Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello y'all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
December 8, 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, December 8, 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 ****

**Biden Signals Openness to 'Significant Compromises' on Border in
Exchange for Ukraine Aid**On December 6, President Joe Biden (D) said he
was willing to make "significant compromises
"
on policy changes at the United States-Mexico border, claiming that the
current system is "broken." 

Reports

in recent days have indicated that the White House is open to sweeping
restrictions that would affect both asylum eligibility and immigration
enforcement writ large. For one, the Biden administration is allegedly
considering raising the "credible fear" standard used during initial
screenings of some asylum seekers, often within days of them reaching
the U.S. - with limited time to gather evidence or obtain lawyers. 

The consequences of failing these interviews or reviews are a
fast-tracked deportation, risking returning people with meritorious
claims to imminent danger. 

In addition, the Biden administration has shown a willingness to codify
transit ban provisions like the ones in its "Circumvention of Lawful
Pathways" rule, which makes people seeking refuge ineligible for asylum
in the U.S. if they passed through another country en route and did not
unsuccessfully seek protection there first. 

Finally, Biden's White House is signaling support for expanding quick
deportations under an authority known as "expedited removal
"
nationwide, instead of its current use only near the border. Through
expedited removal, migrants can be rapidly removed by low-level
immigration officers, often with no opportunity to make their case in
front of an immigration judge or even hire an attorney. 

These details of how far the White House is willing to move on
immigration restrictions come after weeks of GOP lawmakers insisting

that any aid for Ukraine be tied to substantive border policy changes. 

Now, Senate negotiators are trying

once again to cut a deal. One of their reported

potential compromises: a cap on asylum, despite the fact

that such a policy could deny protection to people with legitimate
claims - who have already made it to the U.S. in search of safety
-  based on an arbitrary ceiling. 

Senate Republicans on Thursday also unveiled

a new offer, including severe parole restrictions, an expulsion
authority similar to the Title 42 public health order, and an automatic
border shutdown provision, according to Politico.

**Second Month In a Row that U.S. Refugee Arrivals Exceed 7,000 for
Fiscal Year 2024**The United States resettled 7,468 refugees in
November, 106 more than those resettled in October. If the U.S. were to
resettle the same number of refugees for the remaining ten months of
this fiscal year, it would resettle an annual total of 89,510 people.
That would be the highest number of refugee arrivals for 29 years.

But the Biden administration's commitment to increasing refugee
numbers from Latin America and the Caribbean to between 35,000 and
50,000 in FY 2024 may prove to be a bottleneck for reaching the
125,000-refugee target for the year. In FY 2023, only 6,312 refugees
were resettled from that region. The combined total for refugees
resettled from Latin America and the Caribbean in October and November
of FY 2024 is 2,060.

The overall strong arrival numbers in the first two months of FY 2024
are a positive sign, but to reach the refugee ceiling for the year, the
Biden administration would need to fortify its pipeline and increase its
output to over 10,000 people on average resettled per month.

****Legal****

**Fifth Circuit Orders Texas Border Buoys Removed, Stays Lower Court
Decision on Cutting Concertina Wire**On December 1, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit required

the Texas government to remove its controversial floating barriers from
the Rio Grande after a three-judge panel sided with an earlier decision
that the buoys violated federal law. 

The roughly 1,000-foot string of barriers has caused outcry since its
installation, as Texas officials use increasingly aggressive and
dangerous tactics to try to deter migrants from crossing into their
state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he and Texas's Attorney General
Ken Paxton would ask
for
a rehearing by the entire court, and "we'll go to SCOTUS if needed to
protect Texas from Biden's open borders."

Separately, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses gave Border Patrol agents the
legal greenlight to continue cutting

through concertina wire placed by Texas around its border with Mexico to
deter migrants. The Biden administration has said that federal officials
sometimes must cut the wire so they can reach migrants to offer medical
help or apprehend those on U.S. soil. 

The Fifth Circuit stayed
that
decision on Monday.

****State and Local****

**Massachusetts Passes Budget, Including Migrant Shelter Funding**On
December 4, a $3.1 billion spending bill

with funds for Massachusetts' emergency shelter system received quick
sign-off from Gov. Maura Healey (D), after weeks of disagreements and
delays from state lawmakers.

In recent months, a large number of migrant families have arrived in
Massachusetts and relied on the state's unique right-to-shelter law,
putting pressure on emergency housing capacity there. But despite a
desperate need for more resources, Democrats in the state legislature

were initially unable to reach a consensus on the budget bill to provide
an additional $250 million for shelters, which in turn gave Republicans
who opposed the migrant support a chance to use procedural moves as a
stalling tactic. 

Nevertheless, the budget legislation eventually passed both chambers of
the Massachusetts General Court and - on top of emergency shelter
funding - will give money for state employee raises, school districts'
special education efforts, Massachusetts' pension liability, and other
issues. 

**New York Mayor Adams No Longer Has Authority to Quickly Enter
Emergency Contracts**New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has lost

his emergency powers to contract costly migrant services without first
obtaining case-by-case approval from the city comptroller's office. 

Scandal has surrounded some of the mayor's emergency contracts,
including most notably a $432 million deal with a for-profit company
that has allegedly mistreated migrants

in its care. On Monday, a spokesperson for City Comptroller Brad Lander
also noted "extensive failures to report subcontractors despite problems
that surfaced with many of them."

"In response, we concluded that the most prudent course for the city's
fiscal health and integrity would be to require City Hall to seek prior
approval before using emergency procurement on a case-by-case basis,"
the spokesperson told the New York Daily News in a statement. "We will
continue to conduct fast and thorough reviews of emergency contracts."

The Adams administration decried

Lander's office for pulling its previous blanket approval for emergency
contracts relating to migrant services that had been in place for over a
year, saying the policy change "will unquestionably slow down every step
in the process."

**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, December 11, through Friday, December 15, 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to be in session from
Monday, December 11, through Thursday, December 14, 2023.

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

**H. Res. 918 - Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing
investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry
into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives
to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach Joseph Biden, President
of the United States of America**

**Date:**Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST (House Rules
Committee)

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

**Related Items:**H. Res. 918
, H.
Res. 917

**Censorship Laundering Part II: Preventing the Department of Homeland
Security's Silencing of Dissent**

**Date:** Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. EST (House Homeland
Security)

**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. 

There are no relevant reports this week. 

**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: 

**Environmental Migration: Finding Solutions for the 21st Century**
This
new paper explores environmental migration as a potential method of
adaptation. First, it analyzes environmental migration as a phenomenon,
focused on some of the nuances that make weather- and climate-related
forces complicated yet influential factors in the decision to move.
Then, it considers existing international mechanisms and U.S. laws that
could potentially relate to environmental migration. It briefly
discusses how immigrant and diasporic communities are especially
vulnerable to environmental harms, even after they have already
migrated. Finally, it concludes with policy recommendations on how the
U.S. (and other countries) could effectively respond to environmental
migration in the 21st century.  

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

**Bill Analysis: The Secure the Border Act of 2023**
H.R.
2 would severely restrict the right to seek asylum in the U.S., curtail
other existing lawful pathways, place unnecessary pressure on border
communities, intensify labor shortages faced by small businesses and
essential industries, establish new criminal penalties, and make other
significant changes to U.S. immigration law.

* * *

*This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact
Alexandra Villarreal, Senior 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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