Immigration Reform

Recent Features

Fact Sheet

The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the federal government has spent an estimated $324 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement. 

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Special Report

Back to the Future: The Impact of Legalization Then and Now

While there are many facets to an intelligent immigration reform package, one thing is clear: legalization for undocumented immigrants helps all of us. 

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All Immigration Reform Content

  • Special Report

Using All the Tools in the Toolbox

Publication Date: 
September 1, 2011
While it is true that Congress makes the laws and the President executes them, it is also true that the President, the Cabinet, and a host of regulatory agencies spend countless hours interpreting...
  • Research and Analysis

Immigration and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA): A Q&A Fact Check

Publication Date: 
August 18, 2011
Q: What is the Defense of Marriage Act?A: In 1996, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Section 3 of DOMA defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. At the...
  • Research and Analysis

Dissecting the HALT Act: The Impact of Eliminating Discretion from Our Immigration System

Publication Date: 
July 25, 2011
Immigration restrictionists on Capitol Hill are attempting to move legislation through Congress that would prevent the Obama Administration from exercising the executive branch’s long-held power of...
  • Fact Sheet

Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Law

Publication Date: 
May 26, 2011
Frustrated by the lack of comprehensive immigration reform, many advocates, from grassroots community organizers to Members of Congress, have begun calling on President Obama to take action. They...
  • Research and Analysis

Revitalizing the Golden State

Publication Date: 
April 27, 2011
California is home to nearly 10 million immigrants, more than one quarter of the state’s population. Of those, 2.7 million are undocumented, and the vast majority of them have been living in the...
  • Special Report

Q&A Guide to Arizona's Immigration Law

Publication Date: 
April 26, 2011
One year after the passage of Arizona’s tough new immigration law (SB1070), both opponents and proponents are...
  • Fact Sheet

Statistical Hot Air: FAIR’s USA Report Lacks Credibility

Publication Date: 
March 29, 2011
Many politicians who champion the deport-them-all approach to unauthorized immigrants have been relying upon a bloated and deeply distorted report issued by the Federation for American Immigration...
  • Fact Sheet

Immigration Reform and Job Growth

Publication Date: 
January 20, 2011
Legalizing Unauthorized Immigrants Would Boost the U.S. Economy With the U.S. unemployment rate hovering at 10%, some have questioned whether or not now is really the right time for comprehensive...
  • Special Report

Investing in the American DREAM

Publication Date: 
December 2, 2010
Each year, tens of thousands of undocumented immigrant students graduate from American high schools and embark on uncertain futures. Their inability to legally work and receive financial aid stalls...
  • Fact Sheet

The DREAM Act: Creating Economic Opportunities

Publication Date: 
November 18, 2010
There are an estimated 1.9 million undocumented children and young adults in the United States who might be eligible...
  • Blog

Why It’s Bad to Force Asylum Seekers to Seek Protection Elsewhere

September 12, 2019

The Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling on Wednesday allowing the Trump administration to implement a ban on asylum seekers at the southern land border. The ban applies to people who...

  • Blog

The House Passes Historic Legislation to Provide Path to Citizenship for Dreamers and TPS Holders

June 5, 2019

The post The House Passes Historic Legislation to Provide Path to Citizenship for Dreamers and TPS...

  • Blog

Immigration Hardliner Kenneth Cuccinelli to Replace Cissna at USCIS

May 28, 2019

The post Immigration Hardliner Kenneth Cuccinelli to Replace Cissna at USCIS appeared first on...

  • Blog

White House’s Misguided Immigration Reform Plan Is Set for Failure

May 17, 2019
  • Blog

White House Demands Additional $4.5 Billion for Border

May 6, 2019

In a move designed to ratchet up pressure on Congress, last week the White House sent an emergency budget request to Congress asking for $4.5 billion of funding to deal with increased numbers of...

  • Blog

Chaos Continues at DHS as Trump Purges More of His Senior Immigration Team

April 10, 2019

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned from her position on Monday. She was reportedly forced from office after President Trump grew frustrated with the...

  • Blog

Trump Threatens to Close the Border After Cutting Aid to Central American Countries

April 2, 2019

President Trump has threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border—again. As families continued to arrive at the border in March—typically the busiest month for border crossings—Trump declared he...

  • Blog

Congress Debates Reauthorization of Expired Violence Against Women Act

March 20, 2019

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a landmark piece of legislation that was the first to offer clear protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, is up for reauthorization...

  • Blog

An Update on TPS: A Promising New Bill, More Lawsuits, and an Uncertain Future

March 18, 2019

More than 300,000 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders whose status was due to expire in the coming months have new reasons to be hopeful. On the legislative front, Congress proposed a new...

  • Blog

After Shutdown Loss, Trump Doubles Down on Immigration in His New Budget

March 12, 2019

After weeks of tense negotiations, Congress averted a second government shutdown last month by reaching a bipartisan agreement on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget—a budget which gave President...

  • Press Release

Immigrants in America: More Skilled and Educated Than Ever Before

June 9, 2011

Washington D.C. - Today, the Brookings Institution released a new report,

  • Press Release

President Obama Puts Immigration Reform Back on the Table

May 11, 2011

Washington, D.C. - Today, President Obama offered his most concrete articulation of a new way forward for resolving our broken immigration system.

  • Press Release

Filling the Leadership Void: What is President Obama’s Vision on Immigration?

April 11, 2011

Washington D.C.

  • Press Release

House Subcommittee Continues Assault on All Forms of Immigration

April 5, 2011

Washington D.C. - Opponents of immigration reform are often quick to differentiate their disdain for unauthorized immigration from their alleged support of legal immigration.

  • Press Release

President Obama’s Plans for Winning the Future include Immigration Reform

January 26, 2011

Washington, D.C. - Last night in his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called on Republicans and Democrats to work together to "win the future" by taking on challe

  • Press Release

House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement

January 26, 2011

Washington D.C. - Today, the newly named House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement held its first hearing of the new session entitl

  • Press Release

State Legislators Attack Fundamental Constitutional Values

January 5, 2011

Washington, D.C. - Today, State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), a coalition of state legislators, revealed their plan to challenge the

  • Press Release

State Lawmakers from Critical States Speak Out in Favor of DREAM Act

December 16, 2010

Washington D.C. - Today, a group of state legislators from Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas, and Utah participated in a briefing to share their support for fe

  • Press Release

Restrictionist Group Continues Cynical Legacy of Counting Costs While Ignoring Benefits

December 1, 2010

In a new report, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) paints a misleading financial portrait of the DREAM Act.

  • Press Release

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill Introduced in the Senate

September 30, 2010

Washington D.C. - On Wednesday, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S.B.

  • Blog

Sinema and Cornyn Propose Changes to Asylum Processing at the Border

April 28, 2021

The current situation at the U.S.-Mexico border has once again exposed the flaws of our country’s asylum system. On April 22, Senators Kyrsten Sinema and John Cornyn and Representatives Tony...

  • Blog

The House Has Passed Two Major Immigration Bills. Here’s What They Would Do.

April 27, 2021

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed two major bills to protect the rights of certain noncitizens entering the United States. The bills—the NO BAN Act and the Access to Counsel Act—passed...

  • Blog

Republicans Introduced 11 New Anti-Immigration Bills. Here’s What’s at Stake If They Pass.

April 1, 2021

A group of Republican lawmakers recently introduced a slew of anti-immigration bills in the House of Representatives and Senate. The bills primarily target people’s rights to seek asylum in the...

  • Blog

The House Passes Historic Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act

March 18, 2021

The U.S. House of Representatives passed two immigration bills on March 18, signaling that Congress might finally enact major immigration reform for the first time in over three decades. These...

  • Fact Sheet

The Dream Act: An Overview

Publication Date: 
March 16, 2021
This fact sheet provides an overview of the most recent version of the Dream Act and similar legislative proposals.
  • Blog

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Affected Immigration: One Year Later

March 11, 2021

It’s been one year since the COVID-19 pandemic first affected immigration on a global scale. The impact has been swift, devastating, and long-lasting. On March 11, 2020, former President Trump...

  • Letters

Coalition Letter Urging USCIS to Implement Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act

Publication Date: 
March 9, 2021
The American Immigration Council joined other organizations in urging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to fully implement the provisions of the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act,...
  • Letters

Coalition Letter to President Biden on Immigration Executive Orders

Publication Date: 
February 9, 2021
The American Immigration Council urged President Biden to end the illegal and inhumane asylum and border policies implemented by the Trump administration.
  • Letters

Coalition Letter to Congress Urges Amending of Criminal Bars to Legalization in H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2019

Publication Date: 
February 8, 2021
The American Immigration Council urged Members of Congress to amend the criminal bars to legalization in H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, to ensure a more inclusive bill.
  • Blog

Biden Took 3 More Executive Actions on Immigration. Did He Go Far Enough?

February 3, 2021

On February 2, 2021, following the confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of Homeland Security, President Biden signed three executive orders that take steps to further unwind the Trump...

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