Forum Publications
Summaries of Recent Reports on Immigration Detention
October 05, 2012
This document summarizes a number of reports that have been issued by a range of groups about various aspects of the immigration detention system at the national and regional level, including (among others) conditions of detention, needed reforms, the role of the private prison industry, and detention as it pertains to particular populations.
After Arizona: What’s Next for S.B. 1070 and its Progeny?
October 04, 2012
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in United States v. Arizona, courts have been issuing decision that have weakened state efforts to impose their own immigration law enforcement schemes. This paper provides an update on legal challenges that have been brought against immigration enforcement laws enacted in Arizona, Utah, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Indiana.
Analyzing Border Enforcement Operations: Interior Repatriation Programs
September 22, 2012
This paper examines the Mexican Interior Repatriation Program (MIRP), which brings certain Mexican immigrants being removed from the United States into the interior of Mexico, rather than depositing them in the border region. It also briefly examines other repatriation and enforcement operations in effect along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Deferred Action Program Moves Forward
September 14, 2012
After the first month of the implementation of the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, more than 82,000 young immigrants who were brough to the U.S. as children have submitted their request. A handful have so far been approved. This paper explains what to expect in terms of the number who may apply and the number of individuals who may be approved in the first months of the program.
Operation Streamline: Unproven Benefits Outweighed by Cost to Taxpayers
September 12, 2012
This paper examines Operation Streamline, an immigration enforcement program along the Southwest border in which persons caught crossing the border illegally are prosecuted criminally rather than through the immigration courts. The paper details the enormous cost of running this program, and its impact on the criminal justice system’s ability to prosecute more serious crimes. For all its costs and impact on the criminal justice system, the program has never been evaluated for...
The Math of Immigration Detention
August 21, 2012
A backgrounder examining the cost to the taxpayer of detaining immigrants, most of whom have no criminal record and who could be placed in less expensive alternatives to detention. The paper also discusses the growing role played by private prison corporations in detaining immigrants, and their political influence in maintaining policies that result in a high number of detainees. There is also a discussion of ICE’s prosecutorial discretion policy, and its potential for reducing the number of...
Immigration Backlogs are Separating American Families
July 26, 2012
This Backgrounder explains how our out-of-date family immigration system is preventing families from re-unifying in a timely manner. There is an explanation of how current visa quotas, last updated in 1990, impacts the various categories of family preference immigration. Included are recommendations for updating the admissions system in the family categories and for removing other legal barriers to family unification.
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the 112th Congress
July 20, 2012
This document summarizes the immigration-related provisions of the House and Senate versions of the Violence Against Women Act re-authorization bills and includes a brief update on the status of those bills.
Allowing Immigrant Youth to Stay and Work Makes Good Economic Sense for the U.S.
July 11, 2012
This brief paper explains how the Obama Administration’s decision to stop deporting certain young undocumented immigrants and allowing them to work will ultimately benefit the U.S. economy. Those benefits would be magnified if Congress acted to put these young people on a path to citizenship.
Comment re: Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility for Certain Immediate Relatives
May 25, 2012
The National Immigration Forum’s comment on a Proposed Rule issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that would make an important change in processing waivers for certain immigrants seeking to legalize their status. This comment points out weaknesses in the Proposed Rule and makes suggestions for improving it.
