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Your weekly summary from the Council
LATEST ANALYSIS
Over the last two years, the House GOP has become increasingly vocal about their disagreements with the Biden administration on immigration and border policy. In recent weeks, this disagreement has reached a fever pitch. There has been a revitalized push from members of the House GOP to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Read More »
Florida officials think the federal government must detain everyone – or virtually everyone – who arrives at the U.S.-Mexico border without a visa. And it is using the courts to try to make that happen. Read More »
Immigrants women make up a significant portion of the U.S. population. In 2021, 23.2 million lived in the United States, outnumbering immigrant men. While their work adds critical value to our economy and society, immigrant women in the labor force earn less than foreign-born men, and less than U.S.-born men or women. Read More »
FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
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On Thursday, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative, otherwise known as DACA, celebrated its 11th anniversary.
Since its implementation, DACA has served as a beacon of hope, providing opportunities for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Through DACA, many of these individuals have been able to pursue higher education, secure employment, and more meaningfully contribute their unique talents to our communities.
However, despite the progress made, it is important to acknowledge the ongoing hurdles as the initiative continues to be challenged in federal court. Without Congressional action, undocumented youth remain without permanent status, living in limbo.
Read more: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): An Overview
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This week, the Biden administration announced that it will extend Temporary Protected Status for people from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. Over 300,000 people from these countries have for years been legally living and working in the United States with TPS, a temporary designation provided to certain nationals whose countries are experiencing problems that make it difficult or unsafe to return there.
The move will reverse a Trump administration decision that attempted to permanently end their TPS protections.
This updated fact sheet by the American Immigration Council provides an overview of how TPS designations are determined, what the benefits are, and how TPS beneficiaries apply for and regularly renew their status.
Read more: Temporary Protected Status: An Overview
ACROSS THE NATION
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This week, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) released a first-of-its-kind report on asylum timelines. AILA President Jeremy McKinney stated, “Until now, no resource has lifted the veil and revealed the inner workings of an asylum case… this report brings together the experiences of more than 300 asylum law practitioners and their clients and offers recommendations that would go a long way toward ensuring the integrity of a system that is inefficient and often unjust.”
You can help promote this new report and its recommendations using AILA’s social media toolkit.
Read more: High-Stakes Asylum: How Long an Asylum Case Takes and How We Can Do Better
- This week, the American Immigration Council joined multiple organizations representing stakeholders across the United States, in a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to address the procedural deficiencies in the Fiscal Year 2024 H-1B Visa registration and lottery process.
The letter highlights the significant increase in the number of H-1B registrations, particularly those with multiple registrations for the same individual, which raised concerns about fairness and potential misuse of the system. The organizations propose recommendations to improve the utilization of H-1B visas, increase transparency, and prevent fraud in future registration processes. They also emphasize the need for collaboration between DHS and Congress to reform the H-1B program to meet the demands of U.S. employers and support economic growth and innovation.
Read more: Multiple Organizations Call for Addressing Procedural Deficiencies in the H-1B Visa Registration Process
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“My automatic loss of legal status at 21 is a baffling rule in our immigration system. Why would America recruit foreign talent like my father, educate kids like me at taxpayer-funded schools and then deport us just as we reach working age? There are more than 200,000 young people like me, and nearly 90% are pursuing or plan to pursue STEM and healthcare careers. We have become known as “Documented Dreamers,” and we’ve been advocating for the America’s Children Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in Congress last month that fixes a loophole that forces American-raised and educated children to leave the country."
– Heramb Mohite, a sophomore at University of Colorado Boulder, is one of tens of thousands of ‘Documented Dreamers’ who face self-deportation when they turn 21.
FURTHER READING
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Join us on Friday, June 23, for the Council’s Immigration Impact Awards in Orlando, Florida during the AILA National Conference, as we recognize the impact that immigrants make to this country.
Register Here: Immigration Impact Awards
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