Immigration Reform

Immigration Reform

The last time Congress updated our legal immigration system was November 1990, one month before the World Wide Web went online. We are long overdue for comprehensive immigration reform.

Through immigration reform, we can provide noncitizens with a system of justice that provides due process of law and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. Because it can be a contentious and wide-ranging issue, we aim to provide advocates with facts and work to move bipartisan solutions forward. Read more about topics like legalization for undocumented immigrants and border security below.

What to Expect for the J-1 Exchange Program Under Biden

What to Expect for the J-1 Exchange Program Under Biden

The Trump administration has used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to curtail many immigrant and nonimmigrant visa programs, including J-1 cultural exchange visitors. But with vaccines on the immediate horizon and a new Biden administration soon to take office, what should we expect for programs like the J-1… Read More

Foreign Student Admission Restrictions Hurt America’s Leadership in Innovation

Foreign Student Admission Restrictions Hurt America’s Leadership in Innovation

The proposal would negatively impact American colleges and universities and foreign students seeking a higher education degree in the United States and have long-term effects for the legal immigration system. Read More

Comment on DHS Proposed Rule to Drastically Expand the Definition and Collection of Biometrics

Comment on DHS Proposed Rule to Drastically Expand the Definition and Collection of Biometrics

The American Immigration Council, the Immigration Defense Clinic at Colorado Law, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, submitted a comment in opposition to the Department of Homeland Security proposed rule on the "Collection and Use of Biometrics by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services." Read More

Summary of Proposed Changes to Student and Exchange Visitor Admissions Process by DHS

Summary of Proposed Changes to Student and Exchange Visitor Admissions Process by DHS

This document provides a summary of the Department of Homeland Security’s September 25, 2020, Proposed Rule, “Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media.” The summary explains the changes DHS is proposing… Read More

How Trump’s COVID-19 Immigration Ban Has Impacted Family-Based Immigration

How Trump’s COVID-19 Immigration Ban Has Impacted Family-Based Immigration

The Trump administration is successfully using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to alter the U.S. system of legal immigration. New government data makes clear that these changes will significantly increase employment-based immigration at the expense of people in the family categories—and without any involvement by Congress. On March 20,… Read More

Comments on U.S. Customs and Border Protection Records Destruction Schedule

Comments on U.S. Customs and Border Protection Records Destruction Schedule

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is attempting to permanently destroy records related to civil rights complaints against the agency, administrative and criminal investigations into CBP officials’ conduct, and records related to Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) allegations. On July 9, 2020, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recommended… Read More

Letter Requesting 60-Day Comment Period on Proposed Rule Expanding Collection of Biometrics

Letter Requesting 60-Day Comment Period on Proposed Rule Expanding Collection of Biometrics

This new rule will increase the total number of people who are required to submit biometric data from 3.9 million currently to 6.07 million—an increase of more than 60%. Read More

Statement for the House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Hearing on

Statement for the House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Hearing on “Oversight of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services”

The American Immigration Council submitted a written statement to the House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship for a July 29, 2020 hearing on “Oversight of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.” The statement shares the Council’s analysis of the true causes of USCIS’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall, including… Read More

Executive Order to Exclude Millions From the Census Gets It Wrong; All People Must Be Counted

Executive Order to Exclude Millions From the Census Gets It Wrong; All People Must Be Counted

President Trump issued an executive order to prevent undocumented immigrants from being counted as part of the 2020 Census. This policy would unlawfully exclude 10.7 million undocumented immigrants, despite the clear requirement of the 14th Amendment to count “the whole number of persons in each state.” Read More

Congress Calls to Decrease ICE Detention as COVID-19 Continues to Spread

Congress Calls to Decrease ICE Detention as COVID-19 Continues to Spread

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security introduced their proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021 (beginning October 1, 2020) this week. The budget would have significant implications for U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities—current hotspots of the coronavirus pandemic. In a reversal of previous budget requests, this… Read More

Make a contribution

Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.

logoimg