"Our broken immigration system undermines core national interests and must be reformed. The public demands it. Our security requires it. Global competitiveness and economic reality compel it. Our identity as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws depends on it."

- Marshall Fitz and Angela Kelley, authors of "Principles for Immigration Reform, Guidelines for Fixing Our Broken Immigration System." Read the full report from the Center for American Progress released earlier this week.

With an increasing emphasis on border security, do we need to worry about Santa having trouble at the border?

Santa has been called "a citizen of the world." He lives at the North Pole, a place, that according to international law, does not belong to any one country. But therein lies the problem: How do you prove citizenship if you're not native to a country? Unless Santa can produce proper identification, CBP isn't going to let jolly old Saint Nicholas into the U.S.

Canada's minister of Canada Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism declared Santa a Canadian citizen in 2008, so that should make things easier for the dear old man. Santa's regular Christmas Eve route takes him directly from Canada into the United States (so says NORAD, who has been tracking Santa's flights since 1955), so he should be fine as long as he brings his passport as required by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

Canadian citizenship might not have been necessary, though. While Americans generally agree that Santa lives at the North Pole, a lot of Europeans tie Santa to Finland. If Santa has the documentation to prove his residency there, he could enter the U.S. under the visa waiver program (VWP).

Regardless of how Santa enters the U.S., he will need to declare his sack of gifts at the border. The reindeer will also have to go through agricultural inspection, but Santa has been doing this for a while and undoubtedly has his team's health certifications up to date.

But what about a work visa? We haven't heard of a temporary worker petition coming in from Mr. Claus and his seven four-legged dependents (or rather his "tools of the trade" as it's been explained to me). Does this mean we'll have to put Santa on the naughty list? Not this year. Luckily for us, one of our readers has some insider information and shared this tidbit: according to "Ed," Santa is part-owner of the Mattel Corporation and the company regularly sponsors St. Nick for an L-1 visa.

So will Kris Kringle be denied entry into the U.S. this year? Likely not. It looks like he has everything in order. And that makes this a very merry Christmas, indeed.

Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images

As you finish opening your Christmas cards, vowing to yourself that you'll get an early start next year and actually send yours out on time, you can thank German immigrant, Louis Prang, for the custom of exchanging greeting cards at Christmas. Prang originally created Christmas cards for England's popular market. In 1875, he expanded the business and began offering Christmas greeting cards in the U.S. for the first time, earning him the title "father of the American Christmas card."

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Today is International Migrants Day. Back in 2000, the United Nations passed a resolution proclaiming December 18 as International Migrants Day to reflect its adoption of the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families Resolution. The resolution respects the "full protection of the human rights of all migrants, and...the need to make further efforts to ensure respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants."

Organizations across the country are holding events and activities in recognition of International Migrants Day, just days after Congressman Luis Gutierrez introduced immigration reform legislation in the House. The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) joined other immigrant rights groups in commending Rep. Gutierrez for his action but the organization pointed out that we must do a better job of protecting immigrants' human rights. From the press release:

"We still have a long way to go to achieve meaningful immigration reforms," declared Catherine Tactaquin, NNIRR's Executive Director. "In the meantime, immigrants are experiencing intense policing, tens of thousands are detained, and their due process rights blatantly violated and ignored." She continued, "While Rep. Gutierrez's proposed legislation includes some needed protections for our vulnerable communities, it continues to treat immigration as a 'national security' issue and stops short of doing away with the most egregious aspects of our flawed immigration system."

Photo: Greg Wahl-Stephens/Getty Images