October 15, 2020

Expert: New Visa Rules May Cause Brain Drain from US

Tracy Qu, Minghe Hu, SCMP, Oct. 15, 2020 "“The new restrictions may prompt many foreign nationals to return home, both because it may be harder for them to receive a job offer and because of the uncertainty caused by the new rules,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School ."

October 15, 2020

Free Webinar: Ballots and Borders - Election 2020 and What’s at Stake for International Students and Scholars

Ballots and Borders: Election 2020 and What’s at Stake for International Students and Scholars Monday, October 19, 2020 at 12:00pm  to  1:00pm Immigration and border security are signature policy areas for the Trump administration and central to the upcoming U.S. election. From immigration enforcement, to the public charge rule, to F-1 duration of status—find out where the candidates stand and what may be at stake...

October 15, 2020

Angelo Paparelli on the New H-1B Rules: Rush to Judgment

Angelo A. Paparelli, Oct. 13, 2020 Immigration Rush to Judgment – No Good Cause for New H-1B Rules in a Hurry " The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week affirmed the truth of the  Upton Sinclair maxim  on just how hard it is get someone “to understand something, when his [or her] salary depends on . . . not understanding it.” In this case, federal immigration bureaucrats...

October 14, 2020

ICE Hold Lawsuit Settles for $14 Million

ACLU Southern California, Oct. 13, 2020 "The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today approved settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by immigrants who were unlawfully detained by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department — sometimes for months — because of “ICE hold” requests from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The holds, also called “immigration detainers...

October 13, 2020

Feds' Own Data Undermine New H-1B Rules

Stuart Anderson, Forbes, Oct, 13, 2020 "New government data show the low unemployment rate in computer occupations contradicts Trump administration claims an economic emergency requires the quick implementation of new H-1B visa rules. A new analysis indicates the government’s own data do not support the claims made in the regulations, which makes it more likely federal courts will block the new rules. ... To justify...

October 13, 2020

DHS Run Amok: Senate Staff Report

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democratic Staff Report, Oct. 13, 2020 Michelle Hackman, José de Córdoba, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 13, 2020 "U.S. border agents working in Guatemala detained Honduran migrants intending to make their way to the U.S. border and returned them to Honduras in an unauthorized operation last January, a review by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee found...

October 13, 2020

Is ICE Torturing Detainees?

Here's the headline: "ICE is Using Torture Against Cameroonian Immigrants to Coerce Deportation, According to New Complaint Filed by Immigrant Rights Groups" Links here , here , here and here .  Keep up to date @RAICESTEXAS

October 13, 2020

Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Mixed Record on Immigration Law

Nicole Narea, Vox, Sept. 26, 2020 "Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, has at times proved an obstacle to the advancement of immigrant rights during her three years on the Seventh Circuit. As an appellate court judge, Barrett helped to advance one of Trump’s key immigration policies. She sided with his administration in...

October 12, 2020

Killing the H-1B Visa Also Kills the US Economy

Cyrus Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Oct. 12, 2020 "Last week the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) each issued new rules aimed at further attacking the H-1B visa program. The  DOL rule , which was issued without affording the public an opportunity for notice and comment, significantly raises the minimum required wage that employers must pay to H-1B employees. The new rule could increase...

October 09, 2020

100+ Immigration Policy Changes Harming All of Us

ILRC, Oct. 2020 "This report, a collaboration between the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and the University of San Francisco, compiles the most egregious policies attacking immigrants and asylum seekers.  Listing more than 100 policy changes from the last four years, the report breaks down how every aspect of the immigration system is being dismantled: preventing people from even entering the country; denying...

October 09, 2020

Debunking "Extreme Vetting"

IRAP, Oct. 2020 "The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. Mobilizing direct legal aid, litigation, and systemic advocacy, IRAP serves the world’s most persecuted individuals and empowers the next generation of human rights leaders. This report compiles information that IRAP learned...

October 08, 2020

Migratory Notes 184 (Oct. 8, 2020)

Migratory Notes 184 (Oct. 8, 2020) - Detainees drop 60%; ICE billboards...and much, much more!

October 08, 2020

GAO Faults ORR on Care of UACs

GAO, Oct. 7, 2020 "The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) grant announcements soliciting care providers for unaccompanied children—those without lawful immigration status and without a parent or guardian in the U.S. available to provide care and physical custody for them—lack clarity about what state licensing information is required. Further, ORR does not systematically confirm the information submitted by...

October 08, 2020

State Department Freezes Au Pair Program

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 10/09/2020 "The U.S. Department of State (Department) is announcing, effective immediately, a moratorium on program growth in the Au pair category of the Exchange Visitor Program. Specifically, the Department will not designate new sponsor organizations or allow program expansions for existing sponsors. The moratorium restricts the size of the...

October 07, 2020

This Immigrant Couldn't Read Music, But Got the Job Done

Jim Farber, New York Times, Oct. 7, 2020 "Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born on Jan. 26, 1955, in Amsterdam to Jan and Eugenia (Beers) Van Halen. His father, a struggling Dutch classical musician who played clarinet, saxophone and piano, met his Indonesian-born wife while on tour in Indonesia. In 1962, when Mr. Van Halen was 7, his family relocated to the United States, driven away by prejudice against his mother...

October 07, 2020

Sessions, Rosenstein, Miller Targeted Migrant Children

Michael D. Shear, Katie Benner and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times, Oct. 7, 2020 "The five U.S. attorneys along the border with Mexico, including three appointed by President Trump, recoiled in May 2018 against an order to prosecute all undocumented immigrants even if it meant separating children from their parents. They told top Justice Department officials they were “deeply concerned” about the children’s...

October 07, 2020

ICE to Launch Expedited Removal Push

Shaun Courtney, Bloomberg Government, Oct. 6, 2020 "Undocumented immigrants anywhere in the U.S. can be deported as quickly as a day, once Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials complete mandatory training online, the agency says.  “This is huge. It can very significantly shift how immigration law is enforced,” John Sandweg, former acting head of ICE in the Obama administration, said in an interview.  All...

October 07, 2020

Expert: New H-1B Visa Rules "Will Harm All Employers"

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Miriam Jordan, New York Times, Oct. 6, 2020 "The Trump administration announced significant changes on Tuesday to the H-1B visa program for high-skilled workers, substantially raising the wages that U.S. companies must pay foreign hires and narrowing eligibility criteria for applicants. ... The changes will be published this week as interim final rules, meaning that the agency believes it has...

October 04, 2020

Pence Ordered Borders Closed After CDC Experts Refused

Jason Dearen, Garance Burke, Associated Press, Oct. 3, 2020 "Vice President Mike Pence in March directed the nation’s top disease control agency to use its emergency powers to effectively seal the U.S. borders, overruling the agency’s scientists who said there was no evidence the action would slow the coronavirus, according to two former health officials. The action has so far caused nearly 150,000 children and...

October 03, 2020

Prof. Peter Margulies on NAM v. DHS Preliminary Injunction

Prof. Peter Margulies, Oct. 2, 2020 "In an important ruling on Oct. 1, Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction against President Trump’s nonimmigrant visa ban (NIV ban). The ban would have suspended visas for many temporary skilled workers and their families, regardless of their country of origin. White’s ruling in National Association...

October 02, 2020

Expert: Hong Kong Refugee Designation a "Political Statement"

Robert Delaney, South China Morning Post, Oct. 2, 2020 "The US state department announced the inclusion of Hong Kong for the first time in its annual refugee admissions proposal, a move that follows a series of actions taken by Washington in response to a Chinese national security law that threatens pro-democracy activists in the city. The announcement on Wednesday said that the state department was prioritising...

October 01, 2020

Migratory Notes 183 (Oct. 1, 2020)

Migratory Notes 183, Oct. 1, 2020 - Telemundo viewers: Trump won debate; New record low refugee cap...and so much more!

October 01, 2020

"A Complete Abdication of Our Humanitarian and Moral Duty”

LIRS, Oct. 1, 2020 "The Trump administration proposed its annual refugee admissions ceiling just before midnight on Wednesday, September 30, committing to resettle just 15,000 individuals in Fiscal Year 2021, which would be the lowest admissions ceiling since the inception of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). The announcement comes on the heels of what was previously the lowest level of refugee admissions...

September 29, 2020

Barrett's Textualism Could Doom Immigration Challenges (Law360)

Suzanne Monyack, Law360, Sept. 28, 2020 "U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's tendency to defer to the executive branch's authority could pave the way for the Trump administration to prevail against challenges to its immigration policies, from the rollback of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to its wealth test for immigrants. ... Judge Barrett wrote that the term "public charge"...

September 26, 2020

Expert: Proposed Student Visa Rule Sends "Chilling Message"

Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, Sept. 25, 2020 "The Trump administration is set to publish  a new proposed rule  today that would set fixed terms of up to four years for student visas and establish procedures for international students to apply to extend their stay and continue studying in the United States. ... "This proposed rule is set to replace a proven, flexible policy that has served international...