USCIS
Removals Remain the Starkest Measure of Immigration Enforcement
For more than a decade, the general thrust of U.S. immigration policy has been aimed at expanding the grounds of removal and the tools for facilitating deportations from the country. Not surprisingly, this has come at an enormous cost. Although the figure has been disputed by restrictionists, a report from the Migration Policy Institute recently found that the federal government spent $18 billion last year on immigration enforcement. Dollars are not the only way to measure immigration enforcement, however, as the number of removals has itself skyrocketed in recent years. Read More
DHS Publishes New Provisional Waiver to Help Some Families Stay Together
Some families facing long separations from their loved ones because of U.S. immigration laws will have an easier time of it in 2013. Thanks to a new regulation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), immediate relatives of U.S. citizens will be able to complete part of the processing of their immigration cases without leaving the country. The “Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver of Inadmissibility for Certain Immediate Relatives” rule, often referred to as the new family unity rule, will be published tomorrow (January 3, 2013) and become effective on March 4. Read More
Boston Globe Series Exposes Pitfalls of Immigration Detention
Last week, the Boston Globe ran an important series of articles on a topic that receives far too little attention: the vast network of civil detention centers that last year held more than 400,000 immigrants in the United States. The product of a year-long investigation, the series shines a spotlight on a system in which detainees often have no right to a bail hearing, are not given attorneys if they cannot afford one, and are transferred between facilities at the whim of federal immigration officials. Although one article misleadingly faults immigration officials for releasing certain detainees, the series as a whole is worth reading. Read More
Latest DACA Approval Numbers Released by USCIS
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released the latest numbers on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. The numbers provided by the agency reflect activity between August 15, 2012 – December 13, 2012. Entering its fifth month, the numbers are encouraging. Of… Read More
Lawsuit Uncovers USCIS’ Double Standards in H-1B Program
For the past several years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) H-1B visa review and processing procedures have caused confusion and concern among U.S. businesses that turn to highly-skilled temporary foreign workers in specialty occupations to operate successfully. In newly-uncovered documents, it appears that instead of supporting small businesses that attempt to hire highly-skilled foreign workers, in many cases, USCIS discourages their success by subjecting them to a near presumption of fraud. Read More
House immigration bill good for students and U.S.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel December 12, 2012 bama administration and many Democrats are right about this: The immigration bill approved by the House late last month is not enough. The nation needs significant and widespread immigration reform that addresses guest worker issues and a path to citizenship for qualified undocumented… Read More
Immigrant Friends and Foes Debate the Definition of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform”
Nearly everyone agrees that an immigration reform bill of some sort will be introduced in Congress in the near future given the pivotal role that Latinos and immigrants played in getting President Obama reelected. But no one knows yet just how “comprehensive” that bill will be, meaning which groups of immigrants will be included and which will be excluded. For immigrant-rights advocates, a truly comprehensive bill would create a pathway to legal status for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living in the country. For anti-immigrant activists, the definition of “comprehensive” is, not surprisingly, a bit less comprehensive. In fact, their redefinition of the concept is often so tortured as to be meaningless. Read More
Reform Immigration For Entrepreneurs
Market Watch November 28, 2012 If Congress is serious about saving this country’s innovative edge and creating more jobs, it will have to do better on immigration reform than the most recent effort from Republican leaders in the House. At first glance, the STEM Jobs Act put forth by… Read More
U.S. Immigration Official Comes To MIT, Vows To ‘Adapt To Business Landscape’
Boston Business Journal November 28, 2012 The director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, Alejandro Mayorkas, acknowledged his agency needs to work much harder to facilitate legal avenues for foreign-born entrepreneurs to stay in the U.S. Speaking at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mayorkas, a one-time Cuban… Read More
US Pushes To Keep Entrepreneur Jobs In The Country
Bloomberg Business week November 28, 2012 The Obama administration’s top immigration official says his agency is working to attract and keep more foreign-born high-tech entrepreneurs who are seeking to start companies in the U.S., a move he hopes will help the nation retain its edge in an increasingly competitive… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
