State Immigration Laws

[Blogger’s note:  Here we go with another guest column from Nicole (Nici) Kersey who offers a witty, wise and worthy post on the inequities and inanities of the worksite enforcement scheme concocted by Congress in 1990, a flawed system of employer deputization of governmental functions largely maladministered by various agencies of the Executive Branch.  Worse

retro_grunge_triangles_background.jpgThe dictionary defines the adjective, “passive-aggressive,” as “a type of behavior or personality characterized by indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of direct confrontation.”  That is an apt characterization describing how federal bureaucrats work their will in the immigration ecosphere.  The passive-aggressive behaviors show up in efforts by federal immigration officials

California palms.jpg“California deserves whatever it gets. Californians invented the concept of life-style. This alone warrants their doom.” ― Don DeLillo, White Noise

“Political corruption, social greed, and Americanized quasi-socialism can ruin even the most wonderful places. California proved that.” ― Tiffany Madison

As a transplant from Michigan who has thrived in California since settling here in

usa_circa_1955_great_lakes.jpgWill comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) die a slow and ignominious death in the House?  Will the Republican Party, whose thought leaders on the far right chant “Kill the Bill,” face a near-term visit by the Grim Reaper?

Are conservatives abandoning conservatism over immigration, as David Brooks and this blogger maintain? Are lobbyists who

year_2012.jpg

As we count out the final hours of 2012, let’s recall the highs and lows of the past year in America’s dysfunctional immigration ecosphere.

Nation of Immigrators is pleased to confer its third annual IMMI Awards. (Full disclosure: As in past years, these are my personal choices. If you disagree or believe I’ve missed an

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

Thumbnail image for frowning child 2.jpgA recent televised debate revealed an immigration fault line within the GOP. Texas Governor Rick Perry’s many challengers for the Republican presidential nomination railed against his decision to extend in-state tuition rates to undocumented college students, brought to the U.S. as children, who graduate from the Lone Star State’s high schools. His initial reply:

“If

Gratiot near Mack in Detroit.jpgAs economic opportunities appear to diminish in the United States, global mobility management has become the hottest trend in migration. 

In the globalized world, executives, entrepreneurs, investors and talented workers are voting with their feet and moving to places where economic opportunities entice.  (For background, see my recently published article, “Global Mobility Management – A Primer

peephole.jpgAs early as last January, Rep. Lamar Smith, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, outlined plans to hold hearings to investigate the Obama Administration’s policies on immigration-related worksite enforcement and propose a bill that would require employers to enroll in E-Verify, the Federal online screening tool that purports to verify work eligibility

True to his

elephants.jpgThe U.S. Supreme Court freed a herd of immigration “elephants [hiding] in a mousehole” on May 26. That’s when five Justices used a four-word exception to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) — an act which, among its extensive provisions, banned the employment of foreign citizens whom the employer knows lack work permission —