DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that undocumented children and youth eligible for the federal DREAM Act, as well as others not deemed to be serious criminal threats, will not be deported. Once their outstanding deportation cases are closed, these individuals will be able to apply for work authorization.
Columnist Erwin de Leon says voters in next year’s presidential election will have a choice between GOP candidates who favor enforcement-only immigration policies and a president who says the right words but has yet to deliver on immigration reform.
A recent presidential proclamation explicitly bars entry into the United States of persons who organize or participate in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of human rights.
With bipartisan support, the House of Representatives passed a bill to extend the time an active-duty service member of the Armed Forces has to petition for permanent resident status.
A few states have passed their own versions of the federal DREAM Act that allow undocumented youth to access in-state tuition rates. But what good will it do if the students cannot work once they graduate?
Business leaders say that immigrants are vital to the nation’s economic recovery and are calling states like Utah “improbable laboratories of immigration policy.”
Fi2W columnist Erwin de Leon says Georgia’s new immigration law isn’t just affecting undocumented farmworkers, it’s having a negative impact on the lives and well-being of ordinary citizens, including those who supported the get-tough policy.
A trend is emerging: states pass controversial immigration measures, then brakes are applied in the federal court system.
New York’s new Marriage Equality law expands LGBT civil rights in the state, but it will not help lesbian and gay immigrants who hope to gain permanent residency by marrying American partners.
In his weekly column, Erwin de Leon looks at a recent memo from the head of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and its potential impact on gay binational couples.