Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello y'all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
November 10, 2023, is now posted.

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

[link removed]

All the best,

Ally 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, November 10, 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

A note: The bulletin will not be published next week, November 17, as
the Forum will be focused on our annual convening, Leading the Way
. We will
publish a special edition of the bulletin on Wednesday, November 22,
ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

**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****

**Senate GOP Unveils Immigration Proposal in Exchange for Ukraine
Funding **On November 6, a group of Senate Republicans proposed a
sweeping package

of immigration and asylum restrictions in exchange for continued support
for Ukraine's war against Russian invasion.  

Sens. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina),
and Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) unveiled a one-pager detailing extensive
changes to the U.S. immigration system, including resumed construction
on a border wall, legislated barriers to asylum eligibility and access,
new limitations on the executive branch's parole authority, and a return
to family detention.

The talking points - which the group said were "drawn from those found
in H.R. 2," the House GOP's signature border bill

- would also mandate that noncitizens who couldn't be detained or
removed to a safe third country return to a contiguous nation during
their immigration proceedings, much like under the Migrant Protection
Protocols (MPP). Likewise, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
could "suspend" entry of certain foreigners, similar to under the Title
42 public health order.  

Some Republicans have voiced hesitation around sending more aid to
Ukraine

after a year and a half of U.S. assistance, and Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell - a defender of Ukraine aid - has said that pairing
the White House's supplemental funding request for national security
with increased border enforcement "is the best way to get nine
Republican senators on board," the presumed threshold needed to avoid a
filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), in turn, has called
his Republican colleagues' immigration proposal a "total non-starter."

"Senate Republicans basically copy and pasted large chunks of the
House's radical H.R. 2 bill and that's their asking price for
helping Ukraine," he said
.
"Making Ukraine funding conditional on the hard-right border policies
that can't ever pass Congress is a huge mistake by our Republican
colleagues."

Now, a bipartisan group of senators

- including Lankford, Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Chris Murphy
(D-Connecticut), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), and Thom Tillis (R-North
Carolina) - are spending the weekend trying to hash out a narrower
compromise on immigration reform. 

"There's growing concern, from folks on both sides of the aisle, that we
have to act now, as a national security measure, to protect our border
and ensure the safe passage of migrants into our country for those who
do qualify for asylum," said Sinema. 

**DHS to Add 64,716 H-2B Visas for FY 2024 **OnNovember 3
,
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it expects to
make an additional 64,716 H-2B visas available for fiscal year 2024,
after consultation with the Department of Labor.

The H-2B visa program permits employers to temporarily hire noncitizens
to perform nonagricultural labor and services in the United States.
These visas heavily supplement the workforce in the restaurant,
landscaping, construction, hospitality, and amusement park industries,
as well as manyothers
. 

The new allotment of 64,716 visas will be in addition to the
congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas available every fiscal year.
The expansion is expected to include 20,000 visas for workers from
Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and
Honduras, to provide safe, orderly, and humane pathways to the U.S. for
those nationalities. The other 44,716 supplemental visas are for
returning workers.

**A Strong Start To Refugee Arrivals for Fiscal Year 2024**The United
States resettled 7,354 refugees in October, compared to just 2,152
refugees resettled in October 2022 - a strong start to fiscal year
2024. 

If the U.S. were to resettle the same number of refugees for the
remaining 11 months of this fiscal year, 88,248 refugees would arrive,
far exceeding the 60,014 refugees resettled last fiscal year.

Amid the Biden administration's commitment to increasing refugee
numbers from Latin America and the Caribbean to up to 50,000 in FY 2024,
in October, 1,057 refugees were resettled from that region. This is an
increase over the 798 refugees resettled in September, and higher than
any month in FY 2023. However, if the U.S. were to resettle the same
number of refugees for the remaining 11 months of this fiscal year, it
would only resettle a total of 12,687 refugees from the Latin
America/Caribbean region. 

The overall strong arrival numbers in October would suggest the refugee
pipeline is being replenished at a good rate, and while there is more
work to be done to further increase arrivals per month, initial signs
point in the right direction for refugee arrivals this fiscal year.

****State and Local ****

**Texas Legislature Quickly Advances Controversial Border
Measures**After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called a historic fourth
special legislative session

on November 7, state lawmakers have quickly advanced controversial
proposals to create state-level crimes for irregular border crossings
and allow state magistrates or judges to order noncitizens removed from
the United States. 

The proposed legislation raises serious constitutional questions and
actively challenges Supreme Court precedent, so its passage would likely
tee up a court battle. Last month, the National Immigration Forum urged
state leaders

to oppose earlier versions of the legislation and redirect Texas
policymakers toward a more productive dialogue on immigration and border
security. 

Nevertheless, House Bill 4
advanced
out of committee on Thursday
,
while its companion, Senate Bill 4
,
cleared the entire upper chamber the same day after elected officials
voted to suspend standard rules

of procedure that would have allowed for more feedback from the
public. 

On Friday, Texas leaders and board members for the Forum weighed in

against the bills, warning that "these kinds of measures expose migrants
to great risks and harms."

"We've seen what has happened in other states that tried to pass these
types of immigration enforcement laws at the state-level: court
challenges and uncertainty for businesses and communities," said Mustafa
Tameez, former consultant to the Department of Homeland Security in the
Bush administration and a Forum board member from Texas. "Austin cannot
fix our broken immigration system. To truly address border challenges
and workforce needs, Washington needs to step up."

State legislators are also considering

whether to spend another $1.54 billion on border barriers as Abbott
builds his own border wall
,
and on a greater law enforcement presence in the Colony Ridge community

outside of Houston. 

**New York City Council Approves Immigrant Workers' Bill of Rights **On
November 2, the New York City Council passed legislation to create a
workers' bill of rights
,
in part to crack down on migrant exploitation by ensuring immigrants and
asylum seekers working in the city know they're entitled to
protections.   

The bill of rights

would explain any federal, state, and local laws that safeguard workers
regardless of their immigration status. New employees would receive a
copy of the bill, and it would be posted in the workplace. 

"The idea behind the immigrant bill of rights is just to compile
existing protections to ensure the immigrant workforce, irrespective of
their legal status, recognize what their rights are around minimum wage,
overtime, paid sick leave, fair schedule, and the right to form a
union,"said

Council Member Shahana Hanif, who sponsored the legislation.  

**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 is expected to be in
session from Monday, November 13 through Friday, November 17, 2023. 

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to be in session from
Monday, November 13 through Thursday, November 16, 2023.

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

**H.R. 5894 - Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024**

**Date:**Monday, November 13, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. EST (House Rules)

**Location:**H-313, The Capitol, Washington, D.C.

**Related Items:**H.R. 5894

**Guardians of the Sea: Examining Coast Guard Efforts in Drug
Enforcement, Illegal Migration, and IUU Fishing**

**Date: **Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST (House Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure)

**Location:** 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**TBA

**Markup of National Security Legislation**

**Date: **Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST (House Financial
Services Committee)

**Location:**2128 RHOB, Washington, D.C.

**Related Items:**H.R. 5921
, H.R.
5923 ,
H.R. 6245
, H.R.
6322 ,
H.R. 5945
, H.R.
6000 ,
H.R. 6015
, and
others

**Examining the Biden Administration's Afghanistan Policy Since the U.S.
Withdrawal**

**Date:**Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST (House Foreign
Affairs)

**Location:**HVC-210, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses: **

**The Honorable John Sopko,**Inspector General, Special Inspector
General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)

**Go-to-Zero: Joe Biden's Withdrawal Order and the Taliban Takeover of
Afghanistan**

**Date:**Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. EST (House Foreign
Affairs)

**Location:**HVC-210, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**

**Lt. General (Ret.) Sami Sadat**, Chairman, Afghanistan United Front,
Fmr. Commanding General, Afghan National Special Operations Corps

**Bill Roggio,** Senior Fellow and Editor of the Long War Journal,
Foundation for Defense of Democracies

**The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Social Services**

**Date:**Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST (House
Judiciary)

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

**Witnesses:**TBA 

**Business meeting to consider the nominations of Harry Coker, Jr., of
Kansas, to be National Cyber Director, Jeff Rezmovic, of Maryland, to be
Chief Financial Officer, Department of Homeland Security, and Suzanne
Elizabeth Summerlin, of Florida, to be General Counsel of the Federal
Labor Relations Authority**

**Date:**Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. EST (Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs)

**Location:**562 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Related Items:**PN744
, PN838
, PN876

**Aging Americans and a Waning Workforce: Demographic Drivers of Our
Deficit**

**Date:**Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. EST (Joint Economic
Committee)

**Location:**TBA

**Witnesses: **

**Dr. John Scott,**Project Director, Retirement Savings, The Pew
Charitable Trusts

**Dr. Julie Topoleski,**Director of Labor, Income Security, and
Long-Term Analysis, Congressional Budget Office

**Dr. Ben Harris**, Vice President and Director of Economic Studies
Program and Director of the Retirement Security Project, Brookings
Institution

**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. 

**DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG);****Limited-Scope Unannounced
Inspection of Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield,
California**

**; Published November 2, 2023**This report details the takeaways from
an inspection at Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield,
California, including problems with reporting around a use of force
incident and issues providing prompt advanced optometry care.

**DHS Office of Inspector General;****Results of Unannounced Inspections
of CBP Holding Facilities in the Miami Area**

**; Published November 2, 2023**This report describes the findings from
unannounced inspections of two Border Patrol stations and four Office of
Field Operations ports of entry in the Miami area, including issues with
inaccurate detainee custody log data and transportation challenges.

**United Nations Human Rights Committee;****Concluding Observations on
the Fifth Periodic Report of the United States of America**

**; Published November 3, 2023**This report details concerns and
recommendations around the U.S.'s compliance with the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. For one, the report raises
issues with "the persistence of the practice of racial profiling by law
enforcement officials, including practices by Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) and by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
targeting certain ethnic and racial minorities, in particular people of
African Descent, Indigenous Peoples, persons of Hispanic/Latino origin
and Muslims."

**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: 

**Immigrants in Nursing and Allied Health Act of 2023: Bill Summary**
This
bill summary explores the Immigrants in Nursing and Allied Health Act of
2023, which would authorize and expand programs that make it easier for
immigrants to enter the nursing or allied health professional workforce.

**Illicit Fentanyl and Drug Smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico Border: An
Overview**
This
paper gives a detailed overview of fentanyl and drug smuggling at the
U.S.-Mexico border, including that "most illicit fentanyl encountered by
CBP is smuggled through POEs [ports of entry]."

**The Reasons Behind the Increased Migration from Venezuela, Cuba, and
Nicaragua**
This
paper explores the reasons behind the increased migration from
Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. While irregular migration from these
three countries ruled by autocratic governments is not new, the
situation has worsened in recent years. Commonalities include domestic
political crises, weakening economies, Covid-19, natural disasters, and
strict U.S.-led economic sanctions. Facing precarious conditions and the
threat of political persecution, a growing number of people from these
nations have opted to seek safety in the United States.

* * *

*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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