Thomas LaMon

Professor Simpson
Public Management
17 April 2019
Executive Summary
Even though Columbus was announced as a welcoming city, Ohio has been struggling
when it comes to Immigration. The city of Columbus would like to act as the model for how
cities should welcome immigrants into a prosperous community. Throughout this briefing, I will
explain how other cities have been treating the immigration process and how we can change the
organizations within Columbus to form stronger policy on immigration.
Immigration policy within other communities
Immigration policy can vary greatly depending on the local government. In Dallas,
Texas, there is a field office for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is
commonly referred to as USCIS. USCIS is the immigration office responsible for considering
immigration benefits (Verdin). This structure allows immigrants to seek many different kinds of
immigration rights, such as lawful permanent resident status, the right to work in the United
States, deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA), naturalization to become a U.S. citizen.
(Verdin). The USCIS Immigration Office in Dallas also serves dozens of surrounding areas, so
many people come to seek services at this location and seek different immigration rights and
privileges. A strength of this type of structure is that immigrants have a structure where they can
pursue obtaining different rights as immigrants. A weakness of this structure is that it serves so
many surrounding areas that it can be difficult to be able to book a mandatory appointment in
order to pursue obtaining said rights.
Similarly, the city of Miami, Florida has an immigration coalition. The Florida
immigration coalition aims to provide pathways to immigrants who do not have any and roots for
policy change that fixes current failed and costly immigration policies that are not working. A
strength associated with this structure that it is a structure that people can join and be group
members of. This creates more of a sense of unity as allies work together for a common good.
The coalition provides services to immigrants as well as opportunities for anyone to get involved
and give back to immigrants. An advantage of this structure is that the coalition consists of over
65 member organizations and over 100 allies. (FLIC).These vast connections are an advantage
because they allow members to build resources for one another as well as provide access to many
different benefits that each different organization or ally can provide. A disadvantage of such a
structure could be that members are essentially lead by their membership. If numbers decrease
or dwindle in size, it could pose as a very large problem to the coalition since membership is
what they depend on to keep things going.
Moreover, the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, has structures set in place to aid immigrants. The
Mayor of Cincinnati has created an immigration task force, who’s mission statement states
“Mayor John Cranley's Task Force on Immigration is working to make Cincinnati a great place
for immigrants to call home, start a business and thrive” (Office of the mayor). The task force is
essentially meant to prepare reports on the services available to immigrants within the city as
well as outlining key issues in the immigrant communities and ways to improve. An advantage
of this structure is that current immigration policies and services will be analyzed and actions
will be taken to improve the quality of services available to immigrants in the city of Cincinnati
if they are not found to be adequate enough. This task force will allow Cincinnati to grow and
meet the needs of its immigrant communities as well as improve in aspects that they are not
excelling in. A disadvantage of such a structure is that since it is merely a task force appointed
by the city’s mayor, it could be disbanded by future political leaders or the next mayor if they do
not have the same attitude about immigrants and immigration policy.
Replicability
With the country taking steps back with recent steps to end the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals(DACA) and many other actions that prevent immigrants to live normal lives,
we must decide if these organizational structures are replicable. Any system that gives aid in any
way to immigrants is likely to be easily replicable. By pushing for new policy or additional taxes,
financial aid can be given to immigrants of need to live comfortably. The Immigrant Rights
Commission(IRC) would be an organization worth replicating because their job is to advise the
Mayor along with any other politician on issues and policies that focus on immigrants within
their city(sfgov.org). Putting together a group of people that are knowledgeable, when it comes
to the rights of immigrants would easily be replicable within Columbus, Ohio, especially since
Columbus is already filled with many progressive and socially aware people. With this additional
organization, this could help the city of Columbus pass policy, since active policy is what the
city lacks when it comes to immigration.
An additional organization that we may want to replicate is not too far away from us. The
mayor has established a mission statement that tells the community that he wants them to be
successful in his city. This could be easily replicated in Columbus as long as there are open
minded and respectful people in office. Creating a mission statement that lets the community
know that we are open to everyone can be a simple way of letting immigrants feel welcomed.
Another thing that Cincinnati is doing well is that their organization goes out into the public and
reports on issues that immigrants are dealing with. They take these issues into account and they
figure out the necessary options to help the community. Furthermore, this would be an additional
organization that Columbus could replicate to obtain information fast and improve the lives of
immigrants in a timely manner. But, besides these additions, Columbus should focus on
modifying their policy and adding policy because there is a lack thereof. Being a so-called
“Welcoming city” is amazing but not if there isn’t the support of the people and policy to back it
up. On top of this, adding a mission statement and allocating more funds to modify the
organizational structure would help the city. We shouldn’t focusing of changing the system of
Columbus, just adding to what we already have by replicating other cities.
Measurements on Columbus Organizations
Should Columbus choose to implement a different organizational model, reform of
organizational structure could be measured in a few different ways. For example, as Columbus
improves the structures and services available to immigrants, the success of these structures
could be measured by keeping track of the numbers of immigrants who are being assisted.
Accessibility to these structures can be used as a measurement because access is an important
aspect. As the structures improve, so will accessibility. Another measurement that could be used
to measure reform of these organization structures would be the number of immigrants who gain
citizenship or legal status in the city after accessing and receiving assistance from said structures.
This would allow Columbus to measure the direct impact of these reformed structures through
the results they yield. Additionally, a way reform could be measured is through surveys
administered to immigrant communities to measure the impacts that these reformed structures
have had on them and their communities, as well as how these reforms have changed their lives
and ways to improve.
 References
Mayor's Task Force On Immigration. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/mayor/immigration/

Mission & History. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://floridaimmigrant.org/about/mission-history/

Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://sfgov.org/oceia/about-irc

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.auroragov.org/city_hall/international___immigrant_affairs

USCIS Immigration Office in Dallas · Dallas Immigration Lawyers VERDIN LAW Dallas and
the US. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://verdinlaw.com/uscis-immigration-offices/uscis-immigration-office-in-dallas/