Immigration News Resources

The COVID-19 crisis may be an international pandemic but its impacts are also distinctly local. Here in Los Angeles County, mandated social and physical distancing is now the norm but many people are still forced to continue working with minimal protections, minimal job security, and no option to work from home.

The spread of the coronavirus has led state and local governments to issue “stay at home orders” to limit contact outside of the household. But these mandates have caused unexpected consequences for survivors of domestic violence—or “intimate terrorism.” Many of these survivors may no longer be able to find safety in the workplace. And some […]

The post Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence Face Unique Risks During Coronavirus appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA member John Manley offers some practical advice as he finds himself shifting from office-based work to home-based work for the foreseeable future and the many adaptations he will need to make.

Deportation proceedings are having a disproportionately large impact on the residents of rural counties throughout the United States. Compared to urban areas, the proportion of people going through deportation proceedings tends to be higher in rural America. And the potential impact of losing a community member in a small town may be far greater, too. […]

The post The Disproportionate Impact of Deportations in Rural Communities appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA members Michelle Saenz Rodriguez and George Rodriguez share their experiences thus far during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing "As long as we continue to remind ourselves and our colleagues that we are all in this together, we will find the light at the end of teh tunnel and emerge together, profoundly changed by the journey."

Immigrants are participating in the U.S. political process in record numbers, which is a clear sign of successful integration into American society. In fact, nearly one out of every 10 eligible voters in the United States is now an immigrant. That means at least 10 percent of the electorate has a personal connection to the […]

The post 1 in 10 Eligible Voters Is Now an Immigrant. Here’s Why That Matters for America. appeared first on Immigration Impact.

We are facing an existential challenge unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes. We’ve spent the past few weeks adjusting to a new normal. We’re acquiring a new vocabulary and adapting to new norms. We’re learning about epidemiology, hand hygiene, personal protective gear, and ventilators. We’ve also gained a growing respect and admiration for […]

The post Holding on to Collective Solidarity After the Coronavirus appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang called upon Asian Americans to become part of the solution against COVID-19.

Last fall, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a set of cases regarding the Trump administration’s ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program and it is expected that this summer the Court will issue a decision in the case.

The U.S. agricultural industry depends on seasonal guest workers to produce the food Americans eat. Since 1986, the H-2A visa program has allowed employers to fill labor shortages with temporary and seasonal workers from other countries. The Trump administration recently classified agricultural employees as “essential critical infrastructure workers” during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). At the […]

The post Shortage of Farmworkers Threatens Americans’ Food Supply During the Coronavirus appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The educational attainment of recently arrived Latino immigrants in the U.S. has reached its highest level in at least three decades.

The post Education levels of recent Latino immigrants in the U.S. reached new highs as of 2018 appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Immigrants living in the United States are eligible for unemployment benefits. But as the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus spread across the country, many are reportedly afraid to file for unemployment and other government benefits. Much of this fear stems from the Trump administration’s public charge rule. The public charge rule makes it […]

The post What You Need to Know About Public Charge and the Coronavirus appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, AILA Board of Governors member Neena Dutta muses on the COVID19 pandemic, the varying impacts on peoples' lives and livelihoods, and her personal experience, reminding everyone that in this time, socially distant though we may be, we are not alone.

Across the country, communities are responding to the coronavirus pandemic by working to protect our poor, elderly, and compromised. Critical to the response are the efforts of the medical and scientific community. Thousands of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from diverse backgrounds–including reenlisting retirees–are serving on the frontline to treat those who fall ill. […]

The post What Social Justice Movements Can Learn from the Medical Response to the Coronavirus appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Nearly two years after the “zero tolerance” policy was announced, evidence condemning the practice and implementation of family separation continues to mount. A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) further criticizes the way officials handled the separations. The height of family separations occurred in the spring and summer of 2018 but the […]

The post Two Years After Zero Tolerance, More Revelations About the Failures of Family Separation appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Second Vice President Jeremy McKinney shares his plans to apply for assistance through the Small Business Administration during the COVID19 crisis to help his law firm stay in business; an update on how he navigates the process is forthcoming.

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads and entire states go into quarantine, immigrants and their attorneys are still being forced to gather in cramped immigration courtrooms inside detention centers around the country. These hearings pose an obvious public health risk and run contrary to the government’s own recommendations regarding social distancing during the outbreak. This […]

The post It’s Time to Close the Immigration Courts appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The movement of people across borders has halted in much of the world as countries close their borders in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The post More than nine-in-ten people worldwide live in countries with travel restrictions amid COVID-19 appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Social distancing has been mandated in many places throughout the United States to slow the spread of COVID-19, the new coronavirus. Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to detain approximately 38,000 people in close quarters. This conflicts with medical experts’ repeated advice to decrease the detention population. Earlier this month, over 3,000 medical […]

The post ICE Must Release People From Detention to Slow the Spread of the Coronavirus appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA member Aaron Kochenderfer shares the positive impact that immigrants have had on Detroit, Michigan as the city orchestrates a comeback from bankruptcy only a few years ago, writing "Detroit's history was written by immigrants and I firmly believe they will help author its future as well."