Immigration

April 19, 2018. On April 18, 2018, advocacy groups protested for the Driver License Access and Privacy Act, which would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses in New York and would also protect their information to prevent putting them at risk for deportation. A bill for driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants has been proposed for many years and supporters say that now is the time for it to pass. This article cited FPI's report, Expanding Access to Driver's Licenses. One of the hurdles faced [...]

February 26, 2018. In this article the author, Clarence Hightower, argues that immigrants are who made America what it is today. He discusses the present contributions of immigrants to the U.S. by citing research, including FPI’s, which shows that immigrants are highly educated, very likely to be business owners, are homeowners, and their children are less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. He goes on to draw attention to the demonizing actions and rhetoric from the federal administration surrounding the decisions to [...]

February 23, 2018. In this op-ed the author, Sandy Mcpherson Carrubba Geary, discusses her view on immigration, which is that America should live up to its poem that is engraved on the Statue of Liberty and to continue to allow refugees and immigrants migrate to the United States. She goes on to discuss how her family sponsored a Vietnamese family who spent time in a refugee camp and that they became very successful in the U.S. Geary explains that their family moved to Texas and [...]

February 8, 2018. An editorial in The Buffalo News discusses the impact of the federal administration's cut to legal immigration and "chain migration" in Buffalo. Although the Trump Administration has created a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, he is hurting upstate cities like Buffalo by cutting legal migration. Buffalo was already hurt by the cut in refugee resettlement. Immigrants will only be able to bring their children and spouses to the U.S., not other family members. The editorial goes on to discuss how immigrants and refugees [...]

February 2, 2018. This article discusses the fear among immigrants, who are witnesses to crimes, to come forward and work with the justice system due to the increased anti-immigrant rhetoric from the federal administration. Silvia Finkelstein, director of immigrant affairs for the Nassau County district attorney, has seen the reports of immigrant-related crimes decrease substantially, from 60 calls in 2016 to 3 calls in 2017. The author goes on to discuss Finkelstein's presentation where she discussed the economic contributions of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, to [...]

January 30, 2018. This article discusses the economic impacts that the cut in refugee resettlement could have on the upstate city, Syracuse, New York. Refugees have helped reverse population decline, added to the labor force, opened businesses, revamped vacant property and contributed to local and state taxes. Refugees have higher labor force participation rate than U.S.-born (workers),” said Cyierra Roldan, a policy analyst at the Fiscal Policy Institute. “They are filling open jobs, adding workforce.” Roldan added that refugees are saving the homes of Syracuse by [...]