Immigration On the Hill

Biden Administration Proposes New Rule to Protect DACA

The Biden administration published a rule Tuesday that could help to preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the administration’s latest attempt to protect the program from legal challenges. The rule would cement DACA, protecting hundreds of thousands of people without documentation who were brought to this country as children from losing their ability […]

Immigration

Thousands of Haitians Deported from Texas While Some are Released into U.S. as Border Crisis Continues

Nearly 14,000 Haitian migrants have come to the U.S. border near Del Rio, Texas in recent days hoping to be admitted to the United States. The Biden administration has already deported over 1,000 people since the weekend, while some Haitians have been released into the U.S. for immigration processing. Haitian migrants have created an enormous […]

Immigration

Biden Administration Will Raise Refugee Cap to 125,000 for the Upcoming Fiscal Year

The State Department announced Monday that the Biden administration plans to raise the maximum number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S. in the upcoming fiscal year to 125,000 people, fulfilling President Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to reverse Donald Trump’s restrictive refugee policies. Starting October 1, the refugee admission cap for the 2022 fiscal year […]

Courts Immigration On the Hill

Biden Administration Appeals Ruling that Found DACA Illegal

The Biden administration appealed a federal district court ruling on Friday that declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program illegal and blocked new applicants from receiving the program’s benefits. The appeal challenges a ruling made by Texas federal district Judge Andrew Hanen in July. Judge Hanen ruled that DACA was unlawful because it […]

Courts Global Immigration On the Hill

Supreme Court Denies Biden Administration’s Request to Pause Reimplementation of “Remain in Mexico” Policy

The Supreme Court ordered the Biden administration Tuesday to reimplement former President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that requires migrants to wait in Mexico until their immigration hearing in the United States. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Texas ordered the Biden administration to revive the policy, which had been formally ended by the […]

Courts Immigration Politics

Texas Federal Judge Orders Biden to Reimplement Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” Migrant Policy

A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that the Biden administration must reimplement former President Trump’s border policy that requires migrants to wait in Mexico until their immigration hearing in the United States. The Migrant Protection Protocols policy, or “remain in Mexico,” forces migrants, many of whom are not originally from Mexico, to stay in […]

Immigration

DACA Application Backlog Puts Thousands of Recipients at Risk of Losing Work Permits

As a result of a paperwork backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) application and renewal process has been significantly delayed, preventing undocumented people from receiving DACA benefits and existing DACA recipients from being able to work due to expired permits. Over 62,000 first-time DACA applications had been […]

Health Immigration

Biden Administration Directs ICE to Stop Detaining Most Pregnant, Postpartum, and Nursing People

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a new guidance that says ICE will no longer arrest or detain individuals who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless there are special circumstances. “Generally ICE should not detain, arrest, or take into custody for an administrative violation of the immigration laws individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum or […]

Immigration On the Hill

Biden Signs Series of Executive Orders Reversing Trump Era Immigration Policies

On Tuesday, President Biden signed three executive orders aimed at reversing the “zero tolerance” immigration policies of the Trump administration. Biden said during the signing that “I’m not making new law. I’m eliminating bad policy.” One of the orders establishes a task force that will work to reunite migrant families that were separated at the […]

Climate Change Immigration On the Hill Race

President Biden Issued 17 Executive Orders and Directives on His First Day in Office

Yesterday, within a few hours of his inauguration, President Joe Biden signed 17 directives and executive orders, many of which were aimed at undoing the harm left behind by the Trump administration. At the top of his priority list was racial justice and LGBTQ+ equality actions. Importantly, Biden will end the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission, […]

Abortion Courts Immigration

Trump Administration Will Stop Blocking Pregnant Minors in Custody from Accessing Abortion

According to a judge-approved agreement from Wednesday, the Trump administration will cease blocking immigrant teens in federal custody from accessing abortion care.  The policy follows an ACLU lawsuit from 2017 on behalf of a 17-year-old from Central America seeking an abortion, referred to as “Jane Doe”. The ACLU claimed that the government’s abortion ban has […]

Courts Immigration

Federal Judge Blocks Increase in Citizenship & Immigration Application Fees

Yesterday, a San Francisco federal judge temporarily blocked an increase in the cost of citizenship and other immigration application fees, an upsurge initiated by the Trump administration. These increases were scheduled to go into effect on Friday, October 2nd, and would raise the citizenship application cost from $640 to $1,160– an 81% increase. The proposal […]

Health Immigration Reproductive Rights

Whistleblower Reveals ICE Facility Practiced Forced Hysterectomies

On Monday, Dawn Wooton, a whistleblower who formerly worked as a nurse at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Georgia filed a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, detailing medical neglect and a high rate of hysterectomies in the facility. The facility is Irwin Detention Center, run by private corporation […]

Courts Immigration Politics

Federal Court Blocks Trump Order Prohibiting Census from Counting Undocumented Immigrants

Yesterday, a three-judge panel in New York ruled unanimously that President Trump’s executive order to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count was unlawful.  The President’s July memo stated that undocumented immigrants should not count for purposes of deciding the reapportionment of the House. The court’s decision mandates that his order violates the 14th Amendment […]

Health Immigration

ICE Expels Immigrant Children Even After Negative COVID-19 Tests

The Trump Administration is expelling immigrant children citing COVID-19 concerns, despite the children testing negative for the coronavirus before they are put on planes to their home countries. An article published Monday by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica reveals that the Trump administration had implemented a testing program in which every child is tested for […]

Immigration

Acting Director of ICE Announces Retirement

On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Matt Albence announced his retirement from the agency, after serving in his position for just over a year. Albence began his work in federal immigration enforcement in 1994 and has moved positions over the years. He had briefly led ICE before, between Ronald Vitiello’s departure and […]