Blurring the Lines: A Profile of State and Local Police Enforcement of Immigration Law Using the National Crime Information Center Database, 2002-2004
By Hannah Gladstein, Annie Lai, Jennifer Wagner and Michael Wishnie
Report, December 2005

In almost 9,000 cases from 2002 to 2004, police officers checking the names of individuals stopped or detained against records in the nation's main criminal database received an initial "hit" for an immigration violation that, upon further investigation, the Department of Homeland Security could not confirm. The rate of false positives was 42 percent overall, and some individual law enforcement agencies had error rates as high as 90 percent.

Immigration Facts: Immigration Enforcement Spending Since IRCA
By David Dixon and Julia Gelatt
Task Force Fact Sheet No. 10, November 2005

This study of appropriations finds that from 1985 to 2002, funds for border control jumped from $700 million to $2.8 billion per year; funds for detention and removal skyrocketed from $192 million to $1.6 billion, while funds for interior investigations rose from $109 million to only $458 million.

Documentation Provisions of the Real ID Act
By Kevin Jernegan
Task Force Backgrounder No. 11, November 2005

The Real ID Act seeks to meet the US security imperative to have a reliable system for confirming and individual’s identity, prevent fraud through counterfeit-proof identification cards, and capitalize on possible gains from information-sharing among multiple federal and state law enforcement agencies. However, concerns range from cost issues to the difficulty of constructing safeguards against misuse of the data by both criminal elements and the government.

Eligible to Work?: Experimentations in Verifying Work Authorization
By Kevin Jernegan
Task Force Insight No. 8, November 2005

Various attempts have been made over the years to create a system that provides employers with verification of an employee's eligibility to work, each with different strengths and weaknesses. New proposals have been developed recently and new technologies have become available that were not available at the time of the Immigration and Reform Control Act's passage in 1986. The successes and failures of the efforts undertaken to date can inform proposals for future employment authorization and verification initiatives.
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An Idea Whose Time Has Finally Come? The Case for Employment Verification

Although the Immigration Reform and Control Act made it a crime to hire unauthorized immigrants, it failed to give employers the tools they need to determine who is authorized to work and who isn't -- a reliable, automated employment verification system. The author suggests that what is needed is a process not unlike credit-card verification that allows employers to swipe a card at the point of hire and receive a response in real time from the Social Security Administration.
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Immigration Enforcement at the Worksite: Making it Work
By Visiting Scholar Marc R. Rosenblum
Task Force Policy Brief No. 6, November 2005

The author lays out six critical reforms necessary to construct a coherent worksite enforcement system, including limits on documents proving identity and work authorization, changes to shift the burden of applicant screening from employers to the government, and more efficient use of employment databases to target non-compliant employers.
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US Border Enforcement: From Horseback to High-Tech
By Deborah W. Meyers
Task Force Policy Brief No. 7, November 2005

Border Patrol funding has grown more than 500 percent over the last two decades, as legislative and policy changes specified concentrated and enhanced personnel and technological resources. Border control has evolved from a low-tech, single-agency exercise focused strictly on the Southwestern border, to a far more encompassing concept including multiple agencies, extensive use of technology, and a broad geographic focus that extends beyond the US border and coastline. This review of border enforcement history raises a number of policy questions, with the primary one being whether border enforcement has been effective.
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Does the migration of highly skilled professionals from developing and underdeveloped countries to developed countries harm or hurt their country of origin? Dr. Arno Tanner questions the emerging literature that stresses the positive aspects of labor migration. He finds that while emigration certainly cannot be stopped, and may be beneficial in some cases, unhindered high-skilled emigration, particularly in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, can have disastrous consequences. Dr. Tanner recommends specific policies where carefully targeted development measures could be used to mitigate the negative consequences of brain drain.

Managing Integration: The European Union's Responsibilities Towards Immigrants
Rita Süssmuth and Werner Weidenfeld, Editors
Published by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Migration Policy Institute, Fall 2005
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Reflections on Restoring Integrity to the United States Immigration System: A Personal Vision

The author summarizes the lessons learned from implementing the Immigration and Control Act of 1986, including that: the robust and growing demand for work and family reunification visas must be incorporated into new policies; legalization should not be done halfway; reducing incentives for fraud should be a top policy goal; and migration must be managed in cooperation with neighboring countries.
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The "Regularization" Option in Managing Illegal Migration More Effectively: A Comparative Perspective

This author argues that legalization (or "regularization" in Europe) of unauthorized migrants can not only prevent the illegally resident population from building to unacceptable levels, but can also make the management of migration more effective when used in concert with other policy initiatives. Properly conceived and carefully executed programs would allow those that can meet certain tough but fair and transparent criteria to earn legal status and can be effective processes for meeting important security, labor market, and social policy goals.
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Where migration policy is made: starting to expose the labyrinth of national institutional settings for migration policy making and implementation
By Joanne van Selm

Global Migration Perspectives, Global Commission on International Migration
July 2005

European Refugee Policy: Is There Such a Thing?
By Joanne van Selm, MPI Senior Policy Analyst
UNHCR Working Paper No. 115
May 2005

Immigration Is Becoming a Key Issue for Europe’s Future
By Joanne van Selm, Senior Policy Analyst
Cover Story, European Affairs, Summer 2005

Revisiting the Need for Appointed Counsel
By Donald Kerwin, Executive Director, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)
Insight No. 4, May 2005
Author Donald Kerwin makes the case that increasing legal representation for indigent immigrants in removal proceedings ensures that these critical decisions are based on legal standards rather than income. The report finds striking discrepancies in outcomes between those with counsel and those who must represent themselves. Based on these findings, Mr. Kerwin recommends several ways to expand or increase legal representation, benefiting immigrants and promoting more efficient proceedings and correct legal determinations for the government.