May 06, 2024

Expert: Many DACA Holders Eligible for Obamacare

Kimberly Adams, Marketplace, May 6, 2024 "The Biden administration is expanding health care access for “dreamers,” those who are covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. The Department of Health and Human Services has finalized rules , first announced a year ago, which will allow DACA recipients to participate in the Obamacare exchanges, something they weren’t...

May 03, 2024

California’s Alien Land Laws

Sara Rimer, EJI, May 3, 2024 "... On May 3, 1913, California enacted the Alien Land Law, designed to deny Japanese families their foothold in America by denying them the right to own land. The law was tightened in 1920 and 1927 to bar Asian immigrants, their American-born children, and even corporations run by Asian immigrants from leasing and owning land. The penalty for conspiring to evade the law was up to two...

May 03, 2024

DOJ Warns It Will Sue If Iowa Tries To Enforce Its New Immigration Law

Galen Bacharier, Des Moines Register, May 3, 2024 "The U.S. Department of Justice will sue Iowa to block a new immigration law criminalizing "illegal reentry" if it remains in effect, a top DOJ official wrote to Gov. Kim Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird Thursday. In a letter obtained by the Des Moines Register, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton wrote that the department...

May 02, 2024

Expert: Courts Could Block Trump's Border Plans

Sophia Bollag, San Francisco Chronicle, Apr. 30, 2024 "Former President Donald Trump says he will compel local police to enforce federal immigration law if he’s reelected, which would put him in direct conflict with California laws passed during his presidency prohibiting police from doing just that. ... Stephen Yale-Loehr , an immigration law professor at Cornell University, said if Trump tries the same...

May 02, 2024

“We Couldn’t Wait” - Digital Metering at the US-Mexico Border

HRW, May 1, 2024 "The administrations of US President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are forcing thousands of people seeking asylum in the US to wait for months in Mexico, exposing them to danger, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 68-page report, “We Couldn’t Wait: Digital Metering at the US-Mexico Border,” details how the Biden...

May 02, 2024

Video: Marielena Hincapié Interviews Jonathan Blitzer

eCornell Keynotes, May 1, 2024 "In this discussion, Marielena Hincapié, Distinguished Immigration Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Cornell Law School, interviews Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at The New Yorker and immigration expert, on his recently published book Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis . They will discuss how the politics and policy of...

April 30, 2024

The Case for Open Borders: A Podcast with John Washington

Melissa del Bosque, The Border Chronicle, Apr. 30, 2024 "A defining issue of this century will be people on the move and where they settle. Wealthier countries like the U.S. are responding by walling themselves off from the rest of the world and investing in deterrence and detention, which only contributes to more deaths and misery while providing no long-term solutions. There must be a better way. This was John...

April 30, 2024

Tracking Potentially Harmful State Bills

A very useful spreadsheet by the American Immigration Council .

April 26, 2024

Title 42 Postmortem: U.S. Pandemic-Era Expulsions Policy Did Not Shut Down the Border

Muzaffar Chishti, Kathleen Bush-Joseph, and Julian Montalvo, MPI, Apr. 25, 2024 "This article provides an overview of the scale, impact, and effectiveness of Title 42, ahead of the one-year anniversary of the order’s lifting in May 2023. While Title 42 was just one of many landmark and wide-ranging immigration restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, the public-health authority was both larger in...

April 25, 2024

Groups Release Border Management Proposal

National Immigration Forum, Apr. 24, 2024 "Today, center-right advocacy organizations hosted a press conference unveiling a border framework that prioritizes security, order and humanity at the southern border. A recording of the call is available here . “The challenges at the border continue, and Congress must act. Our proposed solutions are viable when Republicans and Democrats return to the table. A remarkable...

April 24, 2024

How Immigrants and Their U.S.-Born Children Fit into the Future U.S. Labor Market

Jeanne Batalova, Julia Gelatt and Michael Fix, MPI, April 2024 "The U.S. economy has changed dramatically in recent decades, from one that was heavily industrial to one that is mostly service and knowledge based. In the process, demand has grown for workers with higher levels of education and a different mix of skills. This period of rapid change is far from over. Population aging, the rise of new technologies...

April 24, 2024

The Borderlander (Video)

Chronicle of Higher Education "One woman’s journey between two countries in pursuit of an education and a brighter future Every weekday for the past 10 years, Viviana Mitre has driven back and forth from her home in Juárez, Mexico, to the University of Texas at El Paso, to work toward her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. While alone in her car each time she makes the crowded border crossing...

April 24, 2024

DeSantis Trafficking Victims Gain Work Permits, Visa Eligibility

News reports indicate that some of the migrants trafficked to Martha's Vineyard by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will receive work permits, protection against removal and eligibility for U visas. See here , here , here and here .

April 23, 2024

Groundbreaking Path2Papers Initiative Receives $1.5 Million Grant

Chris Brouwer, Cornell Law, Apr. 22, 2024 "Professors Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer and Stephen Yale-Loehr have secured a $1.5 million grant from Crankstart for their groundbreaking initiative, the Path2Papers project. Housed at Cornell Law School, this new nonprofit venture helps DACA recipients in the San Francisco Bay Area pursue work visas and other pathways to legal permanent residency. Cornell DACA recipients can...

April 23, 2024

The Much Neglected Schedule A, Group II Green Card Option Gets a Boost After USCIS Broadens the “Sciences or Arts” Definition

Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box, Apr. 23, 2024 "On April 10, 2024, USCIS issued a policy alert clarifying the term “sciences or arts” for Schedule A, Group II occupations. Schedule A occupations are those for which the Department of Labor (DOL) has recognized that a shortage of U.S. workers exists. Group I occupations consist of physical therapists and professional nurses, while Group II occupations...

April 22, 2024

Groups Call for Funds for Legal Representation in Immigration Court

Rafael Bernal, The Hill, Apr. 22, 2024 "A coalition of more than 100 civil rights and immigrant rights groups are calling on Congress to fund legal representation for foreign nationals in immigrant detention. In a letter to the top appropriators in the House and Senate on Monday — Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Reps. Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) — the...

April 19, 2024

One-Stop Shopping

Not sure which LexisNexis immigration publication you need in your arsenal? Here is a link to all 32 titles available today. You're welcome!

April 18, 2024

Expanding Access to Lawful Migration Reduces Unlawful Migration - Study

Michael A. Clemens, April 2024 "An increasing number of migrants attempt to cross the US Southwest border without obtaining a visa or any other prior authorization. 2.5 million migrants did so in 2023. In recent years, responding to this influx, US officials have expanded lawful channels for a limited number of these migrants to cross the border, but only at official ports of entry. These expanded lawful channels...

April 18, 2024

ICE Deporting Venezuelans to Mexico

Austin Fisher, Source NM, Apr. 18, 2024 "A man from Venezuela who said he fled kidnapping and torture in his home country has been held in federal immigration custody in New Mexico for nearly six months. Now, he’s watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deport other Venezuelan asylum seekers — not to their home country but to places in Mexico that are potentially dangerous for people migrating...

April 18, 2024

DOS Suspends Visa Services in Haiti

State Department, Apr. 15, 2024 "The Department of State has suspended visa services in Haiti The information below outlines options Haitian nationals seeking U.S. visas may consider. Immigrant Visas Immigrant visas are for foreign nationals who intend to live and/or work permanently in the United States. In most cases, a relative or employer sponsors the individual by filing a petition with U.S. Citizenship...

April 18, 2024

What Is The Visa Bulletin And How Does It Work?

NIPNLG, ILRC, ABA CILA, April 2024 "This resource is intended to help SIJS advocates better understand the system used by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) to allocate visas. ... Publication of the End SIJS Backlog Coalition, 2024. This FAQ is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This resource was written by Dalia Castillo-Granados, Director, Children’s Immigration...

April 16, 2024

Free Online Event: EVERYONE WHO IS GONE IS HERE - The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis

eCornell - Wednesday, May 01, 2024, 1pm EDT [Register at the link.] In this discussion, Marielena Hincapié, Distinguished Immigration Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Cornell Law School, interviews Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at The New Yorker and immigration expert, on his recently published book Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis . They will discuss...

April 16, 2024

Can President Biden Really Shut Down Asylum at the Border? A Q&A with Immigration Expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

Melissa del Bosque, The Border Chronicle, Apr. 16, 2024 "Spoiler alert: No, he can't. But he'll probably issue an executive order anyway. The Border Chronicle spoke with immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, about Biden’s proposal and what an asylum ban would mean for asylum seekers and border communities. ... "

April 16, 2024

Terminating Immigration Court Cases Helps Some, Hurts Others

Anna-Catherine Brigida, Houston Landing, Apr. 12, 2024 "When Blanca, 49, found out her immigration court case was thrown out, she let out a sigh of relief. When the same happened to Maria Pineda, 31, it was one of the worst days of her life. Both women have spent more than a decade in the U.S., living and working in Houston and raising their kids, who are U.S. citizens. Blanca, originally from Mexico and who asked...

April 11, 2024

Iowa Gov. Signs SB4 Copycat Law

Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Apr. 10, 2024 "Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a series of bills Wednesday, including a measure making illegal immigration a state crime in Iowa based on a Texas law currently being challenged in court. Senate File 2340 gives Iowa law enforcement officers the ability to charge people with an aggravated misdemeanor if they have been denied admission, deported or otherwise removed from...