Tuesday, March 19, 2024

ICE pausing most immigration enforcement amid coronavirus crisis

Immigration authorities will halt most enforcement across the U.S., shifting efforts to deport only foreign nationals who have committed crimes or pose a threat to public safety, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said yesterday. The agency said it will “temporarily adjust” its enforcements, specifically saying people should not avoid seeking “medical care because they fear civil […]

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to enforce “public charge” immigration rule

The Supreme Court issued an order yesterday allowing the Trump administration to begin enforcing new limits on immigrants who are considered likely to become overly dependent on government benefit programs. The court voted 5-4. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan said they would have left a lower court ruling in […]

Oversight panel to subpoena ICE and USCIS directors over deportation deferrals

The chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee announced yesterday he will issue subpoenas next week for official accounts of a Trump administration policy to end deportation deferrals for humanitarian reasons. In a memo to members of the committee, Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said he will issue subpoenas to USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli and ICE Acting Director […]

Top asylum official reassigned for being “source of frustration” to the Trump administration

The top asylum official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has reportedly been reassigned to a service center in Virginia — an apparent demotion lambasted by some immigration officials as “just another attack” by the Trump administration on the asylum system. John Lafferty, who led the USCIS asylum division for six years, was “pushed out” […]

Trump administration making it harder to get a green card or a visa

The Trump administration released a regulation today that could dramatically cut the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter and stay in the US by making it easier to reject green card and visa applications. Today’s announcement amounts to a concerted effort by the administration to limit legal immigration and crack down on illegal immigration. […]

Trump administration revising the citizenship test

The Trump administration on Friday announced that it will revise the U.S. citizenship test to help make a “meaningful, uniform, and efficient test.” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it had formed a naturalization test revision working group in December 2018 with “members from across the agency.” The agency added that it is “soliciting the input of experts in […]

Administration’s official says ICE is ready carry out deportations

The Trump administration’s top official at USCIS said immigration authorities are ready to identify, detain and eventually deport approximately one million undocumented immigrants with pending removal orders. “They’re ready to just perform their mission, which is to go and find and detain and then deport the approximately one million people who have final removal orders,” […]