Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
January 27, 2023, is now posted.

You can find the online version of the bulletin
here: [link removed]
<[link removed]>
[link removed]


All the best,

Arturo 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, January 27, 2023**BILLS INTRODUCED AND
CONSIDERED <#bills-introduced-and-considered>

LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR <#legislative-floor-calendar>

UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS <#upcoming-hearings-and-markups>

THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK <#Themes-In-Washington-This-week>

GOVERNMENT REPORTS <#government-reports>

SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
<#spotlight-on-national-immigration-forum-resources>

**BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED**

H.R. 469
<[link removed]>

**To require asylum officers at United States embassies and consulates
to conduct credible fear screenings before aliens seeking asylum may be
permitted to enter the United States to apply for asylum.**

Sponsored by Representative Kevin Hern (R-Oklahoma) (0
<[link removed]>
cosponsors)

01/24/2023 Introduced in the House by Representative Hern

01/24/2023 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**

The U.S. Senate will be in session the week of Monday, January 30, 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session from Monday,
January 30, through Thursday, February 2, 2023.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**

**Hearing: The Biden Border Crisis: Part I**
<[link removed]>

**Date:** Wednesday, February 1, 2023, at 10:00 am E.T. (House Committee
on the Judiciary)

**Location:** 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**TBD

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

****Federal****

****December Border Encounters Reach Monthly Record****On January 20,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported
<[link removed]>
that the agency encountered 251,487 migrants at the Southwest border
during the month of December - a new monthly record. December numbers
mark a 7% increase from November's total of 233,740 encounters.

Notably, the use of Title 42 declined in December even as overall
encounters increased. Less than 20% of all December encounters were
returned under Title 42, the lowest proportion of expulsions since the
policy began almost three years ago. Instead, over 80% of arrivals were
processed under traditional Title 8 proceedings and allowed to pursue
asylum claims. An increasing number of these individuals (28,363) were
processed at ports of entry.

Arrivals from the Northern Triangle and Mexico declined 12% in December,
while arrivals from Nicaragua, Cuba, and Colombia increased 12% in the
same period. Arrivals from Cuba (44,064) and Nicaragua (35,940) were
particularly significant, each at their highest monthly total in recent
history. Migrant arrivals from Venezuela held steady at 13,000. December
data also showed sustained increases from Peru (11,590 encounters) and
Ecuador (16,297 encounters).

The data represent arrivals before the Biden administration's recently
announced border policy initiatives
<[link removed]>,
which include expelling arrivals from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti under
Title 42 and a newly expanded - but still limited - parole program
for nationals of those same countries. Since the announcement of the
policies, multiple
<[link removed]>
reports
<[link removed]>
have noted significant declines in border arrivals.

****U.S. Immigration Court Backlog Surpassed 2 Million Cases****On
January 16, a Syracuse University report
<[link removed]>
highlighted that as of December 2022, the U.S. immigration court backlog
reached 2,056,328 cases- the largest backlog on record. The report
<[link removed]> also shows that
immigration courts, which fall under the Department of Justice (DOJ),
have been increasingly overburdened over the years as more cases are
added to the docket than can be addressed. According to the report, 2022
marked the seventeenth consecutive year of case backlog increases, and
it marked a 6% increase compared to December 2021.

In addition to the immigration court backlog, the Biden administration
is also facing a record-high backlog of almost 9 million
<[link removed]>
pending cases before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS),
and approximately 377,953
<[link removed]>
immigrant visa applicants are currently waiting for an interview at U.S.
consulates.

****Biden Administration Expands Use of the Application for Asylum
Seekers at the Border Despite Concerns****On January 5, the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new measures to
streamline the process by which arriving migrants request humanitarian
protections at ports of entry along the Southwest border. Among the new
measures, an increasing number of asylum seekers are being asked
<[link removed]> to use an online mobile
app, called CBP One
<[link removed]>, to be
pre-screened and make appointments for a date and location where they
can enter the U.S. and begin their asylum request process. The app also
is being used
<[link removed]>
for a limited number of people in Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela
with sponsors in the U.S. to begin the process of getting paroled into
the country for two years.

According to a January 19 Reuters report
<[link removed]>,
the app repeatedly reached capacity and began blocking efforts to set up
appointments. In other cases, the available appointments on the app were
too far from where the asylum seekers were located. Immigration
advocates have raised concerns
<[link removed]>
about the app's lack of accessibility to all applicants. Accessing CBP
One - which is only available in English and Spanish - requires a
smartphone, access to Wi-Fi, and the ability to navigate a complicated
verification process.

****Biden Administration Extends and Expands DED for Certain Hong Kong
Residents****On January 26, President Biden extended and expanded
<[link removed]>
Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED) for certain Hong Kong residents.
The two-year extension will allow people from Hong Kong residing in the
United States under a grant of DED to stay and work temporarily in the
country. President Biden also expanded the DED grant to people of Hong
Kong who arrived in the United States subsequent to the initial grant of
DED. President Biden said
<[link removed]>
the extension of DED was justified in light of the ongoing "erosion of
rights and freedoms" in Hong Kong.

DED <[link removed]> is a temporary,
discretionary, administrative stay of removal granted to immigrants from
a few designated countries. Unlike TPS, a DED designation emanates from
the President's constitutional powers to conduct foreign relations and
has no statutory basis.

****Legal****

****Texas Leads Lawsuit Against Parole Program for Haitians, Cubans,
Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans****On January 24, Texas Attorney General
Ken Paxton led a coalition of 20 Republican-led states in suing
<[link removed]> the
Biden administration to block its use
<[link removed]> of
a new parole program that would legally admit up to 30,000 Haitians,
Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans per month.

President Joe Biden announced the program
<[link removed]>
in early January as a safer, more orderly alternative for people fleeing
instability and violence in the hemisphere to come to the United States.
The initiative allows prospective migrants with financial sponsors in
the U.S. to apply for and receive two-year grants of parole, which offer
entry into the U.S. (via air travel), protection from deportation, and
access to work authorization. The program is an expansion of a
Venezuela-only program that launched in October. As of January 27, over
7,500 migrants have been approved
<[link removed]>
to come to the U.S. under the newly expanded program.

In the lawsuit, Texas argued
<[link removed]>
that the parole program was issued in violation of the Administrative
Procedure Act, alleging the administration "unlawfully failed to engage
in notice-and-comment rulemaking." It also argued that the program "is
not for urgent humanitarian reasons and advances no significant public
benefit" as required by law. The U.S. has used humanitarian parole to
welcome groups of vulnerable migrants for decades. There were no similar
lawsuits filed when the Biden administration utilized similar
authorities to provide parole protections to Ukrainians fleeing the
Russian invasion.

"These expanded border enforcement measures are working," Homeland
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said
<[link removed]>.
"It is incomprehensible that some states who stand to benefit from these
highly effective enforcement measures are seeking to block them and
cause more irregular migration at our southern border."

Relatedly, on January 26, a bicameral group of nearly 80 lawmakers sent
a letter
<[link removed]>
to President Biden urging him to reverse his administration's expansion
of Title 42 for Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti. The lawmakers
also encouraged the President and his administration to work with
Congress to ensure they develop safe, humane, and orderly border
policies that enforce our immigration laws and uphold the right to
asylum under domestic and international law.

****DHS Reaches Settlement Agreement to Process EAD of H-4 and L-2
Spouses Concurrently****On January 20, the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) reached
<[link removed]>
a settlement agreement to process the employment authorization documents
(EADs) of H-4 and L-2 visa holders concurrently with the EAD
applications of their spouses or parents when filed together. The H-4
<[link removed]>
is a temporary visa for the spouses and unmarried children of
individuals in one of the nonimmigrant visa categories: H-1B (workers in
a specialty occupation), H-2A (temporary or seasonal agricultural
workers), H-2B (temporary non-agricultural workers), H-3 (nonimmigrant
trainees, other than medical or academic). Similarly, the L-2
<[link removed]>
is a nonimmigrant visa issued to dependents of L1 visa holders
(temporary intracompany transferees).

The settlement stems from the case Edakunni v. Mayorkas
<[link removed]>
where plaintiffs demanded to restore the pre-Trump era concurrent
processing methodology. Before the settlement - which took effect on
January 25 - it took up to two years for the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) to process
<[link removed]>
applications for the spouses of the primary H and L visa holders who
needed work authorization.

****State & Local****

****Vermont Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Noncitizen Voting
Exclusively for Municipal Elections in the State****On January 20, the
Vermont Supreme Court ruled
<[link removed]>
in favor of allowing noncitizens who reside in Montpelier, the state's
capital, to vote in local elections. The case stems from a 2018
referendum where Montpelier residents voted
<[link removed]>
to expand the right of suffrage to documented noncitizens in municipal
elections. Noncitizens, however, would still be restricted from
participating in federal and state elections. The state legislature
approved
<[link removed]>
the change to Montepelier's charter in 2021, but Governor Phil Scott
(R-Vermont) vetoed the measure. The Legislature then overturned the
governor's veto that same year.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) challenged
<[link removed]>
the law in 2021. In April 2022, a Washington County Superior Court judge
rejected the RNC's arguments that noncitizen voting violated Vermont's
Constitution. The State Supreme Court decision upheld that ruling.

Currently, eleven municipalities in Maryland and two in Vermont already
grant
<[link removed]>
noncitizens some municipal voting rights. Additionally, in San Francisco
and Chicago, noncitizens can vote
<[link removed]> in school board
elections. Other municipalities in California, Maine, and Massachusetts
are weighing similar legislation.

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**Congressional Budget Office (CBO);****The Demographic Outlook: 2023 to
2053** <[link removed]>

**; January 24, 2023**This CBO report highlights that the U.S.
population growth will be driven entirely by immigration within two
decades. The demographic projections show a population of 373 million by
2053 - about 3 million more than the CBO was expecting a year ago. The
new projection is based on an increase in the forecast for immigration
in 2023 and the following two years, after pandemic travel restrictions
eased - adding some 1 million to the population over that period.
Still, by 2042 deaths in the existing population are expected to exceed
births, meaning only immigration will expand the population.

**Congressional Research Service (CRS);****U.S. Refugee Admissions
Program** <[link removed]>

**; January 20, 2023**This CRS report provides an overview of the U.S.
Refugee Admissions Program. A refugee is a person who is outside his or
her country and unable or unwilling to return because of persecution or
a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The annual number of refugee admissions and their allocation
are set by the President after consultation with Congress. For FY2023,
the refugee ceiling is 125,000. The DHS Secretary has discretionary
authority to admit refugees to the United States. After one year in
refugee status in the United States, refugees are required to apply to
adjust to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES****What's happening
at the U.S.-Mexico border?**
<[link removed]>This
resource provides a breakdown of the latest border-related headlines,
including the expansion of Title 42, the Biden administration's new
border plan, and shelters reaching maximum capacity.

Explainer: Private Sponsorship Programs for Refugees
<[link removed]>This explainer describes
the elements and history of private sponsorship initiatives for
refugees. It also describes the success cases of the Canadian and
Australian private sponsorship models.

**Alternative Pathways for Arrivals at the Border**
<[link removed]>The
paper seeks to put the challenges we face at the southwest border in the
broader context of growing displacement in the hemisphere, describing
how many come to the border because there is no other real alternative
- no "right way" to come.

Journey to the U.S. Southern Border
<[link removed]>This
interactive resource will allow you to experience a virtual journey
where you'll face the challenges a migrant family could encounter when
making the journey to the U.S. - and consider what choices you would
make.

* * *

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

 

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