Immigration News Resources

President Biden released the first budget proposal of his presidency on May 29, a landmark for any new president. A presidential budget generally reflects the goals of the administration and can provide an important roadmap for the future. Unfortunately, despite calls for a serious rethinking of the role of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) […]

The post Biden’s First Budget Is A Missed Opportunity to Overhaul Immigration Enforcement appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, AILA member Vaman Kidambi shares his experiences learning to cope as clients are taken by COVID-19 and ways he has learned to try and maintain balance in this extremely difficult time.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) recently found that the Trump administration deported as many as 348 parents that had been separated from their children without ever giving them an opportunity to reunify with their children. The blistering new report tracks deportations throughout 2017 and 2018 during the prior administration’s […]

The post Government Watchdog Finds Hundreds of Parents Separated by Trump Never Given Opportunity to Reunify appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA’s Government Relations directors Greg Chen and Shev Dalal-Dheini lay out what President Biden’s budget for FY22 should have in it on immigration issues, flagging detention, representation, immigration courts, USCIS, and the State Department as areas ripe for necessary reform.

Businesses and industry organizations are among those pushing back against a rule that would change eligibility for filing an H-1B petition. The new rule would require the H-1B lottery selection to be conducted by salary level. A range of industries—from health care to higher education—that employ U.S. and H-1B workers are concerned about the radical […]

The post Lawsuits Challenge Change to H-1B Lottery Selection That Would Hurt Small Businesses, Start-ups appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Biden administration announced that eligible Haitians currently living in the United States can once again apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Those individuals who qualify for TPS can live and work in the United States for a period of 18 months. The Trump administration tried to end TPS for Haitians in 2017 but multiple […]

The post Haitian Nationals Win a Reprieve in the Form of TPS appeared first on Immigration Impact.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) mishandled the coronavirus outbreak in detention centers so badly that it not only lead to horrific conditions and deaths among people in its custody, it is also responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in surrounding areas. A recent New York Times investigation emphasized that ICE’s practice of transferring thousands […]

The post ICE Spread COVID-19 Across the Country, Not Just in Immigration Detention Centers appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Republicans and Democrats continue to differ over the factors they see as important for being “truly American.”

The post In both parties, fewer now say being Christian or being born in U.S. is important to being ‘truly American’ appeared first on Pew Research Center.

AILA member Dominique Pando Bucci digs into the data, showing the massive increases in backlogged visa issuances and highlights six ways attorneys can help their clients, as well as how and why the Biden administration needs to take action.

The Biden administration inherited an immigration enforcement system devoted to detaining and deporting as many people as possible. During the Trump years, every undocumented immigrant in the country became a target of deportation. Even longtime residents who had minor brushes with the criminal justice system were subject to enforcement actions. A new report from the […]

The post Biden’s Actions on Immigration Enforcement Have Been Inconsistent Since Taking Office appeared first on Immigration Impact.

One policy first created by the Trump administration is responsible for the greatest restriction on access to our immigration system for asylum seekers than any other. It provides no meaningful opportunity for people caught in the policy to request humanitarian protection. Yet four months into the Biden administration, this policy is still in effect. The […]

The post It’s Time to End Title 42 appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Corie O’Rourke, Cory Sagduyu, and Katherine Soltis reflect on their article in the Spring 2021 edition of the AILA Law Journal focused on USCIS’s misinterpretation of the T visa’s physical presence requirement and why the policy changes must be reversed so trafficking survivors can be protected.

President Biden revoked a proclamation issued by former President Trump in 2019 that required nearly all prospective immigrants to demonstrate that they would be covered by private health insurance or were wealthy enough not to need it. Those needing health insurance would have to be covered within 30 days of entering the United States. This […]

The post Biden Administration Revokes Trump’s Health Insurance Visa Ban appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Newly revealed government documents provide details on the extent of the Trump administration’s retaliation against people who provided legal assistance to asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The documents link border interrogations of immigration legal service providers in El Paso in 2019 to similar treatment that journalists and immigrant advocates experienced in San Diego around […]

The post Controversial Practice of Detaining and Interrogating Immigrant Advocates Included Legal Service Providers in El Paso appeared first on Immigration Impact.

About half of Americans see their identity reflected very well in the census’s race and ethnicity questions.

The post Black and Hispanic Americans See Their Origins as Central to Who They Are, Less So for White Adults appeared first on Pew Research Center.

The Biden administration announced its first round of immigration judge appointments on May 6. Unfortunately, the immigration court appointments do not show the commitment to diversity that President Biden has demonstrated in his federal court appointments.  All of the new judges had received conditional offers from the Trump administration. The current administration was under no obligation to continue with the appointments, however. Advocates expressed disappointment in the hires and lack of balanced […]

The post First Round of Biden Immigration Judges Fails to Increase Diversity appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently withdrew two rules proposed by the Trump administration. On the surface, it seems they have nothing in common: a proposed expansion in collecting biometrics and the proposed end to a program for foreign entrepreneurs to develop new ventures in the United States. But the withdrawals had a common […]

The post Another Trump Barrier Broken as DHS Withdraws Two Proposed Rules for Limiting Access to Legal Immigration appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA member Christine Popp shares more about her recent article in the AILA Law Journal on climate refugees, explaining how she became interested in the intersection of immigration/ asylum law and climate change realities and what she hopes her article offers for practitioners.

Immigration was one of the five topics most covered by 25 major news outlets in the first 60 days of the Biden administration.

The post Immigration was a top focus of early Biden coverage, especially among outlets with right-leaning audiences appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Birth rates are falling in the United States at the same time more Americans are reaching retirement age. Together, these two trends present enormous economic challenges for the nation. A growing number of retirees are leaving the labor force and relying on programs like Social Security and Medicare. But there aren’t enough younger workers able […]

The post As US Birth Rate Declines, Programs Like Social Security Need Immigration to Survive appeared first on Immigration Impact.