Reforming Immigration

  • Article

    U.S. Immigration Policy: Family Reunification

    This background paper was produced as part of the League's two-year (2006-2008) study of Immigration aimed at helping communities understand the implications of immigration at the local, state, and federal level. At the bottom of each paper is a link to a downloadable PDF version. "...“Family reunification has long been a cornerstone of both American law and INS practice,” notes Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Many early immigrants to America, particularly those fleeing religious or political persecution in their homelands, migrated here as families. In subsequent centuries, a head of household often came first to “test the waters” of the new land. Prior to 1965, the timeliness of family reunification in the U.S. depended almost entirely on how long it took for this first family member to secure a job and shelter, and save funds for passage to the United States for spouse and children. ..."
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  • Article

    Immigrants: Diversity and Inclusion

    This background paper was produced as part of the League's two-year (2006-2008) study of Immigration aimed at helping communities understand the implications of immigration at the local, state, and federal level. At the bottom of each paper is a link to a downloadable PDF version. "....The United States is often called a nation of immigrants. And it is. The quotation above expresses the diversity of immigrants and those of immigrant stock, and the vitality this diversity contributes to America. Certainly, new arrivals have a different perspective of immigration from those who have been here a while and those whose roots in America go a long way back. For recent arrivals, the immigration experience is immediate and still in process. For Native Americans, the impact of immigration goes back a long way and frequently continues to have a personal resonance. For those whose immigrant status dates back as recently as their parents’ or grandparents’ arrival in this country or more than 400 years when their ancestors arrived, immigration is a more distant event. ..."

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