Chicken Industry Accused of Conspiring to Keep Immigrant Wages Down

Tue, Sep 3^th

According to a new lawsuit, companies producing more than 90% of America's chicken have conspired to depress wages for a largely immigrant workforce in some of the nation's most dangerous jobs. The lawsuit filed last week is mostly based on interviews with former employees and claims the conspiracy among 18 companies, their subsidiaries, affiliates, and two consulting firms to depress immigrant wages continues to this day.

How Much Nature Should America Keep?

Jeremy Beck

Thu, Sep 5^th

We lose a football field worth of nature every 30 seconds in the United States. We add an NFL football stadium worth of people every ten days. You don't have to be an environmental scientist or demographer to see the connection. Even with our efforts to reduce our individual footprints, our collective feet are stomping out the natural world beneath us.

We Say it Often, Numbers Count. And Here's Why

Christy Shaw

Wed, Sep 4^th

Add Ecuador to a growing list of South American countries beginning to close or significantly restrict mass migration spilling over their borders, a tragic consequence of the chaos and corruption that has plunged over 90% of Venezuela's population into poverty. It is estimated that by the end of this year, over 5 million Venezuelens will have fled their homeland.

August Border Arrests Continue to Drop

Wed, Sep 4^th

The number of aliens caught crossing the southwest border continued a sharp decline in August, according to preliminary figures obtained by Politico. U.S. Border Patrol arrested roughly 51,000 migrants in August, a 30 percent drop from the previous month. Although it is commonplace to see a dip in arrests at the southern border during the hot summer months, the Trump Administration insists the latest figures signal that recent bilateral agreements between the governments of Guatemala, Mexico, and the U.S. may be reducing the number of border crossers.

Top Asylum Official Reassigned to Virginia Processing Center

Fri, Sep 6^th

The top asylum official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be reassigned, according to five current and former DHS officials, as reported by Politico. According to the sources, the official, Asylum Division Chief John Lafferty, will become deputy director of the Potomac Service Center in Arlington, Va., beginning Sept. 10, which many may see as a demotion.

What to expect on the immigration front now that Congress is ready to return? Probably not a lot of legislative action, but plenty will be going on as President Trump seeks to advance his immigration agenda.

Fri, Sep 6^th

Congress will be back in session this coming Monday, September 9. Their first priority will be dealing with the budget, which runs out at the end of this month. It will be interesting to see how the parties work together to hammer out agreements on spending, and how the President's immigration priorities play into that. Members of Congress often try to sneak in changes to immigration policy, like an expansion of the H-2B non-agricultural guest worker visa, in the hope that the public won't notice. NumbersUSA will remain vigilant -- credit goes to our Government Relations team who have the unenviable task of slogging through all these bills -- and will draw attention to the good, the bad, and the downright awful.

Given the impasse that has existed since the 2018 midterms, and with the 2020 Presidential election looming, it is unlikely we will see the two parties working together on any substantive immigration legislation, which isn't to say there won't be plenty of upcoming activity on the immigration front.

The Trump Administration has been making changes in personnel, as can be seen in one of this week's news stories, and also making rule changes that affect everything from illegal border crossers claiming "credible fear," to reallocating funds to build barriers at the border, to restricting welfare use by legal permanent residents. Federal judges have issued ruling to prevent, if only temporarily, many of these initiatives, and no doubt we will see this scenario repeated as the President seeks to demonstrate his commitment to fulfilling his 2016 campaign promises.

The Supreme Court will take up DACA in a highly anticipated case and will rule on whether President Trump has the authority to end the program, and may rule on its constitutionality, as well. The Court's term begins in October.

The President has also mentioned several times that he is thinking about issuing an executive order ending birth right citizenship for children born in the United States who do not have at least parent who is a legal permanent resident. If he does so, that will immediately be challenged in the courts and will set up an important legal battle over the meaning and intent of the 14th Amendment.

Stay tuned!!!

ERic Ruark