Immigration 101

The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.

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Temporary Protected Status: An Overview

This fact sheet provides an overview of how Temporary Protected Status designations are made, what benefits TPS confers, and how TPS beneficiaries apply for and regularly renew their status.

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All Immigration 101 Content

  • Blog

States Will Need Immigrants to Counter Aging of the Labor Force

June 1, 2016

New population projections from the University of Virginia’s Demographics Research Group show that in many states in the Northeast and Midwest, growth of the working-age population is slowing due...

  • Blog

Restrictive Voting Laws Threaten to Block Millions of Latino Voters, Including Many Newly-Naturalized

May 12, 2016

Naturalization and voter registration rates have surged in recent months, but strict new voter laws in many states are threatening to reduce the number of Latinos voters (including many newly...

  • Blog

What the New Citizenship Fee Structure Means for Aspiring Americans

May 11, 2016

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is primarily a fee-funded agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Every two years they are required to review the fees they...

  • Blog

Report on Immigrant Welfare Use is Fundamentally Flawed—Here’s Why

May 10, 2016

It’s déjà vu all over again at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Having released one flawed report on immigrant “welfare” use late last year, CIS has followed up with another that contains...

  • Blog

Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan Would Seriously Damage the U.S. Economy

May 9, 2016

Donald Trump’s approach to immigration seems to rest on three pillars: the construction of a big wall across the entire U.S.-Mexico border, the banning of all Muslim immigration to the United...

  • Blog

Sorry Trump, Immigration is Still Associated with Less Crime and Safer Communities

April 29, 2016

Donald Trump opened a political rally in Southern California last night by sharing the stage with activists who have lost loved ones at the hands of immigrants in the U.S. without legal status....

  • Blog

GOP Perfects Its Formula for Losing the Latino Vote

April 25, 2016

After each of the last few national elections, Republican strategists prognosticated that despite their low support among Latino voters, the Republican Party could begin to win them over by...

  • Blog

Polls Show Millennials More Likely to Reject Deportation and Support Path to Citizenship

April 4, 2016

In contrast to the virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from several presidential candidates, new polling shows that the majority of Americans – 62 percent – support allowing undocumented...

  • Blog

Steve King’s Committee Continues Attack on President’s Immigration Actions

March 15, 2016

This week, the newly created “Task Force on Executive Overreach” and its Chairman Steve King (R-IA) held a sparsely-attended hearing on President Obama’s executive actions on immigration,...

  • Blog

Democratic Candidates Promise Not to Deport Children or Immigrants Without Criminal Records at Univision Debate

March 10, 2016

While many of the recent Presidential debates have uncovered little new thinking or policy positions on immigration, last night’s Univision-sponsored debate at Miami-Dade College in Southern...

  • Blog

This Year’s Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest Winning Entry

June 23, 2017

The American Immigration Council is proud to announce the winner of the 20th Annual Celebrate America Fifth Grade Creative Writing Contest. This contest encourages educators to incorporate lessons...

  • Blog

Know Your Rights in Texas: Preparing for State’s New Anti-Immigrant Law SB4

June 12, 2017

After debate rocked the Texas State Capitol, Governor Greg Abbott signed the controversial Senate Bill 4 (SB4) in May, which purports to ban sanctuary city policies and gives local police the...

  • Blog

How Many People Overstay Their Visas? Not Even the Government Knows

May 30, 2017

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials unveiled their newest “overstay” estimates—the number of people from other countries who remain in the United States after their visas expire—at a...

  • Blog

Say It With Me: Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes

April 17, 2017

Each year, undocumented immigrants file their tax returns, just like all Americans. They pay federal, state, and local taxes, in addition to income, property, and sales taxes. However, there are...

  • Blog

It’s Not up for Debate: Immigrants Invigorate the Economy

March 30, 2017

As any reputable economist will tell you, immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy in many ways. Yet the often subtle complexities of immigration economics are largely absent from a March 24...

  • Blog

Border Wall May Be an Expensive Solution to a Nonexistent Problem

March 27, 2017

If the Trump administration fulfills its promise to build a “big, beautiful wall” along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border, it will be a very costly solution to a problem that no longer...

  • Fact Sheet

Immigration Detainers: An Overview

Publication Date: 
March 21, 2017
This fact sheet explains detainers, how they are used by federal and local enforcement, and the impact they have on immigrants.
  • Blog

Trump Scapegoats Immigrants with Creation of Office of Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement

March 14, 2017

President Trump stated that he has “ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims during his Joint Address to congress. The office is called VOICE –...

  • Blog

Here’s How Immigrant Women Are Essential to Our Labor Force

March 8, 2017

International Women’s Day is an appropriate time to take stock of the many ways in which immigrant women contribute to the labor force of the United States. Some of these contributions are often...

  • Fact Sheet

The Impact of Immigrant Women on America’s Labor Force

Publication Date: 
March 8, 2017
There are nearly 12 million immigrant (foreign-born) women workers in the United States today, comprising just over 7 percent of the total labor force.

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