All posts by Arantxa Galvan

Weekly Immigration News: A Collaborative Effort

As talk of immigration reform circles Washington DC, many tech giants, religious groups, advocacy organizations, and even conservatives, push the Biden administration and congressional leadership towards greater efforts for change. Photo Credit: brionv

Weekly Immigration News: On the National Budget

There continue to be changes to the United States’ immigration system, especially as President Joe Biden further undoes various Trump-era policies. According to a DHS (Department of Homeland Security) spokesperson, the Biden administration will begin to grant US entry to a maximum of 250 “particularly vulnerable” migrants per day. This new announcement is an exception to the current border policy blocking most immigrants from entering the country, and would...

Weekly Immigration News: The President’s Plan

President Biden’s plans have continuously been under fire for failing to hold up to public expectation, however, although he has yet to reach the height of his campaign promise, many of the President’s recent moves point towards improving our immigration system. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Weekly Immigration News: On the Vice President and the DHS

With the end of President Biden’s first 100 days, Vice President Kamala Harris still faces many responsibilities tackling immigration’s root causes, as the Department of Homeland Security’s policies and people continue to shift. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Weekly Immigration News: Finding a Place for Migrant Children

As the migration crisis at the southern border continues and unaccompanied children from Trump-era family separations remain apart from their parents, the number of migrant children in the United States is increasing at an alarming rate, quickly outpacing the resources of the US government. According to new government data, almost 19,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the southern border in March. This record number of people has driven the Biden administration...

Weekly Immigration News: Border Blame and Other Pandemic Responses

Immigration woes continue at the border, compounding pre-existing problems with the US immigration system. According to Politico, Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman blamed the recent arrivals at the border on the United States’ “personal capitalist interests,” which he claimed caused social, economic, and political instability in Central American countries. He stated that these disruptions, in turn, led to the rise of migration to the US. In his statement, Bowman also...

Weekly Immigration News: Handling Children Seeking Asylum At the Border

COVID-19 remains an issue that is backlogging the US legal immigration system, yet the Biden Administration seems to be having a difficult time managing a predictable migration pattern of new arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border. The government is attempting to halt migration and send people back to their home countries but their methods are questionable and their outcome is unclear. Attorney Lal wanted me to add this note: It...

Weekly Immigration News: Border Politics and the Washington Immigration Agenda

The child migrant detention complex is once again gripping the nation. For decades, the United States has faced the prospect of unaccompanied minors and families coming to the border seeking asylum, and for decades, the government has struggled to balance law enforcement with humanitarian interests. Although the Biden administration says it is handling the matter differently from Trump, the jury is out. Meanwhile, Congress may hold the key to...

Weekly Immigration News: Dismantling the Trump-era

The Biden administration has ramped up its political agenda this week, with various new policies that aim to correct Trump-era institutions. After ending the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, the Biden administration announced that the United States will start letting in asylum seekers stranded in Mexico. The shift will be starting its phase 1 today along the southern border, but only migrants currently affected by the “Remain in Mexico”...

Weekly Immigration News: Slow Shifts to Change

President Biden is not acting quickly on immigration issues – will his slow shifts help move us towards change? Alejandro Mayorkas, a former Obama administration immigration official and a Cuban immigrant, has been officially nominated to become DHS (Department of Homeland Security) secretary in a Tuesday Senate vote. Although some Republicans opposed Mayorkas’ nomination due to a 2015 internal investigation on his actions during his role as head of...