Border Wall
House Reconciliation Bill Would Supercharge Immigrant Detention and Effectively Eliminate Asylum for Most
On April 30, the House Judiciary Committee advanced a budget reconciliation bill which, if signed into law, would represent the single biggest increase in funding to immigration enforcement in the history of the United States. The bill would provide nearly $80 billion for internal immigration enforcement, including $45 billion… Read More
The Biden Administration Let Over 200,000 Green Cards Go to Waste This Year
The Biden administration failed to issue more than 200,000 permanent resident visas (or “green cards”) that were allotted in fiscal year 2021 for immigrants sponsored by U.S. employers or family members. Roughly 150,000 visas for family-based immigrants and as many as 80,000 visas for employment-based immigrants had gone… Read More
Biden Will Use Border Wall Funding for Safety and Environmental Protections
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on June 11 its plan for funds the Trump administration had planned to use to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Unspent funds will address safety and environmental issues, while funds diverted from the Department of Defense will be returned for… Read More
DHS Issues New Guidance for Government Attorneys in Immigration Court Proceedings
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) issued a new memorandum on May 27 that provides guidance on how its attorneys can and should exercise prosecutorial discretion. In the memo, which was made public on Friday, the lead government attorney for the Department… Read More
What’s Not Being Said About the Border
The current situation at the U.S.-Mexico border—including the rise in immigrant children in U.S. government custody—has captured the nation’s attention in recent weeks. Much of the conversation has focused on a supposed “surge” in arrivals under the Biden administration, but the current increase began well before… Read More
The Environmental and Cultural Risks of Resuming Border Wall Construction
A pause on border wall construction is set to expire on March 20, without an indication of what will happen next. President Biden signed a proclamation ordering the 60-day pause on his first day in office. Any future construction would compound the cultural and environmental damage that has already been… Read More
Biden Took Eight Administrative Actions on Immigration. Here’s What You Need to Know.
On his first day in office, President Biden took significant steps towards undoing the harm of the Trump administration’s immigration policies—and reforming our punitive and inhumane enforcement system. In response to years of work by immigrants and advocates, Biden quickly signed a series of executive actions related to immigration. Here… Read More
The Media Is Obsessed With the ‘Latino Vote’ – There Is No Such Thing
A major theme of the 2020 election has been how demographic shifts in the American electorate would influence the outcome. Political pundits have given a great deal of airtime to examining the voting patterns of “Latinos” in the United States. Exit polls show that President Trump fared well with… Read More
USCIS Cancelled Planned Staff Furloughs, But Budgetary Challenges Remain
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told Congress in May that it was running out of money and would need a $1.2 billion bailout to maintain its operations without major disruptions. The agency threatened to furlough over 13,000 of its staff in the process—a step that would bring the… Read More
Where Does Trump Get the Money to Build the Border Wall? Not From Steve Bannon
Over 250,000 Americans donated a total of $25 million to the “We Build the Wall” campaign, a crowdfunding effort led in part by former White House Adviser Steve Bannon. The campaign alleged that all funds collected would go directly toward erecting a wall on the U.S.-Mexico… Read More
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