USCIS issued a memorandum requiring some Central American asylum seekers, to stay in Mexico, until their immigration court hearings. 

The Trump Administration has openly criticized the immigration system and the practice of allowing undocumented immigrants awaiting their immigration court hearings to remain in the US, temporarily protected from deportation. 

Customs and Border Protection is instructed to refer migrants who claim they'll be persecuted or tortured in Mexico to USCIS. Asylum officers are expected to conduct interviews in person, via video teleconference or by telephone.

Effective April 1, 2019, USCIS will effectively reverse the order by which they select H1-B petitions under the H1-B regular cap and advance degree exemption. Additionally, they will introduce an electronic registration for petitioners seeking to file H1-B cap-subject petitions. 

The US employers seeking to employ foreign workers with a U.S. master's or higher degree will have a greater chance of selection in the H1-B lottery in years of excess demand for new H1-B visas.

USCIS will first select H1-B petitions submitted on behalf of ALL beneficiaries, including those that may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption.

A letter from union President Chris Crane to the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee said Vitiello lacks the judgment and professionalism needed to effectively lead.

The letter cited a number of concerns ranging from allegations of being a whistleblower and lying to lawmakers during his confirmation, to the offensive tweets that he made while serving at Customs and Border Protection.

In a Twitter post, he suggested the Democratic Party should be renamed as “NeoKlanist” a reference to the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group.

Happening at the border

In light of all the immigration controversies that are taking place, one major issue has been standing out these past few days. Images and stories of children being torn away from their parents and caged up are rampant over news and social media sites. This separation on parents and children is causing unnecessary fear and trauma and suffering amongst these individuals who are in fact human beings and not being treated as such.

From the words of Melania Trump herself, "She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.

The Attorney General’s Push to Have Immigration Judges to Deny Asylum to Victims of Violence

The AG issued a precedent decision, he vacated the Board of Immigration Appeal’s decision, stating that in his view, domestic violence victims and other victims of crimes perpetrated by private, non-governmental actors do not generally qualify for asylum.

This decision just goes to show that this current administration does not respect the fundamental rights in our Constitution and laws. Each incident is case specific and must be assessed based on their own individual merits. I believe that this decision is being made blindly, with the AG’s inconsideration of the fact that certain victims can be targeted with no kind of relief solely because the crime was done by a private actor and not a member of the government. The safety of people’s lives is being blatantly ignored. 

The moderates and the conservatives have finally come to an immigration agreement that has been long awaited. Both parties will be voting on two bills next week, one proposed by the conservatives that is not expected to pass, and another based on closed-door negotiations regarding DACA. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, emerged from the conservative meeting late Tuesday saying he'd talked to moderates about what conservatives could accept, offering a promise that his members would support a vote on the to-be-written negotiated bill if they got a vote on their preferred conservative bill. The moderate Republicans are hoping that with some support towards the bolstering of the border, they come get a DACA solution. There is also talk of creating a new possible visa that could create a special path to citizenship only for undocumented immigrants. I think that this movement will create better understanding of what is to come. 

New Policy Memorandum for F, J, and M Nonimmigrants

 

As per a new policy memorandum issued by the Unites States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on May 10, 2018, starting on August 9, 2018, foreign students (F), exchange visitors (J), and foreign vocational students (M) who were admitted or present in the United States in duration of status (D/S), will accrue unlawful presence the day after USCIS finds a nonimmigrant status violation while adjudicating a request for another benefit, or the day after an immigration judge ordered them excluded, deported, or removed.

USCIS Updates Policy of DNA Evidence 

The purpose of this policy was to change the USCIS’s policy on evaluating DNA evidence between siblings. When the USCIS files petitions for siblings of US citizens, they have to evaluate DNA evidence. A sibling relationship is determined by if the beneficiary and the petitioner share at least one parent. Evidence is needed to determine if the relationship is conclusive. Primary evidence includes proof such as birth and marriage certificates while secondary evidence includes medical records, school records, religious documents, etc. Affidavits from people can also be used. The USCIS can also conduct a Blood Group Antigen Test or a Human Leucocyte Antigen Test to further conduct tests to prove sibling relationship. However, these methods are rarely used nowadays and instead, DNA testing has become more favorable. In March 2016, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)’s decision in the Matter of Ruzku held that sibling-sibling relationships should have a 99.5% when testing for DNA. Currently, USCIS has set the value for full and half-sibling for 90%. They may find the full sibling relationship inconclusive if it falls below 90% unless it is greater or equal to 9% probability. If the probability is less than 9%, then the relationship does not exist. If the value for half-sibling relationships is below 90% then it is also inconclusive however, if the probability is less than 9%, it does not necessarily mean that it is completely invalid. Reference: http://www.aila.org/infonet/uscis-updates-guidance-on-dna-evidence-of-sibling

USA’s Competitive Advantage

 The first reason for why lawmakers should work towards reform is that attacks on immigration will affect USA’s competitive advantage. Immigrants make up a large amount of our working population. They also account for $2 trillion of the overall economy of $18 trillion. Cutting legal immigration will result in the decline of the country’s economy in the long run and also decrease the labor supply. In addition to this, attacks on immigration has also discouraged travelers from entering the United States, creating a decline in tourism.

Why Lawmakers Should Work for a Reform Against Attacks on Legal Immigration

 The report, “The Case for Protecting Legal Immigration Against Recent Attacks” includes several of the efforts that are made or being made by our current Administration in the United States. Most of these efforts are targeted towards making immigration more difficult for legal immigrants, Dreamers, and those that are already even here and to overall reduce legal immigration. This is problematic especially because immigrants and immigration are good for the economy of the country. According to the report, immigrants are “a source of economic strength”, helps to grow the GDP of the country which will provide more jobs for Americans as well as increase wages. Attacking legal immigration puts America at an economic disadvantage. More specifically, there will be a 2% drop in GDP by 2040 and 4.6 million fewer jobs. As a result, it is crucial that they need to understand why we need to make reforms towards these new attacks on legal immigration for the sake of our own country.