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Abstract:
The Senate's immigration reform bill's DREAM Act repeals federal law that prohibits any state from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens unless the state also offers in-state tuition rates to all U.S. citizens. The DREAM Act would retroactively change federal law to pardon ten states which have enacted laws in violation of that policy. This Backgrounder argues that allowing in-state tuition for illegal aliens encourages the violation of federal immigration law and is unfair to legal aliens and out-of state U.S. citizens. It shows how the DREAM Act would create another type of amnesty for illegal aliens who entered the country before the age of 16 and concludes that the Rule of Law can be fully restored only if all levels of government are working to uphold it.

Immigration, Immigrant, Alien, Illegal Alien Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, DREAM Act, Permanent resident, Green card, Citizenship, Amnesty, In-state tuition, IIRIRA, Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, Education policy

Abstract:
In the 2007 state legislative session, for the first time ever, legislators in all fifty states introduced bills dealing with illegal immigration. A whopping 1,562 illegal immigration bills were submitted, up from 570 in 2006. Of the bills submitted, 240 were enacted into law, up from 84 in 2006. The vast majority were designed to discourage illegal immigration in one way or another. It has often been said, but seldom demonstrated so clearly: every state is a border state now. It is undeniable that the urge to reduce illegal immigration has become a powerful force in state legislatures across the country. This article analyzes the fact that the single largest factor motivating state governments to enact legislation discouraging illegal immigration is the fiscal burden that it imposes upon the states. It then identifies and addresses eight areas in which states or cities can constitutionally act in the field of immigration. In conclusion, whenever a state has acted it has had an immediate effect on the level of illegal immigration in that state. This progression of state laws is a predictable and positive development in a system in which the federal government has been unable to effectively curtail the influx of illegal aliens for more than two decades.

Immigration, Immigrant, Alien, Illegal immigration, Border state, Illegal alien, State action, State legislation

Abstract:
The public debate about illegal immigration in the United States has been based on the false dichotomy that the only choices are either total removal of all twelve to twenty million illegal aliens or total amnesty. This article proposes a concerted strategy of attrition through enforcement such that if the risk of detention, prosecution and involuntary removal increases, and the probability of obtaining employment decreases, the only rational decision for an illegal alien is to depart the United States on their own. A nation-wide strategy of attrition through enforcement would require, most importantly, employer use of the E-Verify system to verify the work authorization of new employees. Additional components include increasing the removal rate of aliens not convicted of serious felonies, increasing the rate of detention during removal proceedings to prevent absconding, increasing agreements between ICE and state agencies, ending sanctuary cities; and increasing the number of ICE interior enforcement agents. Attrition through enforcement works as has been shown to work in Arizona and through the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System. If implemented nationwide, it would do much to restore the rule of law in immigration and gradually reduce the number of illegal aliens in the United States.

Immigration, Illegal immigrants, Aliens, Illegal aliens, Attrition through enforcement, Detention, Removal, E-Verify, ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, NSEERS, National Security Entry-Exit Registration System

Abstract:
Enforcing our nation's immigration laws is one of the most daunting challenges faced by the federal government. With an estimated 8-10 million illegal aliens already present in the United States and fewer than 2,000 interior enforcement agents at its disposal, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) has a Herculean task on its hands - one that it simply cannot accomplish alone. The assistance of state and local law enforcement agencies can mean the difference between success and failure in enforcing immigration laws. The more than 650,000 police officers nation-wide represent a massive force multiplier. This Backgrounder briefly summarizes the legal authority upon which state and local police may act in rendering such asistance and describes the scenarios in which this assistance is most crucial.

Terrorism, Terrorist, Terrorist attacks, September 11, Immigrants, Immigration, Visas, Aliens, Illegal aliens, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, State and local police, Immigration and Nationality Act, Arrest authority, Federal preemption, National security

Abstract:
Just three months after the Senate immigration bill met its well-deserved end, amnesty advocates in the U.S. Congress resumed their efforts. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a nightmare. It is a massive amnesty that extends - conditional - lawful permanent resident status to the millions of illegal aliens who entered the United States before the age of 16. It is also a back-door amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens who brought their children with them to the United States. What is less known about the DREAM Act is that it also allows illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition rates at public universities discriminating against U.S. citizens from out-of-state and law-abiding foreign students. In addition to being a dream for those who have broken the law, the DREAM Act raises an even larger issue regarding the relationship between states and the federal government. States should not be allowed to undermine the efforts of the federal government to enforce the law. Only if all levels of government are working in concert to uphold the rule of law can it be fully restored.

Immigration, Immigrant, Alien, Illegal Alien, Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, DREAM Act, Permanent resident, Green card, Citizenship, Amnesty, In-state tuition, IIRIRA, Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, Education policy

Abstract:
Recent years have seen an unprecedented number of state laws proposed and enacted on the subject of illegal immigration. In addition, municipalities across the country have enacted ordinances designed to discourage illegal immigration and the employment of unauthorized aliens. Some observers have suggested that these efforts are simply the result of energized political activists, frustrated with inaction in Congress, turning their attention to state and local legislation. According to this view, such state and local laws are merely spillover consequences of the larger debate regarding controversial imigration bills in Congress. These explanations do not accurately reflect what has been happening in the effort to confront illegal immigration at the state and local level. To be sure, frustration with congressional inaction sometimes fuels enthusiasm for state and local action. But that explanation does not fully account for what has been occurring in state legislatures and city halls nationwide. Independent forces motivate state and local governments to confront illegal immigration within their respective jurisdictions. While illegal immigration is a national issue, the consequences are felt first and foremost at the state and local level. This article addresses the fiscal burden to state and local governments of illegal immigration, argues that amnesty is not the answer, and, that amnesty actually exacerbates the fiscal costs of illegal immigration. It concludes that even if granting amnesty to twelve million illegal aliens could be accomplished with ease, it would not alleviate the burden that so many cities and states are bearing. Illegal immigration is very expensive for the cities and states in which the illegal aliens live. An amnesty, like so many "solutions" that gain currency in the halls of Congress, is no solution at all.

Immigration, Illegal immigrants, Illegal immigration, Aliens, Illegal aliens, State and local government, E-Verify, Amnesty, Immigration Reform and Control Act

Abstract:
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act before the U.S. Senate is described by proponents as a compromise, combining amnesty for current illegal immigrants with stepped-up enforcement provisions. Nothing could be further from the truth. This complicated legislation would, in fact, disarm America's state and local police in the war against terrorism. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks state and local police exercised their inherent authority to arrest any deportable illegal alien. In his testimony to the House Committee on International Relations Professor Kobach describes how the Senate's immigration reform proposal would change all of that. Section 240D would restrict local police to arresting aliens for criminal violations of immigration law only, not civil violations. The results would be disastrous. His testimony further advocates for the importance of physical barriers on the borders in the war on terrorism.

Immigration Reform, CIRA, Immigration, Immigrant, Alien, Illegal Alien, Illegal Immigrant, Terrorist, Terrorism, Arrest authority, Criminal, Crime, Fencing, Border, Wall, Barrier