Immigration News Resources

President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) on Friday, March 27. The $2 trillion stimulus package goes a long way to improve our response to the COVID-19 outbreak. But it fails to deliver for millions of immigrants across the country, including first responders who are on the front lines […]

The post Coronavirus Relief Package Fails to Provide Aid to Millions of Immigrants, Including Many on the Front Lines appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Asylum Committee Vice Chair Lindsay Harris describes the asylum seekers she met with just before the COVID-19 pandemic really began in the U.S. She encourages us all to take action and "right the wrongs being committed in our name on our Southern border."

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed its first registration period on March 20 for H-1B petitions. The H-1B visa category allows highly educated foreign workers to temporarily work for employers in the United States. This was the first year USCIS used a new registration process for U.S. employers hoping to file an H-1B petition […]

The post The H-1B Registration Period Has Ended. How Did the New System Handle It? appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Sandra Feist, Chair of AILA's Media Advocacy Committee, shares a glimpse into the life of an immigration attorney during the COVID19 pandemic, ending with a positive note: "My hope is that we all come out of seclusion with greater self-confidence about our own fortitude in a crisis and a greater connectivity with our community, as we come together to support one another."

The coronavirus outbreak has significantly disrupted the operations of government agencies around the country, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS is the agency that processes applications for various types of immigration benefits. USCIS Changes Office Operations During Coronavirus Outbreak The USCIS Seattle office was the first to temporarily close in early March when […]

The post How the Coronavirus Is Disrupting USCIS Processing of Immigration Applications appeared first on Immigration Impact.

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, the U.S. health care system will likely be pushed to its limits. During this time, it is important to remember the role that immigrant health care workers play alongside their native-born colleagues on the front lines of this fight—and how strongly our health care capacity depends on the expertise of […]

The post Immigrant Health Care Workers Play a Vital Role in the United States’ COVID-19 Response appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Trump administration detailed its plans to begin rapidly deporting to Mexico people encountered at or near the southern border—without any due process—as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the globe. The plans were released in a new order issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director on March 21.  The order instructs border officials to turn away anyone who crosses the border without […]

The post How Coronavirus is Changing US Asylum Policy at the Border appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The spread of the coronavirus into the United States has fueled the destructive, xenophobic narrative favored by the Trump administration. Anti-Chinese racism and anti-Asian racism and violence more broadly, has spread with the continued use of outdated monikers like the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus.” To be sure, there are public health responses and […]

The post Coronavirus Cannot Become an Excuse to Label Groups of People ‘Invasive’ appeared first on Immigration Impact.

As the global death toll from coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to mount and communities take steps to stem the further spread of the virus, immigration advocates and lawyers have sounded the alarm bells for the thousands of immigrants held in civil detention facilities. Responses from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been mixed. U.S. Citizenship […]

The post 3 Actions ICE Should Take Now During the Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Amidst rising inequality - flattened wages for most Americans, withering of social support programs, a growing housing crisis, and rising costs of higher education - many are losing faith in the American Dream.

AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson highlights USCIS processing delays, writing, "Even before the COVID-19 virus, backlogs and processing delays were staggering at USCIS. They have continued to grow thanks to burdensome policies and inefficient procedures that needlessly bog down the adjudications process."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has historically conducted immigration enforcement along our borders. In this role, the agency has developed a reputation for overuse and abuse of its authority. Transparency efforts have been critical in uncovering CBP’s misconduct. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits have revealed, for example, shocking evidence of sexual, physical, and […]

The post CBP Hides Itself from Public View and Lacks Accountability appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The American Immigration Council joins with our readers in prioritizing public safety during the COVID-19 outbreak and is committed to continuing coverage of important and emerging topics on Immigration Impact including COVID-19’s impact on immigration. The Trump administration has steadily implemented initiatives to restructure the immigration court system without providing much information to the public. […]

The post The Department of Justice is Restructuring Immigration Courts in Secret appeared first on Immigration Impact.

March 14 marks the beginning of Sunshine Week – a week devoted to celebrating the importance of government transparency and access to public records. It is a time to point out the lack of openness and accountability among immigration agencies and to assess what must be done to fight for greater access to government records. […]

The post What Will It Take for USCIS to Reduce Its FOIA Backlog? appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, AILA member Ruby Powers offers some tips she has learned from practicing law through hurricanes and running her practice from half a world away, tips that can be applied in our current COVID-19 era..

The United States has pursued aggressive increases in immigration enforcement over the past two decades across several presidencies. Congress has allocated increasing resources during this period. Now, our immigration enforcement agencies have more funding than at any point in history. These added resources have allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expand more than […]

The post How Immigration Enforcement Is Eroding Your Privacy appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In early 2020, Blanca Ramirez, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology, interviewed Dr. Parveen Parmar, Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine and founder of Southern California Physicians for Health Equity, about her work both with refugees in Bangladesh and those entering the United States.

A bill that would ensure automatic U.S. citizenship for the children of U.S. military service members will soon hit the president’s desk. The Citizenship for Children of Military Members & Civil Servants Act passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support last Thursday. Until recently, children born abroad to U.S. service members and federal employees […]

The post Congress Passes Bill Ensuring US Citizenship for Children of Military Members appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed new information this week about two asylum programs  at the U.S.-Mexico border. These programs are under scrutiny because they make it almost impossible for attorneys to speak with or meet their clients in border holding facilities. This leads to rushed life-or-death legal screenings behind closed doors. DHS began […]

The post DHS Reveals New Details of Secretive Asylum Programs PACR and HARP appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, AILA member, and Immigration Justice Campaign volunteer with the El Paso Immigration Collaborative (EPIC), Elizabeth Fiechter describes the Kafkaesque labyrinth of obstacles she and her client faced trying to simply speak by phone ahead of an extremely important bond hearing.