Administration Takes Step to Keep Talented Foreign Students in the U.S.

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Thursday May 24, 2012 · 1:27 PM PDT

2012/05/24 · 13:27

BY HEATHER M. STEWART, COUNSEL AND DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION POLICY AT NAFSA: ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATORS

Current U.S. immigration law provides few options for foreign graduates of U.S. universities with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (“STEM” degrees) who want to stay here to contribute their skills and knowledge. Not enough American students are interested in these fields, even as employers regularly cannot find enough people with the high-tech and scientific knowledge and skills they need to fill available positions. Luckily for the United States, international students seek out these majors and excel in them. But increasingly, we lose these talented graduates to other competitor countries where immigration laws are friendlier. This is, of course, an enormous loss to the U.S. economy, as international students with STEM degrees often create successful businesses and jobs in the United States. Last week, DHS took a strong step forward by expanding the list of STEM fields for foreign graduates applying to training programs after graduation.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Wednesday May 16, 2012 · 6:31 AM PDT

2012/05/16 · 06:31

By Walter Ewing

The U.S. Border Patrol’s newly released strategic plan is a decidedly mixed bag when it comes to border security—just like the Border Patrol’s last strategic plan, released in 2004. On the plus side, both documents advocate an intelligence-driven, risk-based approach to border security which focuses on the greatest security threats. Both plans also call for disruption of the smuggling networks which bring unauthorized immigrants, drugs, and other contraband into the United States. On the down side, each plan embraces the simplistic “prevention through deterrence” mentality in which it is believed—or hoped—that heightened border enforcement will scare off unauthorized immigrants and smugglers alike. More broadly, both documents are a reflection of the federal government’s continued misguided emphasis on securing the territory between ports of entry, even though most smuggling now occurs through ports of entry.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Thursday May 10, 2012 · 8:01 AM PDT

2012/05/10 · 08:01

By Wendy Sefsaf

While eyes remain fixed on the Alabama legislature’s effort to revise their immigration enforcement law, HB 56, the U.S. Department of Justice informed state officials in a letter last week that the state’s immigration law has resulted in significantly higher absence rates among Latino students. According to the letter, more than 13 percent of Latino schoolchildren in Alabama withdrew from classes between the start of the school year and February 2012. While the Department’s investigation is still ongoing, the letter said Alabama could lose federal funding and face additional litigation if it fails to revoke a provision of HB 56 that requires administrators to determine the immigration status of newly enrolling students.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Friday April 13, 2012 · 9:11 AM PDT

2012/04/13 · 09:11

By Rob Paral

The Latino vote is widely discussed at election time, yet little analysis is dedicated to the immigrant vote,â and even less to the growing bloc of voters who are the U.S.-born children of immigrants. Yet, both immigrants and their children are showing tremendous growth and voting potential. Although many second-generation Americans are still children, more and more of them will come of voting age in future elections. As that happens, political candidates will be forced to take notice.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Monday March 05, 2012 · 12:55 PM PST

2012/03/05 · 12:55

Three of the twelve states holding Republican primaries or caucuses on Super TuesdayâGeorgia, Massachusetts and Virginiaâshow especially strong trends in the numbers of foreign-born residents who have become U.S. citizens. This trend is significant given that these new Americans are able to register and vote. Immigrant communities in each of these states are large, exceeding 800,000 persons, and make up almost 10% or more of the statewide population. In fact, these three states are home to 71% of all immigrants living in the Super Tuesday states. While we donât yet know how many of these naturalized U.S. citizens will vote on Super Tuesday or in the general election, GOP presidential candidatesâmany of whom have taken a hard line on immigrationâwould do well to take note of this trend.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Wednesday February 29, 2012 · 2:11 PM PST

2012/02/29 · 14:11

By Walter Ewing

Faced with harsh anti-immigrant laws passed by state or local governments, most unauthorized immigrants do not return to their home countries. That is the inescapable conclusion of a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP), entitled Staying Put but Still in the Shadows, by Leah Muse-Orlinoff. The report finds that unauthorized immigrants react to anti-immigrant laws by moving to a different county or state, or by staying right where they are and isolating themselves even further from the larger society. In other words, GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney was wrong when he argued that a “self deportation” solution to the problem of unauthorized immigration might actually work.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Monday February 06, 2012 · 3:03 PM PST

2012/02/06 · 15:03

By Michele Waslin

Federal immigration enforcement resources have increased significantly in recent years, as have the number of deportations. Meanwhile, states have passed harsh immigration laws intended to crack down on unauthorized immigrants. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has announced that he supports a policy of “self-deportation.” What do these things have in common? The belief that making daily life miserable for undocumented immigrants will result in “self-deportation”—or “attrition through enforcement.” A new paper today out of the Immigration Policy Center connects the dots between the strategy of “attrition through deportation” and federal and state anti-immigrant proposals and explains how attrition through enforcement has gone from being a catchy phrase coined by immigration restrictionists to a frightening reality in many parts of the U.S.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Wednesday February 01, 2012 · 12:42 PM PST

2012/02/01 · 12:42

By Walter Ewing

The federal government’s current approach to border security is dangerously misguided. Border-enforcement resources are directed at what gets smuggled across the border—people, drugs, guns, money—rather than who is doing the smuggling; namely, the transnational criminal organizations based in Mexico which are commonly referred to as the “cartels.” If the U.S. government wants to get serious about enhancing border security, it will begin to systematically dismantle the cartels rather than just seizing the unauthorized immigrants and the contraband they smuggle and arresting a few low-level cartel operatives in the process.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Tuesday January 31, 2012 · 3:46 PM PST

2012/01/31 · 15:46

By Rob Paral

Campaigning in Florida this month, GOP Presidential candidates continued to display a general lack of understanding of the state's diversifying Latino population. While it's well-documented that the Cuban-American population is currently a strong political force, the emerging story in Florida is that the state's future voting population will become increasingly Latino, but less Cuban.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Thursday January 19, 2012 · 11:45 AM PST

2012/01/19 · 11:45

By Walter Ewing

This month, the U.S. Border Patrol is set to end the practice of sending unauthorized Mexican immigrants back to Mexico without any sort of punishment. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the Border Patrol believes it now has sufficient resources and personnel “to begin imposing more serious consequences on almost everyone it catches from Texas to San Diego.” This new policy, however, is as misguided as it is ambitious. While protecting our borders is certainly important, the Border Patrol will waste even more resources than it already does on criminalizing unauthorized immigration rather than targeting the dangerous cartels that smuggle unauthorized immigrants into the country. Furthermore, the Border Patrol’s new policy threatens to inundate federal courts and prisons with even more non-violent immigration offenders.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Thursday January 12, 2012 · 1:26 PM PST

2012/01/12 · 13:26

By Seth Hoy

Immigration has never been a numbers game. When people think of immigration in America, they likely call to mind fear-fueled myths perpetuated by immigration restrictionists, like “immigrants are stealing American jobs” or “immigrants are a drain on our system.” Sadly, numbers and facts have rarely been part of the discussion, especially as state legislatures continue to take immigration law into their own hands. Today, however, the Immigration Policy Center published 50 state fact sheets updated to show just how much immigrants, Latinos and Asians contribute to our country as consumers, taxpayers, workers, entrepreneurs and voters—facts state legislators would do well to consider before passing legislation that drives immigrants, undocumented and documented, from their state.

ImmigrationPolicyCenter

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Tuesday December 13, 2011 · 2:49 PM PST

2011/12/13 · 14:49

By Wendy Sefsaf

Congress has been unable to pass any meaningful immigration legislation this year, but the House couldn’t miss a chance to stick it to immigrants by going after their U.S. citizen children in a recent tax bill. While Americans are debating whether taxes on millionaires should be raised, the House, at least, is planning to raise taxes on the most vulnerable of American citizens.

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Administration Takes Step to Keep Talented Foreign Students in the U.S.

New Border Patrol Strategy Changes Rhetoric More than Substance

Justice Department Says Alabama Immigration Law Disrupts Access to Public Education

Percentage of U.S. Children with at Least One Immigrant Parent is Rising...and Soon They Will Vote

Number of Potential Immigrant Voters on the Rise in Key Super Tuesday States

New Report Debunks Restrictionist Myth of Self-Deportation

New Report Examines Dire Consequences of “Attrition through Enforcement” Immigration Strategy

New Report Analyzes Fatal Flaws of U.S. Border-Enforcement Strategy

GOP Candidates Ignore Florida's Diversifying Latino Population

Border Patrol to Roll Out New “Get Tough” Policy on Unauthorized Immigrants

Immigrants, Latinos and Asians Contribute More to Your State Than You May Think

Just in Time for the Holidays: Congress Moves 4 Million Children Closer to Poverty