The time has finally arrived. Starting March 1, it will be mandatory for U.S. citizens to have a passport when traveling to Mexico. This date had been pushed back several times, in part because agencies were flooded with applications and could not process and issues newpassports in a timley manner. In fact, I thought this was already required and was suprised to learn that the drop-dead date is still coming up.

Considering that an estimated 93% of Americans travelling from Mexico to the U.S. already have one, it should be a pretty smooth transtion. According to the Dallas Morning News:

"The new rule applies also to U.S. legal residents, who will have to show their green cards or other documents demonstrating their legal status in the U.S...

The new measure aligns itself with the State Department’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which since June has required U.S. travelers to show their passports to re-enter the country...

The U.S. allows children under 15 traveling with their parents to re-enter the country by showing their birth certificates.

It is not clear if Mexico will do the same or require all travelers to produce passports."

For more info on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, click here.

The 800 Mile Wall is a new documentary directed by John Carlos Frey. The trailer provides a glimpse of what will undoubtedly offer a compelling look at the human cost of immigration:

In an editorial in today’s Huffington Post, Frey introduced his film, including the following excerpt:

Read his complete description here.

I am eager to watch this film because it brings attention to the human cost of constructing a border fence. As Frey concludes, comprehensive immigration reform must address this reality as well:

To see a list of scheduled screenings or order the DVD, click here.

One of the main problems with our current immigration system is that supply does not even begin to match demand. In other words, the number of visas offered does even come close to the number of workers who are actually working in the U.S. But how do we figure out how many workers the U.S. really needs? How many will we continue to need in the future?  

The Immigration Policy Center just released a study dedicated to this specific issue. Future Flow: Repairing our Broken Immigration System explores the impact that an improved visa system could have on immigration policy as a whole. A summary of the study is as follows: 

One of the greatest challenges in immigration reform is the need to realistically assess our future employment-based immigration needs.  This includes permanent and temporary visas, high-skilled and low-skilled workers.  Many people agree that our current legal immigration flow is drastically out of sync with America’s labor needs and the global realities of the 21^st century. Meanwhile, some employers have been able to misuse the broken system to the detriment of U.S. and foreign workers.  Policymakers must recognize that if we create a legal immigration system that functions well, there will be less pressure on immigrants to come to the U.S. illegally and for employers to hire unauthorized workers.  Given the current weakened economy and high unemployment rates, it is difficult to estimate the U.S.’s future labor needs.  However, the economy will eventually improve, and a reasonable, flexible legal immigration system must be put into place to fill our future labor needs.  If the U.S. is to thrive in the globalized 21^st century economy, employment-based immigration must be seen as a strategic resource that can both meet labor market needs and foster economic growth and competition while still protecting U.S. workers and improving wages and working conditions.

Immigration reform, like many other important issues, has often been turned into a partisan debate. The liberal camp always wants amnesty, and conservatives always want tougher border security and enforcement. Right?

Not exactly.

This past  year immigration reform advocates have seen a strong ally in the Evangelical community and amongst other faith groups, which are almost always assumed to be made up largely of convervatives (aka, Republicans).

What’s going on here?

According to the Washington Post’s "on faith" blogger Galen Carey, Evangelicals support CIR because:

"...we recognize that human beings are unique and precious individuals created in the image of God, with great dignity and potential to bless their neighbors. We see the hand of God in the movement of peoples throughout history.

As immigrants have joined our churches and communities, they have become our friends, our co-workers, and indeed, our brothers and sisters. We grieve when families remain separated for decades, when workers are treated unfairly, and when our neighbors lack the basic protection of the law. For these reasons and many others the National Association of Evangelicals, representing 40 denominations with more than 45,000 congregations, has joined other faith communities in asserting the moral imperative of enacting meaningful immigration reform now."

One does not have to be "religious" to appreciate the logic of Carey’s explanation. In fact, I personally know several non-practicing Christians as well as athiests who recognize the moral imperative for reform and are some of immigration reform’s most compassionate advocates.

No matter your religious background or political affiliation, now is the time to push partisanship aside and come together to fix a system that is so clearly broken. As Carey so eloquently concludes, it is time for Republicans and Democrats to work together:

"We can think of no greater opportunity for them to put aside partisanship and enact immigration reform this session that will strengthen our recovering economy, restore the rule of law and reinforce our nation’s best values. In the end, our nation’s greatness will be marked by how we treat the most vulnerable, including the stranger, among us."

Well said indeed.

This past Wednesday, President Obama delivered a much-anticipated State of the Union address. While the focus of his speech was the economy and health care reform, he also took a moment to address immigation in a single statement:

“We should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system,” Obama said, “to secure our borders, enforce our laws and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.”

But for many immigration reform advocates, a mere mention was not enough. Change.org criticized the President in their blog:

"Barack Obama was elected on a platform for change last year. More than a year after his Inauguration, things still look the same for most immigrant families in the United States. And we are tired of being "strung along" on the broken change bandwagon."

Other reform advocates were more forgiving, and more hopeful.

Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, praised the President for even mentioning reform. “I am going to give the President a lot of credit for broaching the subject in this particular environment of ‘Just Say No to Everything,’ he said."

MySA.com’s article interpreted the President’s remarks as hopeful as he "urged lawmakers in his State of the Union...to drop partisan divisions and pass immigration reform legislation." And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, reiterated his desire for a bipartisan bill to fix the broken immigration system, but warned that “The president cannot be a bystander and expect immigration reform to just happen."

With the recent victory of Sen.-elect Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts, many reform advocates fear that their cause is slipping away. An article in the Hill pointed out that this may "have diminished the chances of passing far-reaching, controversial immigration reform." But "Democrats are not giving up", and are even reaching out to Lou Dobbs. According to the article, they reason that"Winning the support of Dobbs, who became a prominent critic of illegal immigration and proposals to grant amnesty to illegal workers, could provide a significant boost to reform efforts."

I had to read that sentence twice to believe it too. Wow.

Do you think a bipartisan immigration solution can be passed in 2010? Why or why not?

A very cool mural was painted this past August in Chicago by the students of Yollocalli Arts Reach, a youth initiative of the National Museum of Mexican Art. The arts education and career-training program targets teens and young adults.

According to the Yollocalli web site:

In the summer of 2009, The Declaration of Immigration mural class partnered young artists with teaching artist Salvador Jimenez to conceptualize and create a 2 story high,-30 foot wide mural on the Southwest exterior wall of the Yollocalli/Radio Arte shared building.  The mural is a visual dedication to all immigrants and allies who have marched hundreds of thousands of miles to advocate for fair legislation for immigrants and who have stood strong in the face of anti-immigrant rhetoric. Declaration of Immigration looked at some of the historic and current issues affecting immigrant communities and serve as a reminder that the United States of America was founded on emigration and settlement.

The Yollocalli model is based on creating a space for youth to partner with practicing artists; access the tools necessary to realize their own vision; and build skills as emerging artists. Located in the heart of Pilsen, Yollocalli is an open forum for experimentation in art-making based on issues in art, history, and youth culture.

It’s no surprise that over the past week the New York Times has done a stellar job of covering Haiti’s disastrous earthquake and its aftermath. One has only to look at this poignant series of photos to begin to understand the true depth of devastation and despair facing a nation already struggling with hurricanes, poverty, and other serious issues. Most recently, they published a story on now Haitians living illegally in the U.S. have been granted temporary protected status. According to the article:

The Obama administration extended a special immigration status on Friday to Haitians living illegally in the United States that protects them from deportation for 18 months and allows them to work here 

Calling the aftermath of the earthquake “a disaster of historic proportions,” the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said she was granting the designation, known as temporary protected status, for Haitian immigrants because their safety would be at risk if they were deported.

This special status will protect over 100,000 Haitians, who will now be able to live and work in the U.S. legally, and protect around 30,000 who were in immediate danger of being deported. 

A bipartisan group of 80 representatives and 18 senators, as well as the conference of Roman Catholic bishops, had asked the While House to grant this status. Even more telling, according to the article, was the support of some notorious anti-immigrant organizations:

Some groups that have opposed protected status for Haitians changed their views after seeing the destruction in Haiti. Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, called Thursday for the protection for Haitians.                                                              

I applaud the Administration, Congress, and others who called for this gesture of compassion. To send them back to their country in its current state would be cruel and inhumane. I have no doubt that the recipients of this status will embrace this opportunity to work and send aid to family members in their homeland.

Immigrant, Inc.: Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs are Driving the New Economy (and how they will save the American worker) is a fascinating book that delves into the amazing economic contributions immigrants have made and will continue to make on the U.S. economy as a whole.

Here is a a video where co-author Richard Herman introduces the book:

According to Herman, immigrants are behind over half of Silicon Valley companies, and they are nearly twice as likely as native-born Americans to be entrepreneurs and file a U.S. patent. 

What I appreciate most about this new book is how it dispels the myth that today’s immigrants are taking U.S. jobs; instead, they are creating them- especially as major employers are laying people off in today’s struggling economy.

These observations, including the one that "immigrants are inherently dreamers and fighters" do not just apply to one particular immigrant group over another. The fighting spirit, optimism, and drive is something that all immigrants, no matter what their socioeconomic status, posses. Immigrants are indeed "a culture of entrepreneurship,education, family and thrift."

I can’t wait to grab a copy of this book and pass it along.

Last week I blogged about the launch of an innovative postcard campaign for compassionate comprehensive immigration reform legislation. At Justice for Immigrants a simple click of a button allows you to send a message to your representative and senator telling them that now  is the time to fix our broken system.

A few days ago, Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, issued a statement on the need for Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration reform legislation. Here’s an excerpt:

"Many men, women and children who have come to this country in the past two decades struggle under economic and social burdens and live in fear of deportation and separation from spouses and children. Historically, our country has generously welcomed immigrants to our land.  At the beginning of a new decade, we hope that society will once again recognize the great gifts that immigrants bring to this country and will allow those who have lived and worked among us but who are undocumented to enter a path toward legal residency and citizenship...

This is a crucial moment in our nation’s history. Now is the time to do what is just and fair for the immigrant and for the good of us all.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we commemorate this month, said it very clearly, ’Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion.’ "

Read the complete statement here.