Immigration Reform

The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.

Recent Features

Fact Sheet
The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the federal government has spent an estimated $324 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement. 

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Special Report
Back to the Future: The Impact of Legalization Then and Now

While there are many facets to an intelligent immigration reform package, one thing is clear: legalization for undocumented immigrants helps all of us. 

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All Immigration Reform Content

  • Research and Analysis

Raising the Floor for American Workers

Publication Date: 
January 7, 2010
Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, legalizing undocumented workers through comprehensive immigration reform would yield $1.5 trillion...
  • Research and Analysis

Summary of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009

Publication Date: 
December 15, 2009
Summary of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP) of 2009.
  • Special Report

Focusing on the Solutions: Key Principles of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Publication Date: 
November 5, 2009
Nearly everyone agrees that our immigration system is badly broken and in urgent need of reform. Under the existing system people are dying at the border, immigrants are living and working in abject...
  • Special Report

Breaking Down the Problems: What's Wrong with Our Current Immigration System?

Publication Date: 
October 21, 2009
While some characterize our immigration crisis as solely an issue of the 11 to 12 million unauthorized immigrants living in this country, our problems extend beyond the number of undocumented people...
  • Fact Sheet

Immigration Reform as Economic Stimulus

Publication Date: 
September 1, 2009
The public debate over immigration reform, which all too often devolves into emotional rhetoric, could use a healthy dose of economic realism. As Congress and the White House fulfill their recent...
  • Research and Analysis

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: A Primer

Publication Date: 
July 24, 2009
America’s immigration laws are some of the most complex and archaic provisions that can be found in the U.S. statutes. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA) rivals the tax code in the...
  • Research and Analysis

Immigration Reform Cited as an Economic Necessity and a Net Gain

Publication Date: 
April 28, 2009
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has culled the words of leading economists and numerous experts who agree that immigration reform is an economic necessity and a net gain to the U.S. economy.
  • Fact Sheet

What Immigration Reform Could Mean for the U.S. Economy

Publication Date: 
April 1, 2009
Now more than ever, Americans are seeking real solutions to our nation’s problems, and there is no better place to start than protecting our workers, raising wages, and getting our economy moving...
  • Research and Analysis

Recapture of Unused Immigrant Visas: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Publication Date: 
September 9, 2008
Critics of H.R. 5882, a bill that would would allow visas that have gone unused due to bureaucratic delays to be "recaptured" and issued to family- or employment-based legal immigrants, claim it will...
  • Research and Analysis

Does the "SAVE Act" Save Anything? The Real Price of "SAVE"

Publication Date: 
April 17, 2008
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released an estimate of the costs of the “Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act” (“SAVE Act,” HR 4088), and concluded that the “SAVE...
  • Blog

In the Face of a Shutdown, Trump and Congress Delay Border Wall Fight Until December

September 27, 2018

President Trump announced on Wednesday that he plans to sign a spending bill that will fund some federal agencies for the entire fiscal year, as well as provide a short-term fix for six others...

  • Blog

John McCain’s Legacy on Immigration

August 28, 2018

The United States Senate and Republican Party lost one of their biggest champions for bipartisan immigration reform and most vocal critics of President Trump’s immigration policies when Senator...

  • Blog

Despite Bipartisan Amendments, House Committee Passes Enforcement-Focused Bill

July 26, 2018

The House Appropriations Committee passed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill that provides the agency with its budget for Fiscal Year 2019, which begins October 1, 2018. The...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Upholds President Trump’s Muslim Ban

June 26, 2018

The Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Trump v. Hawaii on Tuesday, upholding the third iteration of the president’s Muslim Ban. The decision by the closely divided court, which...

  • Blog

Here Is the Latest on President Trump’s Family Separation Policy

June 21, 2018

President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday in response to public outcry about family separation – a horrific policy that has led to the forced separation of over 2,000 minor children...

  • Blog

Confused About the Current Status of DACA? Here Is What You Need to Know

May 16, 2018

The Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative set off a slew of lawsuits attempting to stop the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from...

  • Blog

Government to Criminally Prosecute More Migrants and Separate Them From Their Children

May 8, 2018

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced they will be stepping up prosecutions of individuals along the southern border. There is much folly in deciding...

  • Blog

Delays in the Increase of Seasonal Worker Visas May Prove Too Late for Certain Industries

May 7, 2018

Failure to get H-2B (seasonal worker) visas approved has put Maryland’s seafood industry in jeopardy. Almost half of the Eastern Shore’s crab houses do not have workers they need to pick the meat...

  • Blog

This Controversial Immigration Enforcement Program Threatens U.S. Communities

April 9, 2018

In an era of increased immigration enforcement, it is even more important to understand the ways in which some states and localities collaborate with the federal government. Recent research also...

  • Blog

Congress Reaches A Deal to Fund Government for the Year Without Solution for Dreamers

March 23, 2018

This week Congress passed a $1.3 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, running through September 30, 2018. Though the legislation includes record levels of...

  • Press Release

House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement

January 26, 2011

Washington D.C. - Today, the newly named House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement held its first hearing of the new session entitl

  • Press Release

State Legislators Attack Fundamental Constitutional Values

January 5, 2011

Washington, D.C. - Today, State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), a coalition of state legislators, revealed their plan to challenge the

  • Press Release

State Lawmakers from Critical States Speak Out in Favor of DREAM Act

December 16, 2010

Washington D.C. - Today, a group of state legislators from Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas, and Utah participated in a briefing to share their support for fe

  • Press Release

Restrictionist Group Continues Cynical Legacy of Counting Costs While Ignoring Benefits

December 1, 2010

In a new report, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) paints a misleading financial portrait of the DREAM Act.

  • Press Release

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill Introduced in the Senate

September 30, 2010

Washington D.C. - On Wednesday, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S.B.

  • Press Release

DREAM Delayed in the Senate

September 21, 2010

Washington D.C. - Today, the Senate voted 56 to 43 against proceeding to the Defense Authorization Act.

  • Press Release

DREAM Act Coming to the Senate Floor

September 15, 2010

Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that he would attach the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act

  • Press Release

President Obama’s Moment to Reassert Federal Leadership on Immigration Reform

May 6, 2010

Washington, D.C.

  • Press Release

Immigration Reform with Legalization Does Help U.S. Economy and Newly Legalized

April 9, 2010

Washington D.C.

  • Press Release

Senators Issue Promising, but Vague Immigration Reform Plans

March 18, 2010

Washington D.C. - Today, in the

  • Fact Sheet

Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021

Publication Date: 
August 27, 2021
This fact sheet provides an overview about the legalization program through which certain undocumented farmworkers in the United States could earn legal status.
  • Press Release

Federal Judge Blocks ICE Enforcement Guidelines and Attempts to Upend Prosecutorial Discretion

August 19, 2021
A Texas judge blocked the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement priorities. The decision was issued in a case challenging ICE’s enforcement activities outside the scope laid out in the Feb. 18 enforcement memo.
  • Advocacy

Coalition Outlines Immigration Priorities for a Just Budget in Fiscal Year 2023

Publication Date: 
August 17, 2021
The Council and more than 130 organizations urged the Biden administration to redirect government funding for fiscal year 2023 away from draconian enforcement measures and invest in legal services...
  • Blog

Reconciliation and Immigration: What You Need to Know

August 6, 2021

On the day that President Biden took office, he promised to send a bill to Congress to create a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Unfortunately, that bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act...

  • Fact Sheet

Legalization Through 245(i)

Publication Date: 
August 2, 2021
This fact sheet from the Council provides an overview of how current immigration law allows certain undocumented immigrants to become Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) without first having to leave...
  • Letters

Council Urges Biden Administration to Ensure All Immigrant Visas are Processed

Publication Date: 
July 21, 2021
The Council led a letter urging the Biden administration to ensure that all immigrant visas are processed up to the numerical limits by September 30, 2021 to avoid the loss of visas and further...
  • Blog

Biden Administration Commits to Returning Deported Veterans

July 8, 2021

Since the founding of the United States, immigrants have served in the U.S. military. In recognition of the sacrifices involved in military service, the federal government has provided an...

  • Blog

Congress Proposes Legislation to Expedite and Expand Special Immigrant Visas for Afghan Allies

June 22, 2021

As military troops withdraw from Afghanistan, Afghan nationals that supported the operations of the U.S. government—as translators and other vital roles—are in danger of violent retribution from...

  • Blog

Biden Signals Big Changes to Legal Immigration and Asylum Law with Spring Regulatory Agenda

June 16, 2021

Twice each year, the federal government publishes a “regulatory agenda,” a preview of all the proposals that are in the pipeline to become federal regulations. Last week, the Biden administration...

  • Press Release

Returning to Our Humanitarian Obligations, AG Garland Restores Protections for Many Asylum Seekers

June 16, 2021
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced today that he is restoring a vital lifeline to victims of severe domestic violence, gang violence, and violence on account of family relationships.

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