The White House seems to have it in for what it calls “chain migration.” Its website pronounces: “Most green cards … are awarded based on an antiquated system … of Chain Migration—whereby one immigrant can bring in their entire extended families, who can bring in their families and so on … familial relations are all that is required to obtain a green card and, in turn, become a voting U.S. Citizen within a short period of time . . ….
Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions wasn’t short on opinions regarding people who apply for asylum in the United States, as set forth in an October, 2017 speech to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (commonly known as U.S. Immigration Court). Unfortunately, much of the information he presented was baseless or wrong. Let’s start with Sessions’s assertion that the immigration court system is becoming “overloaded with fake claims.” Mr. Sessions provided no source for this information. Indeed, finding statistics on fake claims…
I was tempted to put this entire title in capital letters, as hysterical as that might look. But for thousands of people in the United States today, the recently announced ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) feels like a true emergency. And indeed, the decision will eventually mean that huge numbers of undocumented young people, students, and workers—who came forward, were vetted, and applied for a temporary work permit—may (unless Congress acts) see that grant stripped…
Commentators have been understandably worried for non-citizens battling flooding and other problems caused by Hurricane Harvey, which hit the coast of Texas on August 25, 2017. Not only is their basic safety at risk, but there’s the matter of the new immigration enforcement priorities under the Trump administration. This really means no priorities at all, but an environment in which anyone who encounters Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP), regardless of their close ties to…
Someone should create one of those “seven degrees of separation” rules with regard to immigrants—that is, an indication of how many close friend-or-family ties away each person in the U.S. is from someone whose run-in with immigration authorities has them thinking, “What?! Not him/her! Is that really legal?” Such exclamations and protestations have been common in many recent deportations from the United States. Even people who think mass removal is a good idea in general often want to carve out exceptions…