USCIS Denial Rates For H-1B Petitions Have Quadrupled

By Walter Ewing www.immigrationimpact.com//

The Trump administration, acting through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is disrupting the process by which U.S. employers obtain work authorization for highly skilled foreign professionals.

According to a report from the National Foundation for American Policy, these changes are affecting how often H-1B petitions are denied and the length of time it takes to adjudicate them. The administration is doing this absent any changes in the law by Congress and is circumventing the federal rulemaking process. The report finds that, between Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 and the first three quarters of FY 2019, denial rates for H-1B petitions for “initial” employment for new employees have quadrupled from 6% to 24%. Denial rates for H-1B petitions for “continuing” employment (mostly for existing employees) also quadrupled from 3% to 12% over the same period.

There was a slight increase in the number of petitions approved in the third quarter of 2019. But the report explains this as a matter of timing—it’s likely that adjudicators at USCIS were approving the least difficult H-1B cases first among those selected in the April 2019 lottery. The increase, therefore, was not the result of any change in the Trump administration’s policies.

USCIS is also issuing Requests for Evidence (RFEs) for a much greater share of “completed” cases than in the past. The purpose of an RFE is to ask for additional evidence of eligibility.

In the first quarter of FY 2019, for instance, RFEs were issued for 60% of completed cases, compared to the historical average of 20%. RFEs delay the adjudication of cases and impose up to $4,500 in extra legal expenses on employers.

Most employers will not invest the time and money in an H-1B petition unless they are reasonably certain that the intended employee will qualify. This makes it even more suspect that the government is denying nearly one-quarter of all H-1B petitions and issuing RFEs in such a large number of cases.

What the Trump administration is trying to do—through agency memoranda and other policy changes—is increase the difficulty of success for any H-1B petition.

The report also points to other research which demonstrates that restrictive H-1B policies don’t automatically free up jobs for native-born workers.

Rather, such policies motivate companies to relocate operations abroad to locales where it is easier to gain access to high-skilled workers. This translates into a net loss of employment, business, and innovative capacity within the United States.

Under the Trump administration, USCIS is undermining the U.S. economy by foreclosing the employment of many qualified workers upon whom U.S. industries depend. In the final analysis, this only serves to shrink the job market for all high-skilled workers, both native-born and foreign-born.

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com/ 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4607-USCIS-Denial-Rates-For-H-1B-Petitions.html

How The Immigration Court Reached A Record One Million Case Backlog

By:Aaron Reichlin-Melnick www.immigrationimpact.com

When Donald Trump took office in January 2017, the immigration courts faced a record backlog of over 542,000 cases. This month, the immigration court backlog hit a new historic high with over 1,000,000 cases. Driven by new Trump administration immigration court policies and the growth in the number of families arriving at the border in 2019, the backlog has increased at record speed.

At the current rate, the immigration court backlog is on pace to more than double less than three years into Trump’s first term in office. By contrast, it took nearly six years for the backlog to double under Obama.

Over the past two years, the Trump administration has taken a series of measures it claimed would slow the growth of the immigration court backlog. The first of these efforts came in 2017 with the creation of a “Strategic Caseload Reduction Plan,” which called for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to “realign the agency towards completing cases.” However, these measures have largely been ineffective and the backlog has grown to unprecedented levels.

The focus on completing cases as rapidly as possible has caused many to argue that the agency is putting speed over justice. Last October, EOIR immigration judges across the country were asked to decide 700 cases a year, with the possibility of professional discipline if they failed to meet the quota. The president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, Ashley Tabbador, argued that the quota would lead to “assembly line justice.”

Many of the actions taken by the administration to speed up cases have had the opposite effect. In 2018, Attorney General Sessions eliminated a process known as “administrative closure,” where judges could take low-priority cases off of their dockets to focus on the cases which most needed their attention. He also prevented judges from terminating cases in certain circumstances, requiring them to adjudicate the cases instead, which has further added to the backlog.

The Trump administration’s elimination of enforcement priorities has also increased the immigration court backlog. Under the Trump administration, ICE has arrested more undocumented immigrants with no criminal records who have long ties to their communities. These individuals are more likely to be eligible to seek relief from removal in court, meaning that the government cannot obtain a swift order of deportation.

The immigration courts have been shaken up by other Trump administrations actions as well, including the month-long government shutdown in January which led to more than 50,000 cases being delayed.

The immigration court backlog is also likely to grow even faster as the Trump administration expands the “Remain in Mexico” program. Immigration judges have been pulled from their regular cases and required to hear those on the Remain in Mexico docket instead. The crush of new cases under the Remain in Mexico program has “broken the courts” at the border, in the words of a U.S. government official.

This political interference with the courts has led many to call for the immigration court system to be taken away from the Department of Justice and become truly independent. Now that the courts have hit one million cases, it has become clear that the Trump administration’s interference-heavy approach isn’t working. A new approach must be tried.

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4495-Immigration-Court-Reached-a-One-Million-Case-Backlog.html

Census Bureau Asked 250,000 Households About Their Citizenship Status

By Walter Ewing 

Despite losing at the Supreme Court, the Trump administration still managed to ask nearly a quarter of a million U.S. households about the citizenship status of their household members. 

That’s because the administration had already started mailing out its 2019 Census Test—a nationwide test used to inform the upcoming 2020 Census—two weeks before the Supreme Court made its ruling. In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court effectively barred the inclusion of a citizenship question in the 2020 Census. Such a question can appear on the Census, but the Court said the government failed to offer a suitable justification for adding it now. 

Yet the question had already been included in some versions of the 2019 Census Test. The Census Bureau wanted to gauge how it would impact the response rates of the near-250,000 households that received it. If fewer people responded to the test that included the question than tests that did not, the bureau could change their strategy. The bureau could hire more census takers to conduct in-person interviews to compensate for fewer people filling out and mailing in the 2020 Census form. 

This became a moot point on June 27 when the Court ruled against the Trump administration. The Court said the government’s justification for including a citizenship question—to enforce the Voting Rights Act—was “contrived.” 

Rather, the question was a “pretext” for a politically-motivated attempt to scare immigrant households into not answering the Census. As a result, communities with large immigrant populations would lose political representation during the next round of congressional redistricting. They would also suffer from cuts to public funds for roads, schools, hospitals, and health care that are dependent on population size. 

But by the time this ruling came down, the Census Bureau had already started mailing out its 2019 Test—complete with citizenship question. Although the Test went to relatively few people compared to those who will receive the 2020 Census, it is unclear how the inclusion of the citizenship question will affect respondents.

Will it sow fear and confusion in immigrant communities ahead of the 2020 Census? Just as importantly, what is the Census Bureau going to do with the responses it receives from those households that completed and returned the Test? 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4335-Census-Bureau-Asked-About-Their-Citizenship-Status.html

Trump Administration Rejects More Student Visas From Muslim-Majority Countries

By Walter Ewing

Hosting foreign students is a vital way the United States builds better relations with other countries. Many foreign students go on to become government, business, and academic leaders in their home countries. The opinion they form of the United States during their student years stays with them throughout their lives. If their experience in the United States is positive, they will remember that in their future dealings with Americans. 

Unfortunately, this is not currently happening in the case of students from Iran . When President Trump placed a travel ban on seven mostly Muslim-majority nations in 2017, Iranians seeking student or exchange visitor visas were supposed to be exempt from the ban. 

Despite this exemption, many applications from Iranians are now effectively blocked under the ban’s “enhanced screening and vetting requirements.” Many applications from Iran are never approved or denied. Instead, students’ applications languish indefinitely in the bureaucratic limbo of “administrative processing.” 

As a result, approvals to study in the United States have plummeted for Iranian students. The State Department has issued a mere 413 student visas to Iranians so far in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. Only 1,433 were issued in all of FY 2018. By way of comparison, 2,650 were approved in FY 2016. 

Iran is not the only majority-Muslim nation witnessing a dramatic drop in the number of foreign students coming to the United States in recent years. Between the 2016-17 and the 2018-19 academic years, the number of students from Qatar fell by 20.6 percent and Saudi Arabia by 15.5 percent. 

If one goal of U.S. foreign policy is to foster better relations within Muslim countries, this is not the way to do it. Cultural exchange builds bridges between nations, particularly in the case of those foreign students (or would-be foreign students) who go on to assume leadership positions within their government, business community, or university system. A Saudi leader whose student visa application was summarily rejected by the U.S. government is much more likely to take a dim view of the United States than someone who had the chance to experience U.S. society directly and get to know Americans in person. 

While not all foreign students go on to become leaders , a significant number do. Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt and Kofi Annan of Ghana were both foreign students in the United States who went on to lead the United Nations. Javier Solana of Spain was a foreign student who became Secretary General of NATO. King Abdullah Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, and President Vicente Fox of Mexico were also foreign students. 

In discussing the declining number of student visas from majority-Muslim countries, a State Department spokesperson noted that “ Every visa decision is a national security decision .” 

This is true. And it enhances—not threatens—U.S. national security in the long run to build positive relationships with the future leaders of other nations. Student visas and the cultural exchange they facilitate are a key means of doing so. 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4307-Rejects-More-Student-Visas-From-Muslim-Majority-Countries.html

What Happens To Dreamers Now That The Supreme Court Is Hearing The DACA Case?

By Brenda Solorzano

After months of speculation, the Supreme Court agreed to review three cases challenging the Trump administration’s decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The Court is expected to issue its decision by June 2020, coming in the midst of the presidential race. In the meantime, current DACA recipients remain eligible to submit their renewal applications. 

Even if the Supreme Court rules against the Trump administration, a long-term solution for Dreamers would not be provided. It would only restore the situation to the status quo before the Trump administration ended DACA, leaving many young people with lapsed or no protections. 

The cases reached the Supreme Court after the Department of Justice filed a special request for “certiorari before judgement,” which skips waiting on a federal appeals courts decision and requests to be heard by the Court. In total, four appeals courts have heard arguments on whether President Trump went through the proper procedure before ending DACA. Both the Ninth Circuit and the Fourth Circuit held that Trump’s decision to end DACA was improper. Decisions are still pending in the Second Circuit and D.C. Circuit. 

Currently, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is required to continue accepting and processing DACA renewal applications. Those who are currently granted renewals will continue to receive protection from deportation and work permits, unless the Supreme Court issues a decision otherwise. 

What does the Court’s future decision mean for DACA recipients? For most, continued and distressing uncertainty. 

If the Court rules in the Trump administration’s favor, nearly 700,000 DACA recipients would be left without permits to work legally and will be at risk of deportation. As a result, DACA recipients are left to wonder what their status will be in the future. 

DACA recipients are not the only ones that hope for an opportunity to stay in the country that they call home. In June, the House of Representatives took the opportunity to put forward definitive answers for the future of DACA by passing the American Dream and Promise Act. This bill provides a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, as well as those with Temporary Protected Status and protections under Deferred Enforced Departure. 

The Supreme Court’s decision to take up the DACA cases emphasizes that Dreamers can no longer wait for more court decisions granting temporary relief of deportation. For them, hopes for a permanent solution currently lie in the hands of Congress. As polls show, the vast majority of Americans support Dreamers and want to give them an opportunity to continue to positively impact the country. That is why a long-term solution for Dreamers and others who live in insecurity is way past due.

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com  

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4303-Now-the-Supreme-Court-Is-Hearing-the-DACA-Case.html

Workers Detained In Massive Tennessee Immigration Raid Sue ICE

Written by Walter Ewing

Workers who were detained during the first large-scale workplace immigration raid under the Trump administration filed a class action lawsuit against the government on Thursday. The raid, which took place in April 2018, decimated a meat processing plant in Bean Station, a rural community outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. 

The raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents resulted in the detention of almost 100 primarily Mexican workers. The suit alleges violation of the workers’ rights against illegal seizures and to equal protection under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. 

This raid was a response to a criminal investigation of the family-owned plant for tax evasion, filing false tax returns, and hiring undocumented immigrants. The owners pled guilty to the charges in August 2018. 

The suit alleges that, even though federal officers only had a search warrant to investigate the owners’ tax evasion, ICE agents used the warrant as a pretext to carry out a discriminatory mass immigration enforcement. Officers allegedly raided the plant and detained every worker in the plant who looked Latino, regardless of their actual citizenship or documentation. 

In fact, many of the workers weren’t asked about documentation until hours into the raid, at which point many had already been handcuffed, transported to a new location, and held in isolation, unable to contact family members or attorneys. At the same time, white workers were neither detained nor questioned about their documentation and were allegedly permitted to leave. 

Two of the named plaintiffs also allege that they were assaulted by ICE officers, including one plaintiff who was punched in the face and another plaintiff who had a gun pointed to his head without reason. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages due to the governments’ violation of their rights. 

However, the impact of the raid extends beyond the fate of the detained workers or the owners of the plant. According to Meredith Stewart, senior supervising attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center: 

“What happened in East Tennessee was law enforcement overreach, plain and simple. We as a nation have a shared set of ideals, rooted in the Bill of Rights: we have a right to be free from racial profiling and unlawful arrests. If we are not willing to uphold those ideals for everyone in this country, then we are all at risk of losing our rights.” 

History has taught us that these sorts of immigration raids will do little to deter unauthorized immigration. Raids have devastating effects on families, businesses, and local economies. They also generate trauma in children who are separated from their parents. Reports indicate that a day after the Bean Station raid, at least 600 students did not show up for school. Another negative outcome is that these tactics make immigrant communities less safe. In communities where crackdowns take place, residents are less likely to cooperate with the police or report crimes for fear of being arrested or deported. 

Raids not only affect the social fabric of communities, but their economies as well. In Tennessee, immigrant-led households paid $1.5 billion in federal taxes and $493.9 million in state and local taxes in 2014 alone. If immigrants are unable to go to work for fear of being apprehended and deported, their economic contributions are greatly diminished. 

As the Trump administration pursues its strategy of spreading fear throughout immigrant communities, more large-scale worksite raids like Bean Station’s are a real possibility. The unfortunate truth is that the administration is willing to sacrifice families, communities, and local economies throughout the country in its quest for greater levels of immigration enforcement. 

Source: http://immigrationimpact.com/

http://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4028-Workers-Detained-in-masiive-raid-sue-ICE.html