This week in immigration news — June 25, 2020
These are the news on immigration that we are tracking this week.
The Trump administration announces further immigration restrictions
On Monday, the Trump administration announced that it would be suspending H1-B visas, which allow people with specialized skills to move to the United States, as well as H2-B visas that are for non-agricultural, seasonal workers. This order is meant to last until the end of the year, with the stated rationale of allowing Americans who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic to get back to work.
However, immigration policy experts contend that these changes are unlikely to help Americans find work and may hurt the companies who are unable to access these visas for prospective employees.
Trump wins expedited removal victory
Earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Court ruled that the Trump administration can put more migrants in a fast-track deportation process. Previously this process was only reserved for migrants detained 100 miles or less from the U.S.-Mexico border and who were determined to have been in the United States for two weeks or less.
103 employees in Arizona immigrant detention facility test positive for coronavirus
CoreCivic is a for-profit immigration detention company—at Eloy, 83 of its employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. At La Palma, 20 tested positive. These numbers have been even higher among immigrants who are detained at the facilities—Eloy, for example, had to stop accepting new people.
Meanwhile, immigrant advocates have continued to speak out against the conditions in the facilities, arguing that they are dangerous for the people who are detained there.
