U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is opening a new service center to try to fix some of its most egregious backlogs. The agency reportedly has already reassigned 150 employees – and plans to have over 300 – to staff a virtual service center, which will eventually operate fully remotely (though it will accept paper as well […]
The public has spoken: an asylum transit ban was bad policy during the Trump era, and it’s bad policy now. On February 21, the Biden administration released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking laying out the details of a planned asylum transit ban. The proposed rule, a new version of a Trump-era policy, would all but bar […]
A conservative group is calling for the deportation of Prince Harry over his admissions of past drug use, including cocaine, cannabis and ayahuasca in his autobiography, “Spare.” The Heritage Foundation is demanding that the U.S. government deny Harry’s visa and deport him. Though applicants for U.S. visas are typically asked about previous drug use, visa […]
The first military challenge coins, one story goes, were handed out in 1969 by a US Army colonel to build camaraderie in his Special Forces unit. He took the idea from a National Guardsman who had required his troops to always keep a sixpence coin on them in order to buy drinks for their buddies. (Soldiers […]
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) published a decision last week seeking to address a seemingly basic question: what law should an immigration judge apply when deciding the case of a noncitizen facing removal? In a time of remote hearings, when the immigration judge, the government attorney, and the noncitizen may all be in different places, figuring […]
Immigration agencies have a problem with transparency. With an immigration system as complex as ours and Freedom of Information Act offices that are chronically underfunded, it’s no surprise that immigration agencies violate FOIA—a statute created to strengthen our democracy by helping regular citizens understand what the government is up to—by failing to timely provide details […]
The other three Donald Trump is expected to turn himself in to the Manhattan authorities today. Further down, you can read about the latest developments and what to expect today. I also want to devote part of today’s newsletter to the other three criminal investigations of Trump — because at least one of them could end […]
On Monday night, 39 migrants died, and another 27 were seriously injured, in a fire in a Mexican detention center in Ciudad Juarez. The migrants—most of them from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Venezuela—were being held for deportation by the Mexican immigration enforcement agency INM, after a sweep to pick up migrants who were working […]
The United States and Canada announced the expansion of their Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) last week during President Biden’s visit to Canada. Under U.S. law, a so-called “Safe Third Country” agreement allows the United States to deport asylum seekers to a third country without allowing them to apply for asylum. The move was kept secret for almost a […]
As Tax Day approaches, it is important to acknowledge the tax contributions made by immigrants—even those who are undocumented. These contributions play a vital role in the funding and sustainability of America’s public services and programs. Immigrants’ Tax Contributions Undocumented immigrants make significant contributions to the U.S. tax system by paying sales, income, and property […]