Immigration Reform

While updating our immigration system has been a slow process, over the last decade, there have been efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation and the DREAM Act. Other reform efforts include executive actions such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). Learn more about the ways America can upgrade its immigration system.

Recent Features

All Immigration Reform Content

Publication Date: 
February 1, 2006
Most of the border-enforcement and immigration-reform proposals currently being considered in Washington, DC, are not comprehensive or adequate solutions to the issue of undocumented immigration. The...
Publication Date: 
January 1, 2006
The immigration debate once again is dominated by narrow thinking and the search for simplistic solutions to complex problems. Most lawmakers and the press have come to equate “immigration reform”...
Publication Date: 
November 1, 2004
U.S. immigration policy is based on denial. Most lawmakers in the United States have largely embraced the process of economic “globalization,” yet stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that increased...
Publication Date: 
February 1, 2004
A guest worker program that lacks a clearly defined path to a permanent status is an unlikely fit for many of the 9.3 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States, most of...
The temporary worker program now taking shape in Congress is unlikely to provide the U.S. economy with the numbers or kinds of workers that U.S. industries need.
January 10, 2018

There has been a flurry of activity around finding a long-term solution for Dreamers this week. All three branches of government have engaged in these head-spinning developments, ultimately...

January 8, 2018

The Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen announced the Trump administration will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 200,000 individuals from El Salvador after 17 years. TPS allows...

December 21, 2017

Today, Congress agreed to continue funding the federal government at current levels through January 19, 2018, but it will not address a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers this year....

December 12, 2017

Current and former recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative are asking Congress to recognize the impact they and other Dreamers have on the United States, and to...

December 8, 2017

The Supreme Court—with a 7-2 vote on Monday—gave the green light to the Trump administration’s third travel ban, allowing it to fully go into effect. In two brief orders, the Supreme Court...

December 4, 2017

A growing coalition is voicing its support for finding a permanent, legislative solution for the young immigrants thrown into limbo with the recent termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood...

November 27, 2017

With the deadline for government funding fast approaching, the Senate Appropriations Committee finally released its draft version of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding bill—and...

October 25, 2017

  The United States is currently home to an estimated 325,000 individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a temporary immigration status granted to nationals of specifically designated...

October 16, 2017

Among the laundry list of proposed restrictions and other attacks on immigration, the Trump administration is reportedly considering cuts to the Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) and therefore...

October 5, 2017

In an effort to fulfill the harsh requirements of the immigration executive order released during the Trump administration’s first week in office, the House Homeland Security Committee passed the...

April 1, 2021

A group of Republican lawmakers recently introduced a slew of anti-immigration bills in the House of Representatives and Senate. The bills primarily target people’s rights to seek asylum in the...

March 18, 2021

The U.S. House of Representatives passed two immigration bills on March 18, signaling that Congress might finally enact major immigration reform for the first time in over three decades. These...

Publication Date: 
March 16, 2021
This fact sheet provides an overview of the most recent version of the Dream Act and similar legislative proposals.
March 11, 2021

It’s been one year since the COVID-19 pandemic first affected immigration on a global scale. The impact has been swift, devastating, and long-lasting. On March 11, 2020, former President Trump...

Publication Date: 
March 9, 2021
The American Immigration Council joined other organizations in urging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to fully implement the provisions of the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act,...
Publication Date: 
February 9, 2021
The American Immigration Council urged President Biden to end the illegal and inhumane asylum and border policies implemented by the Trump administration.
Publication Date: 
February 8, 2021
The American Immigration Council urged Members of Congress to amend the criminal bars to legalization in H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, to ensure a more inclusive bill.
February 3, 2021

On February 2, 2021, following the confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of Homeland Security, President Biden signed three executive orders that take steps to further unwind the Trump...

January 22, 2021

On his first day in office, President Biden took significant steps towards undoing the harm of the Trump administration’s immigration policies—and reforming our punitive and inhumane enforcement...

January 20, 2021
President Joseph R. Biden announced a welcoming and inclusive vision for immigration in a legislative proposal that provides a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants who call the United States home.

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