COVID-19
The United States Needs a New Approach to Visas and Immigration Benefits
This article is part of the Moving Forward on Immigration series that explores the future of immigration in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. The Biden administration faces a fundamental challenge in reforming the U.S. immigration system: making the United States more welcoming to immigrants. Part of this effort… Read More
It’s Time to Fix the Immigration Court System
This article is part of the Moving Forward on Immigration series that explores the future of immigration in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. The backbone of a functioning justice system is due process. Yet over 1.25 million immigrants are fighting for their right to survive in an immigration… Read More
Your COVID-19 Vaccine Was Likely Made by an Immigrant
The development of a COVID-19 vaccine is a global endeavor. The scientists and entrepreneurs creating the vaccine are of many nationalities and immigration statuses—as are the millions of people impacted by the pandemic who are anxiously awaiting a vaccine. The three pharmaceutical companies with vaccines near-ready for distribution—BioNTech, Pfizer, and… Read More
What to Expect for the J-1 Exchange Program Under Biden
The Trump administration has used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to curtail many immigrant and nonimmigrant visa programs, including J-1 cultural exchange visitors. But with vaccines on the immediate horizon and a new Biden administration soon to take office, what should we expect for programs like the J-1… Read More
District Court Stops Regulations Restricting the H-1B Visa Category
On December 1, a federal district court judge disrupted the Trump administration’s relentless attack on legal immigration by halting two new sets of regulations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others challenged interim final rules issued by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Labor (DOL) impacting the… Read More
USCIS Is Proposing an H-1B Rule That Ignores Why the Category Exists
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a proposed rule that will change the way it selects the registrations of U.S. employers that want to file H-1B petitions subject to the annual “cap.” USCIS will now give preference to jobs with the highest wages. But the law establishing the… Read More
The Media Is Obsessed With the ‘Latino Vote’ – There Is No Such Thing
A major theme of the 2020 election has been how demographic shifts in the American electorate would influence the outcome. Political pundits have given a great deal of airtime to examining the voting patterns of “Latinos” in the United States. Exit polls show that President Trump fared well with… Read More
The Government Wants Immigrants to Show Up for Court—But Neglects to Tell Them How to Attend Their Hearings
Over 60,000 people at the southern border have been forced to return to Mexico under the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program. As they get sent back, U.S. government officials give them insufficient information about how to attend their immigration court… Read More
ICE’s COVID-19 Death Toll Might Be Higher Than It Claims
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to mismanage the spread of the coronavirus in its facilities nationwide—and the consequences might be far more deadly than the agency wants to admit. As of October 22, ICE confirmed a total of 6,743 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed across… Read More
Naturalization Fees: A Poll Tax Hidden in Plain Sight
The application fee to apply for U.S. citizenship was due to rise from $640 to $1170 on October 2. Though the fee hike was temporarily blocked in federal court, this is not the first time U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has tried to raise the… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone