USCIS

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: Farewell Trump

After last week’s Capitol riots, there have been many shifts in the government. As the country prepares for President-elect Biden’s upcoming inauguration, the Trump administration is doubling down on dismantling immigration law and order: The DHS has signed last minute contracts with various states to try to limit the changes that the incoming Biden-Harris administration can make to immigration law through regulation. The contracts would require the DHS to...

Immigration in Pandemic Times – Last Gasps of the Trump Administration

The virus is negatively impacted job-holders all over the world, but new changes to US immigration laws may have definite effects on US workers. This past Tuesday, a federal judge ruled against Trump’s attempts to limit immigration through restrictions on H-1B visas. The new changes at DHS would have limited the jobs that H-1B visa workers could do in the United States and the amount of time that they...

Immigration in Pandemic Times, Vol. 2, No. 2

The COVID-19 pandemic has persisted throughout the many months of 2020, and not only is the Trump administration still using it as a guise for further restricting immigration, but there are still severe financial repercussions facing many as we continue to battle through COVID-19. The number of deaths in ICE custody is the highest since 2006. As of August 7, the ICE custody death toll for the current fiscal year is...

Immigration in Pandemic Times; Vol. 1, No. 12

The coronavirus has severely damaged American health, finances, and stability. Immigrants have been one of the hardest-hit groups – what will the government do, if anything, to help? USCIS fee increases go into effect on October 2, 2020. People hoping to file for green cards through family or employment will also have to pay for interim benefits such as work and travel authorization, which substantially increases expected fees. Other...

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...

How Is The Government Shutdown Impacting Immigration Services

Due to failure to pass a Congressional budget, the United States government has temporarily shut down with no end in sight. This is no doubt throwing many government functions such as immigration services into disarray, as only essential government services are operational during this time. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at airports and at port of entries continue to operate as usual, though without pay. The level of their...

Warning: USCIS Will Place More People In Removal Proceedings

On June 28, 2018, USCIS released “Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens, where it laid out new policies to determine whom to place in removal proceedings. USCIS began implementing the PM for denied Forms I-485 and I-539 on October 1, 2018. Beginning November 19, 2018, USCIS may use its discretion to put people in removal proceedings...

New USCIS Memo Signals Drastic Change for Immigration Applicants

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued two recent memos that allow immigration officials more discretion to outright deny applications they deem frivolous or incomplete, and place more people in removal proceedings. The first memo, discussed here, authorizes USCIS to place individuals in removal proceedings for merely overstaying their visas if their application for immigration benefits is denied. The second memo, released last Friday, grants USCIS...

USCIS Issues New Memo Expanding Power to Initiate Removal Proceedings

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new policy on June 28, 2018, expanding the reasons that they will issue an I-862 “Notice to Appear” (NTA) to individuals to initiate removal proceedings against them. The new memo is available here and lists every instance in which individuals will be placed into removal proceedings. It supersedes an Obama-era memo governing the issuance of an NTA by the same...