Benefits & Relief

USCIS Begins Implementing Plan to Issue More Deportation Notices
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued guidance to its officers in June instructing them to initiate deportation proceedings for certain applicants who were denied immigration benefits. At the same time, the agency put the guidance on hold and solicited comments from the public. On Monday, the guidance went… Read More

The Proposed Changes to Public Charge: What You Need to Know
Over the weekend, the Trump administration took steps to radically transform a little-known provision of immigration law that could have an outsized impact on legal immigration. In proposed regulations posted on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicated that it would redefine the legal term… Read More

Federal Judge Allows DACA Renewals to Continue for Now
This week will mark the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s announcement ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. Yet, defenders and recipients of DACA are celebrating a decision that came late last week, in which several states attempting to end the initiative were hit with a major… Read More

Judge Orders A Full Restart of DACA, but Its Future Remains Uncertain
A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restart the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative by August 23. This ruling in the D.C. District Court comes just days ahead of another hearing before a hardline conservative federal judge in Texas, where seven states have challenged the… Read More

How Long Does It Take USCIS to Issue a Green Card?
How long does it take to process an application for permanent residence in the United States, or a “green card?” You might be surprised by how difficult it is to find a reliable answer to this common question. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)—the agency that adjudicates applications for permanent… Read More

USCIS Is Slowly Being Morphed Into an Immigration Enforcement Agency
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new guidance to initiate deportation proceedings for thousands of applicants denied for any immigration benefit. This policy change will have far-reaching implications for many of those interacting with the agency, but also signals a major shift in how USCIS operates. USCIS was never… Read More

New USCIS Policy Places Certain Students and Exchange Visitors at Serious Risk of Being Barred from the United States
In another attempt to restrict legal immigration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a policy change to the way foreign students and exchange visitors accrue unlawful presence—a legal term used to describe any time spent in the United States after a foreign national’s period of authorized stay… Read More

Confused About the Current Status of DACA? Here Is What You Need to Know
The Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative set off a slew of lawsuits attempting to stop the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from terminating the initiative. Much of that litigation has been successful—as a result, DHS is still accepting DACA renewal applications. Read More

The Invisible Wall That President Trump Has Already Built
Legal immigration and the number of foreigners visiting the United States has taken a serious hit within the last year, as the Trump administration makes changes to policies and procedures without any Congressional action or approval. These actions have already had a disturbing, cumulative effect as the administration begins to… Read More

Long-Residing Liberians Are at Risk of Losing Protection from Deportation by the End of March
While much of the national immigration conversation has focused on the fate of Dreamers and those with Temporary Protected Status, a little-known protection provided to Liberians is on the brink of expiration. This rarely-applied protection is known as Deferred Enforced Departure, a designation made by the president to provide… Read More
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