Immigration News Resources

The Biden administration is acting on a number of fronts to reverse Trump-era restrictions on immigration to the United States.

The post Key facts about U.S. immigration policies and Biden’s proposed changes appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Deputy Director of the Immigration Justice Campaign Jennie Guilfoyle highlights a recent factsheet affirming the effectiveness and efficiency of alternatives to detention and why we need to phase out immigration detention.

Employers and workers are starting to see a shift from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on unlawful restrictions of the H-1B specialty occupation visa category. Over the past nine months, USCIS rescinded three policy memoranda after federal courts found the agency’s positions to be contrary to the law and regulations. Two were rescinded in […]

The post USCIS Begins to Reverse Course on H-1B Petitions appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA members Mark Prada and Michelle Canero share their insights into when work authorization isn't actually required and the impact that litigation can have on your client's efforts to adjust their status.

A pause on border wall construction is set to expire on March 20, without an indication of what will happen next. President Biden signed a proclamation ordering the 60-day pause on his first day in office. Any future construction would compound the cultural and environmental damage that has already been done across multiple administrations. Biden […]

The post The Environmental and Cultural Risks of Resuming Border Wall Construction appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed two immigration bills on March 18, signaling that Congress might finally enact major immigration reform for the first time in over three decades. These bills—the Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act—both offer pathways to U.S. citizenship for many immigrants with longstanding ties to the United […]

The post The House Passes Historic Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act appeared first on Immigration Impact.

California-based AILA member Alexander Carl highlights how the Biden administration is making it incredibly difficult if not impossible for job creators to come to the U.S. by extending bans and making getting exceptions incredibly difficult, contravening the intent of Congress.

The Biden administration must improve transparency in the U.S. immigration system. Such efforts go hand in hand with strengthening democratic institutions. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), any person has the right to access any non-exempt federal government record. FOIA is a critical tool for holding the government accountable. But it is not a […]

The post Why We Must Improve Immigration Agency Transparency – And How to Do It appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended nearly 100,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in February, a return to levels last seen in mid-2019.

The post Migrant apprehensions at U.S.-Mexico border are surging again appeared first on Pew Research Center.

It’s been one year since the COVID-19 pandemic first affected immigration on a global scale. The impact has been swift, devastating, and long-lasting. On March 11, 2020, former President Trump issued a proclamation announcing travel restrictions on two dozen European countries. It was one of the first major signs from the U.S. government that the […]

The post How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Affected Immigration: One Year Later appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Grassroots Advocacy Associate Melina Roche highlights some of AILA's advocacy priorities heading into our first ever all-virtual National Day of Action April 22 and how you can take action as an AILA member or client.

The Biden administration announced new “enforcement priorities” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on February 18. The priorities were an initial step away from the Trump administration’s enforcement strategy that made every undocumented immigrant a target for deportation. But issuing priorities is one thing; meaningful implementation is another. With over 13,000 people in detention and […]

The post ICE’s New Case Review Process Lets Immigrants Appeal Detention and Deportation appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on March 8 that Venezuelan nationals present in the United States would be eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The TPS designation provides immigration status to many Venezuelans for the next 18 months. At least 200,000 Venezuelans are expected to be eligible. TPS was created by […]

The post What You Need to Know about Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Since 2013, the government has struggled to respond to increasing numbers of unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. After disastrous Trump administration policies left unaccompanied children detained at the border for weeks at a time, the Biden administration is facing its own challenges to accommodate an increasingly large number of arrivals at the southern […]

The post How the Biden Administration Should Respond to the Arrival of Unaccompanied Children appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this post, part of the Diversity & Inclusion blog post series, Laura F. Kelley shares insights into the legal profession's gender disparities and the need to come together on International Women's Day and every day to address the disparities and the harm they cause.

The U.S. Supreme Court published a new decision on March 4 that will make it harder—if not impossible—for many longtime immigrants to fight deportation. The case, Pereida v. Wilkson, abandons decades of Supreme Court precedent on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens who are deportable may still be eligible for […]

The post The Supreme Court Makes It Harder for Immigrants to Fight Deportation appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Individuals hoping to become a naturalized American citizen will take a different civics test beginning this week, as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reverts back to a previous version of the test. USCIS has scrapped a 2020 version of the U.S. citizenship test implemented during the final months of the Trump administration. The test […]

The post Trump’s Citizenship Test Scrapped by USCIS Over Politicization and Complexity Concerns appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA member Yasmin Blackburn, who chairs the CT chapter's Diversity & Inclusion Committee, shares her life experience and why Black History recognition should not be limited to one month a year but celebrated year-round.