Immigration Benefits and Relief
The immigration laws and regulations provide some avenues to apply for lawful status from within the U.S. or to seek relief from deportation. The eligibility requirements for these benefits and relief can be stringent, and the immigration agencies often adopt overly restrictive interpretations of the requirements. Learn about advocacy and litigation that has been and can be undertaken to ensure that noncitizens have a fair chance to apply for the benefits and relief for which they are eligible. Providing avenues for legal status, protection, and family reunification is vital to ensuring humanitarian protection for immigrants. We are leading policy changes that open more opportunities like asylum, visas for victims of crime or human trafficking, and relief for long-term residents. Explore the resources below to learn more.
Ninth Circuit Court Allows Trump’s Plan to End Temporary Protected Status to Go Forward
In a split decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for four countries can proceed. The fate of nearly 250,000 people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan—and their families—is at stake. The case, Ramos v. Nielsen,… Read More
TPS Termination Will Disrupt Communities Across America and Upend the Lives of Thousands of U.S. Citizen Children
A federal court has ruled that the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 people living in the United States can continue. Read More
USCIS Cancelled Planned Staff Furloughs, But Budgetary Challenges Remain
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told Congress in May that it was running out of money and would need a $1.2 billion bailout to maintain its operations without major disruptions. The agency threatened to furlough over 13,000 of its staff in the process—a step that would bring the… Read More
Fee Increase for Immigration Applications Is an Attack on Legal Immigration
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services—the government agency that administers the country's legal immigration system—is expected to announce Monday major fee hikes for many immigration-related applications and petitions. The increased fees will impact people applying for U.S. citizenship and asylum, as well as American businesses hiring or retaining employees vital to our country’s recovery from a global health and economic crisis. Read More
Statement for the House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Hearing on “Oversight of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services”
The American Immigration Council submitted a written statement to the House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship for a July 29, 2020 hearing on “Oversight of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.” The statement shares the Council’s analysis of the true causes of USCIS’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall, including… Read More
Efforts to End DACA Would Destabilize Communities Across America
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released today a memo on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative that would deny all pending and future initial requests for DACA and reject all pending and future applications for advance parole absent exceptional circumstances. It would also shorten DACA renewals and the accompanying work authorization to one-year, rather than a two-year period. Read More
What You Need to Know About the Partial DACA Rescission Memo
After nearly six weeks of inaction following its stinging defeat before the Supreme Court on June 18, the Department of Homeland Security released a memo gutting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. This will set the stage for a full rescission of the initiative in… Read More
Letter Demands ICE Release Families Detained During COVID-19 Pandemic
The American Immigration Council joined a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security calling on the release of all families held at all three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) family detention centers. COVID-19 is running rampant in these facilities—which detain children as young as one-year-old. In the Karnes County Residential… Read More
USCIS Wastes Time and Money With Increased Vetting in Citizenship Processing
The Trump administration has justified major changes to citizenship processing to “safeguard” the U.S. immigration system from application fraud. Yet the increased vetting has not lowered the number of approvals over the last few years, indicating an absence of fraud. The time it takes to approve those applications, however,… Read More
USCIS Upends the Lives of Immigrants by Refusing to Print Their Work Permits and Green Cards
Update: On August 3, 2020, a federal court in Ohio granted a temporary restraining order requiring USCIS to print a work permit within 7 days for all individuals who had been approved for one. The Trump administration’s full-on assault on the U.S. immigration system has… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
