ImmigrationProf Blog

TRAC Immigration: Who Is Being Given Humanitarian Parole: Latest Data

TRAC Immigration provides the latest humanitarian parole data.

KJ

Neo-Nazi and far right groups seize on Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric

Official White House Photo

The Guardian (United Kingdom) reports the following:  "Neo-Nazi groups and the online far right are latching on to the anti-immigration rhetoric coming from Donald Trump’s campaign for the White House in an effort to recruit new supporters and spread their extremism to broader audiences."  The story offers details about the reliance of the extreme right in their recruitment efforts on Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.

KJ

Former UK Prime Minister: Brexit failed – and it triggered mass immigration

Photo from the Brexit campaign courtesy of Don Roth

News from the UK.  Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in an interview stated that Brexit , the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union, has failed and Britain has ended up with mass immigration instead taking “back control" over immigration.

“We’ve swapped out younger, usually single people coming in from Europe to work in hospitality, technology and other sectors for much increased immigration from Asia and Africa,” he said.

The exclusive interview was with Geordie Greig, editor-in-chief of The Independent.  Blair highlighted the way “we have weakened ourselves” as a result of Brexit.

The interview was occasioned by the publication of Blair's book On Leadership.

 

KJ

California Governor Vetoes bill to help undocumented immigrants buy homes

Official State of California Photo

California Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill yesterday that would have made some undocumented immigrants eligible for state-supported home loans.  Passed by the California Legislature, the bill had sparked criticism from Republicans in this election year.  Former President Donald Trump responded to the bill by saying that he would ban undocumented immigrants from receiving home mortgages if re-elected President. 

Governor Newsom cited funding concerns in his veto message:

"To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 1840 without my signature.

This bill seeks to prohibit the disqualification of applicants from one of California Housing Finance Agency's (CalHFA) home purchase assistance programs based solely on their immigration status.

Given the finite funding available . . .  , expanding program eligibility must be carefully considered within the broader context of the annual state budget to ensure we manage our resources effectively.
,
I am unable to sign this bill."

Although the home mortgage bill received some attention, the really big immigration-related bill in this session of the California Legislature remains before Governor Gavin Newsom.  The Opportunity for All Act, if signed into law, would allow public universities and colleges to employ students, regardless of their immigration status. 

Assembly Bill 2568 calls for University of California, California State University and California community college systems to provide equal access to on-campus employment opportunities for undocumented students. The bill passed the Legislature in a 41-7 Assembly vote in August.  Will Newsom sign the bill into law?  Stay tuned.

KJ

US Undocumented Population Estimated at 1.7 Million in July 2023

Without offering an explanation, Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential campaign has alleged that there are 20 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.  Here is the latest estimate based on data.

Demographer Robert Warren for the Center for Migration Studies, who has been making estimates like these for many years, estimates the undocumented population at 11/7 million.  Warren's estimate is based on data collected by two  U.S. Census Bureau surveys, the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS).

KJ

READ THE FULL REPORT

Beyond the Border: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Presence at Racial Justice Protests in Summer of 2020

Many people mistakenly believe that the role of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is confined to border enforcement.

But in the summer of 2020, CBP officers were deployed alongside local law enforcement to police those participating in protests far from the border demanding racial justice.

As the Council and our partners the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) found in a report, CBP overstepped its mandate and became involved in policing these protests, often without first consulting city and state authorities. Through our litigation, we secured documents from CBP that showed top officials were concerned that its agents weren’t trained to interact with protestors, and initially did not know that CBP agents had arrested protestors in unmarked vans.

KJ

Go in-depth: keeping CBP accountable

Why Trump is losing ground on immigration to Harris?

I am not sure that this Washington Examiner story ("Why Trump is losing ground on immigration to Harris") is accurate.  Is former President Donald Trump in fact losing ground to Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration?  Immigration remains a leading issue in the 2024 presidential campaign.  Some might say that the issue's prominence -- one of Trump's signature issues -- alone is a benefit to the Trump campaign as it keeps Harris's immigration positions.

KJ

The economics of immigration

 

Listen to a brief discussion of how immigration affects housing, economic growth, and the like. For further analysis of the economics of immigration, click here.

KJ 

Judge Puts on ICE -- At Least for Now -- Biden's Parole in Place Program

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

News from the Lone Star State:  A federal district judge yesterday extended the temporary block of the implementation of the Biden administration’s “Keeping Families Together”/Parole in Place policy, which aims to provide a path to citizenship for nearly half a million undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens.  Here is the order:  Download TX v. DHS order 9-4-24

KJ

The Daily: Kamala Harris's Record on Immigration

Official White House Photo

Today's The Daily looks at Kamala Harris's Record on Immigration.  It is interesting but not surprising.  The Daily describes the episode as follows:

"As Vice President Kamala Harris moves into the final stretch of her campaign, one of the biggest issues both for voters and for Republicans attacking her is the surge of migrants crossing the southern border over the past four years.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, who covers the White House for The Times, discusses Ms. Harris’s record on border policy."

KJ

Report -- Held Incommunicado: The Failed Promise of Language Access in Immigration Detention

A report (Held Incommunicado: The Failed Promise of Language Access in Immigration Detention) of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigrant Justice Clinic concludes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not providing sufficient translation services to detainees in its facilities.  Andrea Castillo for the Los Angeles Times discusses the report.   Detainees' main complaints included being unable to ask for medical care and having to rely on other detainees for the translation of sensitive documents.  

The punch line of the report:

"Together, these data paint a clear—and troubling—picture of language access in 125 immigration detention centers that collectively hold approximately 95% of the people that ICE detains.16 Specifically, the data show a nationwide pattern of ICE failing to meet its language access obligations under its own rules and federal law. This report also sheds new light on the  wide-ranging harms and often life-altering consequences of this failure for the [Limited English Proficient (LEP)] people that ICE detains. And, while this report does not cover other aspects of language access in immigration detention or with respect to other agencies involved in the immigration legal system, its findings suggest the need for closer examination of the government’s compliance with its language access obligations in these contexts as well.

The findings in this report are critical, both due to the importance of language access to LEP individuals’ fundamental needs and rights and because the very nature of ICE’s language access failures makes it effectively impossible for detained LEP
individuals to raise, challenge, or remedy these problems on their own. As such, this report concludes with recommendations for the federal government and other actors to respond to the urgent problems that this study reveals."

KJ

Chinese migrants heading to Mexico

The Associated Press reports that Chinese migrants are leaving their country in search of political and economic opportunities. Many are heading to Mexico and planning to start their own businesses there, taking advantage of the country’s proximity to the United States. China's latest generation of emigrants is more diverse and is settling in more places than in the past. While many still head for the United States and other Western nations, Chinese migrants are changing places, including Mexico City and Tokyo. Check out the Associated Press series offering a glimpse into the new Chinese migration. KJ

 

Immigration Article of the Day: Arbitrary-and-Capricious Review: The Colonial Roots of Administrative Discrimination by Carrie Rosenbaum

Arbitrary-and-Capricious Review: The Colonial Roots of Administrative Discrimination by Carrie Rosenbaum

Abstract

Despite the Supreme Court's watershed decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, deference to the administrative state will endure in part via arbitrary-and-capricious review. Seemingly benign, arbitrary-and-capricious review has evaded definition, led to controversial and surprising results, and has been characterized as antidemocratic, obscuring judicial bias. It has also done work seemingly meant for other doctrines, like equal protection. However, even if arbitrariness review may be doing work meant for equal protection, it not inherently a doctrine of anti-discrimination. This article will reveal the formative and invisiziblized role of racialized subordination that implicitly colors arbitrariness review by historicizing the doctrine through the lens of its colonial and Gilded Age origins, and plenary power, an overt doctrine of discrimination. This exploration will help set expectations regarding the limits and possibilities of this highly consequential but seemingly benign administrative law doctrine.

KJ

Resources on Labor-Based Deferred Action

Professor Mary Yanik shared information that Tulane, NIPNLG, NILC, Organized Power in Numbers, & Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center have released an updated version of the immigration practice manual on Labor-Based Deferred Action (also known as DALE). This update shares lessons learned from this practice over the past one and a half years, information on the process for renewals and extensions, advising in light of the upcoming election, and so more. We also link to updated exhibits with example applications and an online chart with information on state/local agencies, referral resources, and guestworker grace periods.

Two  additional DALE resources:  (1) to join a listserv of attorneys, organizers, and advocates sharing information and updates on DALE,  email [email protected]; and (2) Law Student DALE Orientation (registration link)webinar on Friday, September 6, 12:30 to 2pm EST.

KJ

Mixed-status families and immigrant families with children continued avoiding safety net programs

From the Urban Institute:  

Mixed-status families and immigrant families with children continued avoiding safety net programs

Nearly one in four adults in mixed-status families and more than one in seven adults in immigrant families with children avoided safety net programs because of green card concerns in 2023. During the last two federal administrations, immigrants have experienced rapid policy shifts affecting their access to public safety net programs. Looming especially large were changes to the public charge rule, by which the Trump administration sought to expand consideration of noncash public benefits receipt (such as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP], and housing assistance programs) in applications for green cards (i.e., permanent residency) or temporary visas. In this summary, we use Well-being and Basic Needs Survey data to provide updated estimates of chilling effects in 2023 among immigrant families (i.e., families in which the respondent or a family member living with them was not born in the US). Our analysis examines the differences in these effects based on family citizenship and immigration status and the presence of children under age 19 in the household.  We find the following: Nearly one in four adults in mixed-status families avoided safety net programs because of green card concerns in 2023. Over one in seven adults in immigrant families with children avoided safety net programs because of green card concerns. In addition to avoiding safety net programs, mixed-status families and immigrant families with children experienced high rates of material hardship in 2023.

KJ

Catholic experts respond to Pope Francis on repelling migrants being 'a grave sin'.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Continuing with the religious theme of today's immigration article of the day, Peter Pinedo for the Catholic News Network looked at Pope Francis's statements on immigration policy last week and his criticism of “those who systematically work by all means to drive away migrants,” saying that “this when done knowingly and deliberately, is a grave sin.”  

Though Pope Francis's most recent remarks involved migrants in the Mediterranean, his words were also "seen as controversial in the U.S. because of their severity and because of their timing in the middle of an American presidential election in which the issue looms large."

The article offers thoughts of several of the country’s Catholic immigration experts and advocates to get their reactions to the Pope's statements on immigration.

KJ

Immigration Article of the Day: Nonrefoulement: Responding to Asylum-seekers through the Prism of Subversive Stories: A Study of Three Trials of Innocence by Craig Mousin

“Nonrefoulement: Responding to Asylum-seekers through the Prism of Subversive Stories: A Study of Three Trials of Innocence,” a chapter in Furthering Interfaith Biblical Scholarship, A Festschrift in Memory of André LaCocque (Wipf & Stock, 2024), links biblical scholarship to asylum and refugee law to engage the critical issue of how nation-states respond to the contemporary demands of asylum-seekers.  The chapter focuses on Dr. LaCocque’s contention that the biblical narrative calls all who follow it to respond to a daily trial of innocence to do well or to not do well.  The first trial briefly explores the world’s failure to respond to refugees prior to and during World War II.  Subsequently, with the advent of the Refugee Convention of 1951 and the United States Refugee Act of 1980, the adopting nations established the second trial as individual asylum-seekers present their cases to determine eligibility for asylum and resettlement.   The initial promises of the Convention and the Refuge Act undergo a third trial as increased numbers of asylum-seekers flee conditions unanticipated by the drafters of the Convention including the consequences of climate change and exploitive extractive industries that frequently corrupt governments that repress their citizens. Extensive biblical scholarship regarding immigration and refugees focuses on the biblical call to welcome the stranger.  Although this chapter recognizes that imperative, it further explores the subversive stories that can encourage asylum-seekers, those who work with them, and rebut some of the arguments that white Christian nationalists employ to support policies of exclusion and deportation. 

 

KJ

2024 Presidential Campaign: Democrats must make the economic case for immigration

Official White House Photo

Matthew Blanton for the Hill contends that Democrats must make the economic case for immigration in the 2024 presidential election.   He observes that "Democrats appear hesitant to engage the issue of immigration, either avoiding the topic altogether or, as seen at the Democratic National Convention, simply playing defense against Republican attacks or even even shifting their stance to the right. . . .   [Democrats] should proudly reclaim their identity as the pro-immigrant party and boldly make the case that immigration is integral to America’s economic health . . . . By highlighting their ongoing efforts to fix border issues and stressing the broader economic benefits of immigration, Democrats can reclaim the narrative."

Thoughts?  Do people really 'get" the economic benefits brought by immigrants and their labor?

KJ

How an Ohio Town Landed in the Middle of the Immigration Debate

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

It is an election year and immigration is a big issue.  So expect more stories like this one.

The headline to this story by Miriam Jordan for the New York Times says it all:  :How an Ohio Town Landed in the Middle of the Immigration Debate:  Jobs attracted thousands of Haitians to Springfield, and employers were ecstatic. But then an immigrant driver was involved in a fatal school bus crash. And JD Vance entered the fray."  

The setting of the controversy is Springfield, Ohio, not to be confused with the town of Springfield of Simpsons fame.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

KJ

Migrant farm worker deaths show cost of the 'American Dream'

 

In Migrant farm worker deaths show cost of the 'American Dream', Brandon Drenon and Bernd Debusmann Jr. for the BBC looks at the experiences of migrant farmworkers in the United States.  "From farmers and meatpackers to line cooks and construction workers, migrants often do dangerous jobs where workplace deaths typically go unnoticed by the wider public. But in the past year, the issue has been thrust into the spotlight, by multiple high-profile deaths and by a migrant crisis at the border that has amplified anti-immigrant rhetoric."

KJ