Benefits & Relief

Benefits & Relief

In-State Tuition Policies for Undocumented Students Change Lives. I Should Know—Mine Changed for the Better

In-State Tuition Policies for Undocumented Students Change Lives. I Should Know—Mine Changed for the Better

“And I think it is healing behavior, to look at something so broken and see the possibility and wholeness in it.”  — adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy The Texas Dream Act was signed into law in 2001, years before I… Read More

CHNV Parole Won’t Last Forever – But There Are Options for Its Beneficiaries to Stay in the US

CHNV Parole Won’t Last Forever – But There Are Options for Its Beneficiaries to Stay in the US

In the last two years, nearly 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela have arrived in the United States to live and work here legally. They have come under a program known as “CHNV,” named for the nationalities of its beneficiaries. The CHNV program allows people in the… Read More

The 5th Circuit Fight for DACA Is a Personal One

The 5th Circuit Fight for DACA Is a Personal One

Written by Ilse Ramirez, Paralegal, and Andrea Rathbone Ramos, Digital Communications Specialist The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana, heard oral arguments on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative on October 10. The court is deciding whether DACA is unlawful, potentially paving the way for… Read More

Fighting Over Whether Haitian Immigrants Are 'Legal' Misses the Point: They’re Legally Vulnerable

Fighting Over Whether Haitian Immigrants Are ‘Legal’ Misses the Point: They’re Legally Vulnerable

As Springfield, Ohio, and its purported (largely invented) problems with its Haitian population have continued to dominate both national news and the presidential campaign, people on both sides have struggled to fit the newly-arrived Haitian population into the conventional boxes of immigration politics: “legal immigrants” versus “illegal” ones. So-called… Read More

Republican-Led States Sue to Block DACA Recipients from Accessing Affordable Health Insurance

Republican-Led States Sue to Block DACA Recipients from Accessing Affordable Health Insurance

A group of Republican-led states, headed by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, have sued to block a new rule that allows Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients to access health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is yet another legal assault on Dreamers, while the… Read More

President Biden’s Keeping Families Together Program Has Begun

President Biden’s Keeping Families Together Program Has Begun

Updated: August 22, 2024 This is an update to our blog first posted on June 18, 2024, when President Biden first announced two policies to help provide streamlined paths to legal status for certain undocumented immigrants. On August 19, 2024, details regarding the two policies described below were… Read More

State Department Streamlines Temporary Visas for College-Educated Noncitizen Workers—But Questions Remain About Its Impact

State Department Streamlines Temporary Visas for College-Educated Noncitizen Workers—But Questions Remain About Its Impact

Some immigrants who have graduated from college in the United States and have a pending job offer will have an easier time receiving a temporary employment-based visa, thanks to recent changes from the Biden administration. This will include Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries and other college-educated noncitizens. The… Read More

Biden Announces Immigration Protections for Up to 550,000 Spouses and Children of US Citizens

Biden Announces Immigration Protections for Up to 550,000 Spouses and Children of US Citizens

On June 18, the Biden administration announced two major new policies which may help provide streamlined paths to legal status for certain long-time undocumented immigrants. The first policy will allow undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who have been in the country to apply for “parole in place,” a protection… Read More

USCIS Re-Issues Temporary Rule to Extend Work Permits for 800,000 Immigrant Workers

USCIS Re-Issues Temporary Rule to Extend Work Permits for 800,000 Immigrant Workers

Thousands of immigrant workers with pending work permit renewals, and their employers, breathed a sigh of relief last week. On April 8, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a temporary rule that automatically extends the validity period of their work permits for up to 540 days, or about… Read More

STEM-Related Petitions Increase Following USCIS’ Updated Policy Guidance

STEM-Related Petitions Increase Following USCIS’ Updated Policy Guidance

A recent analysis by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) found that the number of petitions by, or on behalf of, foreign-born workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) increased following a pair of guidance clarifications the agency made in January 2022. One outlines how foreign-born… Read More

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