It took Andrew Sullivan 18 years to get his request for Permanent Resident status approved. That’s just absurd.

Back in July, a Federal District Court Judge enjoined Arizona from enforcing the key provisions of its controversial immigration law, specially those that authorized local police to require suspected illegal immigrants to provide immigration papers even without a valid arrest. Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction in an appeal that the [...]

Newly released census figures show that the Hispanic population of the United States is surging rapidly: The Hispanic population surged 43% in the last decade and Hispanics now make up more than 16% of the nation’s population, according to just-released Census figures. The surge in Hispanics’ share of the population, larger than demographers initially had [...]

Bad news for the GOP as the fastest growing ethnic group in the most populous state continues to reject the party: A new poll out of California found little hope for Republicans among the nation’s fastest-growing electoral demographic. Latino voters across the state hold widely negative views of the Republican Party, according to the survey, [...]

Haley Barbour is making all the moves toward a 2012 Presidential run, but his stand on immigration issues could pose a problem in the Republican primaries.

While illegal immigration in the United States remains enormous, it has dropped considerably over the last three years.

Two Senators are proposing a Constitutional Amendment to redefine what it means to be an American citizen.

Via the AP:  Pot-firing catapult found at Arizona-Mexico border The 3-meter (3-yard) tall catapult was found about 20 meters (20 yards) from the U.S. border on a flatbed towed by a sports utility vehicle, according to a Mexican army officer with the 45th military zone in the border state of Sonora. The catapult was capable [...]

Anti-Immigrant groups are beginning their assault on the 14th Amendment, but don’t expect it to go anywhere.

The border fence loses: I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for the Congress to see what a waste of time, effort, resources, and money the border fence is, though. It’d be nice if they remembered the words of General George Patton: “Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man.” But I [...]

The author of AZ’s SB1070 has a new idea.

Some of the comments on my previous post reminded me of the following flowchart, that I have mentioned before:  What Part of Legal Immigration Don’t You Understand? Our system is broken and cases like Farrales’ such underscore that. I would also recommend:  Immigration Flow Chart-Roadmap to a Green Card.

UCSD grad student Mark Farrales is a good example of why something like the DREAM Act has merit.

The decade old DREAM Act, which would create a path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, failed to pass a cloture vote in the Senate: The Senate on Saturday blocked a bill that would create a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrant students who came to the United States as children, completed [...]

Senate Democrats cancel vote on DREAM Act, meaning the immigration measure is likely dead for the year.

Indeed, it was the second one discovered this month. Via the BBC:  Second Mexico-US drug tunnel found in Tijuana Police have uncovered a 670m (2,200ft) drug smugglers’ tunnel under the US-Mexico border – the second such discovery this month. The tunnel links the Mexican city of Tijuana with Otay Mesa in California. Earlier this month [...]

The 9th Circuit has struck down an Arizona law requiring people to show proof of citizenship to vote. No, this doesn’t open the floodgates to illegal alien voting.

The PL issues a statment on immigration policy.

I was interviewed for a segment on the CBC’s program Day 6 last week (the segment aired on Saturday morning).  The clip can be heard here. The proximate cause of the interview was the following OTB post:  Germany and the Lessons of Immigration Policy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel declare multiculturalism in Germany to be a “failure.” Proof that anti-immigration activists in the United States are correct, right?

Well, isn’t this interesting: In Lou Dobbs’s heyday at CNN, when he commanded more than 800,000 viewers and a reported $6 million a year for “his fearless reporting and commentary,” in the words of former CNN president Jonathan Klein, the host became notorious for his angry rants against “illegal aliens.” But Dobbs reserved a special [...]

Both Congress and the Obama Administration have stepped up enforcement of immigration laws–at immense cost to both the budget and the courts.

Governor Brewer walks back he beheadings claims.

In addition to her awkward opening statement, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is also making headlines for failing to answer questions during last night’s debate about her claim that there has been a rash of beheadings along the Arizona-Mexico border: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer sparred with her Democratic opponent in an at-times contentious debate Wednesday night, [...]

The idea that we are in the middle of an illegal immigration crisis is not supported by the evidence.

An obscure U.N. human rights report has become the latest political outrage of the day in the battle over Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

France, which has earned international attention for banning the hijab, is now at it again, cracking down on the Roma. CSM (“Gypsies leave France amid crackdown on illegals“): French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to crack down on illegal gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria got concretely under way this week, as the first of some 700 [...]

Ross Douthat’s latest New York Times column demonstrates an appalling misunderstanding of history in the context of immigration.

Again, despite the rhetoric of some, the US does continue to enforce laws relevant to the border and, indeed, enforcement has been on the rise.

One of the more bizarre memes floating out there right now is the idea of the so-called “terror babies,” the alleged threat that Islamic radicals are taking advantage of the the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship rules to bring women to America to give birth to children who will then be taken back to, wherever, trained [...]

It’s becoming a commentary of some sort on the state of American politics when Stewart and Colbert are making more sense than anyone else, but nonetheless here’s Stephen Colbert’s piece last night on the 14th Amendment brouhaha: The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

According to a new poll, 87% of border residents feel safe.

A staggering 8 percent of all babies born in the United States in 2008 were offspring of illegal aliens. What are the public policy implications?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seemed to make a pretty emphatic play for the race card yesterday: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid questioned on Tuesday how Hispanics could be Republicans. Speaking with Hispanic supporters Tuesday at Hermandad Mexicana in Las Vegas, Reid took several shots at Republicans, blaming them for the fact that comprehensive immigration [...]

There isn’t as much GOP unity over the idea of changing America’s citizenship rules as you might think.

House Minority leader John Boehner became the latest Republican politician to jump on the 14th Amendment’s back: House Minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) weighed in on the debate over the birthright citizenship provision of the 14th Amendment Sunday. On “Meet the Press,” Rep. Boehner declined to stake out a clear position on the issue, but [...]

The Republican campaign against birthright citizenship doesn’t seem to be gaining the kind of support they expected.

Wherein only one of the various consequences of altering the current status of birthright citizenship is considered: more paperwork for us all.

Is the GOP really serious about changing the citizenship rules in the 14th Amendment ? Not likely.

While it is true, as Jacob Sullum puts it, On Drug Policy, Mexico’s President Has a Bigger Vocabulary Than Ours, it is also true as the headline at Gancho puts it he has Problems with the Legalization Debate (specifically in terms of popular opinion in Mexico).

Despite assertions that the violence in Mexico is spilling over the border, we find a rather stark comparison of two key border cities.

Lou Dobbs, the former CNN anchor, and outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, thinks that recent Republican calls for repealing the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship are a bad idea: Senator Lindsey Graham took some by surprise when he called for eliminating birthright citizenship and changing the 14th Amendment — and Lou Dobbs took even more by [...]

A fatal car crash on a country road in Northern Virginia has become part of the national debate on over illegal immigration.

Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of disparity in terms of development on the two sides of the US-Mexican border.

Senate Republicans want to rethink the 14th Amendment’s automatic citizenship for people born in the U.S.

Well, this is rather disconcerting: U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton received hundreds of threats at her court offices within hours of her ruling on Arizona’s tough and controversial immigration law. “She has been inundated,” said U.S. Marshal David Gonzales, indicating his agents are taking some seriously. “About 99.9 percent of the inappropriate comments are people [...]

The Service Employees International Union is out with what may be one of the most intellectually dishonest ads I’ve seen in awhile: There are many arguments that could be made against a border fence — ineffeciency and waste being one, the unjust use of eminent domain laws to complete it being another — but comparing [...]

The link between immigration and crime rates that many immigration opponents point to simply does not exist

U.S. passports still aren’t perfect.

Immigration “moderate” Lindsey Graham is suddenly sounding not so moderate.