This week in immigration news — May 30, 2019

Danielle Spooner, the current president of the American Federation of Government Employees, released a statement decrying the Trump administration’s reported decision to appoint former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli as head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency. The American Federation of Government Employees represents employees of USCIS.

Spooner claims that Cuccinelli lacks the experience to lead the agency. She goes on to explain that the former head of USCIS, L. Francis Cissna, stepped down last week, reportedly because the president did not believe that he was doing enough to curtail legal immigration.

Given that Cissna notably worked to end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) for youth who came to the United States as undocumented children, this gives cause for concern about the direction of the agency.

In Colorado, a new law prohibits police and sheriffs from holding undocumented people when asked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The law also prohibits probation officers from providing a person’s personal information to ICE and mandates that Colorado police read all people their Miranda rights, even if they are immigrants. Police would still work with ICE if executing a warrant signed by a judge.

The city of Yuma, Arizona continues to see many migrants crossing the border to seek asylum in the United States. And half of new arrivals this year have been children, making it the highest share on the U.S.-Mexico border. And more than half of the 169,000 children have been under the age of 12.

Migrants have said that they made the journey because of the long droughts in Central America that have fried crops and left them unable to pay their bills, and because of gangs attempting to recruit their children.

The mayor of Yuma, Douglas Nicholls (R) has declared a state of emergency in April and is attempting to secure more resources to help families.