Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a serious threat to immigrant communities around the country. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 6 million immigrants work frontline occupations, placing them at heightened risk of exposure. The United States Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the infection risk was almost double that of native-born Read More
Changing Terminology
Language is a powerful tool. Certain words carry harmful connotations, and their use has major political ramifications. In recognition of this, several states have begun changing terminology and drop the use of dehumanizing words like “alien” from state laws. The term –– dating back to the enactment of the country’s first naturalization law in 1798 –– implies an unjust idea of “otherness.” Colorado took action Read More
House Passes Build Back Better Plan
The House passed a massive spending bill this Friday which holds major promise for immigration reform. The Build Back Better Plan would be the largest mass-legalization program for undocumented immigrants in American history. About 7 million of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country would be eligible to apply for work permits, protecting them from deportation, allowing them to travel internationally, Read More
Biden Administration Expands Protected Areas
The Biden administration recently issued a new guidance barring immigration enforcement in certain protected areas. This protected areas includes places offering social services (domestic violence shelters, food banks, facilities for disabled individuals), places where children gather (bus stops, playgrounds, childcare centers, after-school programs, foster care facilities), medical treatment centers Read More
President Biden wants to address Green Card Processing Delays
The White House has said President Biden wishes to address the Green Card processing delays. This came on Friday in White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s response to a question about the waste of about 80,000 unused employment based green card numbers. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been unable to allocate them to the millions waiting, indicative of larger inefficiencies in the Read More
Registration opens for Diversity Immigrant Visa Program
The United States Department of State has just announced that registration for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program will open up next week. The United States diversity visa lottery is an important part of the American immigration system. The program awards as many as 55,000 green cards to immigrants from countries around the world. It attempts to promote diversity within the United States. The registration for Read More
Protests Against Senate Parliamentarian Advisory
The month began with promise. House Democrats worked on creating a pathway to citizenship through the budget reconciliation plan. This legislation aimed to allow about 8 million people (primarily Dreamers, TPS/DED holders, farmworkers, and other essential workers) to apply for green cards. Furthermore, the provision would invest $2.8 billion into U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, recapture unused green Read More
House Judiciary Committee Marks Up Legislative Proposal for Budget Reconciliation
The House Judiciary Committee spent Monday September 13th marking up their legislative proposal for the $107.5 billion reserved for “lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants” in the reconciliation package. They are trying to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants. After this process, the text will be combined with the larger Build Back Better reconciliation plan and voted on in the House Read More
Haiti TPS Registration Open
United States Citizen and Immigration Services announced the designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status effective August 3rd, 2021 to February 3rd, 2023. This eighteen month designation allows Haitian nationals, as well as individuals without nationality who last resided in Haiti, to apply for Temporary Protected Status. This designation protects individuals from deportation on the basis of immigration Read More
DACA and Congress
Legislators have spent the last few weeks scrambling for solutions in the wake of a Texas judge’s July 16th decision ruling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) unconstitutional. While the decision has no effect on current DACA recipients (Dreamers), it has halted new applications. President Biden called the decision “deeply disappointing” and announced the U.S. Department of Justice’s plan to Read More
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