Immigration Benefits and Relief

The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.

Recent Features

The Dream Act would permanently protect certain immigrants who came to the United States as children but are vulnerable to deportation. 

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  • Practice Advisories

Arriving Noncitizens and Adjustment of Status

This Practice Advisory discusses the impact of an interim rule repealing two former regulations which barred all “arriving aliens” from adjusting status if they are in removal proceedings.

All Immigration Benefits and Relief Content

  • Blog

Visa Bulletin “Do-Over” Undercuts Visa Modernization

September 29, 2015

Earlier this month, the immigration agencies took a positive step forward in implementing the executive action promise to reform the visa system when they issued the October Visa Bulletin,...

  • Blog

Restrictionists Continue to Attack H-4 Work Authorization

September 2, 2015

Save Jobs USA—an organization comprised of IT workers who claim they lost their jobs to H-1B workers—still wants to overturn the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule that allows certain H-4...

  • Blog

Who and Where Are the Actual and Potential Beneficiaries of DACA?

August 12, 2015

Since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was first implemented in August 2012, hundreds of thousands of young immigrants were provided with a temporary reprieve from...

  • Blog

White House Report on Improving Our Legal Immigration System: Too Little Too Late?

July 23, 2015

As part of November 2014’s Executive Action announcement, the President issued a memorandum directing the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to recommend improvements to the immigration...

  • Blog

Some 3-Year Work Permits Being Recalled by USCIS

July 16, 2015

 This week, the federal government announced that it would take more aggressive steps to retrieve 2,600 3-year DACA grants, including launching home visits for a small number of people. This move...

  • Blog

3 Years In, It’s Increasingly Clear That DACA Benefits All of Us

June 15, 2015

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), President Obama’s deportation deferral program for DREAMers–undocumented young people brought to the United States as children–is celebrating its...

  • Blog

Court Rejects Restrictionists’ Attempts to Derail Work Authorization for H-4 Spouses

May 27, 2015

Despite immigration restrictionists’ efforts to derail implementation, a new rule went into effect this week allowing certain H-4 spouses (i.e., spouses of H-1B workers) to apply for work...

  • Blog

Immigration Appeals Court Reverses Position on Deportation Waivers

May 20, 2015

In a decision issued last week, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed course and decided that a subset of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) who have been convicted of certain crimes may...

  • Blog

The Court Decision on Deferred Action Everyone Should Be Talking About

April 8, 2015

Yesterday, in Crane v. Johnson, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (the same court deciding whether or not to keep in place the preliminary injunction blocking the President’s executive actions)...

  • Blog

Report Provides Solutions to Broken Asylum Employment Authorization Clock

February 12, 2010

Asylum applicants and their attorneys have long struggled to better understand how the employment authorization asylum clock (“EAD asylum clock”) functions. The clock, which measures the number of...

  • Blog

USCIS Reveals Nearly 25 Percent of Eligible Dreamers Did Not Submit Their Renewal Application on Time

October 11, 2017

Now that the arbitrary deadline for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewals has passed, approximately 36,000 young immigrants are in danger of being deported. New data from United...

  • Blog

White House Immigration Principles Are Released as DACA Deal Looms

October 10, 2017

The White House released its Immigration Principles and Policies late Sunday night, providing an outline of the Trump administration’s proposals on immigration. The principles were sent to...

  • Press Release

American Immigration Council's Statement on President Trump's Immigration Principles

October 8, 2017
The White House released its long anticipated, "Immigration Principles and Policies," which lay out many of the already-stated aspirations of the Trump administration on immigration. The laundry list represents a wholesale attack on immigration and immigrants. It includes not only limits on immigration generally, but enables mass deportations and envisions bypassing necessary procedures that protect children and asylum seekers.
  • Blog

As the DACA Renewal Deadline Approaches, 50,000 Dreamers May Face Deportation

October 4, 2017

With the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) renewal deadline fast approaching, thousands of young immigrants are scrambling to have their paperwork in by October 5 for a final, two-year...

  • Blog

A Variety of Legislation Has Been Introduced in Congress to Protect Dreamers

September 27, 2017

The announcement of the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative has hit home for many. The public has demonstrated a strong distaste for taking away young, undocumented...

  • Blog

Public’s Appetite for Harsh Immigration Polices on the Decline

September 22, 2017

While undocumented immigration remains a concern among two-thirds of the American public, most Americans, including Republicans, support proposals which provide law-abiding immigrants a chance to...

  • Blog

Temporary Protected Status Terminated for Sudan, Extended for South Sudan. Who Is Next?

September 21, 2017

With the stroke of a pen, the Secretary of Homeland Security upended the lives of over 1,000 Sudanese nationals living in the United States with the announcement this week that Temporary Protected...

  • Legal Resources and Litigation

Statement for the Senate Judiciary Committee on "The Long-Term Impact of Immigration: Exploring Reforms to our Nation's Guest Worker Programs and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and Their Potential Impact on the Economy and Local Communities"

September 13, 2017
The statement addresses the impact of the President's decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), as well as shares our analysis and research on how immigrants play a vital role in our nation's economy.
  • Blog

Seniors’ Access to Health Care May Suffer If DACA Is Terminated

September 8, 2017

Industries across the nation may find themselves in dangerously short supply of workers if no solution is found for the 800,000 young immigrants now at risk of deportation due to the termination...

  • Blog

States and NGOs Sue Trump Administration Over DACA Termination

September 7, 2017

With the Trump administration announcing it was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative on Tuesday, a number of states, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and DACA...

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