Immigration Tidbits

Immigration Reform and National Security

A Washington Post op-ed which studies this matter at length says “On national security grounds, then, if America wants to build a wall along one of our borders, it should be our border to the north.” In other words, if national security was the true motivation for the anti-immigrationists, they should be hollering for a wall on the Canadian border, not the Mexican one. To see how that conclusion is reached, click here.

Immigration Monthly: April 2006

The April issue of Immigration Monthly features an article by Susan Gzesh, “Central Americans And Asylum Policy In The Reagan Era”.  Click here to see.

CRS On Guest Workers

The Congressional Research Service issued a report on policy considerations related to guest worker programs.   Click here to see it.

Immigration Policy Center Report on IRCA Twenty Years After

Bottom Line:  If the current political stalemate over immigration reform is any indication, many U.S. policymakers have yet to heed the lessons of recent history when it comes to formulating a realistic strategy to control undocumented immigration. In 1986, lawmakers passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in an attempt to reign in undocumented immigration through heightened worksite and border enforcement, combined with legalization of most undocumented immigrants already in the country. Unfortunately, IRCA failed to offer a long-term solution to the problem of undocumented immigration because: (1) it did not expand avenues for legal immigration to match the U.S. economy’s continuing demand for immigrant workers; (2) it did not create an effective system through which employers could verify that their employees are authorized to work in the United States; and (3) the employer sanctions provisions of the bill were weakly enforced. Lawmakers should take care not to make the same mistakes in crafting new immigration reform legislation.

To read this report, click here.

KJ