State and Local

Recent Features

  • Blog

Does Pushing Undocumented Immigrants out of a State Help or Hurt the Local Economy?

This highlights a key policy choice states must make: is it better to have a growing economy with lower unemployment overall or marginally higher wages among a small group of workers?

Bad for Business: How Anti-Immigration Legislation Drains Budgets and Damages States’ Economies

Experience from states that have passed anti-immigration measures shows that the these laws can hinder prospects for economic growth, and the costs of implementing, defending, and enforcing these laws can cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

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All State and Local Content

  • Fact Sheet

The "Mass Influx" Declaration

Publication Date: 
January 27, 2025

In 1996, Congress passed a law giving the federal government the power to declare an emergency relating to a “mass...

  • Special Report

Mass Deportation

Publication Date: 
October 2, 2024
The mass deportation of millions of undocumented individuals would be tremendously expensive and would have a catastrophic impact on our economy—one that would be expansive and impact every American...
  • Fact Sheet

New Americans in Utah

Publication Date: 
May 3, 2022
This research brief highlights the key role that new Americans are playing in Utah as participants in the state’s workforce, taxpayers, consumers, entrepreneurs, international students, and more.
  • Special Report

Tracking the Biden Agenda on Immigration Enforcement

Publication Date: 
May 20, 2021
This report analyzes the Biden administration's 100 days progress in reforming immigration enforcement and recommendations for how to best move forward.
  • Fact Sheet

Bad for Business: How Anti-Immigration Legislation Drains Budgets and Damages States’ Economies

Publication Date: 
June 4, 2012
This session, state legislatures are once again considering harsh immigration-control laws. These laws are intended to make everyday life so difficult for unauthorized immigrants that they will...
  • Fact Sheet

What Arizona v. United States May Mean for States with Similar Immigration Laws

Publication Date: 
April 17, 2012
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Arizona v. United States, a case addressing the legality of the Arizona immigration law known as SB 1070. According to the statement...
  • Special Report

Q&A Guide to State Immigration Laws

Publication Date: 
February 16, 2012
What You Need to Know if Your State is Considering Anti-immigrant Legislation...
  • Special Report

Discrediting “Self Deportation” as Immigration Policy

Publication Date: 
February 6, 2012
By Michele Waslin The day that Alabama’s draconian anti-immigrant law...
  • Fact Sheet

Bad for Business: How Alabama’s Anti-Immigrant Law Stifles State Economy

Publication Date: 
November 9, 2011
Although key provisions of Alabama’s HB 56 are on hold while its constitutionality is being tested in the courts, evidence is mounting of the growing fiscal and economic impact of the new law. State...
  • Fact Sheet

Checklist for Estimating the Costs of SB 1070-Style Legislation

Publication Date: 
November 8, 2011
(Updated November 2011) - Arizona’s infamous anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, has spawned many imitators. In a growing number of state houses around the country, bills have been passed or...
  • FOIA

Seeking Records about DHS’s Renewed Mass Influx Declaration and Deputization of State and Local Law Enforcement as Immigration Officers

Council and ACLU-MI file a FOIA request for records about the basis of the DHS Secretary’s renewed mass influx determination and the supervision and training of state and local law enforcement officers acting as immigration officers thanks to this determination.
  • FOIA

Investigating ICE’s Changes to Parole Policies and Other Implementation of President Trump’s Day One Immigration Actions

This FOIA request seeks all memoranda, musters, guidance, and other similar records in the implementation of the “Securing Our Borders” Executive Order and “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion” Presidential Proclamation.
  • FOIA

Seeking Records about DHS’s Unprecedent Mass Influx Declaration and Associated Agreements With State and Local Law Enforcement

The Council and Documented NY filed FOIA requests for records undergirding the DHS Secretary’s novel mass influx determination and agreements that involve state and local law enforcement officers in immigration enforcement.
  • Litigation

Challenging Iowa’s State Deportation Law

We’re suing Iowa for a new law that criminalizes anyone who has reentered the state after being deported — including children — even if that person is now authorized to be in the U.S. This is the most extreme anti-immigrant law in the state’s history.
  • Litigation

Challenging Florida’s Unconstitutional Anti-Immigrant Law

This lawsuit, filed on behalf of several individuals and the Farmworker Association of Florida, challenges Section 10 of Florida’s new anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 1718.
  • FOIA

FOIA Request Seeks Records Regarding Parole Guidance and Incorrect Addresses on CBP Documents After Migrants Flown to Martha's Vineyard

The requested records will shed light on CBP's practices with respect to granting and extending humanitarian parole and the agency's determinations regarding which addresses to include on immigration paperwork.
  • Blog

Five State Immigration Bills You Should Know About

May 14, 2025

By: Jojo Tompkins, State and Local Policy Fellow State legislatures are advancing policies that directly impact immigrant communities — creating new rules, expanding enforcement, and offering...

  • Blog

Protected No More – How States Are Responding to Immigration Enforcement in Sensitive Locations

April 11, 2025

For almost 15 years, immigrants in the United States were able to seek medical care, attend school, and access other critical services without much worry of encountering immigration enforcement in...

  • Blog

The Fight for Immigrant Students’ Education: Policies, Barriers, and What’s at Stake 

April 4, 2025

By: Jojo Tompkins, State and Local Fellow, American Immigration Council For generations, the United States has upheld education as the foundation for better opportunities. But the fraught politics...

  • Blog

Communities Continue to Stand by Immigrants Amidst Fear, Heightened Enforcement

February 13, 2025

The first few weeks of President Trump’s second term in office have instilled a heightened level of fear, as longtime neighbors, residents, and tightly knit communities have encountered increased...

  • Blog

ICE Makes Sweeping Arrests in Chicago, Endangering City’s Livelihood

January 31, 2025

By Karen Aho and Anna Shepperson Chicago has been bracing for immigration raids since the presidential inauguration, following tips that it would be the first sanctuary city targeted under the...

  • Blog

The Laken Riley Act Would Give States Sweeping Power Over Immigration Policy

January 8, 2025

Want to take action on the Laken Riley Act? The House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act, H.R. 29. It will likely go to a vote in the Senate. Contact your senators and urge them to vote...

  • Blog

Do 287(g) Agreements with ICE Make Communities Safer?

July 18, 2024

Written by Juan Avilez, Policy Associate for State and Local Initiatives and Raul Pinto, Deputy Legal Director  Texas’ SB4 set the tone for the national discourse around immigration enforcement....

  • Blog

Immigrant Workers Help Florida Thrive. Anti-Immigrant Policies Threaten That.

June 26, 2024

In 2022, more than one in five Florida residents were immigrants. In that same year, immigrants in Florida were over 14% more likely than their U.S.-born neighbors to be of working age,...

  • Blog

Iowa’s Texas Copycat Immigration Law Challenged in Court

May 17, 2024

Iowa is following in the footsteps of Texas with a new law that would allow state officials to arrest, detain, and remove noncitizens who have reentered the United States after being deported—even...

  • Blog

Border Patrol and Ohio Law Enforcement Engage in Racial Profiling in Northern Ohio, New Report Finds

March 27, 2024

By Gwen Short, Staff Attorney at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality and Raul Pinto, Deputy Director of Transparency at the American Immigration Council ABLE and the American Immigration Council...

  • Press Release

PRESS CALL: Experts To Warn Trump’s Immigration Surveillance and Registry Policies Will Turbocharge Mass Raids & Removals

March 5, 2025
The Trump administration is poised to supercharge mass deportation through militarized enforcement, invasive surveillance, and government overreach, all at the expense of civil rights and working families.
  • Press Release

PRESS BRIEFING: Community Leaders, Prosecutors, and Local Electeds Condemn HR 32, A Direct Attack on American Communities And Public Safety

March 5, 2025
The “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act” forces local leaders to choose between preserving funding for essential services or facing Trump's politically motivated cuts to schools, disaster relief and more.
  • Press Release

Trump’s Registration Requirement Means Fear, Uncertainty for Millions of Americans

February 26, 2025
The Trump administration announced a policy that will require many Americans to always carry identification documents with them to prove they are not deportable.
  • Press Release

New Data: Immigrants Keep Economy Strong, As Congress Considers Wasting Billions on Mass Deportation

February 25, 2025
New data shows how immigrants are contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, even as the Trump administration and Congress are pushing for unprecedented funding for mass deportation.
  • Press Release

NEW REPORT: Immigrants are Fueling Economic Growth, Revitalizing Communities in Great Lakes States

October 15, 2024
A new report describes how immigrants are key to the economic success and future viability of communities across the Great Lakes region.
  • Press Release

New Report Shows How Immigrant Entrepreneurs Create Jobs Across the U.S.

September 9, 2024
A new report from the American Immigration Council highlights how immigrant entrepreneurs create jobs and make the U.S. a more prosperous place.
  • Press Release

New Data Analysis: Immigrants Driving Opportunity, Prosperity in the U.S., Including in Swing States

June 5, 2024
A new analysis of 2022 U.S. census data highlights how, amidst the Biden administration's recent actions to limit asylum access along the U.S.-Mexico border, and in the context of ramped-up anti-immigrant rhetoric during this year’s presidential campaign, immigrants are helping make the United States a more prosperous and economically booming country.
  • Press Release

New Report Shows Immigrants Play Critical Role to Michigan’s Population Growth, Economy

May 29, 2024
Immigrants accounted for 57.7 percent of Michigan’s population growth over last decade and contributed $67.8 billion, or 9.9 percent, of the state’s total GDP in 2022
  • Press Release

Federal Court Temporarily Blocks Key Provision of Florida’s Anti-Immigrant SB 1718

May 22, 2024
On May 22, a federal court blocked a section of a draconian anti-immigrant law passed by Govenor Ron DeSantis's government in Florida.
  • Press Release

Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit to Block Iowa's Unconstitutional SF 2340

May 9, 2024
Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit today to block SF 2340, one of the worst, most far-reaching immigration laws ever passed in the state of Iowa.
  • Blog

Five State Immigration Bills You Should Know About

May 14, 2025

By: Jojo Tompkins, State and Local Policy Fellow State legislatures are advancing policies that directly impact immigrant communities — creating new rules, expanding enforcement, and offering...

  • FOIA

Seeking Records about DHS’s Renewed Mass Influx Declaration and Deputization of State and Local Law Enforcement as Immigration Officers

Council and ACLU-MI file a FOIA request for records about the basis of the DHS Secretary’s renewed mass influx determination and the supervision and training of state and local law enforcement officers acting as immigration officers thanks to this determination.
  • FOIA

Investigating ICE’s Changes to Parole Policies and Other Implementation of President Trump’s Day One Immigration Actions

This FOIA request seeks all memoranda, musters, guidance, and other similar records in the implementation of the “Securing Our Borders” Executive Order and “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion” Presidential Proclamation.
  • Blog

Protected No More – How States Are Responding to Immigration Enforcement in Sensitive Locations

April 11, 2025

For almost 15 years, immigrants in the United States were able to seek medical care, attend school, and access other critical services without much worry of encountering immigration enforcement in...

  • Blog

The Fight for Immigrant Students’ Education: Policies, Barriers, and What’s at Stake 

April 4, 2025

By: Jojo Tompkins, State and Local Fellow, American Immigration Council For generations, the United States has upheld education as the foundation for better opportunities. But the fraught politics...

  • Press Release

PRESS CALL: Experts To Warn Trump’s Immigration Surveillance and Registry Policies Will Turbocharge Mass Raids & Removals

March 5, 2025
The Trump administration is poised to supercharge mass deportation through militarized enforcement, invasive surveillance, and government overreach, all at the expense of civil rights and working families.
  • Press Release

PRESS BRIEFING: Community Leaders, Prosecutors, and Local Electeds Condemn HR 32, A Direct Attack on American Communities And Public Safety

March 5, 2025
The “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act” forces local leaders to choose between preserving funding for essential services or facing Trump's politically motivated cuts to schools, disaster relief and more.
  • FOIA

Seeking Records about DHS’s Unprecedent Mass Influx Declaration and Associated Agreements With State and Local Law Enforcement

The Council and Documented NY filed FOIA requests for records undergirding the DHS Secretary’s novel mass influx determination and agreements that involve state and local law enforcement officers in immigration enforcement.
  • Press Release

Trump’s Registration Requirement Means Fear, Uncertainty for Millions of Americans

February 26, 2025
The Trump administration announced a policy that will require many Americans to always carry identification documents with them to prove they are not deportable.
  • Press Release

New Data: Immigrants Keep Economy Strong, As Congress Considers Wasting Billions on Mass Deportation

February 25, 2025
New data shows how immigrants are contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, even as the Trump administration and Congress are pushing for unprecedented funding for mass deportation.

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