Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
December 4, 2020 is now posted. 

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

Danilo

BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR

UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS

THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK

GOVERNMENT REPORTS

SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES

**BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED**S. 386

**Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act**

The bill would remove per-country caps for employment-based green cards
and increase per-country caps for family-sponsored green cards.  It
would also provide a new status for nonimmigrant visa holders who are in
the U.S. and waiting in the green card backlog and implement certain
restrictions on the H-1B nonimmigrant worker program and on immigrants
affiliated with the Chinese military. The House companion bill is H.R.
1044.

Sponsored by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) (34
 cosponsors
- 19 Republicans, 15 Democrats)

02/07/2019 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Lee

06/27/2019 Motion in the Senate to move forward on the bill by unanimous
consent blocked
 by
Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)

09/19/2019 Motion in the Senate to move forward on an amended version of
the bill by unanimous consent blocked by Senator David Perdue
(R-Georgia)

10/17/2019 Motion in the Senate to move forward on an amended version of
the bill by unanimous consent blocked by Senator Dick Durbin (R-Florida)

08/05/2020 Motion in the Senate to move forward on an amended version of
the bill by unanimous consent blocked by Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida)

12/02/2020 Passed in the Senate by unanimous consent

**H.R. 8793**

**Hurricane Eta Relief Act**

The bill would provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to individuals
from Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala for 18 months. The bill would
also allow these individuals to travel abroad while benefiting from TPS.

Sponsored by Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-New York) (17

cosponsors - 17 Democrats, 0 Republicans)

11/19/2020 Introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative
Velazquez

11/19/2020 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of
Representatives will be in session from Monday, December 7, 2020 to
Thursday, December 10, 2020.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**There are no immigration-related
hearings or markups currently scheduled in the U.S. Senate or the U.S.
House of Representatives.

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

****Federal****

****Biden Transition Team Continues Planning Immigration
Changes****According to multiple

news

reports
,
President-elect Biden's transition team is continuing to plan a number
of changes to the immigration system within the first 100 days of the
new administration. In an NBC News interview

on November 24, Biden pledged to send an immigration bill to Congress in
his first 100 days that provides a pathway to citizenship for more than
11 million undocumented individuals.

President-elect Biden has also vowed

to "restore and defend" legal immigration, undo

the Trump administration's travel bans on predominantly Muslim
countries, freeze construction

of barriers on the Southwest border, and increase and invest

in refugee resettlement. He has also promised

to restore full access and protections under Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA), although a case challenging DACA's legality
is being actively litigated. The new administration has also pledged

to reverse some of the Trump administration's restrictions to the
asylum system and bring a more humanitarian approach to the border, but
the transition team has stated that some of these restrictive policies
may take time to unwind.

The president-elect has also begun nominating members of his future
cabinet that are likely to play key roles in affairs relating to
immigration. Biden tapped

Alejandro Mayorkas, a Cuban American immigrant and former Obama
administration director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) and deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS). Mayorkas would be the first immigrant and first Latino to lead
the agency and was responsible for devising and implementing DACA while
he was serving as deputy DHS secretary in 2012.

Biden also said he is nominating

Antony Blinken, former deputy secretary of State under President Obama,
to lead the Department of State in the new administration. Blinken, who
has discussed his own family's history of forced migration, has long
been a strong advocate

for increased refugee resettlement.

****Trump Administration Plans Final Immigration
Restrictions****According to a November 30 news report
,
the Trump administration is continuing efforts to limit immigration in
the months leading up to Inauguration Day on January 20. The
administration has already issued a series of regulations and policy
manual changes in the weeks after the presidential election, including a
change to institute a longer and more complicated citizenship test and
the implementation of additional guidelines providing immigration
officials more discretion to deny adjustment of status applications. The
administration is also rushing to finalize a series of proposed
regulations restricting asylum seekers, H-1B high-skilled temporary
workers, and international students.

Additionally, the administration has continued to accelerate
construction
of
barriers on the Southwest border. Barriers are currently being
constructed at almost double the rate they were at the start of the year
and 402 total miles have been built as of November 13.

The Biden transition team has said it plans to reverse some of these
limitations after the president-elect takes office on January 20.

****U.S. Agrees to Stop Deportations of Whistleblowers in Georgia
Detention Facility****The Trump administration has agreed to halt

planned deportations of women alleging medical abuse committed by a
gynecologist at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. Justice
Department lawyers filed an agreement

between the parties with the federal District Court in Georgia to halt
deportations of women making "substantially similar factual allegations"
until at least January 21, 2021. ICE had already deported at least six

women alleging abuse or mistreatment at the facility.

The women's allegations are part of an ongoing investigation of the
Irwin facility following a September 14 whistleblower complaint

alleging that numerous detainees at Irwin were subjected to medical
mistreatment, including a high rate of unwanted invasive surgeries.

On November 19, over 100 congressional Democrats sent aletter

to ICE director Tony Pham demanding the release of the detainees who
allege they received improper gynecological care while detained at the
facility. The letter also calls for the women to receive certifications
to apply for U-visas, which are granted to victims of certain crimes who
are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the
investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.

****Legal****

**Federal Court Orders DACA Must Be Fully Reinstated**

On December 4, a federal judge ordered

that limitations placed on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
in a July 28 DHS memorandum
 must
be set aside and that the administration should fully reinstate DACA
protections. The order came after the judge ruled

on November 14 that the memo was invalid because it was issued while
acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf was improperly appointed to his position.
Issued after the U.S. Supreme Court permitted DACA to survive
,
the Wolf memo prevented DHS from accepting new DACA applications and
only allowed existing DACA recipients to renew their protections for one
year, rather than two years. The most recent order fully restores the
DACA program to its status before September 2017, providing two years of
protection to recipients and permitting new applications.

According to the Migration Policy Institute
,
more than 1.3 million U.S. residents are eligible for DACA.

****Federal Courts Rule in Favor of High-Skilled Immigration Worker
Programs****On November 30, December 1, and December 2, three separate
federal courts ruled to protect legal immigration programs for
high-skilled workers. On December 1 and 2, two different Federal courts
issued

decisions

blocking two Trump administration rules that restrict the H-1B
nonimmigrant visa program for high-skilled "specialty occupation"
workers. On November 30, a federal judge announced

he plans to rule against a challenge to the Optional Practical Training
(OPT) program, which allows graduating international students to
temporarily stay in U.S. and work in a field related to their degree.

The two H-1B rules, one issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) and one
issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sought to
significantly raise minimum wage requirements and limit eligibility for
prospective H-1B employers and employees. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
brought the case

decided on December 1, and the law firm of Wasden Banias, on behalf of a
number of H-1B employer groups, filed the case

decided the following day. Both judges ruled

that neither DHS nor DOL had "good cause" to bypass required public
notice and comment procedures when they attempted to expedite
implementation and issue the regulations as interim final rules.

The third case concerned a challenge to the OPT program, which is one of
the few paths available to international students seeking to stay and
work in the U.S. after they graduate. The Washington Alliance of
Technology Workers (WashTech) brought the case alleging that DHS lacked
the authority to establish OPT. On November 30, a federal judge in D.C.
ruled in favor

of OPT, which has existed in some form since 1952, bringing an end to a
suit that had been ongoing since 2016.

****Supreme Court Reviews Plan to Exclude Undocumented Immigrants from
Apportionment Count****On November 30, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral
arguments regarding the July 21 presidential memorandum

which directed the Census Bureau to use existing government data to
calculate and exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census
apportionment count, which determines the number of seats in the House
of Representatives for each state. A lower court had previously ruled
the memorandum was unlawful
,
noting the constitution requires all persons, regardless of immigration
status, to be included in the reapportionment count.

The Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of the president's
authority to exclude undocumented immigrants from congressional
apportionment, and considered the option of waiting to make a final
decision until after the Census Bureau provides more information on how
they would determine the undocumented population. Acting Solicitor
General Jeffrey Wall stated

it was "very unlikely" that the Bureau would be able to identify the
population of undocumented immigrants in the country in a manner that
could be used for apportionment purposes by the December 31 deadline.

The law requires
 President
Trump to advise Congress on the outcome of the 2020 census and the
number of representatives each state should receive by January 10, 2021.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to make a final decision before that
date.

****U.S. Appeals Order Banning Rapid Expulsions of Unaccompanied
Children****On November 23, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
appealed

a judge's preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration
from summarily deporting unaccompanied children without first allowing
them to request humanitarian protection or properly screening them for
signs of human trafficking.

Theruling

concerned deportations of children arriving at the border that have been
occurring under an emergency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) rule

issued in response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge had
disagreed with the administration's argument that this rule, issued
under title 42 of the 1944 Public Health Service Act, gives DHS the
authority to expel or deport any individuals arriving at the border,
regardless of whether they posed a particular risk for spreading the
virus or were intending to seek asylum or another form of protection.
Over 13,000 unaccompanied children

have been subject to these "Title 42" expulsions since March.

In the appeal, the DOJ argued

that the injunction, issued on November 18, will lead to an influx in
unaccompanied children arriving at the border and increase the spread of
COVID-19 in border communities. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did
report

an increase in child arrivals from November 18 to November 23, but it is
unclear whether that increase came as a result of the ruling.

Federal judges also recently ruled in two other cases concerning removal
proceedings. On November 30, a judge in New York ruled

that newly detained immigrants must be able to have their cases heard
before a judge within 10 days. In the case, the judge stated

that DHS does not "have an unfettered right to detain" immigrants. On
December 2, a federal judge in D.C. also ruled

to uphold two Trump administration pilot programs - Prompt Asylum
Claim Review (PACR) and Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP) -
that aim to expedite the asylum review process, including by limiting
asylum seekers' access to counsel and due process and holding them in
CBP facilities that are not intended for prolonged stays.

****Ninth Circuit Rules Against Trump Administration's Public Charge
Rule****On December 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
ruled against
 the
Trump administration's public charge rule, stopping implementation of
the rule within territory under the court's jurisdiction. If
implemented, the ruling would apply to 19 states

that were co-plaintiffs in the lawsuits, including California, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and Michigan. On November 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Seventh Circuit had allowed

the public charge rule to go into effect nationwide while litigation
continued. The Ninth Circuit's decision is the latest in the on-going
legal battle over the policy since its introduction in October 2019,
which has seen the rule repeatedly go into and out of effect in
individual states and across the country. U.S Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) has not yet issued guidance concerning
implementation of the most recent ruling.

The public charge rule allows officials to deny admission, visa
renewals, or permanent residency to certain noncitizens based on their
use of certain public benefits. During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,
health experts and immigration advocates have warned that implementing
the public charge rule has discouraged immigrants from seeking out vital
healthcare and other services.

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**Government Accountability Office (GAO):****SOUTHWEST BORDER:
Information on Federal Agencies' Process for Acquiring Private Land for
Barriers**

**, November 17, 2020**In this report, the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) reviewed the government's efforts to acquire privately
owned land along the southwest border for the construction of border
barriers. The report further outlines the legal steps for acquisition of
land, which include identifying landowners affected by planned barriers,
contacting the landowners to obtain access to their property for
surveying, negotiating with landowners, and concluding the acquisition.
The GAO found that the government's land acquisition for the purpose
of border barrier construction has not violated this process.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES****Law Enforcement,
Business Leaders Praise Mayorkas DHS Pick**
This
resource provides quotes from police chiefs, sheriffs, and business
leaders welcoming president-elect Biden's nomination of Alejandro
Mayorkas to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

**Explainer: The Trump Administration's New Rules Restricting H-1B
Workers**
This
resource provides information about three recent Trump administration
rules impacting the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program for "specialty
occupations." The explainer describes the provisions and possible
impacts of the rules as well as the current state of play.

**Explainer: Amendments to the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants
Act**
This
explainer provides an overview of the amendments made to the Fairness
for High Skilled Immigrants Act, a bill which would provide relief to
certain individuals in the green card backlog.

* * *

*This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact
Danilo Zak, National Immigration Forum Policy and Advocacy Associate,
with comments and suggestions of additional items to be included. Danilo
can be reached at [email protected] .
Thank you.

 

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