The Biden administration yesterday announced a new program meant to speed up immigration court cases of some of the single adults who make unauthorized crossings at the border, reports Ted Hesson of Reuters.
The program will create a "recent arrivals docket" in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. Immigration judges will aim to complete the cases within 180 days. To begin with, 10 judges will be assigned to the new program, officials say.
"This administrative step is no substitute for the sweeping and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would deliver," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. Together with partners, we offer our own suggestions in our recent framework.
The program’s goal is to allow parents from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador who are already in the United States to have their children join them legally and safely — preempting parents making the difficult decision to put minors in smugglers' hands.
The Trump administration had paused the program, and advocates are unsure of its future without congressional intervention. "Unfortunately, it’s the reality that many immigration policies are political footballs," said Michelle Villegas, an attorney with Kids in Need of Defense. "And CAM is one of these programs that is affected by the policies of different administrations."
Expanding the program, or implementing one like it, for Haitian children is one of our novel suggestions for how the administration can better respond to the ongoing crisis in Haiti. Read more in our letter to DHS and the State Department.
Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Ally Villarreal and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
LIMBO — Thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. government during the war are still in legal limbo, reports Meghann Myers for The War Horse. Although their work could have made them eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), the visa has restrictions as well as major backlogs. The Afghan Adjustment Act would help, reiterates Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac and a retired service member.
This week in local welcome:
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Will Selber shares his experiences working to help Afghan allies as he still recovers from the mental toll of combat. (The xxxxxx)
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After fleeing Afghanistan himself, Mirwais Jalali is helping his company hire more resettled Afghans. (Kelly Yamanouchi, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Sami Ayazi, a student in Wyoming, Michigan, shares his story of escape and those who have helped him on his journey. (Erin Albanese, School Network News)
DEPORTATION REALITY — In a detailed analysis for The Washington Post, Philip Bump looks at what mass deportation would mean on practical and logistical levels: "[I]t would upend an enormous part of American society and the economy." Separately, Suzanne Gamboa of NBC News examines the former president’s record on legal immigration.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE — Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are financially, socially and culturally tied to the United States, Francis Wilkinson writes in his Bloomberg column. A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week showed that the future of DACA recipients and other Dreamers remains murky at best, he writes.
FOR FAMILIES — At least 11 Houston elected officials have joined a letter with other local, state and federal officials urging the Biden administration to establish immigration paths for spouses and other immediate family members of U.S. citizens and Dreamers, reports Patricia Ortiz of Houston Public Media. The letter focuses on former DACA
recipients and other workers who have paid taxes and contributed to their communities for years.
