Immigrants Make Up Over 18% of the Total US Population Growth

 

Immigration—long central to the American experience—has dominated news coverage in recent years. Between 2016 and 2021 alone, record numbers of migrants arrived at the southern border; the Trump administration imposed travel bans on several Middle Eastern countries; immigrants played vital roles as essential workers in the COVID-19 pandemic; and the Biden administration called on Congress to reform decades-old immigration laws, to name just a few issues that have taken central stage.

The American Immigration Council’s Map the Impact, an annual analysis of U.S. immigration data, reveals notable shifts during this five-year period in the demographics of foreign-born residents and how they continue to make significant contributions to the American economy.

Population Shifts

Between 2016 and 2021, the immigrant population in the United States grew by 3.7%, or 1.6 million people. This accounted for 18.3% of the total population gain in the country.

At the same time, some immigrant sub-groups shrank. The number of refugees living in the United States decreased by 6.4%. The number of undocumented immigrants fell by 9.2%, while DACA-eligible residents dropped by 27.3%.

More information https://inmigracionyvisas.com/a5896-Immigrants-help-total-US-population-growth.html

New Public Charge Rule Should End Fear of Trump Wealth Test

 

Written by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick www.immigrationimpact.com

Three years ago, the Trump administration sent fear throughout immigrant communities across the nation with its Public Charge rule, which functioned as a wealth test for green card applicants. This fear had been amplified by a leaked draft of the rule in 2018, which would have punished intending immigrants whose U.S. citizen children received a wide variety of benefits.

Now, with a new public charge rule finalized last week, the Biden administration has restored the public charge standard that existed for decades before President Trump. This will hopefully assuage the fears of many immigrants who had avoided accessing benefits to which they were lawfully entitled.

The Biden administration’s new public charge was first announced... more information https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5549-New-Public-Charge-Rule.html

Debunking Major Myths About Immigrants’ Socioeconomic Status in the US

 By: Walter Ewing - www.immigrationimpact.com/ - Fotografía: Arog Vila

Opponents of immigration often claim that European immigrants who came to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are radically different than the Latin Americans and Asians who immigrate here today.

A new book by two economic historians disproves that by examining several of the most widely held myths about economic success and cultural integration among immigrants and their children. The book, Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success, was written by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan. The authors recently discussed their book in a webinar held by the American Immigration Council.

The authors draw upon their own groundbreaking research comparing the Europeans who came to this country between 1880 and 1920 with the Latin American and Asian immigrants who have arrived since 1965... More information  https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5515-Myths-About-Immigrants-Socioeconomic-Status-in-the-US.html

The new public charge standard will no longer penalize Medicaid and Snap Recipients

 

By: Walter Ewing - www.immigrationimpact.com/

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to clarify the meaning of the “public charge ground of inadmissibility” on February 24. The new guidance will be welcome news for immigrants as well as state governments and immigrant-serving organizations across the country that have worked to combat fear and misinformation around public charge.

Under current law, immigrants applying for admission to the United States or those already here and seeking a green card must prove they are not “likely to become a public charge.” Although changes were implemented during the Trump administration, since 1999 immigrants have been required to prove that they would not become “primarily dependent” on certain cash welfare programs.

Changes to Public Charge Under Trump

The Trump administration attempted to change this standard by implementing its own version of the public charge rule in 2019, but its application was halted in March 2021 due to litigation.

More information: https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5381-new-public-charge-no-longer-penalize-Medicaid-and-Snap.html

The New CBP One App May Put Immigrants and Travelers’ Privacy at Risk

 

It is unquestionable that technology creates efficiencies. But efficiency should not come at the total expense of privacy. A new app from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) toes that line between productivity and the need for users’ privacy.

In October 2020, CBP launched a new mobile application to help process individuals entering the United States. The CBP One mobile app has three known functions:

• Merchants can use it to make appointments for cargo inspection.
• Foreign travelers can apply for an arrival and departure record and use its GPS to document their entry and exit from the United States.
• Organizations in Mexico may use it to verify whether individuals are enrolled in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program.

Though the app’s efficiencies may seem obvious at first glance,

More information https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5208-CBP-One-App-May-Put-Immigrants-Privacy-at-Risk.html

As US Birth Rate Declines, Programs Like Social Security Need Immigration to Survive

 

By Walter Ewing - www.immigrationimpact.com/

Birth rates are falling in the United States at the same time more Americans are reaching retirement age. Together, these two trends present enormous economic challenges for the nation. A growing number of retirees are leaving the labor force and relying on programs like Social Security and Medicare. But there aren’t enough younger workers able to take their place.

If not for immigration, this pool of younger workers would be even smaller than it already is. As a result, immigration is playing a key role in supporting the country’s labor force, tax base, and contributions into benefits programs.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of births in the United States in 2020 was down 4% from the previous year. This marked the sixth year in a row that births have declined and amounts to the lowest number of births in the country since 1979.

More information  https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5138-Programs-Like-Social-Security-Need-Immigration-to-Survive.html

USCIS’ Changes Make It Harder for Americans to Sponsor Immigrant Family Members

 

By Walter Ewing www.immigrationimpact.com

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a rule that would make it much more difficult for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants—especially those experiencing financial hardship—to sponsor family members for green cards.

If the rule goes into effect, the process of family-based immigration will become even more cumbersome and restrictive.

The proposed rule—published in the Federal Register on October 2—relates to the “affidavit of support.” Under a 1996 immigration reform law, anyone wanting to sponsor a family member for a green card must complete an affidavit of support demonstrating that the sponsored immigrant will not become dependent on federal public benefits.

Sponsors would have to submit extensive financial documentation

Under the new proposed rule, sponsors would have to submit extensive financial documentation to the federal government as part of filing the affidavit of support.

More information https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4955-Harder-for-Americans-to-Sponsor-Family-Members.html

USCIS Plans Massive Fee Hike For Access To Genealogical Records

If you have ever wanted to trace your family’s immigration history, you should do it now—accessing genealogical records from the 1800s and 1900s may soon become far more expensive than ever before.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is planning to increase its fees to access millions of historical records held under the agency’s Genealogy Program. This includes citizenship and alien registration files, naturalization records, visa applications, and other documents.

In some cases, the fees to access these files would triple. In other instances, the fees would increase by nearly 500%, shooting up from $130 to $625 to obtain a single paper file.

This fee hike would price many people out of obtaining their own families’ immigration records. more: https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4692-Fee-Hike-for-Access-to-Genealogical-Records.html

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com

Stephen Miller‘s Racially Motivated Animus Toward Immigrants Is Revealed

White House Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller is no friend to immigrants—particularly those he views as racially “lesser than.” While this is evident from the anti-immigrant policies Miller has promoted over the past three years, it is also crystal clear in the private messages he sends to other anti-immigrant activists.

In these unguarded moments, Miller expresses many unfounded stereotypes about immigrants. For instance, he discusses the myth that immigrants are dangerous because they are allegedly more likely than native-born citizens to be criminals. This claim has been repeatedly debunked for decades.

Miller’s emails to the right-wing website Breitbart News during 2015 and 2016 were leaked to and recently released by the Southern Poverty Law Center. More information: https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4639-Stephen-Miller-is-no-friend-to-immigrants.html

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com

USCIS Proposes Increased Fees For All Immigration-Related Applications

By Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

In a new proposal officially put forward on Thursday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) called for major fee hikes for immigration-related applications.

The cost for becoming a citizen would rise above $1,000 for the first time in history. In another first, USCIS proposed a new fee for asylum seekers, which would make the United States only the fourth country in the world to charge for humanitarian protection. Advocates decried the fee increases as an attack on legal immigration.

Under the proposed fees, an applicant for a green card through marriage who was applying from inside the United States would have to pay $2,750 in total. This is a $990 increase from the previous costs.

Applicants for citizenship would also pay over 60% more, with the total fees increasing from $725 to $1,170.

USCIS also plans to abolish fee waivers for a wide variety of applications, including for naturalization.

Currently, nearly 40% of applicants for citizenship receive a fee waiver, making this a significant change that could hit seniors and low-income immigrants the hardest. Under the agency’s plan, only fee waivers required by law would be allowed, with all other fee waivers abolished.

Some groups will be particularly impacted, including crime and trafficking victims seeking U visas or T visas. Individuals seeking these visas often need to file Form I-192, which allows them to officially reenter the United States on the new visa. The current fee is $930, for which a fee waiver is available.

Under the new proposal, the fee would increase to $1,415 and no fee waivers would be available. This could mean that victims of trafficking would be unable to afford the visa allowing them to stay in the United States, even though they were otherwise eligible to receive it.

USCIS also proposes to charge people $50 to ask for asylum, which the agency says will discourage “frivolous filings.” Currently, only Iran, Fiji, and Australia charge a fee for asylum seekers. The $50 fee would likely prove prohibitive to people seeking asylum—who are not legally allowed to work in the United States until after applying for asylum.

A $50 fee for applying for asylum would also have devastating effects on asylum seekers in detention, who earn at most $1 a day through Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s so-called “voluntary work program.”

Because fees set by USCIS apply automatically to applicants in immigration court, it would take a new regulation in the immigration court system to exempt detained asylum seekers. USCIS also proposes to hike fees an additional 6% across the board, and then send $200,000,000 yearly to ICE to use however that agency wishes. In essence, they would be forcing immigrants to pay extra in order to detain and deport other immigrants. However, the agency acknowledges that it may need congressional approval in order to do this.

Taken as a whole, these changes would make it more expensive to legally immigrate, imposing significant burdens on low-income immigrants in particular. The agency is soliciting comments on the new fees, with the comment period set to end on December 16, and opposition to the rule is likely to be strong.

Given the significant impact of theses changes, if the agency moves forward with its plan it’s likely to face opposition in court.

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4620-USCIS-Proposes-Increased-Fees.html

USCIS Changes Policy On Fee Waivers, Potentially Deterring Thousands Of Citizenship Applications

By Melissa Cruz

The cost of filing an application for citizenship—usually a hefty $725—has long been a barrier for some immigrants. Now, a change to the naturalization process may leave even more people priced out of becoming a U.S. citizen.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a new policy that will change how the agency determines eligibility for a waiver of its application fees. It is set to go into effect December 2.

The policy will narrow the fee waiver eligibility for those applying for citizenship, green cards in certain categories, work permits, and other immigration benefits.

Currently, USCIS has a straightforward way of determining eligibility for a fee waiver. If an applicant receives a means-tested benefit—such as Medicaid or supplemental food assistance—then they automatically qualify for a fee waiver. As of 2017, approximately 40% of all citizenship applicants requested this fee waiver; most did so by showing they received a means-tested benefit.

The new policy will eliminate the means-tested benefit from the eligibility criteria.

Under the change, people may only request a fee waiver if they can prove their annual household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or if they can demonstrate financial hardship by some other means.

The two remaining alternatives are more difficult to prove. They require substantial documentation and often the help of an attorney. Sifting through this documentation would likely be more time-consuming for an already overburdened USCIS, creating even greater backlogs.

Filing fees may be out of reach for many people, including low-income immigrants, the elderly, and families that file more than one application at a time. With limited ways to get a fee waiver, some people may be deterred from applying for immigration benefits—including citizenship—at all.

The policy change is one of many attacks the Trump administration has made against legal immigration. It comes just two weeks after the Trump administration’s public charge rule got struck down in several federal courts. The rule would have made it easier for the government to deny a green card to immigrants it deemed likely to receive certain public benefits in the future, including non-cash benefits like Medicaid or food stamps. The widely condemned rule , and its counterpart for immigrant visa applicants, was also seen as a “wealth test” for those wanting to live in the United States.

This latest policy change creates more obstacles for people navigating our immigration system. Our process should encourage people to become U.S. citizens, not turn them away with high fees and inflexible criteria.

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4585-USCIS-Changes-Policy-on-Fee-Waivers.html

The Trump Administration Wants To Return To A Pre-Civil Rights Immigration System

 

By Walter Ewing

The ideology of President Trump is about more than limiting how many immigrants enter the United States each year; it’s about turning back the clock on U.S. social history.

A recent analysis by law professor Robert Tsai explores how President Trump’s ideology—labeled “Trumpism”—is the latest installment in a long-standing conservative movement to dismantle the legacy of the civil rights era and return the country to a more “traditional” social order.

This traditional order, which prevailed in the 1950s, has very little room for immigrants—particularly non-white immigrants from the developing world.

Tsai’s analysis begins by noting a key historical fact: that the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 was an integral part of the civil rights struggle—just as much as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It broke down racial barriers that had dominated U.S. immigration law for decades. The fundamental principle behind all three laws was simple: the promotion of equality.

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 also had two other guiding principles: the preservation of family unity and the presumption that immigrants are capable of assimilating or integrating into U.S. society.

Although the new immigration system was not perfect, it did radically reduce the level of overt racial discrimination would-be immigrants to the United States had to endure. Prior to 1965, a “national origins quota” system dominated the U.S. immigration system for more than 40 years. That system favored immigrants from northern and western Europe, while discriminating against virtually everyone else in the world.

The 1965 law scrapped that system and significantly opened immigration from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, as well as Europe in its entirety.

As Tsai argues, that began to change after 9/11, when institutional discrimination against Muslims skyrocketed in the name of “national security.”

The situation has gotten worse under the Trump administration. Both Latinos and Muslims are portrayed as existential threats to the nation. The Trump administration also ignores that immigrants have a long history of successfully integrating into U.S. society. According to Tsai, Trumpism is fueled by anxieties over the demographic and cultural changes the nation has experienced since the adoption of a more open immigration system in the 1960s. In this sense, Trumpism is what Tsai calls an “ethno-nationalist movement.”

But Trumpism also borrows from other strains of conservative ideology, ranging from the Tea Party to the Moral Majority. As a result, it targets a host of “enemies” in addition to immigrants, such as the United Nations and the global trade regime.

Another key feature of Trumpism is its dependence on the unilateral power of the presidency to implement any policy change. With the House in Democratic hands and the Senate in Republican hands, Congress is effectively deadlocked.

The Trump administration therefore falls back on claims of “national security” or “national emergency” to justify its use of executive orders and federal regulations as it attempts to implement a sweeping agenda for which it has no clear mandate. As Tsai notes, President Trump has made no secret of his preference for immigrants from Nordic countries—and his disdain for immigrants from places like Haiti, El Salvador, and basically any African country.

This attitude reflects more than just the president’s views on immigration. It reflects his views on race as well. It’s no wonder that he wants to lead the nation back to the 1950s, before the civil rights movement dared to challenge the racial hierarchy of U.S. society.

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4578-Return-to-a-Pre-Civil-Rights-Immigration-System.html

Immigrants Waiting For Their Immigration Records Can Now Challenge Agency Delay

By Emily Creighton www.immigrationimpact.com

A federal court in San Francisco certified two nationwide classes of immigrants and attorneys challenging extreme agency delays in producing immigration case files.

Plaintiffs allege that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have a system-wide practice of failing to provide access to immigration case records—called A-Files—within deadlines set by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Without these files, immigrants and their attorneys are at a severe disadvantage in moving forward with their cases.

The court’s decision on Tuesday allows the case to proceed on behalf of all noncitizens and attorneys with delayed FOIA requests, and not simply on behalf of the five individuals who filed the lawsuit.

At the end of Fiscal Year 2018, USCIS reported a backlog of 41,320 pending requests. This means that tens of thousands of individuals did not receive a determination on their A-File FOIA requests within the time period required by law. USCIS admitted that 98% of the FOIA requests that it receives—which would include all the cases in the backlog—are requests for A-Files.

The decision also is significant because this is the first time a court has certified a class in a lawsuit alleging a pattern and practice of violating FOIA.

The Court granted class certification because the problem is widespread. Individuals nationwide experience significant delays in obtaining their immigration records—delays that ultimately harm their cases. By granting class certification, the court could guarantee that all class members receive timely determinations on their FOIA requests.

The attorneys in the case often described the “legal limbo” their clients were forced into. While waiting for the A-Files, their clients could not move on with their immigration cases or, consequently, their lives.

As the Court noted, by summarizing the statements by impacted attorneys, delayed responses to FOIA requests result in, among other things:

“Risk of deportation,” “longer detention time,” “prolonged family separation for clients who have to wait longer for their naturalization cases to be approved in order to file ‘immediate relative’ visa petitions,” “the inability to travel to visit sick family because of risks associated with re-entry while cases are still pending,” and “loss of access to public assistance such as Social Security Income and housing without proof of immigration status.”

The Court focused on the inherent unfairness of a system where immigration agencies push for speedy resolution of immigration cases, but delay access to FOIA records so noncitizens are prevented from fully participating in their own cases:

“The irony should not be lost on anyone that the agencies that are delaying noncitizens’ right to timely obtain copies of their A-Files are the same agencies pushing to accelerate proceedings in immigration cases. Recent immigration policy changes now encourage immigration judges to limit continuances and mandate that asylum application must be resolved within 180 days, detained cases within 60 days, and non-detained cases within one year.”

Rejecting the government’s argument that all FOIA cases are different and so the harm to these individuals can’t be the same, the Court pointed to the delay itself as the injury shared by all members of the class. This delay in responding to the FOIA requests, the Court said, was the “glue” that holds the class together.

Additionally, the Court explained that the plaintiffs don’t have to show that an “egregious policy” exists; it is enough to demonstrate a policy and practice of failing to comply with FOIA.

Members of the certified classes are individuals who filed or will file an A-File FOIA request with USCIS that has been pending or will be pending for more than 30 business days without a determination, including requests that USCIS has sent or will send to ICE for additional review.

Though this case is far from over, this ruling allows class members a meaningful opportunity to challenge the unjust system currently in place. It also gives hope that the agencies will ultimately adhere to the timelines under FOIA established by Congress.

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4556-Immigrants-Waiting-for-Their-Immigration-Records.html

White House’s Misguided Immigration Reform Plan Is Set for Failure

Written by Guillermo Cantor

President Trump announced his new plan for overhauling the legal immigration system on Thursday. The plan is short on details, but it rests on principles that the Trump administration has touted before. Specifically, the proposal emphasizes the desire to radically curtail family-based immigration while prioritizing certain attributes that are viewed as an expression of “merit.” 

Like he did when he supported the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act in 2017, the president now aims to shift the criteria for immigrant admission and emphasize the importance of the skills that prospective immigrants would bring to the United States. 

While the details remain unknown, the president’s proposal introduces a point system that would allow the United States to select immigrants based on a defined set of academic and professional credentials, as well as English-language skills. It would simultaneously restrict family-based admissions to immediate family members only. 

The president’s recipe for “fixing” the legal immigration system, however, seems to be based on a misguided diagnosis that has nothing to do with the actual needs of the country or American businesses, workers, and families. He simplistically defines the problem as “discriminating against genius” and admitting immigrants “by chance.” 

It’s true that employers who intend to hire foreign-born workers with specialized skills and high-skilled immigrants wanting to start a business in the United States face some obstacles in the current system. But that is only one problematic aspect of our legal immigration system. 

In this proposal, merit is narrowly defined as possessing certain types of skills, employment histories, and educational credentials. The proposal assumes these narrowly defined sets of criteria are what the country needs. However, this doesn’t account for the complexity of our economy, the various types of skills that are in demand, and the fact that those needs may change over time. 

For example, the proposal ignores the fact that so-called “less-skilled” immigrants play a fundamental role in the essential economy, which encompasses occupations such as elder care, construction, and food services, to mention just a few. 

Although it’s too early to tell, this proposal seems to be designed to exclude certain groups. For example, immigrant women who work in the domestic sphere, caring for the elderly and sick and raising the future workforce, would probably be excluded. The plan would probably also exclude individuals from countries with lower levels of human capital, or people above a certain age. 

The current system clearly has many problems. These include the system’s lack of flexibility to allow admissions to follow the fluctuations of the business cycle and the enormous backlogs for certain categories of immigrants from certain countries. The new proposal, however, does nothing to remedy those problems. Additionally, this plan provides no solution for the DACA or TPS populations—let alone the undocumented population as a whole. 

A robust reform to the immigration system that aspires to be durable should be the result of broad consensus and based on a rigorous analysis of the economic and noneconomic implications of such changes. Unfortunately, neither of these elements are present here. 

It’s also worth pointing out that when defining immigrant selection criteria, the country is not only defining a market, it is also building the foundations of a community. This aspect, not surprisingly, is not even superficially acknowledged in the President’s proposal. 

 

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4169-Immigration-reform-in-the-United-States.html

Closing USCIS International Offices Will Leave US Citizens, Abroad Without Help

Written by Angelica Duron

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ international field offices provide critical services to Americans living abroad, as well as refugees and other immigrants. But in a supposed effort to cut costs, the Trump administration plans to close all 23 offices that span 21 countries by the end of 2019.

These offices are a lifeline for those living abroad who need to access the complex U.S. immigration system. They offer help with immigration applications that could otherwise face serious processing delays. In some cases, without the help of the offices, these applications could be stalled for over a year. 

Some of the services USCIS’ offices provide include: 

• Facilitating international adoptions.
• Assisting military families stationed abroad with applying for U.S. citizenship.
• Reuniting American citizens with dying family members that live in the United States. The U.S. citizen may need to travel with a foreign national spouse and require expedited paperwork.
• Issuing travel documents.
• Interviewing and assisting those applying for refugee status in the United States.
• Providing immigration expertise to federal entities and foreign governments.

In an internal agency memo last month, USCIS Director Lee Francis Cissna informed employees of the planned closures. The agency argues the move will reduce the backlog of immigration cases in the United States. Officials hope to lower the number of pending asylum applications in particular. 

USCIS claims it will save millions of dollars by shifting its international offices’ duties to its domestic offices and the State Department. But the plan to close international USCIS offices faces opposition from Congress. 

61 Congressmembers sent a letter earlier this month to ask for funding that would keep the offices open. It points out this is an ill-considered and underhanded attempt to decrease immigration. 

The planned closure of international offices is not unique in that respect. The Trump administration’s 2020 budget proposal significantly reduces State Department funds for humanitarian aid and all but eliminates a bureau that assists refugees. It also diverts USCIS’ regular application fees to the nation’s deficit, rather than to fund the agency itself. 

By closing USCIS offices abroad and decreasing funding for other agencies, it is becoming more difficult to navigate the immigration system. This leaves U.S. citizens, our military members, and others living abroad without accessible help. 

 

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com  

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4137-Closing-USCIS-International-Offices-Will.html