Immigration Reform & The Census

Our current immigration system presents economic, legislative and moral challenges.  An estimated 5% of our workforce is working outside the protection of our minimum wage and labor laws, and American businesses are grappling with meeting the fluctuating demands for both high- and low-skilled workers. Previous attempts by Congress to solve the immigration problem have fallen short, and several local and state governments have attempted to resolve this issue through an array of ill-informed policies due to the federal government’s inability to address this issue.  This has caused confusion and chaos throughout our communities about how to deal with the undocumented immigrants in our country. The debate over immigration has been contaminated with divisive rhetoric of intolerance which has created hostile environments for immigrants around the country.

America has a proud tradition of being a nation of immigrants, and we must work to resolve this challenge.  The New Policy Institute seeks to offer information and analysis to clarify the facts surrounding immigration, and to advance the discourse toward a just, feasible solution to the problem. The most widely supported method of resolving this issue has been a policy proposal referred to as Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  To read more about what Comprehensive Immigration Reform is, and how it would work, visit our “Understanding CIR” page. Additionally, check out our essays linked below, addressing some of the many issues involved in immigration reform.

All our work on these subjects is aggregated here, or browse a sampling of our best essays and blog posts below, with more to follow soon.