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Immigration

Special Coverage: Immigration

Colorado Approves In-State Tuition For Undocumented Immigrants

By Rebecca Leber on Mar 8, 2013 at 1:54 pm

The Colorado House passed a bill on Friday allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition for state public colleges. For 10 years, the legislature has debated versions of the bill that lets students who graduate from Colorado high schools pay a lower tuition bill, regardless of their immigration status.

The bill passed 40-21 with just three Republicans joining the House Democrats, and it heads to Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) to sign.

A dozen other states allow in-state tuition for certain undocumented students, and more states are considering proposals during the renewed national immigration debate. Last November, Maryland was the first state to grant in-state tuition by popular vote, and Oregon is considering its own bill on college tuition.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, only 5 to 10 percent of undocumented youth who graduate from high school go on to college, compared to 75 percent of their classmates. But the Latino Policy Institute finds states that allow undocumented students to pay lower tuition have seen a 31 percent increase in enrollment and 14 percent decline in high school dropouts among undocumented Latino students.

Justice

Federal Appeals Court: Anti-Immigrant Arizona Law Violates First Amendment

By Ian Millhiser on Mar 8, 2013 at 1:30 pm

Last year, the Supreme Court struck down much of Arizona’s harsh immigration law SB 1070, and stripped its “show me your papers” provision of many of its teeth. Earlier this week, another provision of this anti-immigrant law bit the dust. A bipartisan panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blocked SB 1070′s restrictions on drivers seeking to hire day laborers:

Two provisions in Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 make it unlawful for a motor vehicle occupant to hire or attempt to hire a person for work at another location from a stopped car that impedes traffic, or for a person to be hired in such a manner. These provisions raise First Amendment concerns because they restrict and penalize the commercial speech of day laborers and those who would hire them. Arizona defends the provisions as traffic safety measures, designed to promote the safe and orderly flow of traffic. We acknowledge that Arizona has a real and substantial interest in traffic safety. Arizona, however, has failed to justify a need to serve that interest through targeting and penalizing day labor solicitation that blocks traffic, rather than directly targeting those who create traffic hazards without reference to their speech, as currently proscribed under the State’s preexisting traffic laws. Laws like this one that restrict more protected speech than is necessary violate the First Amendment.

As the court notes, the day laborer provisions had at least as much to do with discouraging immigration as it did with any concerns over traffic. The provisions’ lead sponsor claimed the provision would “discourage the ‘shadow economy’ of day labor and address illegal immigration because ‘[a] large number of these people are illegal immigrants and this is the way they get work, and this work is one of the anchors that keeps them in the country.’”

LGBT

REPORT: 267,000 LGBT People Are Undocumented Immigrants

By Christopher Frost, Guest Blogger on Mar 8, 2013 at 11:40 am

Jose Antonio Vargas has very publicly come out as both gay and undocumented.

Today the Williams Institute at UCLA released estimates that, for the first time, provide an estimate of the number of adult undocumented immigrants that identify as LGBT living in the United States today. Specifically, Gary Gates of the Williams Institute estimates that there at least 267,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants living inside the U.S. Out of all 904,000 LGBT immigrants in the United States, approximately 30 percent (267,000) are undocumented, while 70 percent (637,000) are documented. Williams’ analysis further shows that LGBT undocumented immigrants are more likely to be male, more likely to be younger, less likely to be Hispanic, and more likely to be Asian compared to the general undocumented population.

It’s worth noting that Williams’ estimate provides a “floor” or lower-bound estimate of the LGBT undocumented population. Williams’ analysis only captures adult undocumented immigrants (those that are older than 18) and includes a conservative estimate that accounts for the reluctance of LGBT undocumented people to self-identify and disclose their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Building on Williams’ analysis, a new report from the Center for American Progress unpacks the demographic characteristics, disparities, and particular challenges facing LGBT immigrants. Specifically, LGBT people find themselves at the intersection of two marginalized populations — the LGBT population and the undocumented population — that make them among society’s most vulnerable. For example, looking specifically at income insecurities, the median income for undocumented immigrants is $14,000 less than the median household income for U.S. born residents. For their part, same-sex couples make $15,000 less per year than families headed by an opposite-sex couple. Statistics are even more dire for transgender workers, 15 percent of whom make less than $10,000 per year. Considering these statistics, it stands to reason that earnings disparities are even starker for someone who is both LGBT and undocumented.

CAP’s report also highlights a number of other challenges facing LGBT immigrants:

  • Family Separation for binational same-sex couples: The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies federal benefits and protections to legally married same-sex couples, acts as a barrier to family reunification and an individual’s ability to sponsor a same-sex spouse or partner for residency.
  • Detention Conditions: LGBT undocumented immigrants face a multitude of issues when faced with mandatory detention, ranging from discrimination, harassment and physical violence to segregation and denial of medically necessary services for HIV-positive and transgender detainees.
  • Asylum Standards: Under current immigration law, immigrants seeking asylum must file within one year of entering the United States, otherwise, the threshold for gaining asylum is significantly higher. This arbitrary deadline belies the fact that many LGBT asylum seekers, who may come from countries where they have had to hide their sexual orientation or gender identity for risk of persecution, may not be prepared in that time span to come to terms with their LGBT identity.

Given the sheer number of undocumented immigrants that identify as LGBT and the complex issues they face, a path to earned citizenship is a critical component of advancing LGBT equality. The Obama Administration has already leveraged its administrative authority to give reprieve to LGBT immigrants and detainees. Now it’s Congress’ turn to act. In addition to passing immigration reform with a path to earned citizenship, there are other important policy recommendations that, if enacted, would alleviate many of the challenges facing LGBT undocumented immigrants:
Read more

Our guest blogger is Christopher Frost, intern for the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress.

On International Women’s Day, A Reminder That Immigration Is A Women’s Issue

By Rebecca Leber on Mar 8, 2013 at 11:00 am

With the national debate on immigration in central focus, this year’s International Women’s Day is a reminder that women are the face of immigration.

Today, women make up 51 percent of the documented and undocumented population. They are major drivers of economic growth and are more likely to own their businesses than their American-born counterparts. A majority of women who migrate to the U.S. are educated, hold advanced degrees, and have held professional jobs. Another 22 percent of the farm worker population is female.

Yet, at the same time, immigrant women face unique struggles:

Domestic Violence: The recently reauthorized Violence Against Women Act includes expanded protections for undocumented women and victims of human trafficking by providing women with legal tools to counter abuse, without fear of deportation. Still, these women are particularly vulnerable to abuse at home and work, because abusers use immigration status as a “tool of control.” In the U.S., victims of human trafficking are mostly immigrant women.

Health Care: Immigrant women are twice as likely as American-born women to lack health coverage. Immigrants pay taxes and contribute to the economy, but are still barred from Medicaid and health services like prenatal care. As a result, immigrant women are less likely to receive reproductive care, including cervical cancer, breast cancer screenings, HIV/AIDS testing, and sex education.

Discrimination: According to 2009 research by New America Media, immigrant women from around the world report facing increased discrimination since they arrived to the U.S. Latin American women report the highest increased discrimination by far.

Families Pulled Apart:In 2011, record deportation left more than 5,000 children in foster case without their parents. According to the Applied Research Center, another 15,000 will be placed in foster care over the next five years because of rising deportations. Meanwhile, families can be separated for up to 22 years because of visa backlogs, and a majority stuck in the backlogs are women. More women than men gain permanent residence in the U.S. through family-based visas.

Although their challenges are sometimes overlooked in the immigration debate, women are an important constituency in the ongoing discussion.

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