ImmigrationProf Blog

Center for Migration Studies: The Importance of Immigrant Labor to the US Economy

The nation celebrated Labor Day yesterday, with a day off marking the end of summer and many barbecues.  Kevin Appleby for the Center on Migration Studies offered facts and perspectives on the importance of immigrant labor to the U.S. economy. 

Appleby cautions that am mass deportation of undocumented workers "would cause a severe strain on US citizens, as labor shortages would accrue and inflation would rise. Moreover, federal, state, and local budgets would be reduced, as taxes paid by undocumented workers would be lost, including their contributions to the Social Security and Medicare systems."

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2023, foreign-born workers, including the undocumented, accounted for 18.6 percent, or 29.1 million, of the US labor force, up from 18.1 percent in 2022. The labor force participation rate of the foreign-born increased to 66.6 percent, almost five percent higher than the native-born population (61.8 percent).

Foreign-born workers were mainly employed in service occupations, construction, transportation, and material moving occupations, with native-born workers employed in management, professional, and sales and office occupations, making their roles in the labor force largely complementary. 

KJ

Trump Television Ad Skewers Harris on Immigration

 

CNN reports that a "new television ad from former President Donald Trump’s campaign piles deception upon deception to attack Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration. The ad uses an edited quote to attack Harris over a supposed proposal that she hasn’t actually made.

The ad features a narrator saying this: `Attention seniors: Kamala Harris has promised amnesty for the 10 million illegals she allowed in as border czar, making them eligible for Social Security. Studies warn this will lead to cuts in your Social Security benefits.' A quote shown on the screen, which the ad attributes to the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that favors reduced immigration, says this: `Harris’ amnesty imposes large cost on Social Security.'”

KJ

Biden Speedy Border Removals Program at Work

In the 2024 presidential campaign, former President Trump often rails on President Biden's "open border" policies.  

 

pic.twitter.com/dRzk0BLf86

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2024

 

 

CBS News rebuts the claim that President has embraced anything akin to open borders:

"Biden's executive action [earlier this year] has upended U.S. asylum law, which generally allowed migrants physically on American soil to request asylum as a way to fight their deportation. But under his June proclamation, migrants who cross the southern border between legal entry points are generally disqualified from asylum.

The new rules also scrapped a requirement for U.S. immigration officials to ask migrants whether they fear being harmed if deported, placing the onus on them to express that fear in order to be interviewed by U.S. asylum officers. The measures have led to a dramatic drop in those being allowed to access the U.S. asylum system. They have also allowed officials to more quickly deport migrants from Mexico, Central America and other countries where the U.S. conducts regular deportations."

 

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Sarah Towle, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands (June 2024)

 

Sarah Towle talks about her book Crossing the Line:  Finding America in the Borderlands (June 2024) in this podcast.  Here is the publisher's pitch for the book:

"It was family separation and `kids in cages' that drove Sarah Towle to the U.S. southern border. On discovering the many-headed hydra that is the U.S. immigration system—and the heroic determination of those caught under its knee—she could never look away again. Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands charts Sarah’s journey from outrage to activism to abolition as she exposes, layer by `broken' layer, the global deterrence to detention to deportation complex that is failing everyone—save the profiteers and demagogues who benefit from it.

Deftly weaving together oral storytelling, history, and memoir, Sarah illustrates how the U.S. has led the retreat from post-WWII commitments to protecting human rights. Yet within the web of normalized cruelty, she finds hope and inspiration in the extraordinary acts of ordinary people who prove, every day, there is a better way. By amplifying their voices and celebrating their efforts, Sarah reveals that we can welcome with dignity those most in need of safety and compassion. In unmasking the real root causes of the so-called “crisis” in human migration, she urges us to act before we travel much farther down our current course—one which history will not soon forgive, or forget."

KJ

Immigration Article of the Day: Protecting Youth: The Dismantling of Youth as a Particular Social Group in Contemporary Asylum Law by Kristina Campbell

Protecting Youth: The Dismantling of Youth as a Particular Social Group in Contemporary Asylum Law by Kristina Campbell in Critical Geographies of Youth: Law, Policy, and Power (2023)

Abstract

In its 1985 precedent decision Matter of Acosta, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) defined “membership in a particular social group” for purposes of receiving protection under US asylum law (Matter of Acosta 1985). The right to asylum is codified in the Refugee Act of 1980, which is based on the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, provides protection to persons who have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, ethnicity, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. In Acosta, the BIA defined “membership in a particular social group” as an individual having a well-founded fear of persecution on account of his or her membership in “a group of persons, all of whom share a common, immutable characteristic. i.e., a characteristic that either is beyond the power of the individual members of the group to change or is so fundamental to their identities or consciences that it ought not be required to be changed.” Although it has long been argued by advocates that age can be considered a “common, immutable characteristic” sufficient to satisfy the Acosta test for establishing membership in a particular social group, subsequent revisions of the requirements for a cognizable particular social group by the BIA in the last dozen years have brought into question what, exactly, is required to sufficiently articulate “membership in a particular social group” for youth who are fleeing persecution in their homelands.

The construct developed by the BIA in recent years requires that an individual seeking asylum on account of their membership in a particular social group needs to prove not only that they are a member of a group that is immutable, but also that the group is also “particular” and “socially distinct.” Because many—if not most—of the youth currently seeking protection from persecution in the United States are fleeing gang violence and recruitment, as well as sexual violence and involuntary servitude, it has become increasingly difficult for young asylum seekers to prove that their persecution has occurred on account of a protected ground. In this chapter, I will discuss the consequences—both intended and unintended—of the deconstruction of the term “youth,” and how it is used as a qualifying or disqualifying element in the definition of what constitutes membership in a “particular social group” in light of contemporary BIA case law. I will also discuss how advocates can develop novel legal arguments and strategies going forward to develop precedents that protect vulnerable youth fleeing persecution from private actors in the future.

KJ

MPC: Mobile Passport Control

Returning back to the US from Mexico earlier this month, I used CBP's new Mobile Passport Control app. This entailed downloading the app--easy enough to find in the apple store. I then uploaded all of my passport information to a section called "People." It's plural because you can upload the information about everyone that you're traveling with--spouse, kids, etc. I did this well in advance of my trip. On the day of my return into the US, I just checked into the app once I'd landed back in the US, answered a few questions, and took a selfie. The app issued a receipt, giving me 4ish hours to get my luggage and make it through customs. 

As you can see from this pic of DFW, there is now a separate lane for MPC.

When I got to my designated lane, a CBP camera took a photo of me (no doubt to compare to the selife I took earlier). I showed my passport to an OFO agent and was through it all lickety split.

-KitJ

A Book on the Horizon: Borders and Belonging (forthcoming Oxford University Press, 2025) by Hiroshi Motomura

Introduction to: Borders and Belonging  Introduction to Borders and Belonging, a book to be published in 2025, by Hiroshi Motomura

This excerpt is the Introduction to Hiroshi Motomura, Borders and Belonging (Oxford University Press forthcoming early 2025). Borders and Belonging is a comprehensive yet compact analysis of responses by governments, communities, and people to human migration. It is for a general audience that wants to view migration issues from many different perspectives. Though working primarily with policies and trends in the United States, the book interprets them for an intended worldwide audience. By combining questions that are rarely asked together, this book’s approach is unique. 

 

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Sin Padres Ni Papeles by Stephanie Canizales

Congratulations to BIMI faculty director Prof. Stephanie L. Canizales, for publishing her book titled "Sin Padres Ni Papeles." The book traces the experiences unaccompanied teens in Los Angeles who grow up as undocumented low-wage workers, navigating unthinkable material and emotional hardship, finding the agency and hope that is required to survive, and discovering what it means to be successful during the transition to adulthood in the United States. 

You can find out more and order it at https://www.sinpadresnipapeles.com/ 

MHC

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

Today, August 30, is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Amnesty International defines "enforced disappearances" this way:

Enforced disappearances occur when individuals are secretly abducted or imprisoned by state officials or others acting with state authorization or support. These individuals are often held in secret, without any legal process, and their fate and whereabouts remain unknown, placing them outside the protection of the law. This practice violates many human rights that are enshrined in international law, including the right to liberty and security of person, the right to a fair trial, and the right to family life​​.

You can read more about the issue at this Amnesty International webpage.

-KitJ

Immigration Article of the Day: Taxing Undocumented Immigrants Redux by Francine J. Lipman

Taxing Undocumented Immigrants Redux by Francine J. Lipman

Abstract

Almost twenty years ago in the early morning light on April 15 while assisting a long line of anxious taxpayers at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program in Santa Ana, California, I faced the reality that undocumented immigrants are taxed separately, without representation, and unequally compared to their work-authorized counterparts.  In this real-world setting, I realized that these foreign-born, American residents and workers were subject to federal, state, and local income, sales, excise, property, transfer, and payroll taxes, even though they do not qualify for most federal benefits. Congress requires that these taxpayers use a different Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) that I quickly discovered was an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). The government-provided free tax software that we were using that tax season did not accept ITINs as a valid TIN, and, therefore, all of the ITIN returns scheduled that long, stressful tax deadline day had to be prepared and filed manually. Preparing tax returns manually rather than by using computer software means using paper forms, working through every schedule together with the instructions, and a calculator. After preparing these tax returns, we had to make copies for mailing rather than electronically submitting the federal and state income tax returns like most of the 250 other clients with appointments. My dedicated students who were volunteering with me on that April 15 were undergraduates majoring in accounting. It was an eye-opening, instructive, and transformative day for all of us. 

 On April 16, after a hard-earned rest, I started researching, writing, and working with undocumented immigrants in my local community and across the country. Almost twenty years later I am still at it. While not much has changed over the decades, today I partner with other lawyers, accountants, economists, think tanks, organizers, and advocates across America who similarly research, write, advocate, and support undocumented immigrants and their families and communities. Their efforts include calls for change to tax policies, administration, and laws at the federal, state, and local levels. And they have been and are making progress across America at the federal, state, and local levels. This symposium issue includes essays by frontline passion warriors for tax justice and equality. But before you dive into these evocative essays, this introduction will provide a general background on the demographics of undocumented immigrants and their tax treatment under federal law. Then I will briefly introduce and describe each essay to ensure that you read this entire issue from cover to cover.

KJ

Beyond the “Black Jobs” Controversy: Immigrants and U.S.-Born Black Workers Share a Growing Jobs Pie

A few weeks ago, former President Trump said that immigrants were taking "black jobs," a comment that drew criticism.    Analysis from the Migration Policy Institute released today "takes on the question of whether immigrants are displacing U.S.-born Black workers, finding that the perception of displacement is not borne out by the data.

While immigrants represent a growing share of the U.S. workforce and have expanded their presence across industries, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Senior Policy Analyst Valerie Lacarte demonstrates that U.S.-born Black workers have maintained their share of a prime-age labor market even as it has expanded substantially."

KJ

Over 1 Million Were Deported to Mexico Nearly 100 Years Ago. Most of Them Were US Citizens

A Book on the Mexican Repatriation

Tyche Hendricks for KQED in the San Francisco Bay Area offers some history supporting a bill pending in the California state legislature that would commemorate the so-called "Mexican Repatriation" a mass removal of persons of Mexican ancestry -- U.S. citizens as well as immigrants --  during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  "[T]he bill’s backers say it’s all the more relevant in this election year when mass deportation is again a political topic."

The Mexican Repatriation began in 1930, as the Great Depression took hold. President Herbert Hoover had announced a plan to ensure “American jobs for real Americans.”

As Hendricks describes it, the bill, SB 537, would authorize a nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or immigrants to build a memorial in Los Angeles recognizing the people who were repatriated.

KJ

Fictitious Noncitizen Voters

Official White House Photo

NPR reports that Donald Trump and many other Republican politicians to insist, despite a lack of evidence, that noncitizens will "steal" the election for Democrats. "[T]here’s no credible evidence that it happens in significant numbers. But these false claims are being used as pretext to take actions that could raise obstacles for some voters."

According to NPR, at least four states with Republican leadership are announcing new processes and efforts to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls. '[T]hese efforts have swept up U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote. Maintaining voter rolls is a critical election safeguard and federal law says it can’t happen within 90 days of an election.

Advocacy groups have asked Tennessee and Alabama to halt sending letters to people they suspect are noncitizens, saying it's violating federal law."

KJ

Democrats Moving to the Center on Immigration

Official White House Photo

Christain Paz for Vox analyzes the politics of immigration in the 2024 presidential race.  "At the [Democratic National Convention] last week, [Kamala] Harris and the speakers . . .  made clear that the Democratic Party of 2024 is moving right, toward the political center, when it comes to how they talk about immigrants, migration, and security at the southern border. While humanitarianism, openness to migrants, and rolling back restrictive Trump-era policies used to be the Democratic focus, Democrats are locked in on stopping the flow of migrants, limiting asylum, and funding more Border Patrol operations."

Paz analyzes the Democrats' move right on immigration and why progressives are not objecting.  Click the link above to read the analysis.

KJ

 

Immigration Article of the Day: Presumed Guilty: "Illegal Alien" Evidence and the Rights of Non-Citizen Defendants by Christian Sundquist

Presumed Guilty: "Illegal Alien" Evidence and the Rights of Non-Citizen Defendants by Christian Sundquist, 

Abstract

Dangerous political rhetoric demonizing migrants and racialized persons has altered social norms regarding the acceptability of racism while ushering in a new era of white nationalism across the world. The increasing normalization of racism has shaken bedrock American constitutional principles of equality and fair treatment under the law as it has become commonplace for courts to admit prejudicial evidence of a Latinx criminal defendant's lack of citizenship and undocumented immigration status in nonimmigration proceedings. Relying on recent empirical research on juror cognitive biases this Article argues that the strategic use of a criminal defendant's immigration and citizenship status to signify criminality and untruthfulness undermines the defendant's constitutional rights to a fair trial and equal application of our evidentiary laws while reifying racialized stereotypes about undocumented non-citizens.

KJ

Job Opening: T/TT Clinical Prof for Washington & Lee Immigrant Rights Clinic

Position Announcement
Washington and Lee University School of Law

Immigrant Rights Clinic

Tenure-Track Clinical Professor of Law - open rank

Lexington, Virginia

Position Description

The Washington and Lee University School of Law is excited to announce a search for a tenure-track or tenured faculty member to direct a clinic focusing on immigrant rights. A long-time leader in experiential legal education, W&L Law has invested significantly in clinics, externships, and practicum courses, and requires students to complete a number of experiential credits that significantly exceeds the minimum required for accreditation. We seek a legal education professional who will embrace and meaningfully contribute to our close-knit, collegial, and intellectually vibrant community. To that end, clinical faculty at W&L have full voting and governance rights.

W&L established its Immigrant Rights Clinic in 2013 and is excited to continue the clinic’s decade-long commitment to serving Virginia’s immigrant community in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond.  Consistent with the desire to address the pressing needs of immigrant populations in the U.S., the law school seeks a director dedicated to the cause of immigrant rights. We invite interested candidates to imagine this clinic with any substantive focus that will advance that goal. The clinical curriculum at W&L prioritizes a client-centered approach to clinical advocacy and teaching, but the precise focus of the clinic’s immigrant rights advocacy will depend on the experience and vision of the next director.   

We invite applications for a position as Assistant Clinical, Associate Clinical, or Clinical Professor of Law to begin July 1, 2025, or sooner. The ideal candidate will have several years of practice experience in the field of immigrant rights; a demonstrated commitment to fostering diverse and inclusive educational or work environments; experience in clinical pedagogy and excellence in the teaching and supervision of law students; and an interest in contributing to practical and/or scholarly conversations concerning immigrant rights.

Statement of Commitment to Diversity

Washington and Lee University School of Law promotes a dynamic and inclusive environment that allows students and employees of multiple backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives to learn, work, and thrive together. Successful candidates will contribute to that environment and exhibit potential for excellence in clinical teaching and in development and management of an in-house clinical program. In keeping with the University Strategic Plan, we welcome applications from candidates belonging to communities traditionally underrepresented in the legal academy.

Qualifications

A J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school or equivalent is required. Candidates for the position must demonstrate a record of academic excellence and substantial teaching or legal practice experience.

Application Instructions

Applicants should submit the following materials through the W&L Interfolio application portal at https://apply.interfolio.com/152482:  (1) a letter describing their interest in the position (including a short summary of the applicant’s vision or proposed model for the clinic, their experience promoting the immigrant rights issues involved in the clinic’s mandate, and their strategies for promoting inclusiveness in their teaching and service), and (2) a current curriculum vitae. Additionally, although traditional scholarship is not required for clinical tenure at W&L, it is encouraged and supported. Accordingly, applicants who have scholarly aspirations are welcome to submit a research agenda.

Please address these materials to Elizabeth Belmont, chair of the Faculty Appointments Committee. Additionally, please feel free to reach out to her with any questions you may have at:

Elizabeth Belmont
Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Community Legal Practice Center
Washington and Lee University School of Law
Sydney Lewis Hall 234
Lexington, VA 24450
(540) 458-8561
[email protected]

All inquiries will be treated as confidential. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Washington and Lee is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  As such, we are interested in candidates who are committed to high standards of scholarship, performance and professionalism and to the development of a campus climate that supports equality and diversity in our faculty, staff and student body. Job description requirements are representative, but not all‐inclusive of the knowledge, skill, and abilities needed to successfully perform this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Snopes Fact Check: Here's Why a Claim About Harris' Mom Lying on Immigration Form Is Bogus

Official White House Portrait

Snopes debunks the latest Republican birther theory:

Claim:

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' mother, Shyamala Harris, lied about how many children she had on an immigration form, so Kamala Harris is ineligible to be president.

Rating: FALSE

According to Snopes, there was no fraud and no basis to the claim.  "This is not the first time Snopes has dealt with poorly reasoned claims that Harris is ineligible to serve as U.S. president based on some allegation concerning the immigration status of her parents. Any such claim based on her parents is false, as Harris was born in the United States. She is therefore — unambiguously — a citizen of the United States.

Check out the link above for details and documentation.

KJ

California Senate passes bill to extend homebuyer loan program to immigrants

Photo of Flag courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The immigration headlines can be deceiving.  As some states seek to stop the Biden administration's parole in place program and take other aggressive enforcement measures, at least one state is thinking about how to best integrate undocumented immigrants into our communities. 

Courthouse News reports that the California Senate yesterday passed a bill that would open access to a state homebuyer loan program to immigrants without lawful immigration status.

Assembly Bill 1840 expands an existing program that provides loans to first-time homebuyers. The bill would ensure that someone could not be disqualified from the program because of their immigration status.

The bill passed 23 to 11. It now returns to the Assembly for a final vote.

Many Republicans oppose the bill.

KJ

From The Bookshelves: Walled, edited by Andréanne Bissonnette & Élisabeth Vallet

Walled: Barriers, Migration, and Resistance in the U.S.-Mexico Borderland, edited by Andréanne Bissonnette & Élisabeth Vallet, will be published by the University of Arizona Press. Unfortunately, you read that right. will. It's not out yet. The anticipated publication date is March 2025.

You can't yet read the collection, but you can get excited for it by reading the promo:

In 1993, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton oversaw the construction of the first stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border walls. Since that pivotal moment, every subsequent U.S. president has allowed for the construction of additional miles of walls or fences. Despite his initial pledge to halt the expansion of border walls, in July 2022, President Joe Biden authorized the construction of new sections in four locations within Arizona. This decision underscores the enduring complexity and contentious nature of the U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure.

From the bustling San Diego–Tijuana region to the borderlands of Brownsville-Matamoros, the U.S.-Mexico border is marked by extensive stretches of walls. Over the past thirty years, these walls have evolved from purely physical barriers into multifaceted systems encompassing administrative, legal, legislative, and biometric components. This volume invites readers to reflect on the transformations of the border since the construction of the initial fourteen miles of wall, and the subsequent addition of 1,940 miles. It provides a comprehensive exploration of the border’s evolution, and its profound and lasting impacts.

Bringing together recognized scholars in border studies, Walled delves into the varied manifestations and lived experiences associated with U.S.-Mexico border walls. The introduction by Andréanne Bissonnette and Élisabeth Vallet offers a thorough review of the border walls’ thirty-year history, placing it within a global context. Contributions offer diverse perspectives of the border experience, from state policies and migrant experiences to the daily lives of border residents. Topics such as militarization, migration, artistic resistance, and humanitarian aid are carefully examined. This volume is an essential resource for policymakers, activists, scholars, and anyone seeking to understand the intricate realities of border communities and the far-reaching consequences of border policies.

The contributors include Susana Báez-Ayala, Andréanne Bissonnette, Mathilde Bourgeon, Silvia M. Chávez-Baray, Irasema Coronado, Thalia D’Aragon-Giguère, Erin Hoekstra, Anthony Jimenez, T. Mark Montoya, Eva M. Moya, Scott Nicol, Héctor Antonio Padilla Delgado, Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Tony Payan, Patricia Ravelo-Blancas, David A. Shirk, Allyson Teague, and Élisabeth Vallet.

-KitJ

Judge Temporarily Stays Biden Parole in Place Program

CBS News reports that a federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked the Biden administration from granting parole in place  to unauthorized immigrants married to U.S. citizens.  District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker issued the order.in a lawsuit by 16 Republican-led states who challenged the new policy.

As NPR explains, "Barker was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2019 as a judge in Tyler, Texas, which lies in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a favored venue for advocates pushing conservative arguments.

The judge laid out a timetable that could produce a decision shortly before the presidential election Nov. 5 or before a newly elected president takes office in January. Barker gave both sides until Oct. 10 to file briefs in the case."

The ruling has drawn criticism from immigrant right advocates. 

FWD.us President Todd Schulte released the following statement in response to the district court’s issuance of an administrative stay to halt the implementation of the parole in place policy: “Tonight’s decision is deeply disappointing. This is an unsound and devastating blow to hundreds of thousands of American families across the country who are now thrown back into fear and uncertainty that their loved ones will be cruelly separated from them for years due to outdated immigration laws. While this temporary stay is a significant legal setback, it is critically important to note that tonight’s decision does not prevent the federal government from accepting new applications as this case continues making its way through the courts.  “The Keeping Families Together Parole in Place program was crafted with the express purpose of supporting families who have built their lives in this country for an average of a quarter century. By barring its implementation after the program is already functional, the court has chosen to side with those who seek to sow fear and division rather than uphold the principles of justice and family unity. “This is a politically-driven lawsuit that we believe will ultimately be defeated - the Keeping Families Together program is in full compliance with immigration law, with some of the most prominent anti-immigrant think tanks acknowledging Congress authorized the usage of parole in place for family unity. FWD.us will continue to fight for the rights of immigrant and American families and work tirelessly to ensure that this harmful decision is reversed. We stand with the hundreds of thousands of American families whose lives are at stake, and we will not rest until this vital program is fully implemented.”

Download KFT PIP Texas Stay Order

KJ