Us Immigrants

Do not just show up at the border: US President Biden tells migrants

The Biden administration on Thursday said it would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the US-Mexico border illegally, a major expansion of an existing effort to stop Venezuelans attempting to enter the US. Instead, the administration will accept 30,000 people per month from the four nations for two years and offer the ability to legally work, as long as they come legally, have eligible sponsors and pass vetting and background checks. These four affected nations are among those for whom migrant border crossings have risen most sharply, with no easy way to quickly return migrants to their home countries. Do not, do not just show up at the border," Biden said Thursday. Stay where you are and apply legally from there. It was Biden's boldest move yet to confront spiralling arrivals at the US border with Mexico, a major change to immigration rules that will stand even if the US Supreme Court ends a Trump-era public health law that allows American ..

US immigrants generate 36% of nation's innovation, finds NBER study

About 36% of the innovative output of the past three decades can be attributed to immigrants - who make up 16% of the country's inventors, the paper concludes

Migrants near US border wait for asylum ruling amid falling temperatures

Hairdresser Grisel Garcs survived a harrowing, four-month journey from her native Venezuela through tropical jungles, migrant detention centres in southern Mexico and then jolting railcar rides north toward the U.S. border. Now on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande across from El Paso, Texas, she's anxiously awaiting a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on asylum restrictions expected to affect her and thousands of other migrants at crossings along some 3,100 kilometers of border from Texas to California. And she's doing so while living outside as winter temperatures plunge over much of the U.S. and across the border. She told of fleeing economic hardship only to find more hardship, such as now having to shiver through temperatures colder than any she's ever experienced. Riding the train was bad. Here the situation is even worse. You just turn yourself over to God's mercy, said Garcs, who left a school-aged daughter behind, hoping to reach the U.S. with her husband. Their savings

US SC temporarily halts expiration of asylum-limiting policy Title 42

The US Supreme Court has temporarily halted the expiration of an asylum-limiting policy which was set to end this week

US plans for more migrant releases when asylum restrictions end next week

The Department of Homeland Security said more migrants may be released into the United States to pursue immigration cases when Trump-era asylum restrictions end next week in one of its most detailed assessments ahead of the major policy shift. The department reported faster processing for migrants in custody on the border, more temporary detention tents, staffing surges and increased criminal prosecutions of smugglers, noting progress on a plan announced in April. But the seven-page document dated Tuesday included no major structural changes amid unusually large numbers of migrants entering the country. More are expected with the end of Title 42 authority, under which migrants have been denied rights to seek asylum more than 2.5 million times on grounds of preventing spread of COVID-19. A federal judge in Washington ordered Title 42 to end December 21 but Republican-led states asked an appeals court to keep it in place. The Biden administration has also challenged some aspects of

Nearly one million immigrants gained US citizenship in FY22: Report

Nearly one million immigrants obtained US citizenship during 2022, the highest number of naturalized citizens in almost 15 years, according to a US Citizenship and Immigration Services report

US govt appeals ruling that would lift asylum restrictions for migrants

The US government said Wednesday it is appealing a court ruling that would otherwise lift asylum restrictions that have become the cornerstone of border enforcement in recent years. The enforcement rule first took effect in March 2020, denying migrants' rights to seek asylum under US and international law on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The Homeland Security Department said it would file an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, challenging a November ruling by US District Judge Emmet Sullivan that ordered President Joe Biden's administration to lift the asylum restrictions. The restrictions were put in place under former President Donald Trump at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The practice was authorized under Title 42 of a broader 1944 law covering public health, and has been used to expel migrants more than 2.4 million times.

Will expand temporary legal status for Haitians residing in country: US

The Biden administration said Monday that it would expand temporary legal status for Haitians already living in the United States, determining conditions in the Caribbean nation were too dangerous for their forced return. The Homeland Security Department said Haitians who were in the United States November 6 could apply for Temporary Protected Status and those who were granted it last year could stay an additional 18 months until August 3, 2024. The administration has extended temporary status for several countries and expanded or introduced it for Haiti, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Myanmar, Cameroon and Venezuela, reversing a Trump-era trend to cut back on protections for those already in the United States. TPS, which typically comes with authorisation to work, may be extended in increments up to 18 months for countries struck by natural disasters or civil strife. Haiti has seen increasingly brazen attacks by gangs that have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of ...

Joe Biden turning to Trump-era rule to expel Venezuelan migrants

Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden loudly denounced President Donald Trump for immigration policies that inflicted cruelty and exclusion at every turn, including toward those fleeing the "brutal" government of socialist Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Now, with increasing numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the US-Mexico border as the Nov 8 election nears, Biden has turned to an unlikely source for a solution: his predecessor's playbook. Biden last week invoked a Trump-era rule known as Title 42 -- which Biden's own Justice Department is fighting in court to deny Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-torn country the chance to request asylum at the border. The rule, first invoked by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authority to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Under the new Biden administration policy, Venezuelans who walk or swim across America's southern border will be expelled

California first to cover health care for all low-income immigrants

It's a long-sought victory for health care and immigration activists, who have been asking for the change for more than a decade

Mexico's Prez Obrador urges US to legalise status of Mexican immigrants

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said his administration will continue to press the US to legalise the status of Mexican immigrants.

US dismantles Trump-era govt office for victims of immigrant crime

The Joe Biden administration said on Friday it has dismantled a Trump-era government office to help victims of crimes committed by immigrants

US citizenship agency eyes improved service without plan to pay

Less than a year after being on the verge of furloughing about 70 per cent of employees to plug a funding shortfall, the U.S. agency that grants citizenship, green cards and temporary visas wants to improve service without a detailed plan to pay for it, including granting waivers for those who can't afford to pay fees, according to a proposal obtained by The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department sent its 14-page plan to enhance procedures for becoming a naturalised citizen to the White House for approval on April 21. It involves U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of Homeland Security and has been operating entirely on fees, without funding from Congress. The plan describes short- and long-term changes that reflect a realistic assessment of our aspirations and limitations, including more video instead of in-person interviews with applicants, authorising employees to administer citizenship oaths instead of having to rely on federal judges, and ...

US immigration enforcement agencies to stop referring migrants as 'aliens'

Employees of the two main US immigration enforcement agencies have been directed to stop referring to migrants as aliens, a dated term that many people consider offensive

Lawsuit filed against delay in processing of EADs for spouses of H-1B visas

A top US association of immigration lawyers has filed a case against Homeland Security for extraordinary delays in processing EADs of spouses of foreign workers in the country on H-1B and L1 visas

US House passes key bills providing citizenship to dreamers, immigrants

US House has passed key bills that would create a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, some migrant farmworkers and children whose parents immigrated legally to the country

Undocumented Indian immigrants in US hold $15.5 billion in spending power

Undocumented Indian immigrants to the US, numbering over half a million, hold a spending power of $15.5 billion and contribute $2.8 billion to the federal, state and local tax revenue, says a report

Immigrants, activists worry Joe Biden won't end Donald Trump barriers

For nearly 17 months, the Trump administration tried to deport the mother and daughter from El Salvador. The Biden administration may finish the job

Biden to propose 8-year citizenship path for undocumented immigrants

The legislation puts Biden on track to deliver on a major campaign promise important to Latino voters and other immigrant communities

First new Obama-era DACA applications approved in final weeks of 2020

Over 170 new applicants have become the first individuals in several years to win approval to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme for immigrants