Obama administration asks courts to block parts of tough Alabama immigration law

Please go to cnn.com to read the whole story about the Obama adminstration’s attempts to prevent a “tough new immigration law” from being enacted in Alabama.

According to CNN, these are the story highlighlights:

-The Justice Department asks for an injunction from an appeals court
-The state of Alabama will have to respond in the coming days
-Some parts of the law were already blocked by a federal judge

Immigrants can save your community

The New York Times published an article yesterday dealing with this subject. I’ll post a long excerpt here but I highly recommend that you click through and read the whole thing (then go and read Caught in the Middle). How the Midwest and the Plains states accommodate or resist this immigration will be the defining feature of the next 50 years for these communities. The data is clear though; successful communities are ones that embrace immigrants.

More –>

Use of and Contribution to Public Benefits

MYTH: Immigrants abuse public benefits.  American citizens are paying for their social well-being.

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Fact: Undocumented immigrants DO pay taxes.  In 2007, unauthorized immigrants in Indiana paid roughly $255.9 million in taxes.  Additionally, authorized immigrants who were not U.S. citizens paid $901.7 million in taxes, and naturalized immigrants paid $1.2 billion in taxes.

-Source: Immigration Policy Center

______________________________________________________________________________

Fact: If all unauthorized immigrants left Indiana, the state would lose $2.8 billion in economic activity, $1.3 billion in gross state product, and approximately 16,739 jobs, even after the market had time to readjust.

            -Source: The Perryman Group

Continue reading

Beyond 2012 Field, Nuanced G.O.P. Views on Immigrants

This New York Times article discusses the role many Republican freshmen are taking in advocating for the redefinition of “their party’s increasingly anti-immigration image, even as they maintain a strong push for better federal border security.”  Many of these Republicans are pushing for limited immigration measures to be taken (e.g., shortening the green card process).  Overall, this article is a highly relevant, interesting read!

Immigration issues reach Ball State

Issues of immigration aren’t just found in legislatures of the Southwest. They’ve found their way into Indiana politics, and students from Ball State have said they’re disappointed with laws that restrict undocumented students from paying in-state tuition.

[Read more]