USCIS
Supreme Court Refuses to Stop the Migrant Protection Protocols From Going Back Into Effect
The Supreme Court refused to block an order to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. The decision comes after a Texas judge halted the government’s recission of the controversial and illegal program. The Supreme Court’s ruling means that the government must make “best… Read More
Biden Administration Plans Big Changes for Asylum Seekers at the Border
The Biden administration announced this week that it will propose a new rule to speed up the fair and humane processing of asylum claims of people arriving at the U.S. border. The issue has been the recent subject of fierce public and political debate. Tellingly, this is the new administration’s… Read More
New Illinois Law Expected to Go Furthest Toward Ending Immigration Detention in the US
A new Illinois law limiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention is expected to effectively end detention in the state by next year. The law goes further than those that have limited detention in other states. On August 2, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed SB 667, known as… Read More
Reconciliation and Immigration: What You Need to Know
On the day that President Biden took office, he promised to send a bill to Congress to create a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Unfortunately, that bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act, has made little progress since it was introduced in February. Even the passage in the… Read More
ICE May Have Deported as Many as 70 US Citizens In the Last Five Years
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) keeps making an inexcusable error: it has been deporting U.S. citizens by mistake. 70 potential U.S. citizens were deported between 2015 and 2020, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded. They were deported even though… Read More
ICE Will Stop Arresting and Detaining Most Pregnant and Nursing People
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will no longer detain most people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing, according to a new policy released on July 9. However, ICE did not commit to a total ban, saying that there will still be “very limited circumstances” that will allow the agency… Read More
The COVID-19 Pandemic Made USCIS Backlogs Go from Bad to Worse
Backlogs, processing delays, and revenue shortfalls are nothing new at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The agency has long suffered from severe structural problems that hurt people who depend on it for work authorization, adjustment of status, naturalization, and many other immigration benefits. However, the impact of the COVID-19… Read More
Will Immigrant Investors and Regional Centers Benefit From Court Win or Has Time Run Out?
A recent court win that restored lower minimum investment amounts was good news for regional centers and immigrant investors in the EB-5 program. But the bad news is the EB-5 regional center program will end on June 30, because Congress did not extend it. While Congress may restore the program,… Read More
On World Refugee Day, A Call to Rebuild U.S. Refugee Resettlement
World Refugee Day is celebrated internationally on June 20 every year. It honors the struggle of refugees around the world who are fleeing violence and persecution and are unable to safely return to their home countries. Over this past year, in the middle of a devastating global pandemic, the number… Read More
The Supreme Court Limits the Crimes That Can Lead to Near-Automatic Deportation
The Supreme Court issued a decision last Thursday in a criminal case that will have an immediate impact on immigration law. The new decision set a limit on the types of crime that can be considered an “aggravated felony” ground for deportation. In Borden v. United States, a… Read More
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