Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, May
19, 2023, is now posted.

You can find the online version of the bulletin
here: [link removed]
<[link removed]>

All the best,

Alexandra 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, May 19, 2023**Welcome to the National
Immigration Forum's weekly bulletin! Every Friday, our policy team
rounds up key developments around immigration policy in Washington and
across the country. The bulletin includes items on the legislative,
executive, and judicial branches, as well as some coverage at the state
and local levels. 

**DEVELOPMENTS IN IMMIGRATION THIS WEEK**Immigration policy is a dynamic
field subject to constant change. Here, we summarize some of the most
important recent developments in immigration policy on the federal,
legal, state, and local levels. 

Content warning: This section sometimes includes events and information
that can prove disturbing. 

****Federal ****

**Relative Border Calm Lingers Days After Title 42 Ends, While Pressure
on Mexico Deepens **This week, the number of migrant crossings has
dropped precipitously at the United States-Mexico border, with agents
recording fewer than 4,000 daily encounters
<[link removed]>on
Monday and Tuesday - compared to over 10,000
<[link removed]>
on some of the days leading up to the end of the Title 42 public health
order.  

This significant decline comes as migrants try to navigate a shifting
policy landscape, where new rules - including a federal regulation
<[link removed]>
that severely restricts asylum - could jeopardize their chances at a
life in the U.S. 

Amid confusion and fear about what the Biden administration's border
plans mean in practice, some migrants are choosing to wait in Mexico and
apply for a limited number of appointments to reach the U.S. through the
CBP One phone app each day. 

"We hear a lot of rumors - that there's an endless line to get in,
that some people are getting in, some people are being deported. We
really don't know exactly what is going on. Right now, seems best to
wait," Venezuelan Cleven Ismael Peraza told the Los Angeles Times. 
<[link removed]>

But in Mexico, a deepening humanitarian crisis is unfolding as migrants
intent on reaching the U.S. endure squalid conditions across the border.
In recent weeks, the number of migrants congregated in Matamoros -
across from Brownsville - has leapt to over 6,000, from about 700. At
a camp there, people struggle to get more than one meal a day, and human
waste flows from overwhelmed port-a-potties.

Ernesto Roja, a Venezuelan shopkeeper trying to afford care for his
6-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, recently had his tent at the
camp inundated in a rainstorm. After that, the phone he was using to try
to secure an appointment through the CBP One app stopped working.

"How can I go back to Venezuela? I don't have a peso," Roja told the
Washington Post
<[link removed]>.
 

United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly Clements
warned earlier this week that - likeRoja
<[link removed]>-
a record number of people could cross through the perilous Darién Gap
between Colombia and Panama this year, following a six-fold increase in
crossings during early-2023. 

"The reasons that people have picked up their families and lives to try
to rebuild elsewhere have not changed," Clementstold Reuters
<[link removed]>. 

**Senate Votes to Block Biden Administration Public Charge Rule**On May
17, the Senate voted 50-47 to block
<[link removed]>
the Biden administration's rule clarifying which noncitizens should be
deemed a "public charge" - an executive policy largely meant to
restore decades of precedent after Trump-era restrictions aimed to
further curtail access to legal pathways for lower-income, would-be
immigrants. 

Two Democrats - Sens. Joe Manchin (West Virginia) and Jon Tester
(Montana) - joined Republicans in supporting the resolution, which
would revert to previous guidance on who constitutes a potential "public
charge."

To move forward, the joint resolution would need to pass the U.S. House
of Representatives as well. Then, it would head to the White House,
where President Joe Biden has already promised a veto
<[link removed]>. 

Changes to the public charge standard - which has serious
consequences, often rendering noncitizens ineligible for legal visas -
became a hot-button issue under the Trump administration. Significant
backlash ensued after Ken Cuccinelli, then the acting director of U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), famously rewrote
<[link removed]>
the Statue of Liberty's celebrated credo as "give me your tired and your
poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a
public charge."

Meanwhile, research suggests that news of the Trump administration's
"public charge" restrictions had sweeping chilling effects
<[link removed]>
on immigrant populations and mixed-status families, who feared that
accessing much-needed health care and nutritional benefits would
negatively affect their futures in the U.S. 

**8-Year-Old Girl, Unaccompanied Teen Die in U.S. Care**On May 17, an
8-year-old girl died after suffering a medical emergency while she and
her family were in Border Patrol custody.  

Anadith Tanay Reyes Álvarez was born in Panama and had a heart
condition, CBS News reported
<[link removed]>.
She, her parents, and her two brothers were being processed at a border
station in Harlingen, Texas, when the tragedy occurred.

Hers represents the first known death of a migrant child in Border
Patrol custody during the Biden administration, and there have also been
a number of recent fatalities in Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) custody. 

Last week, Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza - a 17-year-old from
Honduras - died in an HHS shelter for unaccompanied migrant kids. 

"No one tells me anything. The anguish is killing me," his mother Norma
Saraí Espinoza Maradiaga told the Associated Press
<[link removed]>.
"They say they are awaiting the autopsy results and don't give me any
other answer."

Another migrant child who was "medically fragile" died in HHS custody in
March, according to CBS News
<[link removed]>. 

**USCIS Changes Processes for Parole Programs Amid High Demand**On May
17, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) tweaked its review
process
<[link removed]>
amid high demand for parole programs that allow Cubans, Haitians,
Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to find a U.S.-based sponsor and reach
safety in the U.S. 

The parole processes created by the Biden administration let up to
30,000 people come to the U.S. each month - but the number of
supporters applying for those available slots "is significantly higher,"
per USCIS. So now, the agency will select about half of the monthly
total of applications at random, while the rest will be adjudicated on a
first-come, first-served basis.

These changes underscore the high demand for immigration pathways to the
U.S. from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela - even ones with
significant barriers, including affording commercial air travel,
obtaining a passport, and finding a U.S.-based sponsor for financial
support. Despite the parole processes' numerical limitations, they
have been presented as a more orderly alternative to the uncapped right
to seek asylum. 

The announcement comes even as the parole programs
<[link removed]>
themselves are being challenged by Republican-led states in a federal
court in Texas.

**CBP Releases April 2023 Border Numbers, Encounters Increased 10%**On
May 17, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released border
encounter numbers
<[link removed]>
for April 2023 that showed a 10% increase from the previous month in
overall encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border. The figure comes amid
reports
<[link removed]>
that there was an increase in daily border crossing numbers leading up
to the end of the Title 42 public health order.

CBP recorded 211,401 overall migrant encounters
<[link removed]> at the
southern border in April 2023, compared to 191,956 in March 2023. This
was a 10% decrease from April 2022 (235,785). Overall, 35% of
individuals were processed for expulsion under Title 42 and the rest
under Title 8. April was the last full month with the Title 42 policy in
place.

Between ports of entry, the Border Patrol recorded 182,114 encounters, a
12% increase over March, which CBP called "typical." Single adults
accounted for 68% of the encounters between ports of entry. Still, there
was a notable increase in the number of individuals in family units,
which increased 41% in April (46,430) compared to March (32,840).
Meanwhile, the number of unaccompanied children encountered between
ports of entry decreased almost 7%, from 11,861 in March to 11,085 in
April.

CBP also processed 28,738 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans
through the parole programs for those countries established by the Biden
administration. This is slightly under the 30,000 monthly cap
<[link removed]>
for the new programs. In addition, through CBP One, more than 22,000
people were able to secure Title 42 exceptions last month at ports of
entry,despite reports
<[link removed]>
of widespread confusion and frustration with the app.

****State and Local ****

**New York Officials Call for Federal Aid, Expedited Work Authorizations
Amid Capacity Issues **New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is calling
<[link removed]>
on the federal government to provide additional aid and expedite
employment authorization for asylum seekers in her state, as New York
City increasingly becomes a destination for newcomers. 

"It would be a game changer. These individuals may need a month or so in
assisted housing, but all of a sudden they get that job, they get
legitimacy, and they can find a path out of the shadows," she said. "I
think that's so critically important."

As migrants arrive by the tens of thousands in one of the most expensive
cities
<[link removed]>
in the country, local officials have struggled to find enough square
footage to house them safely, in accordance with local right-to-shelter
rules
<[link removed]>.
Many will now be funneled to midtown Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel, which
is being repurposed as an intake center
<[link removed]> after shuttering
amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

But others have been sent
<[link removed]>
to school gymnasiums or suburbs, sparking protests and court actions
from communities that do not want them there. And, amid these capacity
issues, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has even floated the possibility
<[link removed]>
of housing migrants in a closed prison.

For months now, these newcomers have expressed gratitude
<[link removed]>
for the services they're receiving - but also deep frustration that
they face such long delays to work legally. In Congress, there's
bipartisan support
<[link removed].>
for reforms
<[link removed]>
that would allow asylum seekers like them to become eligible for work
authorization more quickly, so they could provide for themselves and
fill critical labor shortages across the country. 

Also in New York, state lawmakers are considering policies
<[link removed]>that
would expand access to organ transplants for undocumented immigrants.

"It's completely morally inconsistent that those who live here and
work here - and are not only able to, but are encouraged to serve as
organ donors - would not have access to lifesaving organs during their
life if they need them," Brendan Parent, a bioethicist at NYU Langone
Health, told the New York Times
<[link removed]>. 

**Sweeping Immigration Bill Advances in Texas, With More Criminal
Penalties **On May 18, a concerning immigration bill
<[link removed]>
advanced to the full Texas Senate, after state lawmakers incorporated
provisions to impose a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence for human
smugglers and establish criminal penalties against migrants who crossed
into Texas outside of a port of entry. 

The proposed legislation - HB 7
<[link removed]>
- would also create a state border police force and otherwise ramp up
state-based efforts to prove tough on irregular migration. It is seen by
many as a direct challenge to court precedent that clearly regards
immigration enforcement as a federal responsibility. 

The bill already cleared the Texas House
<[link removed]>
last week. 

**BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED**It can be challenging to keep up with
the constant barrage of proposed legislation in Congress. So, every
week, we round up new bills. This list includes federal legislative
proposals that have recently been introduced and that are relevant to
immigration policy. 

Please follow this link
<[link removed]>
to find new relevant bills, as well as proposed legislation from past
weeks. 

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate will not be in session
from Monday, May 22 through Friday, May 26, 2023. 

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session from Monday, May 22
through Thursday, May 25, 2023.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**Here, we round up congressional
hearings and markups happening in the field or in Washington. 

**The Biden Border Crisis: Part III**
<[link removed]>

**Date:** May 23, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. EST (House Judiciary Committee)

**Location:** 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**TBA

**Fiscal Year 2024 Homeland Security and Agriculture, Rural Development,
Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Bills**
<[link removed]>

**Date:** Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. EST (House
Appropriations Committee)

**Location:** 2359 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**Reports by bodies such as the U.S. Government
Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service, and the
Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General provide
invaluable information on immigration policy and practice. Here, we give
brief summaries of new immigration-related reports, with links to the
resources themselves in case you want to learn more. 

**Congressional Research Service (CRS);****U.S. Border Patrol Encounters
at the Southwest Border: Fact Sheet**
<[link removed]>

**; May 16, 2023**This report provides a top-level overview of
operational changes and demographic shifts at the U.S.-Mexico border in
recent history. 

**U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);****Priority Open
Recommendations: Department of Justice**
<[link removed]>

**; Released May 17, 2023**This letter makes recommendations on how the
Department of Justice could improve its operations, with immigration
courts as one area of focus.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES**The Forum is
constantly publishing new policy-focused resources that engage with some
of the most topical issues around immigration today. Here are a few that
are particularly relevant this week: 

**Q&A: What to Know About the Biden Administration's New Asylum
Restrictions**
<[link removed]>This
explainer provides an overview of the "Circumvention of Lawful Pathways"
rule. It explains in simple terms what the rule does, how it will affect
asylum seekers, and where it will interact with other border enforcement
policies post-Title 42.

**The Implications of the Biden Asylum Rule in Mexico, Costa Rica,
Colombia, and the Northern Triangle Nations**
<[link removed]>This
paper analyzes the implications of the Biden asylum rule in Mexico,
Costa Rica, Colombia, and the Northern Triangle nations. It highlights
that the asylum systems in these countries are already overstretched and
underfunded. We argue that these countries do not represent efficient,
functional, and viable alternatives for migrants to seek asylum.

**Eliminating the Naturalization Backlog**
<[link removed]>This
report provides a general overview and analysis of USCIS naturalization
backlogs, looking at historic trends, contributing factors, and staffing
levels, as well as examining USCIS's record on responding to past
backlogs. It concludes by providing proposals to make the processing of
naturalization applications more efficient and setting a goal to reduce
and eliminate the naturalization backlog.

* * *

*This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact
Alexandra Villarreal, Policy and Advocacy Associate at the National
Immigration Forum, with comments and suggestions of additional items to
be included. Alexandra can be reached at
[email protected]. Thank you.

 

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