Blog

22 Sep 2010

Immigration Reform on the Installment Plan?


In the days before credit cards, many people bought big-ticket items "on time," paying the needful in installments until the debt was paid in full. There are signs that we may be going back to the future, as it were, with our immigration policy. Having...

20 Sep 2010

Illegal Immigration: Up or Down?

The Pew Hispanic Center recently released a demographic study showing that the annual influx of undocumented immigrants "was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005." (See U.S. Unauthorized Immigration Flows are...

18 Sep 2010

Strike Two for State Immigration Laws

In recent years, states and localities have faced increasing pressure from fear mongers, nativists, and other constituencies to take the immigration law into their own hands. Many of these attempts have been reported to our readers on the MurthyBlog. Although Arizona received far and away...

15 Sep 2010

A Bright Spot in the News

At a time of mounting religious tensions around the world - including right here in our own backyard - it is heartening to read a story like the one that recently appeared in the New York Times, under the heading of "Amritsar Journal." (See A...

14 Sep 2010

Robert Litan in Forbes: Import Job Creators

Robert Litan is a pillar of the Washington establishment. A senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institution, Litan also is affiliated with the pro-entrepreneurship Kauffman Foundation. He often is quoted in the press, and is a regular contributor to national debates on economic policy. When...

08 Sep 2010

Future of CIR Uncertain as GOP Reformers Leave Senate

Perhaps it will turn out to have been the high-water mark of bipartisanship in the comprehensive immigration reform debate, that brief shining moment back in 2006 when Democratic and Republican Senators came together to pass the bipartisan McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill, by a vote of...

02 Sep 2010

Will Immigration Make Up for Falling Birthrate?

A recent article in the Washington Post cites demographic figures from the National Bureau of Health Statistics, showing a drop in the U.S. birthrate for the second consecutive year, to a record low, after peaking in 2007. (See Why Immigration Could Help America, by Suzy...

31 Aug 2010

Immigration Hurdles vs. Business Needs

Many businesses are reporting difficulties in hiring the foreign workers they need to grow, even to maintain their day-to-day operations. The problem affects a wide variety of industries, but has been particularly onerous for employers in the high-tech and agricultural sectors, as a recent article...

30 Aug 2010

Baseball and Immigration

Despite a recent court decision suspending the more onerous provisions of the now-infamous Arizona immigration bill - commonly known by its bill number, S.B. 1070 - immigrant-rights activists still want to punish Arizona for enacting the measure in the first place, with some continuing to...