June 03, 2023

Experts: To Address Migrant Crisis, State Governments Should Hire Migrants

JACOB HAMBURGER AND STEPHEN YALE-LOEHR, June 3, 2023 "With the end of the COVID-19 emergency on May 11, the Title 42 border restrictions have been officially lifted. Although the situation at the border is not the chaotic scene that many had predicted, the U.S. is nonetheless seeing historic numbers of migrants seeking refuge from violence and deprivation. In response, Texas has renewed its practice of sending...

June 02, 2023

Expert: Forced Family Separation Set Bad Precedent

Jorge Cancino, Univision, June 2, 2023 "The positions taken by lawyers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) show that, contrary to the campaign discourse and the one defended during the first months in the White House, the Joe Biden government now defends the forced separations of families carried out at the border South by former President Donald Trump and who were part of the controversial 'zero tolerance'...

June 02, 2023

Experts Call for Equal Access to Healthcare for DACA Recipients and All Immigrants

Weill Cornell Medicine, June 2, 2023 "Recent uncertainties regarding the legal status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program underscore the urgency for policymakers to reassess long-standing restrictions on government-sponsored healthcare subsidies for all immigrants, according to a new analysis by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Law School, and Harvard Medical School. The...

June 02, 2023

National Immigrant Heritage Month

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 06/05/2023 "BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION America is more than a place; it is an idea. It is the idea that everyone is created equal and deserves to be treated equally throughout their lives and that everyone should have a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead. That is what has drawn people to our shores...

June 02, 2023

Expert: Litigation Takes Time; DACA Safe For Now

Tim Balk, NY Daily News, June 2, 2023 "A Texas judge who ruled two years ago against the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program heard oral arguments on Thursday in a high-stakes challenge to a revised version of the policy. The Biden administration has been fighting in court for years to protect the decade-old, Obama-era program, which shields from deportation some 600,000 immigrants, known...

May 31, 2023

Expert: Courts Would Strike Down Trump Citizenship Proposal as Unconstitutional

Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, May 30, 2023 "Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged to challenge a long-standing interpretation of the U.S. Constitution in an attempt to end birthright citizenship for children of unauthorized immigrants if he defeats President Biden in the 2024 election. If he secures a second presidential term, Trump said he would issue an executive order during his first day back...

May 26, 2023

Almost 20 Years Ago...

In the July 4, 2004 issue of Bender's Immigration Bulletin I published this essay .  As we head into the long weekend...and an even longer 2024 election cycle in which immigration will loom large...it might be useful to review how we got here.  Here are the opening and closing paragraphs: "If legislation could take out personal ads, the most forlorn entry would read: "CIR Seeks PLS": Comprehensive...

May 26, 2023

Understanding the End of Title 42

In this one-hour webinar, four experts explain what will happen next at the border.  Essential viewing!  Watch the recording here .

May 26, 2023

Immigrants Key to Economic Growth: Report

Senate Joint Economic Committee, Dec. 14, 2022 "As the United States continues its recovery from the pandemic recession, immigrant workers are essential to the continued growth of the labor force and overall productivity. In order to continue adding jobs at a strong pace, the U.S. economy needs more foreign-born workers to drive innovation and business formation.  The United States is currently experiencing a...

May 26, 2023

U.S. Border Asylum Policy Enters New Territory Post-Title 42

Muzaffar Chishti, Kathleen Bush-Joseph, MPI, May 25, 2023 "U.S. border enforcement finds itself in an uncertain new era now that the pandemic-era Title 42 border expulsions policy has been lifted. The chaos predicted to occur in the days after the May 11 end of the public-health emergency declaration did not immediately materialize. The unexpected dip in arrivals could be seen as a sign of a new normal, but may...

May 25, 2023

Immigrants Sue Florida Over Unconstitutional and Discriminatory Law Banning Them From Buying Land

ACLU of Florida, May 22, 2023 "A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida, as well as a real estate brokerage firm in Florida that primarily serves clients of Chinese descent, are filing a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the legislation unfairly restricts most Chinese citizens — and most citizens of Cuba, Venezuela...

May 24, 2023

Experts Debunk "Terrorist Border Crossing" Hype

Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, May 24, 2023 "“Hundreds of people on our terrorist watch list are crossing our borders.” — Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), in his presidential announcement speech, May 22.  In a speech formally announcing that he is running for the GOP nomination for president, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina made this claim as part of an attack on President Biden’s handling of immigration policy. It’s...

May 23, 2023

Let's Not Kill All the Lawyers: Removing Barriers to Effective Legal Representation in Immigration Matters

Angelo A. Paparelli, May 22, 2023 "The famous line from Shakespeare — “The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers” (Dick the Butcher, Act IV, Scene II,  Henry VI, Part II ) — is interpreted in  widely divergent ways . My handy AI assistant offers these examples: An expression of frustration with the legal system and the perceived corruption or incompetence of lawyers. A call for the dismantling...

May 20, 2023

On May 20, 1997...

Every year around this time I remind readers that in 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexican border as part of the war on drugs shot and killed Esequiel Hernández, Jr. Mistaken for a drug runner, the 18 year old was, in fact, a U.S. citizen tending his family's goats with a .22 rifle. He became the first American killed by U.S. military forces on native soil since the 1970 Kent State shootings. The Ballad...

May 19, 2023

One Dollar a Day: Labor Conditions Within California Immigration Jails

UCLA MPP, May 2023 "Over 70 years since its inception, a provision under an appropriations bill that the 95th United States Congress passed has allowed immigrant workers in detention centers to earn just $1 a day. Working alongside our client, the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ), we bring forth the experiences of detained immigrant labor strikers under the Voluntary Work Program. Our research...

May 19, 2023

IRAP Shares Documents from FOIA

Training and Guidance Documents Related to Afghan Refugee, Asylum, SIV and Parole Processing - "Through the Freedom of Information Act and other litigation, IRAP has obtained thousands of pages of training and guidance documents from the Department of State (DOS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and Department of Defense (DOD) that provide details and insight into various humanitarian immigration...

May 19, 2023

Undocumented Student Leaders Secure First Victory in Opportunity for All Campaign as UC Announces its Support of Removing Hiring Restrictions for Undocumented Students

UCLA Law, May 18, 2023 "Undocumented student leaders at the University of California secured a critical victory in the  Opportunity for All campaign  today as the  UC Board of Regents announced  their plan to move forward with removing hiring restrictions for all UC students, regardless of immigration status. At a UC Regents open session today, the Regents voted to move forward to implement Opportunity for All...

May 19, 2023

Expert: False Border Claims "Ludicrous" and "Unfounded"

Philip Marcelo, Associated Press, May 19, 2023 "CLAIM: Video clip shows U.S. soldier opening a gate on a border fence and allowing migrants to enter the country illegally, in violation of U.S. code. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False . Federal officials say the migrants had already crossed the border and were already on U.S. soil when they passed through the gated fence. An immigration expert also rejected claims the soldier...

May 19, 2023

Flashback: May 19, 2006

For a trip down memory lane, click here to see what I posted on the precursor to this site 17 years ago today.

May 18, 2023

Asylum Ban FAQ

NIPNLG, May 2023 "This FAQ is a preliminary analysis of the May 16, 2023 Asylum Ban rule. We will update the FAQ as more information becomes available. ... We will update this document and repost at the same link in the coming days."

May 17, 2023

8.3 Million Relatives of U.S. Citizens & Legal Residents Awaited Green Cards in 2022

David J. Bier, May 17, 2023 "The United States hit a new record of about 8.3 million immigrants at various stages in its family‐​sponsored permanent residence process in 2022—an increase of nearly 1 million since 2019. The staggering number of pending cases is primarily the result of outdated caps on green cards, but processing delays are also affecting a substantial number of applicants. The U.S. immigration...

May 17, 2023

Expert: More Visas Needed to Manage Migration

Elizabeth Ruiz, 10News, May 15, 2023 "Now that Title 42 will no longer be in place, the Biden administration has come up with a new asylum policy. Immigration expert Stephen Yale-Loehr says it's an attempt to control the surge in migration at the border. "If you do enter the United States illegally, you will be presumed ineligible for asylum with certain limited exceptions," Yale-Loehr said. "They...

May 16, 2023

Immigration Processing Delays Prompt Record Number of Mandamus Lawsuits in Federal Court

TRAC, May 15, 2023 "The federal government is facing a flurry of immigration-related civil lawsuits in court. In February 2023 alone, the federal civil courts recorded 943 immigration-related lawsuits, the highest immigration-related lawsuits for any single month on record. So far in FY 2023, from October to February, the courts recorded 4,175 total civil immigration filings. At this rate, the total number of filings...

May 12, 2023

Groups Sue Biden Over Asylum Rule

ACLU, May 11, 2023 "The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Northern California, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and National Immigrant Justice Center filed a legal challenge today to the Biden administration’s new asylum ban. The challenge was filed swiftly after the new policy’s unveiling. The ban largely mimics two Trump-era policies — known as the “entry” and “transit” bans — which were blocked...

May 12, 2023

Immigration Court Docket Growth Crushes Pro Bono Representation Efforts: TRAC

TRAC, May 12, 2023 "The availability of pro bono legal representation has grown for noncitizens with cases before the Immigration Court. It is, in part, a remarkable story of the increase of volunteer efforts across this country given the importance of legal representation to immigration outcomes. But despite this growth, volunteer efforts have not been able to meet the needs of immigrants as the number and pace...