Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello y'all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
September 15, 2023, is now posted.

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

All the best,
[link removed]

Alexandra 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, September 15, 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. 

Here's a breakdown of the bulletin's sections:

DEVELOPMENTS IN IMMIGRATION THIS WEEK

BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED

LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR

UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS

GOVERNMENT REPORTS

SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES

**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. 

****Legal ****

**Federal Judge Rules Biden Administration's Version of DACA
Unlawful **On September 13, a federal district court in Texas declared
the Biden administration's updated version of the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy unlawful, leaving nearly 600,000 DACA
recipients in limbo and blocking other Dreamers from accessing work
authorization and deportation protections. 

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen reaffirmed his previous 2021 opinion
holding that the original 2012 version of DACA was unlawful, rejecting
the Biden administration's efforts to fortify the policy by using formal
rule-making to better support its legal standing
.

"While sympathetic to the predicament of DACA recipients and their
families, this Court has expressed its concerns about the legality of
the program for some time," Hanen wrote
.
"The solution for these deficiencies lies with the legislature, not the
executive or judicial branches. Congress, for any number of reasons, has
decided not to pass DACA-like legislation ... The Executive Branch
cannot usurp the power bestowed on Congress by the Constitution - even
to fill a void."

For the time being, Hanen allowed the federal government to continue
administering DACA for current beneficiaries - including processing
and approving renewal applications - which will let them remain in the
United States and legally work without imminent fear of deportation as
the litigation continues.  

"Consistent with the ruling, USCIS will continue to process DACA
renewals, and DHS will continue to advocate on behalf of DACA recipients
every day, in the courts and through our actions. We stand ready to work
with Congress on an enduring solution for our Dreamers," DHS Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. 

The federal government is expected to appeal Hanen's ruling to the
Fifth Circuit, while ultimately, the Supreme Court is expected to have
the last word on DACA's legality. Yet after years of a protracted
legal battle, this latest setback will only exacerbate uncertainty
surrounding the futures of Dreamers, many of whom contribute to
essential industries across the country and have never known another
home than the U.S.

Since news broke of Hanen's decision, those who count Dreamers as
friends, coworkers, fellow parishioners, and family are imploring
lawmakers to act with a sense of urgency. 

Experts from the Council on National Security and Immigration called

on federal policymakers to provide Dreamers with a permanent immigration
status, which would "strengthen our economy and bolster our national
security," while faith leaders similarly called on members of Congress

"to pass legislation quickly before further court decisions exacerbate
the situation."

The Alliance for a New Immigration Consensus - a coalition of
business, education, faith, and other organizations - cited

"Americans' overwhelming support for DACA recipients and other Dreamers"
as "a rare chance to advance meaningful bipartisan legislative
solutions."

 "Congress must get off the sidelines," said Jennie Murray
,
President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum. "A permanent,
legislative solution would provide certainty not only to DACA recipients
but also to their families, employers, communities and schools."

**Judge Approves Settlement With Asylum Adjudication Benchmarks for
Afghans Under Operation Allies Welcome**A nationwide settlement in a
class-action lawsuit known as Ahmed v. DHS
will
now require the federal government to keep up with asylum adjudication
benchmarks for Afghans who arrived through Operation Allies Welcome,
after prolonged processing times left many asylum seekers waiting in
legal limbo following the Taliban takeover back home. 

Now that the settlement has been approved by Judge Jon S. Tigar in the
Northern District of California, it could help around 20,000 Afghans
finally have their asylum claims determined, years after they were
evacuated from Afghanistan. By the end of October, the federal
government will need to decide half of the asylum applications filed
before June 3 by Afghans resettled through Operation Allies Welcome, and
case completion benchmarks progressively increase from there.  

The settlement also includes reporting requirements on compliance and
other data. It will remain in effect until October 31, 2025 - or
until the first day that fewer than 200 asylum applications are still
pending for Afghans affected by Operation Allies Welcome. 

One of the seven plaintiffs in the case, Mursal Sadat, shared with The
Arizona Republic

that her asylum decision took 400 days, during which she grappled with
anxiety about her future in the U.S. and her ability to assist her
family, who had fled to Pakistan.

"I am very happy that we have reached a settlement that will change this
situation, so that asylum seekers can restart and rebuild their lives,"
Sadat said. "I may have received asylum since this lawsuit was filed,
but I worry about the many others who have not been as lucky."

****Federal****

**HHS Reactivates Controversial Border Facility Amid Increased Border
Crossings, New Watchdog Report Warns DHS May Be Losing Track of
Migrants**Earlier this week, the Biden administration reactivated a
controversial influx care facility in Pecos, Texas, amid an uptick in
the number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving in the United
States, CBS News reported Wednesday
. 

The Pecos facility was used to accommodate a group of children on
Tuesday, according to an unnamed U.S. official, as the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) struggles to house over 10,600
unaccompanied migrant kids after taking in an average of 431 children
per day last month.

But the Pecos facility was dogged by allegations of undercooked food and
lack of timely medical care before the federal government decided to
stop using it for migrant kids earlier this year, raising concerns about
the conditions that await newcomers at the site now.

"While (the Office of Refugee Resettlement's) priority is to place
children into standard care provider facilities, access to (Influx Care
Facility) capacity remains necessary to ensure that ORR can promptly
accept referrals when ORR's other network facilities reach or approach
capacity," HHS told CBS News in a statement. "With this in mind, the
status of the ICF at Pecos has changed from 'warm status' to active
status and is currently accepting children."

The facility's reactivation comes amid early reports

of a sizable jump in border crossings during August, driven largely by
families. And on Tuesday, Axios similarly
noted
how "tens of thousands of Mexican family members crossed the southern
border in recent months," both at ports of entry and between them,
disrupting historical norms of Mexican migration focused primarily on
single adults. 

Meanwhile, in a new report
,
the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (DHS
OIG) found that of the 981,671 migrant records that its researchers
reviewed, documented by Border Patrol between March 2021 and August
2022, addresses for over  177,000 of them "were either missing, invalid
for delivery, or not legitimate residential locations."

The audit raised red flags that "DHS may not be able to locate migrants
following their release into the United States," potentially inhibiting
the federal government's ability to enforce its own immigration
laws. 

**Six Consecutive Months of More Than 6,000 Refugees**The United States
resettled 6,104 refugees in August, the sixth month in a row that it has
resettled more than 6,000 refugees. 

Given that the U.S.'s refugee resettlement program often sees a high
number of arrivals in the last month of the fiscal year, it is possible
that over 60,000 refugees could be resettled this year. That would
represent a significant increase in arrivals since last fiscal year,
when the U.S. only resettled 25,465 refugees.

However, to have met the FY 2023 refugee ceiling of up to 125,000
refugees, the U.S. would have needed to resettle some 10,417 refugees
every month for twelve consecutive months. 

**USCIS Requires Affirmative Asylum Applicants to Provide Own
Interpreters **On September 13,U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services

(USCIS) reverted to previous requirements for affirmative asylum
applicants to bring their own interpreters to asylum interviews if they
are not fluent in English, after a Covid-era temporary final rule that
provided for the use of USCIS-contracted telephonic interpreters
expired.  

Interpreters must be fluent in English and a language the applicant
speaks fluently. They must also be 18 years old or older and cannot be
the applicant's attorney or accredited representative, among other
disqualifiers. 

If an asylum applicant needs an interpreter but does not bring a
proficient one to the interview, that may be considered a failure to
appear, and the application might be dismissed or referred to an
immigration judge. This can, however, be overcome with good cause, to be
determined on a case-by-case basis.

USCIS will still provide sign language interpreters, if requested as a
disability accommodation.

**Ramaswamy Endorses Deporting American Children in Latest GOP Challenge
to Birthright Citizenship**On September 8, Republican presidential
candidate Vivek Ramaswamy endorsed deporting American children of
undocumented migrants - despite them being U.S. citizens.  

Ramaswamy expressed his desire to effectively challenge birthright
citizenship by deporting entire mixed-status families, even if they
included American-born kids.

"Under the legal theory that the child of an illegal immigrant is not
someone who enjoys birthright citizenship, then it would be perfectly
legally permissible to remove the entire family unit," he said
.
 

Long-standing case law and general legal consensus suggest that
birthright citizenship - including for the children of undocumented
immigrants - is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The Fourteenth
Amendment says clearly that "all persons born or naturalized in the
United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of
the United States."

Still, Ramaswamy is not the only 2024 GOP presidential contender to
publicly declare war on birthright citizenship. The former president,
Donald Trump
,
said he would try to end birthright citizenship through an executive
order (a legally dubious proposal if there ever was one), while Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis

has similarly attacked the right as a "prize... to the future offspring
of illegal immigrants."

****State and Local ****

**Massachusetts Communities Welcome Arriving Migrants But Tensions Rise
Amid Right-to-Shelter for Families**Recently, a large number of migrants
and asylum seekers has arrived in Massachusetts, partly attracted by the
state's right-to-shelter law that guarantees families with children
housing so long as they meet certainrequirements
.

Massachusetts is the only state that offers this benefit, making it an
appealing destination for migrants who otherwise might struggle to find
affordable housing when they first come to the U.S. Over 80 cities and
towns have already received newcomers, many of them Haitians. 

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D)  declared a state of emergency last
month in an attempt to secure federal support, and she has authorized up
to 250 National Guard members to assist some of the families. Meanwhile,
local residents have stepped up to help the migrants in their
communities, providing them with basic needs and donating money,
clothing, diapers, and toys. 

Yet some local officials are still expressing frustrations about the
pressure they feel to provide for the migrant families, faced with a
lack of resources, funding, and available space. 

"We have registered 16 school-age children for our school. But they
don't speak the language. We'll have to hire an ESL teacher,
probably some aides, and there's a cost to that. I don't want to be
left holding the bill," Jim Smith, town manager for Sutton, told the
Boston Globe
.
"I want some assurances from the state that they'll be there. We
can't afford this."

Last month, around 20 people with a banner alluding to a neo-Nazi group
staged a demonstration outside several hotels holding migrants in
Massachusetts, frightening some of the families so much that they feared
leaving their rooms.

**Immigrant Fears of New Florida Law Hinder Disaster Preparedness,
Recovery**After Hurricane Idalia battered parts of Florida last month
,
causing billions

in damage, undocumented workers who would usually rush to disaster zones
are now hesitating to help clean up because they're afraid of the
state's sweeping new immigration law.

SB 1718
,
which took effect in July, represents the culmination of Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis's (R) efforts to deter irregular migration to his state
through draconian policies that target undocumented immigrants who spend
time there. 

Resilience Force, a nonprofit that supports disaster response workers,
found that over half of its roughly 2,000 members said over the summer
that they planned to avoid going to Florida for hurricane recovery in
response to the new measure, CNN reported
. 

"We're afraid to go," María, who has helped with recovery for five
U.S. natural disasters including Hurricane Ian in Florida last year,
told The Guardian . "Now with this new law, if they catch us,
they will deport us, so we're too afraid to go back."

Workers on the ground are noticing a severe worker shortage, withsome of
the poorest Floridians

disproportionately paying the price. 

"This is where all the immigrants that the governor wants to push out
are needed," Maggie Vidal, a Mexican living in Florida, told Noticias
Telemundo
.
"Who is going to do all of this work? There is a lot, a lot of work
here."

The new law similarly stoked fear and confusion ahead of the storm, as
advocates had to assuage community concerns over whether just going to a
shelter could put undocumented residents at risk, NBC News reported.

**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

to find new relevant bills, as well as proposed legislation from past
weeks. 

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate will be in session from
Monday, September 18 through Friday, September 22, 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session from Monday,
September 18 through Thursday, September 21, 2023.

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

**The Financial Costs of Mayorkas' Open Border**

**Date:**Wednesday, September 20, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST (House Homeland
Security Committee)

**Location:**310 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**TBA

**Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice**

**Date:**Wednesday, September 20, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST (House
Judiciary Committee) 

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

**Witnesses: **

**The Honorable Merrick Garland,**Attorney General, U.S. Department of
Justice

**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. 

**The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General
(OIG);****DHS Does Not Have Assurance That All Migrants Can be Located
Once Released into the United States;**

**Published September 6, 2023 (REDACTED)**This report finds that,
between March 2021 and August 2022, "addresses for more than 177,000
migrant records were either missing, invalid for delivery, or not
legitimate residential locations," representing around 18% of the Border
Patrol's 981,671 migrant records reviewed by the watchdog. 

**U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);****Biometric Identity
System: DHS Needs to Address Significant Shortcomings in Program
Management and Privacy**

**; Published September 12, 2023 **This report explores the Department
of Homeland Security's (DHS) beleaguered Homeland Advanced Recognition
Technology (HART) program, focused on its cost and schedule estimates as
well as potential privacy concerns.

**U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);****U.S. Assistance to
Mexico: State Department Should Take Steps to Assess Overall Progress**

**; Published September 12, 2023**This report analyzes a decade and a
half of U.S. assistance to Mexico and critiques the federal government
for its inability to "demonstrate that it is achieving its goals in
Mexico and that its investments, at over $3 billion since 2008, have
been spent effectively."

**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:

**Explainer: U.S. District Court Judge Hanen Finds New DACA Rule
Unlawful**
This
explainer details the September 13 decision on DACA holding that the
program is unlawful. It also explores the decision's implications for
current DACA recipients and other Dreamers, discusses potential
solutions, and provides a timeline for the court challenge around DACA.

Dreamer Advocacy Resources
This
landing page provides key information and resources about DACA and
Dreamers.

**CBP One: Fact Sheet and Resources Directory**
This
fact sheet and resources directory gives information and useful links
about CBP One's key features, its significance for asylum seekers, and
its shortcomings. 

* * *

*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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