Category Archive

Welcoming Remarks: Caroline Fredrickson, Executive Director, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy  The panel will feature: Moderator, Angela Maria Kelley, VP for Immigration Policy and Advocacy, Center for American Progress Sam Fulwood III, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Wade Henderson, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Priscilla Huang, Associate Policy Director, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum  Margaret Stock, Adjunct Instructor, University of Alaska Anchorage Related posts: TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT Good …

Argument #1: “Immigration reform will harm taxpayers.” Response: Legalizing both the flow of workers and the workers already here will help taxpayers by raising the newly legalized workers’ productivity, their earnings, and the likelihood that they will pay taxes in the formal economy. Related posts: The Immigration Impasse New and Un-Improved Justification for Affirmative Action Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy Drop in Illegal Immigration Opens Door for Real Reform

On March 31, 2011, the American Constitution Society and the Center for American Progress brought together leading thinkers to discuss current challenges to birthright citizenship and provide historical perspective to the debate about what the 14th Amendment guarantees.   Related posts: Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy The Case For Birthright Citizenship Politicized external review panels as unguided “diversity” missiles: California university administrators remain ultra-slow learners Eastman is wrong: the Constitution does guarantee birthright citizenship

Recently the Center for Equal Opportunity learned that there will be a push during the lame-duck session of Congress to pass the so-called Akaka bill, named for U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii. The bill would allow Native Hawaiians to become recognized as an Indian tribe. The reason for this counter-historical exercise is to make it easier to defend racially preferential programs for this particular ethnic group, since Indian tribes are not considered to be racial or ethnic classifications. This brings to mind one of President Lincoln’s favorite jokes: If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does …

The purpose of this essay is to suggest that there are five mistakes some conservatives are currently making on immigration policy.  The first is a sin of omission:  Some are so concerned about levels of immigration—and, in particular, the problem of illegal immigration—that they are neglecting the more important task of ensuring immigrant assimilation.  There are also three discrete constitutional issues (each with policy implications) on which some conservatives have lined up on the wrong side:  opposing birthright citizenship, supporting racial profiling, and supporting state enforcement policies that are at odds with federal enforcement policies.  Finally, and in some ways …

The Issue Brief also illuminates the question of to what extent SB 1070 and similar state laws permit racial profiling, and concludes that such profiling “is not merely incipient in the statute (and proposed copycats in Florida, Michigan, Rhode Island and South Carolina), it is expressly authorized.” Click Here to Download the Issue Brief. Related posts: Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy US v Metcalf Our Amicus Brief in a Felon Voting Case Mt. Holly and “Disparate Impact”

Jen is right on both the substance and politics of a GOP move to revoke birthright citizenship from children born to illegal aliens. As I’ve written here and here , the 14th Amendment was carefully drawn and debated to exclude only two categories of persons: the children of diplomats and children born on Indian reservations that were deemed sovereign territories at the time. Related posts: The Immigration Impasse Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy Arizona Bids Adios to Illegal Immigrant Basher The Case For Birthright Citizenship

John Eastman has taken me to task for what he calls my misreading of the language and history of the 14th Amendment in a recent op-ed I wrote for The Wall Street Journal. We’ve known each other for decades, and I consider Eastman a friend, but he’s simply wrong in thinking the children born to illegal immigrants in the United States are not entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Related posts: The Case For Birthright Citizenship Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy Rethinking the birthright battle TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER …