My friend Morgan Smith wrote this note about the Rio Grande in July 2024. Learn more about Morgan here , here and here .
J.A.M. v. USA "The Court holds that Oscar is entitled to a much lower, but still notable award of $175,000 because he was somewhat older at the time of the incident, was detained for about half...
Path2Papers, July 17, 2024 " What are the policy changes the Biden administration is implementing regarding temporary work visas? On June 18, 2024, the Biden administration announced a policy...
DOJ, July 18, 2024 "The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs Inc. (Southwest Key), a Texas-based nonprofit that provides housing to unaccompanied children who are...
Jeanne Kuang, CalMatters, July 18, 2024 "Even with all the industries where Californians went on strike during last year’s “hot labor summer,” some of the most active sites of...
Elizabeth Neumann, Mar. 4, 2021
The author is a senior advisor to the National Immigration Forum on national security matters and a former DHS Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention during the Trump administration.
"National security professionals agree that border security is important for our national security. And there is bipartisan agreement that the current laws that make up our immigration system are broken. This broken system creates vulnerabilities that individuals with criminal or terrorist intent could exploit. But we cannot fix such complex problems simply by building a wall and conjuring up immoral “deterrents” nor by incorrectly categorizing immigrants themselves as the threat.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) inaugural Homeland Threat Assessment issued in October 2020 inaccurately listed “illegal immigration” as one of the seven major threats facing the United States — placing it alongside such threat actors as cyberattacks by foreign adversaries, foreign and domestic terrorists, and transnational criminal organizations. For individuals not familiar with security terms, it is a common mistake to interchangeably use words such as threat, risk, and vulnerability, but for DHS to make this mistake suggests a political agenda designed to further create fear. This paper explains why labelling immigration a “threat” is both inaccurate and irresponsible.
Each year that passes without meaningful immigration reforms, however, increases our security risk. Finding a path forward requires the Biden administration and the 117th Congress to reject polarized, all-or-nothing arguments and to curb rhetoric that demonizes immigrants and minority communities, as well as their own political opponents.
Leaders should engage instead in a robust and respectful debate based on facts and a transparent acknowledgement of the security vulnerabilities the current system poses. Reform can be done in a way that upholds the rule of law, is consistent with our national security and economic interests, treats everyone with dignity, and values immigrants’ contributions to the success of our nation.
You can read the full paper here."