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Immigration and Border blog
Cesar Chavez Fought Illegal Hiring, a Part of His Story Rarely Told The farmworker leader the left honors opposed employers who used unlawful labor to break his strikes, a fact that complicates the story usually told. The AP Stylebook Changed a Phrase in 2013 and the Coverage Changed With It One wire-service style decision in 2013 reshaped how the immigration story is told, and the statutes never changed with it. Remain in Mexico and Safe Third Country Rules, How Each Is Supposed to Work The statutes, the 2004 Canada agreement, the 2019 Migrant Protection Protocols and Biden v. Texas explained, with the case for asylum at the first safe country. Why Unaccompanied Children From Mexico Get a Different Legal Process A 2008 anti-trafficking law gives children from Honduras a hearing and a federal shelter, while children from Mexico can be returned quickly. Here is why. A Secure Border Is the Humane Border, and Here Is the Moral Case Lax enforcement feeds smugglers and desert deaths. A step-by-step moral case that order protects migrants and citizens, with the cruelty charge answered. Terrorist Travel and the Visa Lessons the 9/11 Commission Laid Out The 9/11 attackers entered on visas and several broke their terms. The Commission showed immigration enforcement is counterterrorism; the work is unfinished. How a Smuggling Network Prices a Border Crossing and Who Gets Paid Human smuggling is a tiered business in which many hands take a cut, and every policy that makes entry look possible raises the demand they sell to. How the Credible Fear Screen Works and Why Its Bar Was Set So Low The credible fear interview decides who gets a full asylum hearing. Its low bar was built on purpose, and the gap it leaves is where reform belongs. Ranchers on the Line and the Property Rights Fight at the Southern Border Border families bear the cost of a porous line, yet barriers can mean taking their land. Conservatives owe them an answer that honors security and property. A Satirical Visit to the Gated Estate That Wants Every Other Gate Torn Down A labelled satire about a community with a gate, a guest list and a pool that lectures the country on borders, then the serious point underneath it. Does Mass Illegal Entry Count as an Invasion Under the Constitution Two clauses use the word invasion, conservatives disagree on whether they reach unlawful migration, and the courts have mostly declined to say. Reno v. Flores and the 1997 Settlement That Still Shapes Family Detention A 1993 Supreme Court win for the government became a 1997 consent decree no Congress passed. Here is the case and why Congress should write the rules. The 1986 Law's Real Failure Was the Fake Document Industry It Created IRCA is remembered for amnesty, but its enforcement half failed on a good-faith document rule and its farm program drew fraud. Verification decides enforcement. The Conservative Split Over Mandatory E-Verify, Argued From Both Sides Conservatives agree illegal hiring must stop but split on a national work-authorization mandate. Both cases get a hearing, then a verdict. What an ICE Detainer Actually Asks a Local Jail to Do and Why It Matters A detainer is a request to notify federal officers and hold a person briefly for transfer. The sanctuary fight is mostly a fight over whether to honor it. Should Immigration Courts Leave the Justice Department? Conservatives Disagree Immigration judges work for the Justice Department. Conservatives split on whether an independent Article I court would fix the system or weaken accountability. The Employer Who Hires Off the Books Is Breaking the Law, Not Helping Illegal hiring is the magnet behind illegal immigration. The 1986 sanctions, 8 U.S.C. 1324a, and why enforcement should start with the employer, not the worker. INS v. Chadha Began as One Man's Deportation and Ended the Legislative Veto A House resolution undid one student's deportation relief, and the 1983 ruling on bicameralism and presentment still limits how Congress oversees immigration. A Short History of American Asylum Law, From 1948 to the Refugee Act American asylum law grew from emergency measures into a permanent system, and each dated step shows Congress answering a specific crisis. The Open-Borders Libertarians Make a Real Argument. Here Is Where It Breaks Free movement of labor has a serious case behind it, and conservatives owe it a serious answer built on welfare, law, trust and consent. What the National Academies Found on Immigration's Fiscal Costs The 2016 National Academies report says the bill depends on who comes, at what age and with what schooling. Here is why selection beats volume. Barbara Jordan's Commission Wanted Less Immigration and a Workplace Check A Texas Democrat and civil-rights icon chaired a 1990s commission urging lower numbers, tighter family categories and worksite checks. Why was it shelved? Humanitarian Parole Was Meant for Emergencies, Not Whole Nationalities The parole statute allows entry only case by case for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Group admissions belong to Congress. The Refugee Act of 1980 Explained, and the Promise It Actually Made The 1980 law wrote the international refugee definition into American statute and set ceilings with Congress. It was built for persecution, not for poverty. A Nation of Immigrants Is Half the Sentence, and the Other Half Matters America is a nation of immigrants, and also of citizens and laws. The slogan is true but incomplete, and it is used to end arguments rather than begin them. Before Ellis Island, the States Ran Immigration and the Court Stopped Them For most of the 1800s port states screened and taxed arriving passengers until the Supreme Court held in 1876 that immigration belonged to Congress. Trump v. Hawaii and the Broad Power Congress Gave Presidents in Section 212(f) The 2018 travel-ban decision rests on a sweeping statute Congress wrote, and the power it confirms belongs to whoever holds the office, not to one president. Plyler v. Doe and the Bill States Pay for a Decision Congress Never Made A 5-4 Court in 1982 set schooling policy for children unlawfully present, and conservatives can accept the schooling while objecting to who made the rule. The Chinese Exclusion Case and How the Court Found a Sovereign Power to Exclude Chae Chan Ping v. United States rests a nation's power to exclude on sovereignty itself, a principle worth keeping even as we condemn the law that produced it. Immigration and Crime, Eight Popular Claims Checked From Both Sides Both sides overstate the link between immigration and crime, so here are eight common claims tested against the kinds of records that exist. How Sanctuary Became a Brand, From a 1979 Police Order to City Hall From a 1979 Los Angeles police order and a Tucson church movement to San Francisco in 1989, how a narrow rule turned into a banner cities now advertise. If Sanctuary Rules Applied to Your Unpaid Taxes, a Satirical Thought Experiment A labelled satire of a city that declares itself a sanctuary from the IRS, then a straight look at uniform law, the Supremacy Clause and the courts. English as a Common Language Is a Gift to Newcomers, Not a Barrier A shared language is the precondition of a shared public life, and expecting English helps immigrants rise instead of holding them back. Most of Europe Does Not Grant Citizenship by Birth Alone. Here Is the Map Unconditional birthright citizenship is the norm in the Americas and rare among developed democracies, and the American question turns on one amendment. Actual Enumeration, What the Census Clause Requires Every Ten Years The Constitution demands a real count every ten years to divide House seats and electoral votes. What it requires, and the fights since 1790. Subject to the Jurisdiction Thereof, Six Words at the Center of Citizenship Read the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, the 1866 debate, Elk and Wong Kim Ark, and weigh both readings of its most argued-over phrase. Lincoln's Electric Cord and the Case for a Civic Nation Anyone Can Join America is a creedal nation. Lincoln's electric cord shows how newcomers become fully American, and why assimilation is both possible and required. If New Citizens Must Pass the Civics Test, Graduates Should Pass It Too We ask immigrants to answer questions about the Constitution before they become citizens, and asking graduates the same is the least a school can do. Only Citizens Vote, the Case for Proof of Citizenship When Registering Noncitizen voting in federal elections is already a crime. The case for documentary proof is about verifying a rule that nearly everyone says they accept. Twelve Questions From the Citizenship Civics Test and the Answers Behind Them Twelve real questions from the naturalization civics test, each answered with its source in the Founding, and why a test that asks them is a good idea. Teddy Roosevelt's 1915 Warning Against Hyphenated Americanism, Read Closely A passage-by-passage reading of Roosevelt's 1915 Columbus Day speech on divided loyalty and equal treatment, with what still holds and what the war dated. Natural Born Citizen, the Phrase the Founders Borrowed and Never Defined The Constitution requires the president to be a natural born citizen, a phrase adopted without debate and never squarely defined by the Supreme Court. One Uniform Rule, How the First Congresses Wrote America's Naturalization Laws Article I gave Congress the naturalization power, and four early statutes show a young republic arguing over how long attachment takes to form. Wong Kim Ark and the 1898 Birthright Case, Read Fairly From Both Sides United States v. Wong Kim Ark is narrower than its fans claim and stronger than its critics admit, and a fair reader should see the text on both sides. How to Bring a Family Member to America the Legal Way, Step by Step A plain walk through the family-sponsorship path, from eligibility and Form I-130 to the visa bulletin, the affidavit of support and the interview. How Refugee Resettlement Works and Who Decides Where Families Go Resettlement is decided in Washington, run by private agencies and felt in your town, and the process leaves local voters almost no formal say. Self-Sufficiency Was the First Immigration Rule, the Public Charge Story From colonial poor laws to the 1882 Act to Form I-864, the rule that newcomers must support themselves is the oldest idea in American immigration law. The Case for Nuclear-Family Immigration Over Extended Family Chains Family unity is a conservative value, but sponsorship of adult siblings and married adult children builds decades-long queues no one chose on merit. What an American Points System Would Look Like Written Into Law A merit system is easier to praise than to draft. Here is how points for age, education, English and jobs would be scored, and what Congress must repeal. Should the H-1B Lottery Give Way to Picking the Highest-Paid Offers First The H-1B visa is allocated by random draw, which favors volume filers over employers who value a worker most. A wage-ranked system is the better reform. Temporary Protected Status and the Problem of Temporary That Never Ends TPS was meant as short shelter after war or disaster. Renewed for decades, it becomes quiet permanence that Congress should settle by statute. The Statue of Liberty Was Built on a Pedestal Paid for by Small Donors France gave the statue, but Americans had to build the base, and more than 120,000 small donors answered a newspaper campaign to finish it in 1886. Ellis Island Asked Twelve Million Newcomers to Become Americans and They Did Ellis Island processed about twelve million people from 1892 to 1954, and its line, sponsors, night schools and oath all expected newcomers to become Americans. Andrew Carnegie Went From Bobbin Boy to Steel King and Then Gave It Away A Scottish immigrant who started at $1.20 a week built the world's largest steel company, then gave his fortune away on principle, with Homestead on the record. Why a Green Card Lottery Makes No Sense for a Serious Country The Diversity Visa hands permanent residence to winners of a random draw. A serious country picks its newcomers on purpose, and the lottery picks nobody. Thinking of Moving to Canada? Its Points System Might Not Pick You Canada, Australia and Britain all select immigrants by skills and points, which ends the claim that selecting newcomers is un-American. A side-by-side look. The Melting Pot Was a Good Idea and the Salad Bowl Is a Worse One Assimilation made Americans of millions and gave their children full membership; the salad bowl keeps the pieces apart. The argument and the best objection. The Statue of Liberty Was a Gift About Liberty, and the Poem Came Later The sonnet on the pedestal is beautiful, but it was written to raise money, mounted in 1903, and never said what immigration law should be. My Great-Grandparents Came Without Papers, the Family Story Argument Answered The family story that our ancestors just showed up misreads Ellis Island, which ran on inspection, exclusion grounds and a ship's manifest long before visas. What Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson Feared and Hoped About Newcomers The Founders welcomed immigrants and worried about whether they would take up republican habits, and their disagreement beats today's slogans. The Forgotten Immigration Grievance in the Declaration of Independence The Declaration charges the King with blocking naturalization and discouraging migration, which shows the colonists claimed the right to decide who joins them.