Pennsylvania has refused to grant the Berks County Prison the license that it needs to continue holding asylum-seeking mothers and children. Berks County has become notorious for detaining those seekers longer than they should be. There have also been clamors from advocacy groups that the prison has been mistreating them. Lawsuits have alleged and judges have found that the treatment of asylum-seekers violates a settlement agreement that controls how the prison should be run.

The State Department of Human Services did not grant the license because the federal immigration facility does not comport with licensing as a child residential center. Berks had actually been applying to double its population.

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The Visa Waiver Program has recently undergone some renovations. Fearing that the program could be used to facilitate the travel of personae non grata into the United States, Congress approved changes to the program. Dual nationals and anyone who has traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria, or Sudan in the past five years are no longer allowed to enjoy visa-free travel. The goal is to prevent radicalized people abroad from entering the United States. This has caused issues for journalists, humanitarian workers, government officials, and businesspeople, according to The Guardian.

The fear for Americans traveling abroad is that this will result in restrictions for Americans traveling to European countries. At the present time, an American can travel to the United Kingdom or France without having to obtain a visa.

Visa-free Travel

38 countries, mostly in Europe, enjoy the ability for visa-free travel into the United States. Obtaining a visa, even a visitor’s visa, can be an expensive and time-consuming ordeal. The visa waiver enables nationals of the approved countries to enter the United States for 90 days. The trip must be for visiting purposes. It is a trust system, in which the traveler pledges to adhere to the rules by not overstaying and not straying from the purpose of the visit. On the visa waiver, a traveler cannot attempt to adjust her status a non-immigrant visa once in the United States.

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President Obama is delivering his final State of the Union address tonight. Immigration was an important topic in his last State of the Union address. At that time, the executive orders for the deferred action programs were announced but not yet in effect. They were also not blocked in the federal court. The executive orders contained substantive measures to improve various aspects of the immigration system: L-1 visas, hardship waivers, the visa bulletin process.

Here are quotes from previous States of the Union.

“And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system — to secure our borders and enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.” — 2010

“Now, I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration. And I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws, and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows.” — 2011

“I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. That’s why my administration has put more boots on the border than ever before. That’s why there are fewer illegal crossings than when I took office. The opponents of action are out of excuses. We should be working on comprehensive immigration reform right now. … Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away.” — 2012

“Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, faith communities, they all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. … we know what needs to be done. … Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign it right away. And America will be better for it.” — 2013

 

“Finally, if we are serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders and law enforcement — and fix our broken immigration system. … So let’s get immigration reform done this year.” — 2014

“Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is snatched from her child, and that it’s possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. I’ve talked to Republicans and Democrats about that. That’s something that we can share.” — 2015

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The Washington Post reported last week that the Obama Administration is planning to direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct raids on individuals who have orders of removal against them in absentia. The individuals are mostly from Central America and because their orders are in absentia, their cases for relief have not been heard by an immigration judge. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an agency with the Department of Homeland Security, and it is responsible for securing the United States internally. Part of those responsibilities include seeking out individuals who are not authorized to be present in the United States.

The individuals targeted for removal have final orders against them, but in absentia means that for whatever reason, the immigration judge placed an order of removal against them when they were not present at their hearings. They may not even know that an order of removal is placed against them. The move by the Obama Administration seems to take a stark contrast to its recent years on the subject of unauthorized migrants. In 2012, an executive order for Deferred Action enabled millions of “Dreamers” to gain temporary legal stay. In 2014, additional executive actions sought to expand Deferred Action to more migrants without status, though their legality is currently being contested in courts. Before those executive actions, however, the Obama Administration was removing individuals at record rates.

Given that the presidential elections are less than a year away and primary season is just about to kick off, each action that the Obama Administration takes on immigration will have consequences in the election and for the candidates.

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The anti-immigration rhetoric has been vociferous in recent months, largely emanating from presidential candidacies. The usual course of discussion over immigration in recent years has been policymaking and legislation for unauthorized migrants. There are 11-12 million unauthorized migrants in the United States. They either entered the country without authorization or they entered legally but remained past their legal limit. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans programs that President Obama initiated through executive order have sought to address immigration issues through the executive branch. The legislative branch has not been able to agree on comprehensive immigration reform.

In contrast to proclamations of immigration bans and restrictions, President Obama spoke at a naturalization ceremony in Washington DC, where people from 25 different countries took the oath to become American citizens. President Obama was there to commemorate the journey that those individuals had to take to become American citizens, on the 224^th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. The president had many remarkable statements about immigration and immigrants:

Just about every nation in the world, to some extent, admits immigrants. But there’s something unique about America. We don’t simply welcome new immigrants, we don’t simply welcome new arrivals — we are born of immigrants. That is who we are. Immigration is our origin story. And for more than two centuries, it’s remained at the core of our national character; it’s our oldest tradition. It’s who we are. It’s part of what makes us exceptional.

The first refugees were the Pilgrims themselves — fleeing religious persecution, crossing the stormy Atlantic to reach a new world where they might live and pray freely. Eight signers of the Declaration of Independence were immigrants. And in those first decades after independence, English, German, and Scottish immigrants came over, huddled on creaky ships, seeking what Thomas Paine called “asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty…

We can never say it often or loudly enough: Immigrants and refugees revitalize and renew America.

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That means the programs have until December 16 to again be temporarily renewed. This blog extensively covered the four programs and congressional actions back in September because they were set to expire in September. The constant temporary renewals of these programs leaves their applicants and potential beneficiaries in constant uncertainty.

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Syrian refugees arrived in Texas last night, after the state relented on its legal right to prevent refugee resettlement in the state.

The plight of the Syrian refugees has caused many Western countries to think about their refugee resettlement programs. Countries have argued internally about how many refugees they should accept. Refugees have bounced around the European Union, undergoing the long vetting process before they can be accepted. The United States has had similar discussions, arguing how many Syrian refugees to accept and even whether we should accept any.

Texas filed a lawsuit last week against the federal government and the International Rescue Committee. The governor wants to block the resettlement of a Syrian refugee family in its state. Thirty-one governors have voiced their opposition to Syrian refugees settling in their states. Texas is the first state to take legal action in manifesting its opposition. The federal government has emphasized that governors lack the authority to decide whether or not refugees can settle in their states. Immigration is in the purview of the federal government. The lawsuit contends through the Refugee Act of 1980 and security concerns that the federal government and IRC need to consult with the states. For its part, the IRC has stated it has worked with Texas for 40 years to ensure the smooth resettlement of refugees into the state.

The lawsuit remains pending. On December 4, the state withdrew its request for an order immediately preventing the refugees from entering the state.

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The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied an appeal of a preliminary injunction of President Obama’s executive actions for expanding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (new DACA and DAPA) on November 9. A federal judge in Texas struck down the executive actions in February of this year and the Department of Justice has been litigating against states opposed to the implementation of the executive action programs. The decision was divided, but it means that the executive action programs remain unusable. The Obama Administration is expected to seek an immediate review of the decision by the US Supreme Court.

On November 20, 2014, President Obama delivered a speech and unveiled a series of executive actions to improve the immigration system. New DACA and DAPA received most of the attention because of the effects it was scheduled to have on millions of people living in the United States without status. The programs are not immigration status. Rather, they were supposed to provide temporary protection to accepted applicants and work authorization. It was supposed to benefit individuals without a criminal record and not priorities for removal. The programs were nixed by a federal judge before implementation and the millions counting on the viability of the programs have to continue to wait. The executive actions were a response to Congressional inaction over years in implementing legislative immigration reform.

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Immigration reform has probably fizzled out as a possibility, despite looking imminent in 2012 and reaching a crescendo in 2013 with major legislative movement. Here are some recent quotes from Congresspersons on the possibility of immigration reform.

Marco Rubio, Florida Senator and Candidate for President

John McCain, Arizona Senator

Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House

The protections that Marco Rubio mentions are part of the deferred action program (DACA), which has been in effect since June 15, 2012. Mr. Rubio has flatly stated the that DACA program needs to end. An executive action in November 2014 attempted to expand DACA and add relief for parents of Americans (DAPA). The expanded version of it and DAPA were struck down by a federal judge in Texas in February. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has not yet ruled on the matter.

The post Immigration Reform in the News appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

S. 2146: Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act did not pass the Senate yesterday. It received 54 votes in favor, 6 short of the 60 required. The bill was proposed over the summer but recently was brought to a vote after being stuck in committee. The purpose of the bill was to limit federal grants to cities that do not comply with detainers issued by the Department of Homeland Security. There were also provisions to stiffen penalties for individuals who reenter the United States without authorization.

Sanctuary cities, such as San Francisco, have been lambasted for not cooperating with DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. S. 2146 is the federal action against sanctuary cities, but there are local actions that are gaining in popularity. North Carolina’s legislature voted to ban local governments from preventing local law enforcement from working with federal immigration agents. Michigan and Texas are preparing their own anti-sanctuary city bills.

Opposition to the bill has been pronounced, despite the public and Congressional popularity of it. A House version of the Senate bill passed in the House during the summer, but President Obama vetoed it. Two years ago, immigration reform held the promise of being comprehensive and bipartisan. Yesterday was the clearest political indication that it is currently partisan and divisive.

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