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
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, AMLO Discuss Border Crackdown Ahead of Elections
On April 28, President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador discussed over the phone how their two countries would crack down even further on irregular migrant crossings ahead of elections on both sides of their shared border.
"In the short term, the two leaders ordered their national security teams to work together to immediately implement concrete measures to significantly reduce irregular border crossings while protecting human rights," they said in a joint statement.
They also talked about "how to effectively manage hemispheric migration," including by considering push factors that spur people to leave their homes. But they were most focused on "plans with immediate consequences," The Hill reported.
Already, at the United States’ behest, Mexico has ramped up its immigration enforcement activity in the new year, intercepting around 8,000 migrants per day en route to the U.S. In this way, Mexico is effectively bussing migrants in circles, frustrating their efforts to reach the U.S.-Mexico border and — critics say — driving them to rely on smugglers.
U.S. officials are crediting the increased Mexican enforcement as well as their creation of new lawful, orderly migration pathways for the lack of a seasonal bump in irregular crossings and general downward trend in unauthorized migration in recent months.
Meanwhile, although Biden has publicly pronounced an intention to again push for a bipartisan immigration compromise in Congress, those on Capitol Hill aren’t aware of any active moves by the White House to resume negotiations, Politico reported Monday. The administration is also considering aggressive executive actions to curtail migration across the U.S.’s southern border.
At the same time, some Democrats in Congress are urging Biden to go even further, by reviving ill-advised and ineffective Trump-era policies such as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and expulsions resembling activity under the Title 42 public health order.
DACA Holders to Become Eligible for Federal Health Insurance
On May 3, news broke that the Biden administration was publishing a long-awaited rule to make recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program eligible for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Around 100,000 Dreamers who are now uninsured are expected to be able to access health care through the regulation, which will reportedly take effect on November 1 — amid the ACA’s open enrollment period.
"DACA recipients are currently three times more likely to be uninsured than the general U.S. population, and individuals without health insurance are less likely to receive preventative or routine health screenings. They delay necessary medical care, and they incur higher costs and debts when they do finally see care," said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The policy change "will improve their health and will strengthen the health and well-being of our nation," Becerra suggested.
Biden Administration Announces Final Rule to Strengthen Protections for Immigrant Farmworkers
On April 26, the Department of Labor published a final rule to improve protections for immigrant agricultural workers in the United States who hold H-2A visas. The H-2A visa allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs, such as planting, cultivating, or harvesting.
The rule includes many provisions prohibiting intimidation, threats, and retaliation against H-2A workers who negotiate with employers on their behalf. It also prohibits employers from holding or confiscating a worker’s passport, visa, or other immigration or government identification documents.
In addition, it clarifies what constitutes "justifiable termination for cause" to ensure that disciplinary or termination processes are reasonable and not arbitrary. It also enhances the transparency of the foreign labor recruitment process.
USCIS Announces New Final Rule to Make T Nonimmigrant Status Process More Efficient
On April 29, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and its parent department went public with a new regulation to promote efficiency within the T nonimmigrant status process for human trafficking victims, in part by mitigating possible obstacles to accessing the immigration relief.
The final rule provides clarity around key definitions such as "law enforcement agency," makes the program’s reporting and evidentiary requirements clearer, mandates that survivors report trafficking to the jurisdictional law enforcement entity, and adjusts the adjudicatory processes for T status.
The regulation will go into effect on August 28.
Trump Previews Mass Deportations, Reliance on Military for Immigration Enforcement if Re-Elected
On April 30, Time Magazine published a sweeping feature on what the former president, Donald Trump, has in store for a potential second term — including a mass deportation campaign reliant on military support.
Trump’s immigration agenda involves reimplementing policies such as Title 42 expulsions and the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which would force migrants and asylum seekers to await U.S. court dates in Mexico. He would continue to build his signature border wall, probably with money taken from the military sans Congress’s green light. But his focus seems to be on mass repatriations, executed primarily by the National Guard. "If they weren’t able to, then I’d use [other parts of] the military," he told Time.
If local police won’t help Trump in his quest to deport millions, he would in turn pull financial support from those jurisdictions.
"People need to be deported," said Tom Homan, one of Trump’s policy advisers. "No one should be off the table."
But already, people are being deported, at high rates. Under the Biden administration, immigration judges have ordered 136,623 people removed in the first half of this fiscal year — a 50% increase over the peak number under the Trump administration in FY 2019, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
From October to March, only 15% of those ordered removed had an attorney, making it far more difficult for the other 85% to effectively defend themselves and file a claim for protection.
State and Local
New Georgia Law Requires Local Law Enforcement to Work with ICE
On May 1, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a bill into law that creates a misdemeanor offense for jailers who "knowingly and willfully" don’t check inmates’ immigration status, keeps funding from localities that won’t cooperate with the new rules, and requires jails to pursue controversial 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help catch, detain, and eventually deport immigrants.
Most of the new law goes into force immediately, according to the Associated Press. It became a priority for Georgia policymakers after the tragic death of 22-year-old Laken Riley, given that a man who entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022 has been charged in her murder.
But critics of the legislation warn that it could negatively impact immigrant victims and witnesses, who may hesitate to come forward with police now acting in an immigration enforcement capacity.
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 Tuesday, May 7 through Friday, May 10, 2024.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to be in session from Monday, May 6 through Thursday, May 9, 2024.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
Here, we round up congressional hearings and markups happening in the field or in Washington.
Dream Deferred: The Urgent Need to Protect Immigrant Youth
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. EDT (Senate Judiciary)
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 106, Washington, D.C.
Witnesses: TBA
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. EDT (House Budget)
Location: Cannon House Office Building 210, Washington, D.C.
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.
No relevant reports were identified the week of April 29, 2024.
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: Optional Practical Training (OPT) and Academic Training (AT)
This explainer focuses on the two most popular options for international students who wish to work in the United States after graduation.
Adjudication by USCIS Asylum Officers: Explainer
This explainer details the Biden administration’s rule change and explains other recent proposals to allow USCIS asylum officers to adjudicate asylum requests.
In 2024, the United States continues to face significant demographic challenges. Propelled by falling birth rates, the U.S. population is rapidly aging and population growth is steadily declining. In turn, the country is experiencing economic and social pressures caused by labor shortages. This article provides a follow-up to "Room to Grow," a 2021 white paper where the National Immigration Forum proposed a methodology that showed that the country needed a 37% increase in net immigration levels over those projected for fiscal year 2020 (approximately 370,000 additional immigrants a year) to prevent the U.S. from falling into demographic deficit and socioeconomic decline.
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*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.
