Steve Case quoting Nelson MandelaThe usual voices said trite things when a sliver of Richmond, Virginia Republican primary voters last Tuesday rejected Eric Cantor’s bid to continue as Majority Leader in the House of Representatives.  With a margin of just over 7,200 votes out of roughly 62,000 cast, David Brat, a college economics professor and Johnny-one-note who beat the

The dysfunctional immigration world continues to spin dangerously out of control. 

Do-nothing House Republicans (and five pusillanimous Democrats) commit political seppuku with the passage of the ENFORCE Act  — a going-nowhere bill which would authorize civil suits against the President to dissuade him from doing something to husband scarce prosecutorial resources and ameliorate the harsh

gender bias 2.jpg[Blogger’s note:  Once again the prolific and ever lucid Careen Shannon offers fresh insights on another facet of our dysfunctional immigration system.  Today, she shows why gender bias taints America’s immigration system, and what should be done to eliminate structural bias as part of comprehensive immigration reform.]   

Immigration Reform Must Redress the Current Law’s

Savings.jpgFrugality, something second nature to our colonial forebears, is a trait we Americans seem to have forgotten.  We are profligate in our material acquisitions and in their disposition. (Witness the growing mountains of toxic electronic waste that are almost as hard to be rid of as spent nuclear fuel.)   Saving for a rainy day

arts_a_head2.jpgThe purpose of the [Immigration and Nationality Act is] to prevent an influx of aliens which the economy of individual localities [cannot] absorb. . . . Entrepreneurs do not compete as skilled laborers. The activities of each entrepreneur are generally unique to his own enterprise, often requiring a special balance of skill, courage, intuition and

lawyer with section of law.jpg“U.S. immigration law is like stratified rock, revealing layer on layer of Congressional accretions laid down over many years, with the superstructure upended in tectonic shifts triggered by the baffling and contradictory interpretations of multiple agencies and courts.” 

Nothing of substance has changed since I offered that post last August, save for a groundbreaking election that

people mover.jpgSteadfastly opposing a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants, the anti-immigration crowd has long trumpeted an array of related memes:

  • Why don’t they just get into line like everyone else?
  • Why don’t they wait their turn?
  • Why don’t they just follow the law?
  • Why should we reward lawbreakers who disrespect our laws?
  • Why should those

dsc_5254.jpg[Blogger’s note:  Today’s guest blog is by my friend and scholarly colleague, Nathan Waxman.  Nathan revisits an issue he first considered eight years ago in this space when he bemoaned the increasingly poor quality of ethnically authentic food in New York City, and laid the blame upon our immigration laws.  Having suffered through several

violence 2.jpgBipartisan outrage erupted in the House last week, with usually loyal Republicans among the most furious and outspoken in the GOP-controlled chamber. Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, chastised House leaders for conduct that is “absolutely inexcusable . . . absolutely indefensible.” Declaiming that “we cannot just walk away from our responsibilities,” King

road closed sign.jpgAs Republicans join Democrats in contemplating reform of the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system, the final line of the Pledge of Allegiance (“with liberty and justice for all”) is the best place to start. 

Revitalizing our broken and outdated 20th Century immigration laws to respond to the needs of 21st Century America will turn in large