Special Coverage: Immigration

Border Fence to Carve up Nature Reserve

Enrique Gili, IPS News. November 21, 2008.
The Wall is being constructed over the objections of communities living near the border.

From the blogs

Citizens Fight Back Against Hate After the Brutal Murder of Marcello Lucero

by Lisa Votino-Tarrant, Long Island Wins

Last weekend, 7 teenage punks murdered Marcello Lucero because they wanted to go get a "a Mexican."

Why Did ICE Head Julie Myers Resign the Day After the Election?

by Suman Raghunathan, Feet in 2 Worlds

Myers leaves amid speculation that she was the source of the leak about the status of Obama's undocumented Kenyan aunt.

Obama Needs to Bring Change to Our Fatally Flawed Immigration System

by Staff, National Immigration Forum

The promise from Obama's transition team to strip away agency practices inconsistent with his vision of change comes not a moment too soon.

Immigration: the 'Sleeping Giant' Sleeps no More

by AlterNet Staff, AlterNet

Some early numbers on a key demographic changing the American political landscape.

'New Americans' May Decide Key Electoral Races Across the Country

by Staff, Truth in Immigration

2008 is expected to be a banner year for New American voters.

ICE'd: Another U.S. Citizen Detained and Deported for Looking Mexican

by Staff, XicanoPwr.com

Guillermo Olivares Romero, 25, was held in a detention center for two weeks.

Extreme ID Charges Against Immigrant to Be Heard in Supreme Court

by Lynn Tramonte, AmericasVoiceOnline

Does this sound like the best way to solve our immigration problems?

The Sleeping Giant Awakes: Latinos are Ready to Vote

by Duke1676, Daily Kos

Recently released data on voter registration points to the dawn of a new political reality.

Fewer Job Openings Equals Fewer Immigrants

by Staff, Truth in Immigration

"The primacy of economics in either driving or discouraging immigration has been emphasized by numerous researchers."

The U.S.'s Inhospitable Immigration Policies May End Up Costing Taxpayers Billions

by Frank Sharry, AmericasVoiceOnline

What's another $154 billion of taxpayers' money?

Obama's Latino Mandate

Steve Cobble, Joe Velasquez, The Nation. November 20, 2008.
Latinos backed Obama by a 2-to-1 margin on election day and could be the biggest force behind a longterm, center-left political realignment.

Obama and the End of White Elite Politics

Laura Carlsen, Foreign Policy in Focus. November 19, 2008.
The election of Barack Obama has been heralded as proof that the United States has finally broken through the racial barrier.

Immigration Reform Under Obama Likely To Be Piecemeal

Marcelo Ballve, New America Media. November 18, 2008.
A President Obama might not be able to take on immigration reform as a top-level priority during an economic downturn.

Obama, New Congress Offer Hope for Pragmatic Immigration Reform

Rupa Dev, New America Media. November 15, 2008.
The results of elections 2008 are good news for immigration reform, but there's still a potentially rocky road ahead.

Could a Person of Color from an Immigrant Family Be Elected in Europe?

Sanjay Suri, IPS News. November 13, 2008.
Europe seems to offer neither popular nor political acceptability to members of its minority groups.

Why John McCain Lost the Latino Vote

Peter Costantini, IPS News. November 12, 2008.
Many Latinos are angry at Republicans for pushing for the criminalization and mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Latino Vote Fueling Republican Introspection

America's Voice. November 11, 2008.
The GOP's rhetoric on immigration played an enormous role in a significant shift among Latino voters.

Profligate Water Use in the U.S. Is Fueling the Flight of Mexicans Across the Border

Jo-Shing Yang, AlterNet. November 11, 2008.
Green lawns, swimming pools, and corporate farms in the desert Southwest are taking their toll on our neighbors to the south.

Rahm Emanuel Makes the Right Move on Colombia Trade Deal

John Nichols, The Nation. November 11, 2008.
Obama's new chief of staff shows that he intends to carry the Obama program forward -- not his own.

Why Did John McCain Lose the Latino Vote?

Patrick Young, Long Island Wins. November 10, 2008.
The massive movement of Latino voters to Obama has baffled some pundits and intrigued others.

Hunger Strikers Seek New Immigrant Rights Movement

Kenneth Kim. November 5, 2008.
Protesters are putting their bodies on the line to call for a new approach to immigration.

Miami-Dade Leaning Democratic as Cubans Age

Annette Fuentes, New America Media. November 3, 2008.
As the Cuban exile community ages, the Republican stronghold county is turning Democratic according to a poll of early voters.

Obama's Aunt Zeituni: Symbol of Everything Wrong with the Immigration Debate

Duke, The Sanctuary. November 3, 2008.
The details of the story couldn't be juicier for the right-wing, red-meat crowd. The timing is no coincidence.

Obama Calls on Latinos to Vote in "Record Numbers"

D. Graglia, Feet in 2 Worlds. October 30, 2008.
Promises to address immigration reform in his first year.

After Immigration Raid, a Pastor Tries to Calm the Chaos

Marcelo Ballve, New America Media. October 30, 2008.
Pastor Roberto Velez became a leader of an emerging Hispanic community in Mississippi after ICE arrested 595 workers at a local transformer plant.

Europe Turning Away Migrants at Gunpoint

David Cronin, IPS News. October 29, 2008.
Weapons were pointed directly at migrants trying to enter Italy during a recent operation coordinated by the European Union's border control agency.

Silence on Immigration

David Bacon, Foreign Policy in Focus. October 28, 2008.
National political campaigns say less and less about immigration enforcement.

Immigration: Stop the Raids in the First 100 Days

David Bacon, TruthOut.org. October 28, 2008.
Something is clearly wrong with the priorities of immigration enforcement.

Muslim Meatpackers Demand Time for Ramadan; Backlash Follows

Tiffany Ten Eyck, Labor Notes. October 27, 2008.
When Muslim meat-packers got time off for Ramadan, other workers, largely Latino immigrants, charged that they were being favored by management.

Palin Talks Immigration for the First Time -- Doesn't Say Much

Pilar Marrero, New America Media. October 27, 2008.
Immigration is a subject the Alaska governor has never mentioned before. But listening to what she said didn’t clarify her views.

Legal Immigrants Next Target of Anti-Immigration Hardliners

Tom Barry, Americas Policy Program. October 23, 2008.
If the restrictionists have their way, the drive against undocumented immigrants will be taken to legal immigrants in the near future.

U.S. Immigration Policy Achieves the Opposite of What it Set Out to Do

Ruben Navarrette, Washington Post Writers Group. October 21, 2008.
Our approach to immigration cuts across-the-border family ties, making undocumented immigrants far more likely to remain in the United States.

Nativist Extremist Appointed to Virginia County Task Force

Sonia Scherr, Southern Poverty Law Center. October 20, 2008.
Robert L. Duecaster regularly makes defamatory comments about Catholics, Muslims and undocumented immigrants.

Obama vs. McCain: The Battle over Immigration Has Woken up an Electoral Sleeping Giant -- Voter Guide

AlterNet. October 17, 2008.
See how Obama and McCain compare on everything from border fences to Homeland Security's brutal immigrant detention network.

In Mississippi, Immigration Raid Tests Community's Cross-Racial Bonds

Marcelo Ballve, New America Media. October 14, 2008.
Laurel had begun to piece together a civic coexistence, binding together black, white and immigrant communities.

Mexico Braces for Economic Blow; Immigration Adds to Complexity of the Issue

Diego Cevallos, IPS News. October 13, 2008.
The Mexican government has taken emergency financial measures to withstand the winds of crisis from the United States.

Expanding Flawed E-Verify System Will Hurt Lawful Workers

Michele Waslin, New America Media. October 12, 2008.
A misleading report by an anti-immigration "think-tank" doesn't change the fact that the system isn't reliable.

What Part of It's An Utter Nightmare to Migrate Legally Don't You Understand?

Diego Graglia, Feet in 2 Worlds. October 8, 2008.
The legal system is dysfunctional, and that's a primary reason we have illegal immigration.

Arab "Registry" Upheld; Policy About Immigration, Not Counter-Terrorism

Edward Alden, New America Media. October 7, 2008.
A New York court says the program is legitimate.

Sign up

Immigration

The U.S. is and always has been a country of immigrants. AlterNet covers this continuing American story from a progressive point of view.

RSS feed

Subscribe to Immigration's RSS feed!

NIF

The National Immigration Forum advocates and builds support for public policies that welcome immigrants and refugees and are fair and supportive to newcomers in the United States. Immigrants are America.

IPC

The Immigration Policy Center shapes and develops a rational national conversation on immigration that shifts the terms of the debate towards achieving workable and effective comprehensive policy reform.

DWN

Detention Watch Network is a coalition that addresses the immigration detention crisis head on. They work to reform the U.S. detention and deportation system so that all who come to America's shores receive fair and humane treatment.

NCLR

As the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, National Council of La Raza advocates for reform to restore order and fairness to our immigration laws. In addition, NCLR’s Wave of Hope campaign addresses hate speak and extremism in the immigration debate.