Much of the fight over illegal immigration isn't about immigration at all, but rather over the generous social safety net that has sprung up in the past five decades, and which has proved to be a major sticking point in voters' minds as Congress contemplates a legalization.
The Heritage Foundation said Monday that legalizing illegal immigrants would cost taxpayers a net $6.3 trillion over the next 50 years — releasing a report that ignited a venomous battle over an immigration bill and who is truly representing the conservative movement in the debate.
After decades of steady growth, immigration-enforcement spending has dropped slightly under President Obama — though the amount is still more than the budgets of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and all other federal law enforcement agencies combined, according to a report released Monday.
Stung by their election defeat, Republicans are eager to try to woo Hispanic voters, arguing that once their party puts immigration reform behind them, the ethnic group will be open to the GOP's conservative message.
Two-thirds of those who have found employment under President Obama are immigrants, both legal and illegal, according to an analysis that suggests immigration has soaked up a large portion of what little job growth there has been over the past three years.
Several weeks ago in my hometown of Portland, Ore., the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) held its quadrennial national convention. For 10 years, I belonged to the NPMHU, but in 2005, I resigned my membership.
Immigrants lag behind native-born Americans on most measures of economic well-being — even those who have been in the U.S. the longest, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, which argues that full assimilation is a more complex task than overcoming language or cultural differences.
The fallout from the Supreme Court's split decision this week on Arizona's tough immigration law could give GOP nominee Mitt Romney and his party a fresh opportunity to reframe the immigration debate and cut into President Obama's huge lead among Hispanic voters, experts say.
