executive order

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...

Immigration in Pandemic Times Vol. 1, No.8

Using the pandemic as a cover, there have been increasing attempts by the Trump administration to limit immigration to the United States. Read more, below. As of June 22, the USCIS has announced a change to try to stop undocumented immigrants from entering the US illegally. This new rule overlooks intent and instead prevents all undocumented immigrants who entered without legal status from obtaining employment permission when their asylum...

A Message About Trump’s “Immigration Ban” Presidential Proclamation

On Monday night, President Trump tweeted that he was banning all immigration to the U.S. in response to the coronavirus and to protect American jobs.  Long story short, he doesn’t have the authority to do that under any statute except for Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which allows him to impose a temporary travel ban on some immigrants and non-immigrants.  After his ill-timed tweet, his advisors scrambled to prepare...

New Trump Executive Order Codifying Family Internment Camps

Donald Trump signed an executive order this morning after weeks of a public relations nightmare following the family separation policy that his Administration put into place recently. Far from a fix, the new executive order actually codifies family internment camps.  How did we get here? In May 2018, Jeff Sessions announced a zero-tolerance policy, whereby everyone entering the United States unlawfully, including persons with bona-fide asylum claims who were...