Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello y'all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
December 1, 2023, is now posted.

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

All the best,

Ally 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, December 1, 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. 

****Federal ****

**Senate Negotiators Feel Pressure From All Sides As Border-Ukraine Deal
Stalls **This week, a bipartisan group of senators failed to reach a
deal

to trade border policy changes for Ukraine aid, amid divisions within
the Democratic caucus

and pressures from the right

for even more aggressive reforms. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), one of the primary negotiators on an
agreement, acknowledged

that the group's plans to forge a deal by some time this week "didn't
work out," even as key Biden administration officials have reportedly

been pressuring Congress to deliver. 

Local Democrats

in cities and states that have experienced a significant increase in
migrant arrivals are also pushing for more border security, though
they're simultaneously advocating for more funding and improved
coordination to better absorb newcomers.

"It's up to Congress to fix our nation's broken immigration system,"
Avi Small, a spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), said in a
statement. "We need a comprehensive, balanced approach that includes
expanding Temporary Protected Status, increased border security and a
national decompression strategy."

Meanwhile, a group of more progressive senators, led by Sen. Alex
Padilla (D-California), warned that "using a one-time spending package
to enact these unrelated permanent policy changes sets a dangerous
precedent" and "any proposal considering permanent changes to our asylum
and immigration system needs to include a clear path to legalization for
long-standing undocumented immigrants." 

They also expressed concerns that the negotiations seemed to include
"harmful changes to our asylum system that will potentially deny
lifesaving humanitarian protection for vulnerable people, including
children, and fail to deliver any meaningful improvement to the
situation at the border."

"We cannot truly secure our border and help American communities without
increasing lawful pathways for migration and legalizing long-time
undocumented immigrants who put food on our tables, care for our
elderly, and form the fabric of our communities," the senators said in a
statement.
 

But Republican negotiators have made clear that they're not interested
in overarching immigration reforms or most targeted sweeteners as part
of the package - not even a long-term solution for Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, which enjoys overwhelming public
support
. 

"You come to me and tell me we have to have DACA and a path to
citizenship in this bill, it will be the last discussion you have with
me on border security," said

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). "This is not about immigration.
This is about fixing a disaster that even Biden knows, if he doesn't
make progress, there's going to be electoral consequences next year."

**Migrants Face Tough Conditions in 'Open-Air Detention' Camps Along
California-Mexico Border **In Jacumba Hot Springs, a small border
community outside of San Diego, migrants from around the world

are being held in makeshift "open-air detention
"
(OAD) camps while they await processing by United States border
officials.  

The camps are not official Border Patrol facilities. But a senior
authority with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told the Los
Angeles Times that the site has become "a sort of informal holding
spot," as Border Patrol struggles to expeditiously respond to the number
of migrants arriving in southeastern San Diego county.

Migrants are told to wait there until they can be transferred elsewhere,
which can take days. As they camp in the desert, they're given the
"bare minimum" from U.S. agents, such as water - while volunteers who
are providing the bulk of on-the-ground aid are running out of food and
tents even as the nights grow increasingly frigid.

"Among ourselves, we huddle together, we bundle up, we figure out a way
to stay warm because the night is difficult," Colombian asylum seeker
Yazmín Calderon told The Guardian
. 

These challenges come even as migration to the U.S.-Mexico border
becomes increasingly global, with more than 24,000 Chinese citizens
apprehended in the last year,according to the New York Times
.
In Jacumba Hot Springs, organizations are asking the federal government
to step up its humanitarian aid instead of handing off its
responsibilities to local volunteers like them. 

"Programs that were already providing life-sustaining support along the
border are now involved in providing life-sustaining support in OADs,"
said Jacqueline Arellano, the director of US programs for Border
Kindness . "We're so incredibly
strained, and someone's going to die."

For more on how to help, reach out to Al Otro Lado
and Border Kindness
. 

**Easier H-1B Visa Renewals Coming to the U.S. as Soon as January
Through Pilot Program**On November 28, Bloomberg Law reported
that
the Biden administration will allow around 20,000 H-1B holders to
partake in a stateside visa renewal pilot starting as soon as January,
so they no longer have to risk long wait times outside the U.S. that
disrupt their lives and their employers' workforce. 

More details are expected in a Federal Register notice next month, but
the pilot will reportedly let some H-1B holders mail their visas
directly to the State Department for renewal, instead of them traveling
abroad for consular appointments. 

The State Department is also hoping to continue its use of interview
waivers to more quickly process certain visas.

Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum,
congratulated the department "for taking these commonsense steps to make
visa processing more efficient."

**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. This week, we also wanted to note the movement of one bill in the
House:

**H.R. 5283**
Protecting
our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023

This bill would prohibit the use of federal funding to provide housing
to certain noncitizens on any land that is a part of the administrative
jurisdiction of federal land management agencies, such as the National
Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service.

Sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York) (16

cosponsors- 16 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

08/25/2023 Introduced in the House by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis

08/25/2023 Referred to the House Committees on Natural Resources and
Agriculture

11/30/2023 Passed the House of Representatives with a 224-203 vote

11/30/2023 Received in the U.S. Senate

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate is expected to be in
session from Monday, December 4, through Friday, December 8, 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to be in session from
Monday, December 4, through Thursday, December 7, 2023.

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

**Hearing: "Protecting our Preparedness: Assessing the Impact of the
Border Crisis on Emergency Management"**

**Date:** Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at 10:00 am (House Homeland
Security Committee)

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

**Witnesses:**TBA

**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. 

**U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);****Federal Workforce:
Data Reveal Minor Demographic Changes 2011-2021**

**; Published November 17, 2023**This GAO report provides an overview of
the demographic composition of the federal workforce.

**Congressional Research Service (CRS);****Nonimmigrant Overstays:
Overview and Policy Issues**

**; Published November 21, 2023**This CRS report highlights that 42% of
the approximately 11 million unauthorized population living in the
United States entered the country legally but overstayed their period of
admission. 

**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: 

**American Dream Employment Act: Bill Summary**
This
bill summary explores the American Dream Employment Act of 2023, which
would allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients,
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and Deferred Enforced
Departure (DED) recipients to work in the U.S. Congress.

**Explainer: What Are Safe Mobility Offices?**
Read
this explainer for information about what we know so far on how SMOs are
being implemented in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Colombia, and who may
qualify to participate. 

**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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