The League of Women Voters believes that immigration policies should promote reunification of immediate families; meet the economic, business, and employment needs of the United States; and be responsive to those facing political persecution or humanitarian crises.
We acknowledge that our immigration system has been in need of reform for decades, and we support border security measures, efforts to more effectively track immigrants in the US, and improved technology to help with employee verification and sharing information between federal agencies. At the same time, we support federal immigration laws that provide efficient, expeditious systems for immigrants to enter the United States legally, and we believe that providing provisions for unauthorized immigrants already living in the US to earn legal status will strengthen our nation. (Our full position is available in our Impact on Issues Document here.)
While policy reforms, including a path to legal status, remain unachieved, the League does not support deporting immigrants who have no history of major or violent criminal activity. The League supports due process for all persons, including the right to a fair hearing, right to counsel, right of appeal, and right to humane treatment, and we are concerned that these rights may be being violated right now.
In January of 2026, LWV Charleston Area hosted a presentation by Dr. Melissa Siegel, Professor and Head of Migration Studies at The United Nations University and Maastricht University in Maastricht, The Netherlands; the presentation was entitled "The Broken US Immigration System." Dr. Siegel has over 20 years of experience in the fields of migration, development and public policy, and has been called on to teach, consult, give policy advice and do trainings all over the world, including for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Bank, and the International Labor Organization as well as for many governments.
The presentation was not recorded, but she did share the slides with us. You can view them here.
LWV Charleston Area is seeking to become more educated on how federal immigration policy and enforcement is impacting the Lowcountry and South Carolina at large. If you would like to share information or work with us, we invite you to reach out to us at Vote [at] lwvcharleston.org.
