Wild rabbit in the meadow.jpgWinston Churchill, whose mother was American (Jennie Jerome of Brooklyn), could just as well have been speaking about the components of comprehensive immigration reform.  Instead he was commenting on the Allies’ post-World War II plans for world governance when, in the summer of 1942 with the war yet unwon, he said:

I hope these speculative studies

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

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Revitalizing our broken and outdated 20th Century immigration laws to respond to the needs of 21st Century America will turn in large

Youthful fans of Saturday Night Live may be forgiven for assuming, however mistakenly, that SNL invented satirical television comedy. The patent for this invention probably ought to go instead to other earlier contenders, Jack Paar, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coco or Steve Allen.  While I love these past and present paragons of humor, I’ll never

boy_looking_up_and_scratches_his_head.jpg[A] riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”  ~ Winston Churchill

The most quotable of British Prime Ministers could well have been talking about the American immigration system rather than describing Russia in 1939.  U.S. immigration law is like stratified rock, revealing layer on layer of Congressional accretions laid down over many years

fighter jet.jpgLast week, the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP) convened its 40th annual symposium in Pentagon City VA, just outside Washington DC, an event attended by scores of immigration managers and corporate counsel hailing from Fortune 500 and Forbes 100 companies.

A week earlier, on the other side of the globe, hedge funds and

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” ~ Satchel Paige

sand and truck.jpg

One of the benefits of having played in the immigration sandbox for a long time is to see old friends return. A fondly remembered playmate — who left in 1995 and returned in 2010 — is a good ol’ cuss

At President Obama’s signing ceremony for the JOBS Act last week, White House guests slapped high fives with bipartisan glee. They came to the Rose Garden to help “Jumpstart Our Business Startups,” as the new law’s title optimistically promises to do. With pen in hand, the President joined in the merriment, observing that it’s not

Private Dino Paparelli.jpgSurprising as it may be to Italian-American youth of today, with a Cuomo as governor of New York and a Scalia and an Alito as Supreme Court justices, this kid of 1950s’ Detroit hated his Italian name and resented his father for having conferred it.  “Angelo Alfredo Paparelli” was too much ethnicity to bear. 

I’m not