The Center for Immigration Studies, abbreviated CIS, is a US-based think tank that advocates drastic reduction in both legal and illegal immigration to the United States. Their website is here. Scholars at CIS include Mark Krikorian and Steven Camarota.
How does CIS describe itself?
The Center for Immigration Studies bills itself as “Low-immigration, Pro-immigrant.” Their stance is that very few immigrants should be allowed into the United States, but those that are allowed in should be treated well.
How does CIS distinguish itself?
CIS distinguishes itself from other anti-immigrant groups in the following ways:
- CIS has a more academic reputation, and generally prides itself on carrying out more rigorous research in support of anti-immigrant positions. They have published some of the work of George Borjas, the most prominent critic of immigration among academic economists in modern America.
- CIS scholar Mark Krikorian has argued that the problem with immigration isn’t immigrants, but the nature of the society receiving the immigrants. In particular, when trying to address the then versus now question — why immigration worked well in the nineteenth century and doesn’t work well now — Krikorian blames modern society. More on his argument is at the then versus now page.
- CIS focuses on trying to influence legislation and public opinion, but is not involved in coordinating grassroots anti-immigration activism. This makes it different from other Beltway anti-immigration groups such as FAIR and NumbersUSA.
What do others think about CIS?
- Here is the Wikipedia page on CIS.
- The Southern Poverty Law Center has a critical page about CIS on its website.
Coverage of CIS on the Open Borders website
See blog posts tagged CIS on the website. Of particular interest:
- Accusations of racism in the immigration debate, a blog post by Vipul Naik.