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Special Reports

Our most in-depth publication, Special Reports provide detailed analyses of special topics in U.S. immigration policy.

Raising the Floor for American Workers

According to a new study by UCLA’s Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, 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 to the U.S. GDP over a ten year period, generate billions in additional tax revenue and consumer spending and support hundreds of thousands of jobs. The report, which runs several different economic scenarios, finds that enacting a comprehensive immigration reform plan which creates a legalization process for undocumented workers and sets a flexible visa program dependent on U.S. labor demands not only raises the floor for all American workers, but is an economic necessity. Read more...

Published On: Thu, Jan 07, 2010 | Download File

The Immigration Policy Center's Top 10 Resources of 2009

As the year comes to a close, The Immigration Policy Center brings you its top 10 list of resources from 2009.

Published On: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 | Download File

Immigration and Unemployment

While Congress prepares to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, restrictionist groups are doing their best to perpetuate the myth that immigrants are to blame for our nation’s unemployment problem. The following Immigration Policy Center (IPC) resources dispel this myth with facts and research.

Letter to the Editor: Immigration and Employment

In his Dec. 3 Ideas piece, “Recovering Stolen Jobs Key to Recovery,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) misconstrues the relationship between unauthorized immigration and unemployment among native-born workers. Smith seems to think that deporting the 8 million unauthorized-immigrant workers now in the United States would magically create 8 million job openings for unemployed, native-born Americans. In the real world, however, it’s not that simple. Immigrant and native-born workers cannot simply be exchanged for one another like batteries.
(Politico, December 7, 2009)Read more...

Published On: Tue, Dec 15, 2009 | Download File

The Secure Communities Program: Unanswered Questions and Continuing Concerns

As the Department of Homeland Security marks the one year anniversary of its Secure Communities Program—the latest partnership between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local jails to identify and deport "criminal aliens"—the Immigration Policy Center releases a Special Report, The Secure Communities Program: Unanswered Questions and Continuing Concerns. The report asks key questions and raises serious concerns about the program and provides recommendations for its improvement.

Published On: Mon, Nov 23, 2009 | Download File

Essential to the Fight: Immigrants in the Military Eight Years After 9/11

From the Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, immigrants have made significant contributions to the United States by serving in our military forces. Today, immigrants voluntarily serve in all branches of the U.S. military and are a vital asset to the Department of Defense. To recognize their unique contribution, immigrants serving honorably in the military who are not yet U.S. citizens are granted significant advantages in the naturalization process. Over the past eight years, Congress has amended military-related enlistment and naturalization rules to allow expanded benefits for immigrants and their families and encourage recruitment of immigrants into the U.S. Armed Forces. Without the contributions of immigrants, the military could not meet its recruiting goals and could not fill its need for foreign-language translators, interpreters, and cultural experts. This latest Special Report reflects on the vital role immigrants have and continue to play in keeping our nation safe.

Published On: Mon, Nov 09, 2009 | Download File

Economic Progress via Legalization: Lessons from the Last Legalization Program

The data analyzed in IPC's latest Special Report, Economic Progress via Legalization, indicates that unauthorized immigrants who gained legal status in the 1980s through the legalization provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) experienced clear improvement in their socioeconomic situation.  Between 1990 and 2006, the educational attainment of IRCA immigrants increased substantially, their poverty rates fell dramatically, and their home ownership rates improved tremendously.  Moreover, their real wages rose, many of them moved into managerial positions, and the vast majority did not depend upon public assistance. The findings presented in this report support the notion that legalization of unauthorized immigrants can play a role in promoting economic growth and lessening socioeconomic disparities.  Reforming our immigration system is not an obstacle to getting our economy back on track—it is part of the solution.

Published On: Thu, Nov 05, 2009 | Download File

Focusing on the Solutions: Key Principles of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

In Breaking Down the Problems, What’s Wrong with Our Immigration System?, the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) laid out key structural problems within immigration law, as well as the inadequate, enforcement-only responses that have given rise to our current immigration crisis.  Genuine immigration reform requires a thoughtful, coordinated approach that restores balance to the process, giving America the tools it needs to remain a leader in a rapidly changing world.
Read more...

Published On: Thu, Nov 05, 2009 | Download File

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

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 to a broader range of issues. Read more...

Published On: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 | Download File

Untying the Knot Series: Unemployment and Immigration

Untying the Knot (Part I of III): The Unemployment and Immigration Disconnect

With Congress once again poised to consider comprehensive immigration reform, a key question confronting lawmakers is to what extent immigration and unemployment are related. Opponents of immigration reform frequently argue that immigrants “take” jobs away from many native-born workers, especially during economic hard times. Yet an analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau clearly reveals that this is not the case. In fact, there is little apparent relationship between recent immigration and unemployment rates at the regional, state, or county level.

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Untying the Knot (Part II of III): Immigration and Native-Born Unemployment Across Racial/Ethnic GroupsRead more...

Published On: Tue, May 19, 2009 | Download File

Debunking the Myth of "Sanctuary Cities": Community Policing Policies Protect American Communities

Read this report to find out why crime experts, including hundreds of local police officers, say that cities with community policing policies help build bridges to immigrant communities that have improved their ability to fight crime and protect the entire community.

Published On: Tue, Mar 03, 2009 | Download File