Your weekly summary from the Council

 LATEST ANALYSIS 

• How Immigration Can Offset the U.S. Labor Shortage and Rising Inflation
  
  The United States is struggling with a labor shortage due to a low level of workforce participation amid the pandemic and baby boomers reaching retirement age. Increased immigration could help change that. Read More »
   

• What Does Legal Representation Look Like in Immigration Courts Across the Country?
  
  It might seem like a straightforward statistic: 44% of individuals who appear in deportation proceedings have an immigration attorney. But it’s not so simple. Read More »
   

• How Schools Welcome Newly Arrived Immigrant and Refugee Students
  
  School is back in session. For many states and localities across the country, that means welcoming newly arrived immigrant and refugee youth into the classroom. There will be increased need for student support this fall, given that the United States has resettled more than 76,000 Afghans and 100,000 Ukrainians over the last year. Read More »

 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW  

• This week, the Biden administration finalized a rule to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative from further legal challenges. The move would codify the existing program into federal regulation. 

  Hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants—known as Dreamers—would be shielded from deportation once the rule goes into effect October 31. 
  
  This fact sheet from the American Immigration Council discusses the DACA initiative and other policies designed to protect Dreamers.
  
  Read more: DACA: An Overview

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 ACROSS THE NATION  

• The American Immigration Council is taking U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) back to court for the agency’s failure to adhere to the 30-day deadline for adjudicating asylum applicants’ initial employment authorization applications. USCIS allowed a backlog of over 66,000 applications pending more than 121 days to develop—applications the agency itself has said should take on average 12 minutes to process. 

  USCIS has only adjudicated 4.4% of our plaintiffs’ applications within 30 days. This is a blatant violation of the permanent injunction in our Rosario v. USCIS case and places already vulnerable individuals in a dangerous financial situation.
  
  Read more: Employment Authorization Documents Adjudication Delays 

 QUOTE OF THE WEEK 

“Passing legislation permanently protecting our undocumented youth should not be a heavy lift for Congress. The DACA initiative is a proven winner and an unquestionably valuable program with quantifiable, significant, and long-lasting impacts on families, local communities, our economy, and our nation. The uncertainty that undocumented youth is forced to endure is completely unnecessary and Congress should act on the will of the American people in finally doing what is right—passing legislation to create a path to citizenship for dreamers across the U.S.” 

– Jorge Loweree, managing director of programs at the American Immigration Council

 FURTHER READING 

• Texas Association of Business: Immigration Reform Is Good for Business
   

• Parents Magazine: The U.S. Deports Children of Documented Immigrants—My Parents Learned This the Hard Way
   

• Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Vanished Dream
   

• Texas Monthly: This Immigrant Entrepreneur Got His Start Hawking Jewelry in Houston Flea Markets. Now He’s Taking on Amazon.

 RSVP 

The American Immigration Council’s New American Fellows program awards six immigrant artists with grants to produce original artwork based on immigration data, sparking important conversations and active community participation. 

RSVP for the showcase on Saturday, Sept. 17 in Brooklyn, NYC

 APPLY FOR G4G 

The Gateways for Growth Challenge (G4G) is a competitive opportunity for localities to receive research support and technical assistance from the American Immigration Council and Welcoming America to improve immigrant inclusion in their communities.

Learn more and apply for Gateways for Growth

         

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