I'm traveling this week and composing from an airport with just a few minutes till my flight departs. Rather than offering the usual extended analysis, I write briefly on three important developments that follow on earlier posts.
- DHS Scorecard. In July 2008 I wrote about the report card that the Homeland Security Department gave itself. Well, the Immigration Policy Center has just graded the Department in a report that measures performance against the immigration goals set out just over a year ago by the Obama Transition Team. The New York Times Editorial Page also weighs in on the topic, as does HSToday.
- E-Verify. I've critiqued the E-Verify approach to employment-eligibility verification time and again. Now, Westat, the consultants USCIS hired to rate the system, have issued a long and short report that finds this automated system fails more than half the time to prevent unauthorized workers from receiving confirmations of employment authorization.
- Costly Federal Criminal Prosecutions of Immigration Violations. A recent post offered a penny-pinching suggestion on cutting the federal deficit and invited bipartisan support. Federal District Judge Sam Sparks suggested that the U.S. Attorney in West Texas justify decisions to spend precious federal dollars on prosecution of immigration violations. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Murphy has now responded, as have TRAC and the editor of Bender's Immigration Daily.
Each of the foregoing links are worth a read. Nothing about immigration policy or law is simple. Draw your own conclusions. Meantime, my flight is boarding. Ciao.
