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Your weekly summary from the Council
LATEST ANALYSIS
- New Border Surveillance Technology Raises Privacy Concerns and Could Increase Deaths
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that it has been developing and testing robot dogs for use by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) at the U.S.-Mexico border. The robots are just one of several types of new surveillance technology CBP has implemented or tested. This technology raises privacy and safety concerns for citizens and non-citizens alike. Read More »
- This USCIS Policy Change Will Reunite Vulnerable LGBTQ Refugee and Asylum Couples
In February, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reversed Trump administration guidance that limited recognition of marriages performed abroad only to those considered “valid” in the country where they took place. This narrow interpretation of the “place-of-celebration” rule left many refugees and asylees without a way to reunite with their partners because they lacked formal proof or could not marry in their home countries. Read More »
- Biden Should Use the State of the Union for a Reset on Immigration
On Tuesday night, President Biden gave his first State of the Union address to a packed House chamber. While immigration wasn't the headliner, the president had an important opportunity to speak directly—and realistically—to the American people about an issue that has bedeviled both his predecessors and Congress for 36 years now. That’s the last time a president, Republican or Democrat, signed a meaningful immigration reform bill into law. Read More »
FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
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Throughout 2021, the majority of people encountered at the southern border were expelled or deported. Over the last year, 60% of all people encountered at the border were either sent to Mexico or their home country. Despite claims of "open borders,” government data shows that fewer people are being processed into the United States under existing immigration law.
This updated fact sheet from the American Immigration Council provides historical context for the events of 2021, explains the roots of the rise in border apprehensions during the year, and analyzes how the Biden administration responded.
Read more: Rising Border Encounters in 2021: An Overview and Analysis
ACROSS THE NATION
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The Biden administration announced that DHS would designate Temporary Protected Status to Ukraine for the next 18 months and offer this live-saving protection to Ukrainians living in the United States whose departure or return home is untenable as the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The American Immigration Council released a new fact sheet to provide context on the population of Ukrainians in the United States, who may qualify for TPS, and what benefits those individuals would receive.
Read more: Ukrainians in the United States Who May Qualify for Temporary Protected Status: An Overview
MAKE A CONTRIBUTION
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“[The President of the United States] calls us to come together as Americans (born here and abroad) in fellowship, to work together, care for our families, and our nation. We are one people and one America."
– Wendy Feliz, founding Director of the Center for Inclusion and Belonging of the American Immigration Council
GET INVOLVED
Amid a crowded news landscape dominated by men, reporters for India’s only all-female news are taking it upon themselves to uncover their country’s inequities with intrepid determination.
Save the date for our upcoming film screening on Thursday, March 24.
FURTHER READING
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