News

Roughly 1.6 million people are caught up in an ever-expanding backlog in United States immigration court, according to new data tracking cases through December 2021. Those with open immigration cases must now wait for a decision determining their legal status for an average of 58 months—nearly five years. Though the immigration court backlog has been […]

Applicants blocked by Trump travel bans to get relief State Department rule follows up on Biden executive order The State Department will waive fees for applicants who were denied immigrant visas under Trump administration travel bans that applied primarily to Muslim majority and African countries. Applicants who are denied an immigrant visa may apply again […]

H-1B denial rates have returned to pre-Trump levels after court decisions and a legal settlement ended the Trump administration’s restrictive policies, according to a new report. The changes started in the fourth quarter of FY 2020, while Donald Trump was still president, following a legal settlement with the business group ITServe Alliance and judges declaring the […]

The US Chamber of Commerce is calling for doubling the number of legal immigrants into America as a way to ease inflation and the worker shortage. “We need more workers. We should welcome people who want to come here, go to school and stay,” Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark told reporters during a press […]

Democrats are trying to regroup on immigration changes in their sweeping tax and social spending bill, even as key proposals face enormous obstacles and the overall package teeters on collapse. The House-passed provisions of the legislation would offer parole status with temporary work authorization and protection from deportation for some undocumented immigrants, along with addressing […]

The United States on Monday, January 3rd, expanded the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) border program to San Diego, California. The Biden administration restarted the program in early December in El Paso, Texas. This Monday, 36 migrants were brought to the El Paso immigration court to have their hearings under the reinstated program. Migrants will now be […]

  Read 2021 Year in Review: Immigration (Part 1) Enforcement priorities According to Migration Policy Institute analyst Jessica Bolter, the “really dramatic changes” are seen in interior enforcement and how the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) has reprioritized arrests to focus on undocumented immigrants who pose a threat to national security or public safety. […]

As the year ends, we look at the top immigration stories of 2021. During his first year in the White House, President Biden has added some humanity to America’s immigration system, but many issues still need to be addressed. US-Mexico border and asylum seekers President Biden ordered a halt to wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico […]

Immigrants in the U.S., Number and Percent, 1900-2021 Plus Census Bureau Projections to 2060 An analysis of the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) from November 2021 shows the total immigrant population (legal and illegal) in the U.S. hit 46.2 million, the highest number ever recorded in American history. Among the findings: There were a […]

WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) announced the forthcoming publication of a joint temporary final rule to make available an additional 20,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year (FY) 2022.  These visas will be set aside for U.S. employers seeking to employ additional workers on or before […]