Immigration Reform

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.

Recent Features

Fact Sheet
The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the federal government has spent an estimated $324 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement. 

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Special Report
Back to the Future: The Impact of Legalization Then and Now

While there are many facets to an intelligent immigration reform package, one thing is clear: legalization for undocumented immigrants helps all of us. 

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All Immigration Reform Content

  • Fact Sheet

Immigration Reform as Economic Stimulus

Publication Date: 
September 1, 2009
The public debate over immigration reform, which all too often devolves into emotional rhetoric, could use a healthy dose of economic realism. As Congress and the White House fulfill their recent...
  • Research and Analysis

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: A Primer

Publication Date: 
July 24, 2009
America’s immigration laws are some of the most complex and archaic provisions that can be found in the U.S. statutes. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA) rivals the tax code in the...
  • Research and Analysis

Immigration Reform Cited as an Economic Necessity and a Net Gain

Publication Date: 
April 28, 2009
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has culled the words of leading economists and numerous experts who agree that immigration reform is an economic necessity and a net gain to the U.S. economy.
  • Fact Sheet

What Immigration Reform Could Mean for the U.S. Economy

Publication Date: 
April 1, 2009
Now more than ever, Americans are seeking real solutions to our nation’s problems, and there is no better place to start than protecting our workers, raising wages, and getting our economy moving...
  • Research and Analysis

Recapture of Unused Immigrant Visas: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Publication Date: 
September 9, 2008
Critics of H.R. 5882, a bill that would would allow visas that have gone unused due to bureaucratic delays to be "recaptured" and issued to family- or employment-based legal immigrants, claim it will...
  • Research and Analysis

Does the "SAVE Act" Save Anything? The Real Price of "SAVE"

Publication Date: 
April 17, 2008
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released an estimate of the costs of the “Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act” (“SAVE Act,” HR 4088), and concluded that the “SAVE...
  • Research and Analysis

The "Secure America through Verification and Enforcement" ("SAVE Act") of 2007 (H.R. 4088) Summary and Analysis of Provisions

Publication Date: 
December 15, 2007
The “SAVE Act” was introduced in November 2007 by Reps. Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA). A companion bill (S. 2368) has been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Mary...
  • Special Report

Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams: The Lost Potential of Undocumented Students

Publication Date: 
October 1, 2007
The current political debate over undocumented immigrants in the United States has largely ignored the plight of undocumented children. Yet children account for 1.8 million, or 15 percent, of the...
  • Fact Sheet

Divided Families: New Legislative Proposals Would Needlessly Restrict Family-Based Immigration

Publication Date: 
May 1, 2007
New legislative proposals to drastically restrict family-based immigration practically ignore the social and economic benefits of the family-based admissions system for both immigrants and the native...
  • Research and Analysis

Sometimes Imperfect Reform is Better than Perfect Deportation

Publication Date: 
December 1, 2006
I do a daily radio talk show on Radio Campesina in Phoenix and, clearly, since the November elections callers are once more allowing themselves to dream of the day their hard, hidden existence comes...

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