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The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council, [1] a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States dedicated to promoting immigration to the United States and protecting the rights and privileges of immigrants in the United States. [2]
The Immigration Policy Center was founded in 2003. [1] Its parent body, the American Immigration Council, was founded as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1987. [2]
The main goals of the Immigration Policy Center, according to the About page on their website, are: [1]
The goals of the American Immigration Council, the parent body, are: [2]
The IPC generally favors expanded opportunities for immigration at all skill levels, opposes deportations of illegal immigrants and legal immigrants who violate visa terms or other laws, and favors a path to citizenship for current (legal and illegal) immigrants as well as future immigrants to the United States. [3] It has also expressed opposition in the past to proposals such as the Krieble Foundation's Red Card scheme (endorsed by Newt Gingrich in the 2012 Republican presidential primary) that would create a huge guest worker program without offering a path to citizenship. [4]
The Immigration Policy Center has eight listed staff members on its website, [5] including Walter Ewing and Mary Giovagnoli.
The IPC investigates and publishes material on the following issues related to immigration: demographics, economics of immigration, election and politics, enforcement and employment verification, health care, history of immigration, immigration and crime, immigration reform, integration and citizenship, immigration and unemployment, legalization, legislation and policy, state and local issues, and "restrictionists."
The IPC publishes reports both on the raw statistics of immigration from different regions and ethnic groups and on the consequences of such immigration. [6] This has included reports on immigration from Africa, [7] Asia, [8] and Latin America. [9]
The IPC has published many pieces suggesting that immigration liberalization measures, including proposed legislation in 2006 and 2013, would be economically beneficial to current citizens of the United States as well as immigrants. [10] [11] The IPC also published a "Just the Facts" backgrounder claiming that the 2013 legislative proposals related to immigration would not increase unemployment, contrary to the assertions of critics of these proposals. [12] In June 2013, after the Congressional Budget Office released a report with estimates of the fiscal impact of the proposed immigration legislation, the IPC published a piece arguing that this report underscored the case for pushing forth the immigration legislation currently under consideration in the US Congress. [13]
The IPC has published many backgrounders on the topic of immigration and crime in the United States, all pointing towards the conclusion that immigrants to the United States appear to commit less crime and have lower incarceration rates than native-born Americans. [14] [15] The IPC also published a press release critical of a report by the Center for Immigration Studies that appeared to cast doubt on the conclusions and methods of a previous IPC report. [16]
In addition, the IPC has published material on various federal and state government programs in the United States to tackle the problem of immigrant criminality, including the Secure Communities Program [17] and the Criminal Alien Program. [18]
The IPC uses the term "restrictionist" to describe political groups, think tanks, and other organizations in the United States that advocate reduced levels of legal immigration and crackdowns on illegal immigration. The IPC puts out documents, articles, and press releases to counter claims made by restrictionists that they consider inaccurate and misleading. [19] The restrictionist individuals and groups critiqued by IPC in the past have included the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), [20] [21] US Representative Lamar Smith, [22] and others. IPC has also published detailed articles and reports on the US restrictionist movement and its origins and history, listing FAIR, NumbersUSA, the Center for Immigration Studies, the Minutemen, and VDARE as prominent restrictionist groups. [23] [24] The IPC has also linked to the Southern Poverty Law Center's critical analysis of the origins of CIS, NumbersUSA, and FAIR, all of which were founded with assistance from John Tanton. [25]
The Immigration Policy Center publishes a number of writings on its website ranging from quick backgrounders for politicians, journalists, and the public to in-depth writings. Their quick backgrounders called "Just the Facts" [26] are published a few times a month and are widely referenced as go-to sources for information. For instance, their "Just the Facts" pieces on the DREAM Act [27] and on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [28] have been referenced by a number of writers such as Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute , [29] The Huffington Post , [30] and PBS . [31] IPC also has a "Top Resources" page that links to its most important and frequently accessed "Just the Facts" pages. [32]
The IPC also publishes Special Reports (their most in-depth publication type), [33] and Perspectives (fresh perspectives on existing immigration debates). [34]
In 2013, the Immigration Policy Center launched a separate website titled "Think Immigration" that was intended to carry out collaborative conversations on issues related to immigration to the United States. [35] Everybody was invited to participate in the online conversation by adding comments. [36] [37]
IPC puts out press releases, typically in the wake of important immigration-related news events such as legislative proposals, judicial decisions, or the release of public data relevant to immigration to the United States. [38]
In addition, IPC staffers are quoted in print and online news articles on US immigration-related issues, [39] in publications such as The New York Times , [40] The Guardian (UK), [41] The Washington Post , [42] ABC News , [43] The Christian Science Monitor , [44] and Talking Points Memo . [45]
Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of United States history. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than any other country, with 47 million immigrants as of 2015. This represents 19.1% of the 244 million international migrants worldwide, and 14.4% of the United States population. Some other countries have larger proportions of immigrants, such as Australia with 30% and Canada with 21.9%.
Vietnamese Americans are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, and Indian Americans. There are about 2.2 million people of Vietnamese descent residing in the U.S.
The H-1B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H) that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or the equivalent of work experience. The duration of stay is three years, extendable to six years; after which the visa holder may need to reapply. Laws limit the number of H-1B visas that are issued each year: 188,100 new and initial H-1B visas were issued in 2019. Employers must generally withhold Social Security and Medicare taxes from the wages paid to employees in H-1B status.
"Anchor baby" is a term used to refer to a child born to a non-citizen mother in a country that has birthright citizenship which will therefore help the mother and other family members gain legal residency. In the U.S., the term is generally used as a derogatory reference to the supposed role of the child, who automatically qualifies as an American citizen under jus soli and the rights guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The term is also often used in the context of the debate over illegal immigration to the United States. A similar term, "passport baby", has been used in Canada for children born through so-called "maternity" or "birth tourism".
The Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986.
Immigration reduction refers to a social movement in the United States that advocates a reduction in the amount of immigration allowed into the country. Steps advocated for reducing the numbers of immigrants include advocating stronger action to prevent illegal entry and illegal immigration, and reductions in non-immigrant temporary work visas. Some advocate tightening the requirements for legal immigration requirements to reduce numbers, or move the proportions of legal immigrants away from those on family reunification programs to skills-based criteria. What separates it from standard immigration reform is that reductionists see immigration as a major source of social, economic, and environmental problems, and seek to curtail current immigration levels.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a non profit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immigration policy. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies FAIR as a hate group with close ties to white supremacist groups.
Reforming the current immigration policy of the United States is a subject of political discourse. Immigration has played an essential part in American history, and the United States maintains the world's most liberal immigration policy. Several pieces of amnesty legislation aimed at preserving DACA were introduced in Congress in 2018. A package proposed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) that would have granted DACA beneficiaries a path to citizenship in return for a border wall and major cutbacks in family-based chain migration failed in the House with 193 votes, with 41 Republicans and all 190 Democrats voting no. A week later, an even greater amnesty package sponsored by Paul Ryan and the party leadership died in the House with only 121 votes. That law would have granted amnesty to almost two million illegal immigrants while maintaining the most important chain migration categories.DACA's future is currently unknown. A federal court ordered earlier this year that the programme must begin accepting new candidates, and the program's final fate is scheduled to be decided by the Supreme Court later this year.
John Hamilton Tanton was an American ophthalmologist, white nationalist and anti-immigration activist. He was the founder and first chairman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-immigration organization. He was the co-founder of the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigration think tank; and NumbersUSA, an anti-immigration lobbying group. He was chairman of U.S. English and ProEnglish. He was the founder of The Social Contract Press, which published a quarterly journal of nativist and white nationalist writers called The Social Contract until Fall 2019. He founded the pro-eugenics organization Society for Genetic Education.
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) is a nonpartisan, independent think tank established in 2001 by Kathleen Newland and Demetrios G. Papademetriou. It seeks to improve immigration and integration policies through authoritative research and analysis, opportunities for learning and dialogue, and the development of new ideas to address complex policy questions in ways that benefit all elements of society.
Robert E. Rector is a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation focused on poverty issues. He is considered one of the architects of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, and has also influenced immigration reform and abstinence education policy. Rector has written over 300 reports, articles, and commentaries on public policy and has testified before Congress more than 40 times. His writings include the book America's Failed $5.4 Trillion War on Poverty.
Sanctuary city refers to municipal jurisdictions, typically in North America, that limit their cooperation with the national government's effort to enforce immigration law. Leaders of sanctuary cities say they want to reduce fear of deportation and possible family break-up among people who are in the country illegally, so that such people will be more willing to report crimes, use health and social services, and enroll their children in school. In the United States, municipal policies include prohibiting police or city employees from questioning people about their immigration status and refusing requests by national immigration authorities to detain people beyond their release date, if they were jailed for breaking local law. Such policies can be set expressly in law or observed in practice, but the designation "sanctuary city" does not have a precise legal definition. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated in 2018 that 564 U.S. jurisdictions, including states and municipalities, had adopted sanctuary policies.
Immigration and crime refers to the relationship between criminal activity and immigrant communities.
In the early years of its existence, the United States had no formal immigration laws, but established clear naturalization laws. Anyone who wanted to vote or hold elective office had to be naturalized. Only those who went through the naturalization process and became a citizen could vote or hold elective office.
Israeli Americans are Americans who are of full or partial Israeli descent. In this category are those who are Israelis through nationality and/or citizenship. Reflecting Israel's demographics, while the vast majority of the Israeli-American populace is Jewish, it is also made up of various ethnic and religious minorities; most notably the ethnic Arab minority, which includes Muslims, Christians, and the Druze, as well as the smaller non-Arab minority ethnic groups.
African immigrants to Latin America include citizens and residents of countries in Latin America who were born in, or with recent ancestors from Africa. This excludes descendants of people who were forcibly transported to the Americas through the Atlantic slave trade.
Alexander Nowrasteh is an American analyst of immigration policy currently working at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank located in Washington D.C. Nowrasteh is an advocate of freer migration to the United States. He previously worked as the immigration policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, another libertarian think tank. Nowrasteh is a self-described "radical" advocate for open borders to and from the United States. He has published a number of peer-reviewed studies on immigration and co-authored with Benjamin Powell the book Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions.
Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution is a 2013 non-fiction book about immigration in the United States co-written by Jeb Bush, who served as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, and Clint Bolick, who serves as the vice president of litigation at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.
The We Belong Together Campaign is anchored by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and other groups throughout the United States. We Belong Together is an initiative that is taking place all over the United States, and seeks to bring together women from across the nation to bring attention to immigration laws that impact women. The campaign also gathers women together to fight for immigration reform. This campaign was formed to address issues that are not taking into account the experiences of women, who make up the majority of the immigrant population in the United States. The campaign offers a gender-based analysis and focuses on the importance of maintaining nuclear families together.
Federal policy oversees and regulates immigration to the United States and citizenship of the United States. The United States Congress has authority over immigration policy in the United States, and it delegates enforcement to the Department of Homeland Security. Historically, the United States went through a period of loose immigration policy in the early-19th century followed by a period of strict immigration policy in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Policy areas related to the immigration process include visa policy, asylum policy, and naturalization policy. Policy areas related to illegal immigration include deferral policy and removal policy.
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