Immigration News Resources

AILA Media Advocacy Committee Member Doug Penn describes how lifting the cap on H-1B visa numbers could "help the large and small employers who need employees with these skills to meet workforce demands, build up U.S. workforce training programs, and enhance fraud detection and prevention efforts."

For years, politicians, the media, and social scientists have predicted a declining white-majority population in the United States and a not-too-distant future where minorities assume political dominance. However, demographic realities are far more complex than we think, and a declining white majority may not be as imminent as once thought. Yet for some members of […]

The post How America’s Fluid Racial Identities Are Challenging the Assumption of a Declining White Majority appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post for Women's History Month, the women on AILA’s Executive Committee recognize some of the many women who have played a key role in the history of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

For the first time in two decades, the U.S. workforce has more jobs than people willing or able to fill them. Labor shortages are impacting almost every field in the country. But employers are now struggling to find one type of worker more than others: blue-collar workers. Analysts largely point to two reasons for this […]

The post How can U.S. blue-collar industries thrive again? appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The White House announced Thursday afternoon that it will extend Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) protections for Liberians living in the United States. DED will be extended through March 30, 2020. It was set to expire on Sunday, March 31, 2019. This is welcome news for thousands of Liberians who have been lawfully living in the […]

The post Liberia’s DED Status Is Extended for Another Year appeared first on Immigration Impact.

When the U.S. government orders that an immigrant in its custody must be deported, the person isn’t supposed to remain incarcerated for long. Yet the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) often does not deport people promptly. This means thousands of people suffer in detention for months after they’re ordered deported. This is what the DHS’s […]

The post Immigrants Are Regularly Kept Locked up for Months After Deportation Orders appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, Morgan Weibel shares the importance of humanitarian protections for immigrant victims of sexual assault and violence, how they are being undermined, and the need to unite behind the move to recognize and address the plight of #ImmigrantWomenToo.

Many Nigerians, Tunisians and Kenyans say they plan to leave their countries in the next five years. Some who plan to migrate say they have taken steps to do so, such as gathering information about a destination country and saving money.

The post Many Nigerians, Tunisians and Kenyans say they plan to leave their countries in the next five years appeared first on Pew Research Center.

In an ongoing battle over President Trump’s border wall, the Pentagon is authorizing the transfer of $1 billion from planned military readiness projects to build fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan announced the decision Monday evening. The Department of Defense (DOD) funds will now go to construction contracts. The Pentagon gave […]

The post The Pentagon Is Transferring $1 Billion to Trump’s Border Wall at the Expense of Military Readiness appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, AILA member Alice Yardum-Hunter recounts the fourteen year battle her client fought to regain his citizenship which he had not voluntarily renounced.

Over the past few months, a new trend has emerged at the U.S.-Mexico border: more families are crossing and presenting themselves to U.S. officials to ask for asylum. But even though the number of people crossing the border are still at historically low levels, the administration alleges it is overwhelmed by the arrival of families. […]

The post Making Sense of the Rising Number of Families Arriving at the Border appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In an exhaustive report  on the immigration court system, the American Bar Association (ABA) called on Congress to make sweeping changes in order to fix a system “on the brink of collapse.” According to the ABA, the immigration courts—which currently face backlogs of over 855,000 cases—are so “irredeemably dysfunctional” that the only solution is for […]

The post Calls to Reform ‘Irredeemably Dysfunctional’ Immigration Court System Grow Louder appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Immigrants with even minor, dated criminal convictions will now be placed in mandatory detention without the possibility of a bond hearing—even if they have already served their time and been previously released. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Nielsen v. Preap this week. A majority of the Court ruled that an immigration law […]

The post Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Expansive Immigration Detention appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a landmark piece of legislation that was the first to offer clear protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, is up for reauthorization this year. The law has been instrumental in providing protections for immigrants who have faced this type of violence. Due to the government shutdown, […]

The post Congress Debates Reauthorization of Expired Violence Against Women Act appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Jeremy McKinney describes what he is seeing in his practice which underscores the need for an independent immigration court, a call echoed by the American Bar Association's new report on the immigration system released March 20, 2019.

The Trump administration is set to issue a proposed rule that would prevent the spouses of certain high-skilled temporary foreign workers from getting jobs while they are in the United States. The rule—which would bar employment for those in H-4 status—would waste economic potential and have a disproportionate impact on women. This new rule derives […]

The post Taking H-4 Spouses out of the US Workforce Would Hurt Women the Most appeared first on Immigration Impact.

William Stock, past AILA president and active social media user, describes some techniques and tactics for engaging on social media and harnessing the power of several digital platforms to help you develop your brand and establish yourself as a thought leader.

More than 300,000 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders whose status was due to expire in the coming months have new reasons to be hopeful. On the legislative front, Congress proposed a new bill to provide permanent status in the United States for many TPS holders and Dreamers. Separately, the Trump administration gave TPS holders from […]

The post An Update on TPS: A Promising New Bill, More Lawsuits, and an Uncertain Future appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Many of the country’s top immigration agencies operate in secret. This lack of transparency in how immigration laws are implemented, administered, and enforced has the potential to devastate the lives of millions of immigrants and their families. Fortunately, there is a powerful tool—the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)—that ensures government agencies comply with their obligations […]

The post Immigration Groups Are Using This Tool to Expose Government Secrets appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, part of the AILA Diversity & Inclusion series, committee member Caroline Ostrom explains how "incorporating ways to include those with disabilities into your practice as colleagues, employees, and clients, makes business sense and is the right thing to do."