President Obama spoke today on the need to overhaul the nation’s immigration system in El Paso, Texas. This speech is part of his larger effort to re-energize discussions on immigration refom. The trip to El Paso also involved a stop at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing. Read analysis of the speech on AQ Online.

Immigrants in the United States are integrating into local communities, although at uneven rates and without the help of specific policy interventions. This is the conclusion of a report released this week by the Migration Policy Institute. As measured by five main indicators of integration—language proficiency, socioeconomic attainment, political participation, residential locale, and social interaction with host communities—the report finds that Latino immigrants’ integration has improved dramatically across generations, but have nonetheless fared less well than their Asian, black and non-Hispanic white counterparts.

In his introduction to the report, author Tomás R. Jiménez notes that the integration of immigrants has long been a cornerstone of American identity and the American economy. The five indicators described above not only contribute to immigrants’ sense of national identity and their socioeconomic mobility, they also promote social cohesion, economic growth, and robust participatory democracy overall.

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While President Barack Obama met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Tuesday to renew his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, Rep. Lou Barletta, a freshman Republican congressman and former mayor of Hazleton, PA, announced that he would create a new congressional caucus to stop “illegal” (or, preferably unauthorized) immigration into the United States.

Rep. Barletta envisions his initiative as a counterweight to the all-Democrat Congressional Hispanic Caucus that advocates for an overhaul of a U.S. immigration system that mixes enforcement along with realistic pathways toward legalization for certain undocumented immigrants. Known for championing the infamous Illegal Immigration Relief Act of 2006 in Hazelton, the congressman is taking steps to push punitive legislation on a national level. Similar to Arizona’s SB 1070, the Hazelton law targeted the local immigrant population in Hazelton by revoking the business license of employers who hired undocumented immigrants and imposing a $1,000 fine on landlords who rented to them.

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Establishing an environment that welcomes and taps the talents and full economic potential of immigrants requires a greater understanding of the present-day struggles and contributions of immigrants and Latinos overall.

That is the underlying principle for Americas Society’s newly released a compendium of immigration-related articles: New Destinations & Hispanic Immigrants: Promoting Inclusive Policies. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, it presents a multifaceted picture of what policymakers, advocates, and the general public face when trying to devise an approach to immigration that responds to the interests and needs of actors across society.

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