This week in immigration news – August 13, 2020
Trump administration puts young immigrants in immigration limbo
Although the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the Trump administration has halted new applications. This means that many immigrant youth—including 66,000 teenagers—who would have otherwise qualified for temporary deferred status under DACA, will have to worry about potentially being deported to a country that they barely know.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services set to furlough 13,400 employees
USCIS has been facing a $1.2 billion budget shortfall and had hoped that Congress would include funding for the agency in the next round of coronavirus relief legislation. As talks surrounding the legislation have failed, the agency will now need to furlough two-thirds of its employees beginning on August 30.
As we have previously reported on our blog, USCIS’s budget is predominantly comprised of fees collected from immigrants who file applications, and the Trump administration’s efforts to make filing an application harder has created a problem for the agency.
Lawsuit against immigration bans moves forward
In April and in June, President Trump issued presidential proclamations aimed at restricting immigration into the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both proclamations were based on the United States’s historically high unemployment rate, while not providing evidence of any negative impact that immigration has on the unemployment rate.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are filing for an injunction to end both proclamations.
Costa Rican immigrant dies in ICE custody
A 70-year-old Costa Rican man is the third immigrant in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody to die in a week. He is also the 18th person to die in ICE custody this year, the highest total since 2006.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, advocates continue to push for the release of vulnerable immigrants from ICE custody.
