DMI's immigration tool kit includes:

• 2007 Edition of "Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class"with an updated executive summary and legislative analyses;

• Talking points for explaining the middle-class stake in progressive immigration policy clearly and persuasively;

• A discussion guide that facilitators can use to start a dialogue about immigration and the middle class;

• A Spanish translation of the report's executive summary, talking points, and discussion questions;

• Op-eds, articles and testimony by DMI staff and others that cite this report;

• An opportunity to join the discussion on the DMIBlog; 

• Read archived blog posts about immigration;

• Read and respond to profiles of the 2008 presidential candidates' positions on immigration.

Introduction

From the mass mobilizations of immigrants across the country, to Lou Dobbs' "broken borders" segment on his nightly TV show, and the impassioned debates in the halls of Congress, state legislatures, and city councils across the nation, immigration policy has leapt to the forefront of the national consciousness.

The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy contends that any debate over immigration policy must be connected to the larger conversation about America's squeezed middle class and those striving to attain a middle-class standard of living. Accordingly, DMI offers a lens through which to evaluate immigration policy that operates from the basic principle that immigration policy is sound only if it also helps to strengthen and expand America's middle class.

With that premise as our starting point, we wrote "Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: 2007 Edition." First published in December 2005, "Principles" is now updated to reflect recent legislative proposals and a discussion of issues that have emerged as important. It is intended to serve as a guide for those who wish to advance a progressive immigration agenda that reflects the best interests of America's current and aspiring middle class. 

The report includes:

• A middle-class test which can be used to evaluate immigration legislation based on the interests of the current and aspiring middle class, as well as to formulate new policy;

• An in-depth discussion and analysis of the research that backs up the test, including studies on immigrants' economic contributions and their effect on jobs and wages for U.S. workers;

• Appendices that apply the test to specific pieces of legislation recently proposed by the U.S. Congress, giving each bill a grade based on its middle-class impact.

Read the Executive Summary In English; En Español 

Read legislative analyses of specific immigration bills
Comprehensive Enforcement & Immigration Reform Act, S 1438
The Secure America & Orderly Immigration Act Of 2005, S 1033
The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act, HR 4437
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, S 2611
The Secure Fence Act, HR 6061

Articles on immigration policy by DMI Staff
Pro-Immigrant Populism, The Nation
Immigration raid an 'economic dead end', Chicago Sun-Times
Labor Joins La Marcha, TomPaine.com
Dobbs the demagogue, NY Daily News
Bush's Half Measures, TomPaine.com
DMI Immigration testimony before the New York City Council
The Guest Worker Gamble, TomPaine.com
Look Here for Immigration Solutions, Newsday
Letter to the Editor: Illegals and Lost Wages, New York Sun
Beyond Guest Workers, TomPaine.com

Other articles discussing DMI's immigration perspective
Middle-class' immigration test, Bangor Daily News
Toward a Sensible Immigration Policy, The Nation
Worker Protections in Immigration Proposal Questioned, The New Standard
Family Apart as Immigration Debate Goes On, The Miami Herald
Immigrants Are Not The Enemy, The Working Life
Guest Workers: What To Do?, The Working Life
Reimagining Immigration, Tapped, the blog of American Prospect magazine
Dealing with Immigration: Increase Immigrant Rights, TPMCafe
Underclass of workers is W's idea of reform, NY Daily News