Category Archive

Many conservatives reject President Obama’s recent policy to defer action against illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. But as a conservative who supports the president’s decision, I think it’s important to seriously engage the arguments both for and against the policy. First, let me explain what the Obama program does and does not do. It explicitly does not grant legal status to any group, even those who came illegally as infants or children. Those who are eligible for deferred action are given no path to permanent residency or to citizenship. They are not eligible for government …

Marco Rubio has thrown the GOP a lifeline; let’s see whether his fellow party members are willing to grab it. The freshman U.S. senator from Florida has been a hard-line foe to illegal immigrants, both in his home state and since his election to Congress, but now he is considering drafting a new “DREAM Act,” which would offer legal status to illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. Related posts: Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy The Immigration Impasse TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE …

A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center says a lot about the assimilation of the nation’s largest minority group — both good and bad. Hispanics — those 50 million people who trace their ancestry to a Spanish-speaking country — have become both more numerous and more diverse in the past 40 years. In 1970, Hispanics were primarily U.S.-born Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans — who are U.S. citizens, whether born in Puerto Rico or on the mainland. But the adult population of Hispanics today is almost equally divided between those who were born in the U.S., 48 percent, and those …

The Obama administration this week announced new rules governing the deportation of illegal aliens. The administration’s new policy, which has been in the development stage since the summer, aims to speed the deportation of convicted criminals and halt those of many illegal immigrants without criminal records. The timing is purely political; attempting to again make illegal immigration a major factor in the upcoming presidential campaign will ultimately help Democrats, not Republicans. Related posts: The Immigration Impasse Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy Arizona Bids Adios to Illegal Immigrant Basher Americans by Any Name

Republican leaders in Congress are now flirting with changing portions of the 14th Amendment—which grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”—to deny citizenship to children born here to illegal immigrants. Related posts: Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy Eastman is wrong: the Constitution does guarantee birthright citizenship The Immigration Impasse Rethinking the birthright battle