New York is in an absurd situation. New Yorkers are desperately in need of affordable housing while huge spaces are standing empty.

VIDEO :: In July, Speaker Christine C. Quinn announced a $20 million commitment to fund a pilot program that will turn unsold condominiums, market-rate rental buildings and stalled construction sites into affordable housing opportunities for moderate and middle-income families.

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The number of New Yorkers forced to spend the night in homeless shelters has reached 39,000, the highest number in 25 years. The main reasons for this are the economic crisis, unemployment, and Mayor Bloomberg's nonchalant attitude towards the problem. more>

The author opines that the enthusiasm at the recent signing by Governor Paterson of the bill that will make all election materials available in Russian may be misplaced. By embracing the bill, he says, Russian-speaking voters – U.S. citizens with a minimum of five or six years in the country – have admitted to their own illiteracy. more>

According to the Human & Civil Rights Organizations of America (HCROA), the majority of police officers adhere to the long-standing stereotype that "all blacks and Hispanics are potential criminals."  more>

Lawyers have varying attitudes towards undocumented immigrants. Some really do feel for them and support them. Others believe illegal immigrants are criminals and must therefore be sent back to their native countries.

VIDEO :: Conservative Law Professor Kris W. Kobach speaks with Glen Beck about illegal immigration.

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The prominent case of the up-scale Lemongrass Restaurant in Manhattan, whose owner owes over $1 million in wages to his employees, is just one of many complaints filed daily with city agencies by people who have been exploited and cheated by their employers.

AUDIO :: In May NPR's "All Things Considered" reported on New York State's efforts to tackle wage theft against immigrants.

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"We can only guess at the number of immigrants who enter the United States by crossing the Bering Strait in fishing schooners, inflatable rafts, and motor boats," said Charles Kosick from the Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII).

VIDEO :: Crossing the Bering Strait overland is a grueling endeavor.  However, an international team attempts the journey. more>

Under a proposal made by the influential chair of the Senate's Finance Committee, all cities in the state with a population of over one million will be required to translate all ballots and other election materials into Russian.

VIDEO :: New York State Senator Carl Kruger debates the Russian language bill on Senate Floor. more>

VIDEO :: Last year the NYPD decided to send new rookie police officers to high crime areas of the city dubbed "impact zones." more>

The conservative-leaning population of the United States that relentlessly criticizes undocumented immigrants often defends itself with arguments that have absolutely no basis in reality. more>

Faced with federal and local government budget cuts to English-language programs, immigrant and immigrant-rights organizations agree that the need to know the country's official language increases notably during an economic crisis.

AUDIO :: WNYC's Siddhartha Mitter reported on how the possibility of budget cuts presents a risk to ESL programs more>

"Even a small thing like buying a new shirt became something of a holiday for everyone in my family," recalled 33-year-old undocumented immigrant Alfredo Rames, a former resident of Irapuato. more>


Chasing the American Dream - A brief look at Mexicans who risk everything for the chance of a better life in the United States.

Research shows that immigrants who are represented in court by a lawyer are three to four times more likely to win their cases, but in the United States, only 35 percent of immigrants have lawyers. more>

“Our company is full of foreigners: Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis,” a young Russian-speaking programmer who was educated in the United States and works at a reputable Manhattan company complained to me in a conversation. more>

The growing number of American families dependent on food stamps is having an effect on the most varied branches of the economy, as well as the health of all who survive on the high-calorie, low-quality food the stamps buy. more>

Two years after the opening of a public school that specializes in Arabic culture, New York City awaits the inauguration of a public school dedicated to the Hebrew language, raising the issue of whether a public school should focus on specific cultures. more>

Early Feb. was marked by large demonstrations in support of immigration reform, the main participants, not Mexican laborers, but small business owners. more>

In New York, Russian residents with Section 8 housing vouchers aren’t guaranteed a place to live. more>

Opponents of illegal immigration have cause for celebration: data from law-enforcement agencies show that the number of people trying to enter the United States without documents by crossing the border with Mexico has fallen sharply. more>

This week, dozens of Catholic dioceses across the United States stood up for the rights of undocumented immigrants. more>

“The country is going through an economic crisis and the appearance of legal workers that do not need to be deported is a very good beginning,” Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano said this week. more>

In examining the problem of illegal immigration – the topic which provokes the greatest number of comments from readers – I have never hidden my skepticism of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on American businesses. more>

As one of my colleagues joked gloomily, America’s economic crisis may have solved the illegal immigration problem that neither Capitol Hill nor the White House has had any success solving. Now the question is what effect will the mass exodus of people without papers have on the economic crisis? more>

When a self-confident person holding a senior position of responsibility admits to making a mistake in front of reporters, we can state with certainty that we are witnesses to a rare event. The meeting between NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and correspondents from New York’s ethnic and community papers was just such an extraordinary event. more>

At a recent job fair in NYC, upstate employers tried to draw immigrant doctors on J-1 visas, with glossy flyers with picturesque photographs and descriptions of life in small towns in the state’s Lake Ontario region, along the St. Lawrence River and next to the Adirondack mountains. more>

Seven years have passed since that tragic date whose transcription in American English looks like the phone number to call in an emergency: 9/11. As a social services employee at the Federation of Employment and Guidance Services (FEGS) for almost three years, I helped those who lost their jobs, housing, business or health after the terrorist attacks. more>

The Brooklyn-based Agriprocessors is again in a bind, trying to explain to the U.S. Supreme Court why they can deny their workers the right to unionize based on their undocumented status, when hiring them, in the first place, is illegal. more>

The nearly 40,000 immigrants from Russia and the former Soviet Union in the northern Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties will take a hard look at the two candidates in the Democratic primaries for District 13. Both have strong ties to Georgia. more>

The economic downturn and surging food prices are haunting the poor Russian-American immigrants in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Is food aid enough to provide a safety net? more>

“Why should an illegal immigrant run the risk of being arrested?” Undocumented immigrants now have the opportunity to voluntarily choose deportation. Immigrant rights advocates think the measure won’t be successful, and they might have good reason. more>

Thanks to the introduction of new rules requiring both city and private hospitals to provide experienced interpreters for patients and to make various medical forms available in different languages, significant progress has been made since 2006 to help non-English speaking hospital patients. more>

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the U.S. legal system is overflowing with all sorts of paradoxes. Using green cards as the main way of rewarding cooperation with the authorities has been a practice with district attorneys and criminal investigators for over 10 years. more>

Moses investigates government programs set up to give health care to undocumented immigrants and to incarcerate undocumented immigrants who have committed a crime, and looks at the cost to taxpayers. more>

According to the Census Bureau and recent demographic studies, the immigrant population in American suburbs is growing faster than in the cities that traditionally have been a draw fro immigrants. more>

According to Amnesty International, 70 percent of those arrested because of their immigration status await deportation in real prisons, where their cellmates are real criminals, like rapists, murders, and robbers. Unwieldy machine that it is, ICE works so unpredictably that a Mexican dishwasher at a restaurant in New York could be sent to Pelican Bay – one of the most terrible prisons in California. A resident of Los Angeles could end up at a prison in Florida, several thousand kilometers from his residence. more>

In bad news for immigrant families, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget for the upcoming year proposes significant cuts to educational programs, contradicting the warm words he had for immigrants in his recent State of the City address. more>

The City Council of Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb, voted unanimously to adopt a new ordinance on renting houses or apartments under which future residents must present landlords with special licenses issued by city authorities. If it turns out that the applicant is an illegal immigrant, he will not be able to rent housing. more>

There are many causes of the anti-immigration feelings that have recently swept across America. First of all, the majority of immigrants (both legal and illegal) are from Spanish-speaking countries. Many of our fellow citizens believe that they are changing the face of the country, giving it a "Latin" flavor. more>

The author suggests Congress can improve the condition of the U.S. labor market by taking specific actions, like giving the Department of Labor permission to determine on its own the number of work permits and temporary visas issued each quarter. Such a move would help address the visa backlogs now plaguing immigration authorities. more>

New U.S. citizens have been required to demonstrate "the ability to read, write and speak elementary English" since 1906. One century later, the pursuit of assimilation remains just as popular. more>