When they returned from August recess this week, Reps. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), David Rouzer (R-N.C.), and Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) signed up to cosponsor Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) bill that would end the practice of birthright citizenship. This brings the total number of cosponsors up to 53, which is the highest amount of cosponsors this bill has had since the 112th Congress.
According to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) the Massachusetts’ immigration court had the lowest deportation rate of any U.S. state last year while ranking as one of the top states in granting asylum to illegal aliens.
During Wednesday’s Commander-in-Chief Forum Donald Trump said that he is open to granting amnesty to illegal aliens who plan on joining the military or are currently serving in the U.S. military. Trump said that this would be a “very special circumstance” and they would have to be carefully vetted but could be granted legal status.
The EB-5 investor visa program is set to expire on September 30, unless Congress can agree on how to reform the program that has become riddled with fraud and abuse. While most of the lawmakers agree that the program needs to be reformed they are gridlocked on what those reforms should be and when the reforms should be enacted.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is calling for the accelerated deportations of foreign nationals who are denied asylum. The call is a change of tone for Merkel who, in recent years, has called on the European Union to quickly resettle migrants from outside the region. As a result of her open-borders policies, her approval ratings have declined due to increasing economic and security concerns.
A recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies found that immigrants are replacing low-skilled native-born men in the workforce. The study shows a significant decline in hours worked from 2003-2015 for native born workers while it has increased for immigrant workers in the same category.
A group of 41 “non-governmental organizations” that assist refugees worldwide, including four directly involved in U.S. refugee resettlement, urged President Obama to commit to accepting 200,000 refugee and humanitarian admissions in fiscal year (FY) 2017 – a 100 percent increase over the projected FY17 level he established last year. While the president has the authority to establish the yearly refugee target, Congress must decide whether to provide funds to resettle that or an alternative number.
The Associated Press reports the Mexican immigration agency issued transit visas to 424 aliens from African countries that will enable them to reach the U.S. border. Officials from the National Immigration Institute said those from the Congo, Somalia and Ghana had traveled from Brazil or Ecuador to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Most voluntarily turned themselves in over just two days last week.
Last week Pres. Obama used a provision called “humanitarian parole” to give temporary status to immigrant entrepreneurs, historically this parole has only been used during a time of emergency.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a new I-129S form that will ask for specific details about a foreign workers’ prior work history in an effort to address fraud concerns. The new form has doubled in length from four pages to eight in order to gather information, especially in determining what “specialized knowledge” an applicant has and if it meets the L-1 visa conditions.