In The News

Immigrants Take to US Streets in Show of Strength

Randal C. Archibold May 3, 2006
US Congress is divided about how to control illegal immigration. In 2005, the US House of Representatives approved legislation to increase border security, making illegal immigration a felony along with providing assistance to such immigrants. The US Senate bill would give some illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. The US has about 11 million illegal immigrants. As long as Congress remains...

Moment of Truth

Robert Scheer May 1, 2006
US polls cite illegal immigration a major concern, and politicians are divided over solutions. Yet the personal economic decisions by most US citizens tend to show more concern about low prices than protecting jobs or wages on the whole. Author Robert Scheer labels the so-called immigration “crisis” as fiction. Throughout history, whenever perceptions emerge about national security threats, low...

American Indie Filmmakers: Thinking Globally and Acting Globally, Too

Dennis Lim May 1, 2006
National cinema has expanded into international cinema, with directors of all nationalities chafing at audience expectations for a certain style or theme. Directors who are first- or second-generation immigrants in the US push film boundaries to explore new settings and characters, often beyond their own ethnicity. Author Dennis Lim suggests that the directors “go beyond dutiful multiculturalism...

The Silent Globalization of Remittances

Richard Reeves April 26, 2006
When immigrants work in wealth countries like the US, they often send money back home to families. Such remittance income far exceeds foreign aid or direct foreign investment in Central America and the Caribbean region. The World Bank estimates that such foreign exchange is on the rise, with more than $223 billion transferred from rich countries to poor in 2005. The distribution is direct and...

Mothers Want Hope for Their Children

Sonia Nazario April 19, 2006
The tide of illegal immigrants to American shores has become unmanageable, with numbers far outstripping those at any other time in US history. Immigrants take jobs that are unpopular with native US workers, often at reduced wages, thus allowing US firms to compete globally. The immigrant workforce reduces US food and clothing costs and makes child-care readily available for US families,...

Off the Job, Onto the Streets

Miriam Jordan April 16, 2006
As US Congress takes a vacation away from debating proposals aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, immigrants and their supporters remind the rest of the US how much the country depends on their work. Latino workers have walked off their jobs in droves, joining large pro-immigrant demonstrations in more than 100 cities. The protests forced some employers to scramble and close a gap...

Globalization’s Second Death?

Niall Ferguson April 13, 2006
Globalization is in trouble when the US adopts a protectionist stance, argues Niall Ferguson. Extreme proposals, such as building an enormous fence along the US-Mexican border, reveal an isolationist attitude that could extend beyond the immigration issue. Politicians scrutinize the movement of labor, capital and goods in a way that calls to mind what Ferguson labels the “death of globalization”...