The month began with promise. House Democrats worked on creating a pathway to citizenship through the budget reconciliation plan. This legislation aimed to allow about 8 million people (primarily Dreamers, TPS/DED holders, farmworkers, and other essential workers) to apply for green cards. Furthermore, the provision would invest $2.8 billion into U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, recapture unused green Read More
House Judiciary Committee Marks Up Legislative Proposal for Budget Reconciliation
The House Judiciary Committee spent Monday September 13th marking up their legislative proposal for the $107.5 billion reserved for “lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants” in the reconciliation package. They are trying to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants. After this process, the text will be combined with the larger Build Back Better reconciliation plan and voted on in the House Read More
Haiti TPS Registration Open
United States Citizen and Immigration Services announced the designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status effective August 3rd, 2021 to February 3rd, 2023. This eighteen month designation allows Haitian nationals, as well as individuals without nationality who last resided in Haiti, to apply for Temporary Protected Status. This designation protects individuals from deportation on the basis of immigration Read More
DACA and Congress
Legislators have spent the last few weeks scrambling for solutions in the wake of a Texas judge’s July 16th decision ruling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) unconstitutional. While the decision has no effect on current DACA recipients (Dreamers), it has halted new applications. President Biden called the decision “deeply disappointing” and announced the U.S. Department of Justice’s plan to Read More
DHS Secretary Mayorkas on the Southern border
The Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on “CBS This Morning” last week to discuss his visit to the Southern border. He began by describing the burden placed on the president by the previous administration. The CBS host then questioned him on his decision to visit El Paso as opposed to the Read More
Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization
The Department of Homeland Security’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services released the Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization this past Friday. This is a new intergovernmental approach to promote naturalization and eliminate excessive barriers to citizenship. According to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, this new strategy “will ensure that aspiring citizens are able to pursue Read More
Supreme Court Rules Against Bond Hearings for Certain Immigrants
The Supreme Court decided this Tuesday that immigrants fearing persecution in their home countries can be indefinitely detained if they were previously deported and re-entered the United States without authorization. The partisan 6-3 decision held that deported immigrants who re-entered have no right to a hearing regarding their release while the government considers their claims. In the words of Justice Samuel Read More
Mistrial Interrupts Minimum Wage Case for Immigrant Detainees
U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan of Tacoma declared a mistrial this Thursday after the jury failed to come to agreement. The case was raised against GEO Group over wage concerns. The group was paying immigrant detainees only $1 a day for tasks like cooking and cleaning at its for-profit detention center in Washington State. It was Democratic Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson that sued the company in 2017, Read More
Catholic Leaders Meet To Discuss Immigration
Catholic leaders with over 20 bishops met with Vatican representatives and prelates from Central America at an emergency meeting held in Chicago from June 1st to June 2nd to discuss immigration. The meeting, held by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, planned to set forth a welcoming response to immigrants from the Catholic Church. El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz saw the meeting as a counter to recent political Read More
Supreme Court Rules Against Immigrants Once Again
This Monday, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the thousands of immigrants living in the United States for humanitarian reasons, ruling them ineligible for permanent residency if they entered the country unlawfully. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion, declaring that permanent residency and TPS designation are separate immigration tracks that can only merge if the TPS recipient entered the United States Read More
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