Latest Immigration News

September 22, 2023

Co-Authors: Rich André, Asma Easa, Micaela McConnell, Paloma Ramos Last week, communities across the United States participated in Welcoming America’s Welcoming Week. The annual campaign has rapidly expanded over the years to include more than 650 local events that showcase each community’s commitment to fostering welcoming and belonging for all their residents, including their immigrant […] The post Communities Celebrate Their Commitment to Welcoming and Belonging During Welcoming Week appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

September 21, 2023

In the summer of 2020, after George Floyd’s murder, racial justice protests took hold in cities throughout the country. The massive mobilization reflected a nationwide groundswell of opposition to abusive and deadly policing. The importance of the movement and the need for change in the country was clear.   The government’s response to this historic […] The post New Report Uncovers CBP’s Role in Policing Racial Justice Protests in Summer 2020 appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

September 14, 2023

Since President Biden took office, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been escalating both rhetoric and action in response to a rise in migration across the Rio Grande. Right now, challenges to his latest maneuver—installing 1,000 feet of “marine barrier” in the middle of the Rio Grande—are making their way through the courts. As of September […] The post Fifth Circuit Allows Texas to Keep Its Controversial ‘Buoy Barrier’ in Place for Now appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

September 14, 2023

The Department of Justice has proposed a new rule to protect immigration judges’ ability to administratively close removal proceedings and control their ever-expanding dockets. The proposed rule, published on September 8, would also rescind most of the changes introduced by a 2020 Trump-era regulation, including shortened Board of Immigration Appeals briefing schedules and limits on […] The post New Immigration Court Rule Would Protect Critical Docket Management Tools and Rescind Trump-Era Changes appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

September 8, 2023

“There should be no private prisons, period, none, period. And we are working to close all of them.” Those are the words of President Joe Biden in April 2021, when he was called out by immigrant rights activists at a rally celebrating his 100th day in office. This was a welcome promise to immigrants and […] The post Biden Administration Fights to Keep Private Immigration Jails Open, Despite Promises appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

September 8, 2023

The school year has started, and many college students are returning to campuses nationwide, including undocumented and DACA-eligible students. Data from the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) and analyzed by the American Immigration Council reveals that 408,000 of these students are undocumented, representing 1.9% of all college students in the country. About a third of […] The post A Snapshot of Undocumented College Students in the United States appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

September 7, 2023

Co-authors: Micaela McConnell, Paloma Ramos “Don’t forget about us,” is the cornerstone message that will be amplified across the United States this fall as Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, begins her 6,000-mile journey to 35 different communities. Little Amal represents a message of hope, welcoming, and belonging for immigrants […] The post Seeking Refuge Across the US, Little Amal Starts Her Journey appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

September 5, 2023

On August 24, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new update to its policy manual clarifying a previous policy change aimed at expanding green card eligibility under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) for children who lost eligibility, or “aged out,” due to the years-long visa backlogs.   Before getting into the […] The post USCIS Updates Key CSPA Interpretation to Protect Some Immigrant Youth, But Backlogs Continue to Cause Hardships appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 30, 2023

The Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) went on trial last week. The trial, held in a federal court in Texas, was the result of a lawsuit filed in January 2023 (shortly after the program was expanded to Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua) by Texas and several other state governments. […] The post With Challenge to CHNV Parole Program, the ‘Right to Welcome’ Goes on Trial in Texas appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 29, 2023

When Fortune released this year’s Fortune 500 list—the magazine’s iconic ranking of the year’s top-grossing American companies—one fact remained unchanged from previous years: the profound role that immigrants and their children have played in establishing many of this country’s most successful and influential companies. Research by the American Immigration Council finds that nearly half of […] The post Fortune 500 Companies with Immigrant Roots Generated More Money Than the GDP of Most Western Nations appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 25, 2023

When the Trump administration proposed an overhaul of federal policy regarding when immigrants could be denied green cards or visas based on use of public benefits – the public charge rule – it made an impact in immigrant communities long before it technically took effect. Even early reports of what the administration was considering as […] The post The Ghost of Public Charge Keeps Scaring Immigrant Families Away From Public Benefits appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 24, 2023

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Sudan and Ukraine last week. This is a welcome development, but more must be done to provide resources to USCIS as continuing worldwide conflicts and natural disasters increase calls for more designations. TPS is a humanitarian […] The post Ukraine and Sudan Receive TPS Extensions, Redesignations as Global Displacement Continues to Rise appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 17, 2023

On Thanksgiving Day 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested Kamyar Samimi—a lawful permanent resident with a decade-old conviction for drug possession—and sent him to the privately run ICE Processing Center in Aurora, Colorado. Two weeks later, he was dead. Facility staff had forced him to stop methadone treatment cold turkey and then […] The post Biden Keeps Ties with Billion-Dollar Business of Immigration Detention, Despite Reports of Serious Abuse appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 16, 2023

When the Biden administration launched new Family Reunification Parole programs earlier this year, it pointed to existing programs for Cuban and Haitian families as the model. The new programs would allow some people from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras stuck in the immigrant visa backlog to join their family members in the United while […] The post Biden’s Family Reunification Parole Programs Offer Hope—But With a Blind Spot appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 10, 2023

On April 8, a family came to the San Ysidro port of entry in Tijuana and asked to be let into the United States to seek asylum. The husband’s arm was bleeding. He’d been shot. The cartel that had driven him and his family from Jalisco the previous fall, when he refused to cooperate with […] The post CBP’s Continued ‘Turnbacks’ Are Sending Asylum Seekers Back to Lethal Danger appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 9, 2023

The Biden administration has officially reinstated its enforcement guidelines for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The move comes after the Supreme Court reaffirmed the federal government’s authority to set priorities in immigration enforcement – and to discourage federal agents from spending time and energy on noncitizens who aren’t priorities. This includes not just the […] The post Enforcement Priorities Are Back. What Will ICE Prosecutors Do With Them? appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 2, 2023

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a major Apple supplier, has delayed the production schedule for its Arizona chip plant to 2025. The company said it is having trouble finding enough workers with specialized skills in the United States to start its production on time. This may be a setback for the CHIPS and Science […] The post The Success of the CHIPS Act Depends on Skilled Immigrants appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

August 1, 2023

The post Lawsuit Challenging Texas’ Floating Barrier Raises Questions About Its Other Border Policies appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

July 31, 2023

Despite concerns expressed by stakeholders, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has returned to a one-page format for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. What may seem like a technical change has important consequences for employees and their employers. For nearly 38 years, employers and certain agricultural recruiters and referrers for a fee have used Form […] The post USCIS Changes Employment Eligibility Verification: One Step Back and One Step Forward appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]

July 31, 2023

With most state legislatures having adjourned for the year, states—once again—continue to lead the way for welcoming immigrants and refugees. The American Immigration Council tracked over 1,000 immigration-related bills during the 2023 state legislative session. With a few notable exceptions, most successful immigration bills this year aimed to make states more inclusive of immigrant populations, […] The post States Continue to Lead on Inclusive Immigration Policies: A 2023 Midyear Review of State Legislative Sessions appeared first on Immigration Impact. […]