There is a famous bumper sticker in Texas that states, “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.” This describes Patricia Rojas perfectly. Rojas arrived in the Dallas area when she was only 4 months old with her parents, who moved to the United States on an E-2 visa, a form of temporary but indefinitely renewable work visa. Her parents’ visas no longer covered her as a dependent once she turned 21. When her employer wasn’t able to obtain an H-1B visa for her, this American-raised and -educated engineer was forced to move back to Mexico.
Advocacy organization Improve the Dream estimates there are more than 250,000 people in the United States with a similar story, falling in the cracks of an outdated immigration system. Despite following our immigration laws and spending their formative years in the United States, they age out of the system.
America benefits when we are able to attract and keep young talented workers here. Our current immigration laws make that too difficult.
The challenge of immigration reform sometimes feels big and complicated. This issue isn’t. Immigrants like Rojas are Americans in nearly every way, but only Congress can fix the law to make their status official.
Figure of the Month
356,389
That’s the number of deportations carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) so far in fiscal year 2026. With two months remaining in the current fiscal year, ABC News reports that the agency is on pace to set a new annual record for removals.
Data Dive
- A Niskanen Center review of immigration data through June 2026 found that legal immigration has slowed considerably. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed only 27,569 naturalization applications in April, down from more than 97,000 a year earlier. USCIS also completed 41% fewer cases in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, U.S. consulates issued fewer student and specialty occupation visas, and active international student records declined by more than 52,000.
- UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute analyzed the effect of immigration enforcement on the local economy and found that businesses near nine Los Angeles County immigration enforcement sites experienced an estimated 46,000 fewer visits and $3.16 million in losses during the two weeks after federal enforcement operations in June 2025.
What I’m Reading
- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine had a thoughtful op-ed in the New York Times on the value of immigration to the United States, reforms he’d like to see passed, and how President Trump could lead a successful legislative attempt.
- The Texas Tribune reports on migrant children held beyond the 20-day limit set by the Flores settlement, a legal agreement from the 1990s that outlines standards when immigrant children are detained. At the Dilley detention center in Texas, at least 60 children have been held for more than 100 days.
- The Hill reports that the Trump Administration is reviving a “public charge” policy that would allow immigration officers to consider an applicant’s use of Medicaid, food assistance, housing aid, and other benefits when deciding green card applications. The first Trump Administration pursued a similar policy, which the Biden Administration declined to defend in litigation.
- The Mercatus Center’s Tyler Cowen wrote in The Free Press that immigrants protect American culture rather than undermine it, but we need a welcoming immigration policy to continue that tradition.
- In an effort to deter illegal crossings, the Department of Homeland Security is reportedly deporting Mexican immigrants to Central American countries instead of Mexico. Mexico has historically accepted all Mexican nationals deported from the United States as well as deportees from some other Latin American countries. The Mexican Foreign Ministry told CBS News that it “rejects the deportation of Mexican nationals to third countries and has no such agreement in place.”
Upcoming Events
- Sept. 9, 2026 – Baker Institute: The Age of Depopulation: Growth, Prosperity, and a Shrinking Population
- Oct. 15-16 – American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA): 2026 AILA Fall Conference and Webcast
Bush Institute Insights
- As America marks its 250th anniversary, President George W. Bush reflected on the freedoms and civic responsibilities that have sustained the country. He points to service, community engagement, and active citizenship as essential to preserving those ideals and strengthening the nation for the next generation.
- I wrote about Haitians losing Temporary Protected Status and how humanitarian programs like TPS have economic and security benefits for the United States.
