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USCIS’ Change to How ‘Unlawful Presence’ Is Calculated Is Defeated in Court
A federal district court stopped U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) from drastically changing how the agency determines when a foreign student or exchange visitor is “unlawfully present” in the United States. “Unlawful presence” is defined by law as any time a foreign national spends in the United States after their authorized stay has ended. […]
Read MoreTrump Bars New Yorkers From Traveler Programs Over State’s Refusal to Cooperate With ICE
The Trump administration is cracking down on New York over its refusal to share residents’ driver’s license records with immigration authorities. Now, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has barred all New Yorkers from four of its five “trusted traveler” programs. New York residents can no longer enroll or re-enroll in the Global Entry, NEXUS, […]
Read MoreHow Could the New Travel Ban Hurt the U.S. Economy?
In January 2020, the Trump Administration announced updates to its travel ban enacted in 2017 to include six additional countries. Taking effect in late February 2020, the new restrictions will bar immigrants from Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea, and Kyrgyzstan from obtaining permanent residency visas or “Green Cards.” It also will ban immigrants from Sudan and Tanzania […]
Read MoreRemoving Barriers to Higher Education: Expanding In-State Tuition to Dreamers in Virginia
With the state’s unemployment rate at just 2.6 percent—nearly one percent below the national average—employers and communities across Virginia are feeling the pinch as businesses face worker shortages that limit their ability to grow and compete. To address this challenge, it is imperative that state policies leverage local talent by increasing access to higher education. […]
Read MoreTrump’s Immigration Restrictions Extend to Nearly 7% of the Entire World
President Trump issued the fourth travel ban of his presidency on Friday. This ban comes almost three years to the day after the first one brought thousands of protesters to airports around the country. People from Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan are now barred from immigrating to the United States. Those from Sudan and Tanzania […]
Read MoreCalls for Independent Immigration Court Grow Louder at Congressional Hearing
A congressional oversight committee held a hearing this week on the need for immigration court reform and the systemic due process challenges within the immigration court system. The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship heard from several experts on the issue. Most experts made the case that the immigration court should transfer from […]
Read MoreNew Data Shows Immigrants Make Up More Than 60 Percent of Middlesex County’s STEM Workers and Nearly Half of Business Owners
Immigrants held $9.4 billion in spending power– 42.8 percent of the total spending power in the county–and contributed more than $4 billion in taxes in 2018. Middlesex, NJ — Despite making up 34.5 percent of Middlesex County’s population, immigrants accounted for 64.4 percent of the county’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) workers and 49 […]
Read MoreImmigrant restaurateur gives back to the community through Lebanese cuisine
Gus Sleiman’s family left their homeland in 1989 to escape the Lebanese Civil War, a 15-year conflict that killed an estimated 150,000 people and displaced another 900,000 — about one-fifth of the population. Sleiman was 16. The family moved to Michigan then New York and, while visiting a church in Somerset, New Jersey, fell in […]
Read MoreNew Americans in Middlesex County
New research from New American Economy shows that immigrants held $9.4 billion in spending power — 42.8 percent of the total spending power in the county — and contributed more than $4 billion in taxes in 2018. The report, New Americans in Middlesex County, was prepared in partnership with the Middlesex County Regional Chamber of […]
Read MoreDemographic Change Is Hard, Especially When Our Leaders Stoke Our Worst Fears
After more than 20 years in the immigrant justice movement, I confess that I missed the mark. In my drive to improve the lives of immigrants and refugees, I was blind to some key realities taking root in America. I failed to see the surge of cultural anxiety driven by demographic, economic, and social change […]
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