USCIS
USCIS’ Funding Crisis Might Be Too Big for the Agency to Fix by Itself
On January 3, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) finally published a new proposed fee schedule for immigration benefits—which is to say, it took an important step to becoming a solvent, functional federal agency that can adjudicate applications in a timely manner again. The fee rule (which will be… Read More
DHS Fails to Address Concerns about CBP One as the Agency Expands the App’s Use
On January 5, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new measures to process people seeking asylum at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border who are asking to be exempt from Title 42 on humanitarian grounds. Following the announcement, details emerged about how the agency plans… Read More
USCIS’ 2022 Progress Report Shows Promise, But Agency Still Has a Long Way to Go
From the displacement following the Russian invasion of Ukraine to migrant bussing across the United States, the immigration field has faced unique challenges this year while continuing to manage the ongoing COVID pandemic, backlog for legal immigration and asylum cases, and more. Last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)… Read More
TPS Extension Offers Only a Temporary Fix
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for citizens of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Nepal, Haiti, and Sudan in November. The extension lasts until June 30, 2024 and is the result of litigation filed after the Trump administration attempted to end TPS for… Read More
Congress Proposes the Case Backlog and Transparency Act to Tackle USCIS Backlogs
The backlog of pending applications at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has increased exponentially in the last few years. Congress is finally taking notice. The Case Backlog and Transparency Act, introduced by Congressman Tony Cárdenas on October 25, seeks to address the long delays encountered by millions of… Read More
Legal Service Providers Sue to Remove Barriers to Access to Counsel in Immigration Detention
Legal service organizations have sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for preventing people jailed at four immigration detention centers from having meaningful access to their lawyers. The barriers to attorney access at these facilities illustrate ICE’s failure to protect the fundamental rights of detained immigrants nationwide. At any… Read More
DACA Is Facing a Crisis That the Senate Can No Longer Ignore
Written by Jorge Loweree and Raul Pinto of the American Immigration Council More than a decade after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) first created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to shield certain undocumented youth from deportation, it remains the subject of ongoing litigation. This has… Read More
Want to Hire an Immigrant or Refugee? Chambers of Commerce Aim to Make That Easier
With job openings at nearly twice as high as the pre-pandemic norm, employers across the country are continuing to struggle to fill open positions and meet workforce needs. But they’re finding a natural ally in an unusual place: chambers of commerce. Chambers are refocusing the conversation around immigration by… Read More
Biden Administration Close to Reaching Increased Cap on Employment-Based Green Cards
The Biden administration is close to using all of the employment-based immigrant visas (green cards) allotted for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of August 31, a total of 263,510 employment-based immigrant visas had been used this fiscal year (FY)—close to… Read More
How Immigration Can Offset the U.S. Labor Shortage and Rising Inflation
The U. S. inflation rate reached a 40-year high in June and slightly eased to 8.5% in July, continuing to put pressure on the budgets of American families. Disruptions to the supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to price hikes around the world, with the war… Read More
America's story is an immigrant story.
