This week in immigration news – April 30, 2020
Trump suggests the existence of sanctuary city policies be tied to coronavirus aid
As states across the country continue to be hard hit by the coronavirus, they have increasingly looked to the federal government for help. However, President Trump appears to have suggested that he will be trying to tie aid to the existence of sanctuary cities in any given states.
Sanctuary cities are not a legal term, but it is broadly used to describe any state where local police do not cooperate with federal immigration officials to tear apart immigrant families.
Trump’s claim that states would face an immigration-policy litmus test comes on the heels of a remark made by Mitch McConnell that states should go bankrupt instead of receive help from the federal government. McConnell’s remark was roundly criticized by politicians from both sides of the aisle.
ICE denies court has authority
A federal judge recently issued recommendations aimed at pushing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to make conditions safer for the immigrants in their custody due to the spread of the coronavirus. ICE has rejected the recommendation, saying that it would be “unduly burdensome” on their detention facilities and has claimed that the judge has no authority over its policies.
As people around the country have received their $1,200 stimulus check from the CARES Act, the IRS has issued a rule saying that they will not issue the checks to U.S. citizens who have married someone who lacks a social security number. A new lawsuit, filed in Illinois, alleges that this is discrimination based on who he has chosen to marry.
20% of Guatemala’s coronavirus cases are deportees from United States
Twenty percent of coronavirus cases in Guatemala are from migrants who have been deported from the United States. As deportations have continued, this has raised the alarm that the United States might be exporting the coronavirus to a country that currently has few cases and a weak health care infrastructure.
