President Donald Trump said today that the United States had struck an asylum agreement with Guatemala. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he had reached a "safe third country" deal with the Central American nation, but the Guatemalan government did not use that term, it said that the new measures applied only to Honduran and Salvadoran citizens.
A San Francisco-based federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a Trump administration ban on asylum seekers who pass through another country en route to the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar issued a preliminary injunction that will halt the asylum ban nationwide. The move came hours after a federal judge presiding over similar litigation in the District of Columbia declined to stop its implementation.
A D.C.-based federal judge today ruled that a Trump administration ban on asylum seekers who pass through another country en route to the southwest border can go forward on a temporary basis, as reported by Politico. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly denied a motion filed by immigrant legal service providers to block the policy's implementation.
Today, in response to House Democrats' planned vote to grant Venezuelans eligibility for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Congressman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) introduced the "TPS Reform Act" (H.R. 3899). This legislation would:
The Department of Homeland Security will finalize a regulation that raises minimum investment amounts in the EB-5 visa program. The program currently allows foreigners who invest $1 million in a U.S. commercial project that will create or preserve at least 10 jobs to apply for a green card. The investment threshold drops to $500,000 if the project takes place in a high-unemployment or rural area.
The Trump Administration has finalized a plan to bypass immigration courts and remove illegal aliens who are unable to prove they've been present continuously in the U.S. for two years or more, according to an announcement Monday, as reported by Politico. The Department of Homeland Security will publish a notice that aims to use the department's full statutory authority to employ "expedited removal" to a broader range of illegal aliens who cross the border.
The number of H-1B visa petitions approved by USCIS has continued to fall in fiscal year 2019, according to data released by the agency Tuesday . So far this fiscal year, only 83.9 percent of the petitions for temporary skilled workers under the H-1B visa program have been initially approved, a drop from 84.5 percent in FY 2018 and 92.6 percent in FY 2017. At the same time, 39.6 percent of H-1B petitions received so-called "requests for evidence" so far this fiscal year, up from 38 percent last fiscal year and 21.4 percent in FY 2017.
Today, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit to halt the new regulation put forth by DOJ and DHS. The ACLU, representing four pro-immigration advocacy organizations, argued that President Trump's proposed rule violates federal immigration and regulatory laws. The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District Court of California. As of right now, there is no timeline available as to when this case will be heard, or a decision will be made.
In a surprising turn of events, a 2-1 opinion issued over the weekend from a panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge, who sided with the city of Los Angeles in its lawsuit over Community Oriented Policing Services grants, which are determined by a point system that takes into account whether the city applying is a sanctuary city.
According to a new analysis of government data by the Center for Immigration Studies, immigration between 1990 and 2017 added approximately 43 million people to the population of the United States - including both immigrants and their progeny. However, the study finds that this increase in the total population had a minimal impact on the share of the population that is of working age, as it added to both those inside the working-age population and to those outside in nearly equal proportions.