October 27, 2021

Immigration Experts Speak (Four Videos)

Here are four recent videos from the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA Law: 1. Building Power During the Biden Administration -- Inside vs. Outside Advocacy 2. Univision National Network’s Jorge Ramos in Conversation w/3 DREAMers Who Fought the President & Won 3. A. Arulanantham w/Leading Scholars on Scope & Limits of Executive Branch Authority Over Immigration 4. Hiroshi Motomura in...

October 26, 2021

Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom

State Department, Oct. 25, 2021 "On October 25, President Biden announced a Presidential Proclamation titled “A Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”  This proclamation, which takes effect at 12:01 am Eastern Standard Time on November 8, 2021, will end the travel restrictions under Presidential Proclamations (P.P.) 9984, 9992, 10143, and 10199 as they relate...

October 26, 2021

Handling Confidentiality, Adverse Interests, and Settlements in Group Suits

Cyrus D. Mehta and Brad Banias, Oct. 25, 2021 "Immigration lawyers have filed lawsuits on behalf of several hundred plaintiffs challenging various immigration policies. These lawsuits have involved demanding that the government  speed up the processing of  work permits, or asking the government to reserve visas before the expiration of the program. Many of the lawsuits have resulted in settlements. What ethical...

October 25, 2021

Missing Foreign Workers Add to Hiring Challenges

Jeanna Smialek, New York Times, Oct. 25, 2021 "Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers have gone missing from the labor market as the global coronavirus pandemic drags on, leaving holes in white-collar professions like the one Ms. Mahajan works in and in more service-oriented jobs in beach towns and at ski resorts. Newcomers and applicants for temporary visas were initially limited by policy changes under former...

October 21, 2021

White House Report on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration

White House, Oct. 21, 2021 "In Executive Order 14013, President Biden called for an assessment of the impact climate change is having on migration.  This assessment marks the first time the U.S. Government is officially recognizing and reporting on this linkage. The report identifies migration as an important form of adaptation to the impacts of climate change and in some cases, an essential response to climate...

October 21, 2021

How We Talk about Migration: The Link between Migration Narratives, Policy, and Power

Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Haim Malka and Shelly Culbertson, MPI, Oct. 2021 "Narratives are more than just words: They shape the way we see what surrounds us and what we think, believe, and do. How policymakers, community leaders, and members of the public see and talk about migration is, thus, intimately connected to the design and implementation of policies that affect not just newcomers, but the health of communities...

October 20, 2021

EOIR Dumps Case Quotas for IJs

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Oct. 20, 2021 "The Justice Department is ending the use of case quotas for immigration judges that became a point of contention during the Trump administration for undercutting judges' authority and discretion, according to an email obtained by CNN. ... In 2018, DOJ  released new performance metrics  for immigration judges that included completing 700 cases per year to be considered...

October 20, 2021

DHS to Ease US/Canada/Mexico Border Restrictions for Fully-Vaxxed Individuals

" This Notification announces the decision of the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) to continue to temporarily limit the non-essential travel of individuals from Mexico into the United States at land ports of entry along the United States-Mexico border. This Notification further announces that the Secretary intends to lift these limitations for individuals who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 (as defined...

October 20, 2021

Former IJs and BIA Members Comment on Credible Fear Proposed Rule

Letter from the Round Table of Former Immigration Judges, Oct. 19, 2021 Comments on Proposed Rulemaking: 86 FR 46906 , Procedures for Credible Fear Screening and Consideration of Asylum "Limitation on Immigration Judge Review: We strongly oppose the proposal to severely restrict the right of those denied asylum by USCIS to a full de novo merits hearing before an Immigration Judge.  Given the significant increases...

October 19, 2021

Facebook Pays $14.25M to Settle PERM Beef

DOJ, Oct. 19, 2021 "The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Labor today announced separate settlement agreements with Facebook regarding its use of the permanent labor certification program (PERM). The Justice Department’s settlement resolves its claims that Facebook routinely refused to recruit, consider or hire U.S. workers, a group that includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, asylees, refugees...

October 19, 2021

ICE Does Not Adequately Track Segregation at Immigration Detention Facilities: DHS OIG Report

Kylie Bielby, Homeland Security Today, Oct. 18, 2021 "An audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not always comply with segregation reporting requirements and did not ensure detention facilities complied with records retention requirements.  There are limited federal regulations for segregation use at immigration detention facilities. Congress...

October 18, 2021

The Nov. 2021 Visa Bulletin Seesaw: FAQ

Cyrus D. Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Oct. 18, 2021 "On Thursday, October 14,  2021, the Department of State released the  November 2021 Visa Bulletin , which has brought significant retrogression in employment-based third preference (EB-3) India dates, among other significant changes. The EB-3 India Date for Filing (DFF) retrogressed to January 22, 2012 and the Final Action Date (FAD) almost two years to January 15, 2012...

October 18, 2021

A Guide to Title 42 Expulsions at the Border

American Immigration Council, Oct. 15, 2021 "The United States has long guaranteed the right to seek asylum to individuals who arrive at our southern border and ask for protection. But since March 20, 2020, that fundamental right has been largely suspended. Since that date, both migrants seeking a better life in the United States and those seeking to apply for asylum have been turned away and “expelled” back to...

October 15, 2021

The T42 Numbers are Devastating

Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, Oct. 14, 2021 "Out of   hundreds of thousands of migrants who have been processed under a pandemic-era policy at the southern border, just over 3,200 asylum-seekers have been screened for U.S. humanitarian protection, according to unpublished government data obtained by CBS News. Since March 2020, U.S. authorities along the border with Mexico have used a public health authority...

October 15, 2021

MPP (Remain in Mexico) Will Resume...Or Will It?

Julia Ainsley, NBC News, Oct. 14, 2021 "After having lost a legal battle, the Biden administration tentatively plans a mid-November restart of  a Trump-era policy  that forces migrants  seeking asylum  to wait in Mexico for their U.S. immigration court hearings, according to a court filing late Thursday. President Joe Biden had ended the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy when he took...

October 15, 2021

Rubber Stamps, Eliminating Master Calendar Hearings...How Low Can EOIR Go?

Oct. 15, 2021 - FOIA Sensei Matthew Hoppock blows the lid off this story.  How will EOIR respond?  Will litigation ensue?  Will the MSM dig deeper?  Please read the whole thing, and stay tuned! EOIR Headquarters Using Rubber Signature Stamps to Make Orders Appear Like They Came From the Immigration Judge "The “rubber stamp” is a nefarious metaphor, historically used to accuse judges or legislatures of lacking...

October 14, 2021

Number of New Deportation Cases Far Outpaces Completed Cases in FY 2021: TRAC

TRAC, Oct. 14, 2021 - "According to TRAC’s updated  Quick Facts tools , the number of new deportation cases filed with the Courts in FY 2021–over 315,000–is more than double the number of completed cases over the same period which, according to Immigration Court records, currently sits at less that 145,000. When incoming cases exceed the capacity of the Courts to adjudicate those cases, the Immigration Court backlog...

October 14, 2021

"Brutal Retrogression" in Nov. 2021 Visa Bulletin

Visa Bulletin for November 2021 - "It has been necessary to retrogress both the China-mainland born and India Employment Third preference final action dates. This is a direct result of extraordinarily heavy applicant demand for numbers, primarily by Citizenship and Immigration Services offices for adjustment of status cases." On Twitter, Lily S. Axelrod writes : "Brutal retrogression for EB India this...

October 13, 2021

DHS to Allow Fully Vaccinated Travelers from Canada and Mexico to Enter U.S. at Land Borders and Ferry Crossings

DHS, Oct. 12, 2021 "Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced that, following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health experts, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will amend Title 19 regulations to allow non-essential travelers who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and have appropriate documentation to enter the United States via land...

October 12, 2021

Migration in the Time of COVID: How Much Has Changed?

Kaitlyn Box, Oct. 12, 2021 "Together with my co-author, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia , Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar, and Founder and Director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (CIRC) at Penn State Law, I recently contributed a chapter to the  Frontiers in Human Dynamics e-book “Migration in the Time of COVID-19: Comparative Law and Policy Responses”...

October 11, 2021

Sri Yatun's Escape

Noy Thrupkaew, Washington Post, Oct. 6, 2021 "Every year, more than a thousand domestic workers are brought to the U.S. by diplomats and other foreign officials. What happens when those workers face abuse?"

October 11, 2021

Documentary Exposes GEO's Immigration Jail Near Denver

"The Facility" Trailer "“The Facility” is a short documentary film chronicling the lived experiences of immigrants being held at the GEO detention facility in Aurora, Colorado. This film addresses the personal loss and consequences caused by for-profit detention and the federal government's broken immigration policies. Legal and medical experts highlight horrific abuses including death, medical neglect...

October 11, 2021

New NY Law Protects Immigrants

NY Gov. Hochul, Oct. 9, 2021 "Governor Hochul Signs Legislation Protecting Undocumented Immigrants from Threats to Report Their Immigration Status; Legislation (S.343-A/A.3412-A) Applies the Legal Standard of Extortion or Coercion to a Person Threatening to Report Another Person's Immigration Status Governor Kathy Hochul today signed legislation (S.343-A/A.3412-A) classifying certain threats to report a person's...

October 08, 2021

DHS to Terminate Border Barrier Contracts in Laredo and Rio Grande Valley

DHS, Oct. 8, 2021 "Consistent with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) border barrier  plan , U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), intends to cancel the remaining border barrier contracts located within U.S. Border Patrol’s (USBP) Laredo Sector and all border barrier contracts located in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.  CBP will then begin...

October 07, 2021

Immigrants and Nobel Prizes

NFAP, October 2021 "Immigrants have been awarded 38%, or 40 of 104, of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in chemistry, medicine and physics since 2000, according to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).1 In 2021, three of the four U.S. recipients of Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry and physics were immigrants to the United States. Between 1901 and 2021, immigrants have been awarded...