Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future
The blue-ribbon Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, convened in 2005-2006 and co-chaired by former U.S. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and former Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN), produced a bipartisan blueprint to overhaul the U.S. immigration system.
The report, which continues to offer a durable foundation for today's debates, recommended creating temporary, provisional, and permanent immigration streams; establishing an independent commission to flexibly adjust admissions based on economic and labor market conditions; modernizing employer verification and border management; strengthening immigrant integration; and offering an earned path to legal status for unauthorized immigrants.
The Task Force’s final report (with executive summaries in English and Spanish) as well as all the preparatory reports carried out during the life of the Task Force can be found here, as can a listing of its membership, which included U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) along with a distinguished group of business and civil society leaders, researchers and academics, and other legislators.
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Lessons From The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
While the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was a landmark effort to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, its key design and implementation failures offer lasting lessons.
Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future: The Roadmap
This roadmap for MPI's Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future lists where immigration policy is failing and details rule of law, security, economy, and integration reforms.
Twilight Statuses: A Closer Examination of the Unauthorized Population
Up to 1.5 million unauthorized immigrants held legally recognized “twilight" statuses as of 2005, conferring some protection from deportation but no pathway to permanence.
Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics
This report examines the characteristics and demographics of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States as of 2004.
Task Force Members
The Task Force was convened by MPI and co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and former Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN). MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner directed the panel’s work. Members of the bipartisan group included leaders of key immigration stakeholder groups, experienced senior public policy actors, elected officials, and immigration experts, with ex-officio participation from Mexico, Canada, the European Commission, and executive branch agencies.
Members
T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Dean, Georgetown University Law Center
Howard Berman*, U.S. Congressman (D-CA)
Oscar A. Chacón, Director, Enlaces América
Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Jeff Flake*, U.S. Congressman (R-AZ)
Fernando Garcia, Founding Director, Border Network for Human Rights
Bill Ong Hing, Professor of Law and Asian American Studies, University of California at Davis
Tamar Jacoby, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government
Edward Kennedy*, U.S. Senator (D-MA)
John McCain*, U.S. Senator (R-AZ)
Janet Murguia, President and CEO, National Council of La Raza
Leon Panetta, Co-Director, Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Rauschenberger, Illinois State Senator (R)
Robert Reischauer, President, Urban Institute
Kurt L. Schmoke, Dean, Howard University School of Law
Frank Sharry, Executive Director, National Immigration Forum
Debra W. Stewart, President, Council of Graduate Schools
C. Stewart Verdery, Principal, Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti
John Wilhelm, President/Hospitality Industry, UNITE HERE
James W. Ziglar, Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
* Because of their legislative roles, currently serving members of Congress were not asked to endorse the Task Force recommendations.