• Fearful immigrants trickle back into Alabama

    After Alabama enacted its tough new immigration laws last September, the state saw a large exodus of fearful immigrants who packed up their entire families and fled the state; since the law went into effect, some illegal immigrants have begun returning to the state

  • DHS suspends expansion of Secure Communities in Alabama

    Due to ongoing federal litigation against Alabama’s tough new immigration laws, DHS has halted the expansion of the Secure Communities immigration program in the state; the law has been tied up in legal battles, and a federal appeals court has already blocked portions of it

  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce: ease immigration laws to stimulate economy

    According to a recent report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, easing immigration policies will stimulate economic growth by encouraging more entrepreneurs from abroad to work in the United States

  • Administration loosens visa requirements, expands VWP

    President Obama, during a visit to Disneyland, announced that the administration was working on expanding the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), and waiving the consular interview requirement for people renewing U.S. visas; critics of the administration’s immigration policy are upset.

  • Skilled immigrants create U.S. jobs, report finds

    A recently released report reveals that immigrants with advanced degrees help create jobs for U.S. natives

  • Another foreign executive arrested in Alabama on immigration charges

    For the second time in recent weeks, Alabama law enforcement officials arrested a foreign car manufacturing executive under the state’s strict new immigration law

  • California leads nation in E-Verify adoption despite concerns

    In the past year California saw a 37 percent surge in E-Verify enrollment by businesses, making it the largest adopter of the system in the United States; unlike other states that have made E-Verify mandatory for public and private employers, California legislators recently passed a law that bans local governments from forcing businesses to sign on to the program

  • New government move to crackdown on undocumented workers

    The Obama administration creates new unit to target major companies hiring undocumented workers; the new unit, composed of fifteen auditors, will work under the supervision of ICE; in 2010, ICE conducted nearly 3,000 audits that led to a record $7 million in fines on companies; critics say large companies mostly avoided prosecution; this new unit will work specifically to audit large companies

  • Under Obama: company audits up, illegal worker arrests way down

    Under Obama, employer audits are up 50 percent, fines have tripled to almost $3 million, and the number of executives arrested is slightly up over the Bush administration; the numbers of arrests and deportations of illegals taken into custody at work sites, however, plummeted by more than 80 percent from the last year of the Bush; both administrations agree that jobs are the magnet that attracts illegal immigrants to the United States, but critics of the Obama approach say it makes no sense to allow employees known to use fake or stolen identification to go free to duplicate the fraud again

  • Coalition of Tucson businesses launches campaign against Arizona harsh immigration law

    A coalition of 90 Tucson, Arizona businesses launches a “We Mean Business” campaign to show their resistance to SB 1070 — the harsh immigration law set to take effect 29 July; many of the owners agree there is a need for immigration reform; however they do not think the new law is the most effective approach

  • U.S. replaces noisy immigration raids at place of employment with "silent audits"

    The Obama administration has replaced noisy, media-covered immigration raids at factories and farms with a quieter enforcement strategy: sending federal agents to scour companies’ records for illegal immigrant workers; one expert says: “Instead of hundreds of agents going after one company, now one agent can go after hundreds of companies”; employers say the Obama administration is leaving them short of labor for some low-wage work, conducting silent raids but offering no new legal immigrant laborers in occupations, like farm work; federal labor officials estimate that more than 60 percent of farm workers in the United States are illegal immigrants