Returning to our Immigration 101 course, the topic for this blog post is, “Do immigrants help or hurt the economy?”  Another way of asking this question is, “Are new immigrants a burden on the country or do they make an economic (as well as other types of) contribution.” Before we take a look at the economic data, I thought that this study by the Pew Research Center was interesting. It found that the majority of white evangelicals, about 60%, believe that immigrants are a burden on the …Read More

Hello to all who read this blog. As you know the first few blog posts have been educational in nature, as I have tried to do a mini-on-line, basic immigration 101 course. I want to continue that for a few more sessions, but in this post, I want to look at a related but different topic. Last Tuesday was Election Day in the United States. The election for president was once again very closely contested, pointing out the continued divisions in our country.  President Obama won somewhat easily …Read More

Hello. In the last blog post I wrote about the undocumented immigrant. He or she is the person who is in the United States without proper immigration status. He or she could be a person who was here originally with a legal visa, but when that visa expired they decided to stay. Or it could be someone who “Entered Without Inspection” through the desert or across the river. In this post I want to consider the reasons that a person would come to the United States illegally.  “Why don’t they …Read More

Hello to all.  I asked that the Blog be interactive and so it is!  David Hill, who also lives in Nogales, Arizona, and works with No More Deaths (www.nomoredeaths.org) responded to my second blog post and pointed out that “Entry Without Inspection” is in fact a criminal, not a civil, offense.  Here is what he wrote, “Though I often hear people say the opposite, illegal entry IS a criminal offense (a misdemeanor), punishable under Title 18 of the US Code as per Section 1325 of Title 8. What's a …Read More