatory are unfounded. Read more...

Schumer-Rubio Amnesty Would Legalize 45 Percent of ICE Criminal Caseload

One of the most alarming effects of the Schumer-Rubio amnesty, if enacted in anything close to its current form, would be the legalization of tens of thousands of illegal aliens who have already been a public safety threat in their community. The eligibility criteria established for the amnesty and most of the new guestworker provisions excuse a wide variety of criminal behavior, including gang membership, drunk driving, vehicular manslaughter, identity theft, and immigration fraud (see this analysis). In addition, the bill offers amnesty to those who have repeatedly and flagrantly violated immigration laws. Read more...

Fixing Flores: Assuring Adequate Penalties for Identity Theft and Fraud

Download a pdf of this Backgrounder Janice Kephart is the Director of National Security Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies. Read more...

Perry: Pay No Attention to That Amnesty Supporter Behind the Curtain!

Rick Perry's letter earlier this month to DHS Secretary Napolitano demanding $349 million in compensation for having to house illegal-alien criminals is, I'm afraid, a political stunt — basically, shooting a coyote to distract attention from his bad immigration track record. And there's a lot to distract attention from: Read more...

Low Salaries for Low Skills: Wages and Skill Levels for H-1B Computer Workers, 2005

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Texas Border Tour

The Center’s next border tour will focus on the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. The Rio Grande separates Texas and Mexico across a stretch of more than 1,200 miles that is rich in history and intrigue. The natural boundary makes up almost two-thirds of the southwest border and has the most ports of entry, as well as millions of illegal crossings. Read more...

Health Reform Legislation and Immigration

Immigration will affect and be affected by the health reform legislation being crafted in the U.S. House and Senate. There are around 12 million uninsured immigrants. Their presence means every provision designed to extend health coverage to those without insurance will potentially expand taxpayers’ costs by billions of dollars. Many immigrant households have children who are automatically eligible for government health care, even if their parents are here illegally. Read more...

Immigration, Mainstream Media, and the 2008 Election (Updated December 2008)

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Immigration and Crime

V Visa: Very Many More Admitted Very Quickly

In addition to the instant amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens and their families and huge new guestworker programs, the Schumer-Rubio bill will change the rules to allow more than 1.4 million family visa applicants to bypass the current waiting list and be admitted immediately and begin working, even before they are approved for a green card. This little-noticed re-write of the V visa rules will also admit another 2.9 million immigrant visa hopefuls to enter the country as temporary visitors. Read more...

Beware of Indirect Immigration Policy Making

Download a pdf of this Backgrounder David North is a CIS Fellow. Most of the dialogue on national immigration policy, understandably, is focused on direct federal government policy making; that is, when Congress passes a law or votes appropriations, when the executive makes policies within the law, and when the judiciary interprets the law. Read more...

Electronic Verification Programs Effective in Curbing Illegal Employment

Testimony Prepared for the Pennsylvania House Labor Relations Committee in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania June 11, 2009 Chairmen and members of the Labor Relations Committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here to testify on House bills 1502 and 1503 -- Mr. Galloway’s bills to prevent illegal employment on public works projects and in the construction sector in Pennsylvania. I commend the committee for taking up this issue, which is so important as states prepare to take advantage of stimulus monies that will soon become available. Read more...