A federal judge in New York issued two strongly worded rulings on Wednesday that put a temporary freeze on restrictive Trump administration immigration policies.
The measures, which are now on hold, had broadened the grounds under which immigrants could be considered "public charges," a label that can harm the chances of obtaining either a green card or entry to the United States.
In the two blistering decisions, Judge George Daniels of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York says the national health emergency from the coronavirus pandemic provides grounds for granting the preliminary injunctions.
Daniels wrote of the rule redefining the grounds for being considered a public charge. "The Rule has demonstrably failed the first real world test of its application."
But what else would you expect when the rule itself was drafted to make our president happy, a president that each and every day undermines the rule of law in our country.
On the same day the posthumous words of civil rights leader John Lewis were published, our president suggested not holding elections on November 3rd.
President Trump: "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"
John Lewis: "Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it."
Never in the history of the United States, not even during the Civil War, was the presidential election so much as delayed.
A sociopath, with no care for our welfare or safety, holds the highest office in the United States.
Make no mistake, we are all at risk, every citizen of every color and every creed, of losing our right to vote today - the very essence of what makes us a free democracy.
"When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide." ~ John Lewis
The claim: Trump banned welfare for some immigrants, which will save $57.4 billion a year
President Donald Trump's agenda has fueled a stream of immigration-related misinformation.
A claim that Trump banned welfare for immigrants in the U.S. illegally, which will save $57.4 billion per year, has circulated on Facebook and resurfaced in late May. But this claim is false for a couple of reasons.
First, Trump didn’t ban welfare for immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Undocumented immigrants have been ineligible for most federal programs since before Trump took office.
Second, the “$57.4 billion” figure comes from a 2017 study that measured the economic cost of general public services at the state and local level of immigrants who came to the country both legally and illegally and their children. So this measurement includes all immigrants, not just those here illegally, as the Facebook post claims. Researchers attributed most of the $57.4 billion to education, PolitiFact reported.
Examining '$57.4 billion'
The National Academies published in 2017 a 618-page report by the Committee of National Statistics that details the economic impact of immigration in the United States.
The report averaged data from 2011-13 and concluded that first-generation immigrants (foreign-born residents) and their dependents (children) cost state and local governments $57.4 billion, with most of the expense going to education.
But researchers relied on data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, which according to the professor who chaired the panel of researchers, barred them from differentiating between types of immigration, PolitiFact reported. So their estimate includes immigrants who came to the country legally and illegally. That's not what the Facebook user claimed.
The report noted “the second and third-plus generation individuals (and their children) create benefits of $30.5 billion and $223.8 billion. … Note that the surplus revenues raised amount to $197 billion, which equals the surplus across all 50 states. ... By the second generation, immigrants are a net win for the states as a whole, given that they have fewer children on average than first generation units and are contributing in revenues more than they cost in expenditures.”
Some immigrants have been ineligible for most social services
Congress has long restricted immigrants’ access to public benefits. A federal law in 1882 established that immigration officials should deny entry to any person likely to become a "public charge."
That attitude prevails.
“Undocumented immigrants, including DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) holders, are ineligible to receive most federal public benefits, including means-tested benefits such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, sometimes referred to as food stamps), regular Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)," the National Immigrant Forum, a nonprofit that advocates for immigration reform, explains on its website. "Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”
The Trump administration must begin accepting new applications for the Obama-era program that shields undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation that do not have a criminal record, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The order comes nearly a month since the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. That ruling emphasized that the administration failed to provide an adequate reason to justify scrapping DACA.
Judge Paul Grimm of the US District Court for the District of Maryland said Friday that the program is to be restored to its "pre-September 5, 2017 status," meaning the status quo before President Donald Trump tried to terminate it, thereby giving hundreds of thousands of DACA-eligible immigrants the opportunity to apply.
However it may still be wise before filing a new, first time DACA application to wait until there is better guidance issued by USCIS to ensure proper filing.
To qualify for DACA one must:
Have entered the United States under the age of 16,
Be currently enrolled in school, have graduated high school (or GED), OR willing and eligible to serve in the military,
Have been in the United Statessince June 15, 2007, AND
Have a minimal criminal record. (No felonies, DUI's, or high-level misdemeanors. Minor traffic and most minor misdemeanor crimes should not cause a problem.)
Expect Delays in EAD/AP card and Green Card Production. USCIS litterally turned off the printing presses in June.
Without telling Congress, the Trump administration has scaled back the printing of documents it has already promised to immigrants — including green cards, the wallet-size I.D.’s legal permanent residents must carry everywhere to prove they are in the United States lawfully.
In mid-June, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ contract ended with the company that had been printing these documents. Production was slated to be insourced, but “the agency’s financial situation,” USCIS said Thursday, prompted a hiring freeze that required it to ratchet down printing.
Of the two facilities where these credentials were printed, one, in Corbin, Ky., shut down production three weeks ago. The other facility, in Lee’s Summit, Mo., appears to be operating at reduced capacity.
Some 50,000 green cards and 75,000 other employment authorization documents promised to immigrants haven’t been printed, USCIS said in a statement. The agency said it had planned to escalate printing but that it “cannot speculate on future projections of processing times.” In the event of furloughs — which the agency has threatened if it does not get a $1.2 billion loan from Congress — “all agency operations will be affected.”
SEVP modifies temporary exemptions for nonimmigrant students taking online courses during fall 2020 semester
WASHINGTON – The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) announced modifications Monday to temporary exemptions for nonimmigrant students taking online classes due to the pandemic for the fall 2020 semester. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to publish the procedures and responsibilities in the Federal Register as a Temporary Final Rule.
Temporary exemptions for the fall 2020 semester include:
Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States. The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States. Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.
Nonimmigrant F-1 students attending schools operating under normal in-person classes are bound by existing federal regulations. Eligible F students may take a maximum of one class or three credit hours online.
Nonimmigrant F-1 students attending schools adopting a hybrid model—that is, a mixture of online and in person classes—will be allowed to take more than one class or three credit hours online. These schools must certify to SEVP, through the Form I-20, “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status,” certifying that the program is not entirely online, that the student is not taking an entirely online course load this semester, and that the student is taking the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in their degree program. The above exemptions do not apply to F-1 students in English language training programs or M-1 students pursing vocational degrees, who are not permitted to enroll in any online courses.
Schools should update their information in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) within 10 days of the change if they begin the fall semester with in-person classes but are later required to switch to only online classes, or a nonimmigrant student changes their course selections, and as a result, ends up taking an entirely online course load. Nonimmigrant students within the United States are not permitted to take a full course of study through online classes. If students find themselves in this situation, they must leave the country or take alternative steps to maintain their nonimmigrant status such as a reduced course load or appropriate medical leave.
Due to COVID-19, SEVP instituted a temporary exemption regarding online courses for the spring and summer semesters. This policy permitted nonimmigrant students to take more online courses than normally permitted by federal regulation to maintain their nonimmigrant status during the COVID-19 emergency.
F-1 nonimmigrant students pursue academic coursework and M-1 nonimmigrant students pursue vocational coursework while studying in the United States.
Posted by: Christopher M. Pogue, Esq AT 04:21 pm
| Permalink
| Email
This website and the information on it is not legal advice. Do not rely upon any information found on this website or through the links on this website. You must contact our law firm AND enter into a written legal retainer agreement in order to obtain legal advice from our law firm for your situation. Contact us today so that we can provide you legal advice for your case.
