Migration News

Under Trump-era border rule that Biden has kept, few asylum-seekers can seek U.S. refuge
Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News
Despite campaign promises to restore U.S. asylum, the Biden administration has expelled tens of thousands of migrants, including families with children, through a Trump-era rule that has allowed just 0.3% of those processed under it to seek refuge, according to data obtained by CBS News. Since March 2020, U.S. border officials have used a late 19th-century public health authority to carry out more than 637,000 summary expulsions of migrants along the southern border. Of those processed under this authority, found in Title 42 of the U.S. code, only 1,897 asylum-seekers have been allowed to request protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

Tensions rise within Biden administration as migrant kids crowd shelters
Ted Hesson, Mica Rosenberg, Kristina Cooke & Steve Holland, Reuters
Top aides to President Joe Biden are ramping up pressure on the agency that shelters thousands of unaccompanied migrant children, voicing frustration that kids are not being released quickly enough from detention, three U.S. officials said. In daily calls with representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other agencies, White House officials have demanded HHS speed up releases from its overloaded shelter system to free up space for children packed into crowded border patrol stations, the officials said. HHS is in charge of housing the migrant children and vetting potential U.S. sponsors, often parents and close relatives, who seek to take them in.

Tucson to house asylum seekers, migrants at city hotels
FOX 10 News Phoenix/Associated Press
The city of Tucson has contracted with local hotels to temporarily house people seeking asylum in the U.S. while awaiting the completion of a tent-like facility built by Customs and Border Protection. A statement on April 12 from Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, a Democrat, said the city has paid local hotels to temporarily shelter about 75 migrants traveling as families, The Arizona Daily Star reported. "The City of Tucson will continue to be a strong partner — as we have been during previous surges under past presidential administrations — to provide humane, dignified care for asylum seekers during their brief stop in Tucson," Romero said.

New Jersey governor might give $40M in federal funds to undocumented immigrants
Daniel Han and Katherine Landergan, POLITICO
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is considering using federal funds to provide around $40 million in one-time stimulus payments to the state’s undocumented immigrants via executive action, according to five people familiar with the matter. Representatives from Murphy’s office suggested the figure during a conference call with immigration advocates on Tuesday. Immigrant groups in New Jersey have lobbied for assistance during the course of the pandemic, to no avail. The roughly $40 million figure — which would be funded through remaining federal CARES dollars — was a non-starter for advocates, who are seeking larger relief measures, such as $2,000 in direct stimulus payments to individuals and $600 in unemployment-like benefits. Sources said the 30-minute call grew “pretty heated” over the amount, which advocates said was not enough to provide real help to the state's nearly half-million undocumented immigrants. But administrative sources pointed out that the amount offered is similar to what’s in a bill that has failed to move in the Legislature.

Democrats send letter to Biden requesting immigration bill in second part of infrastructure package
Daniella Diaz, CNN
A bicameral group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday requesting he prioritize legislation that would offer a pathway to citizenship to undocumented essential workers in the second part of his two-part infrastructure package set to address education and childcare. In the letter obtained by CNN, the lawmakers said they want Biden to include H.R. 1909/S. 747, the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act, as a priority in the American Families Plan, the name of the second part of Biden's two-part plan. The Citizenship for Essential Workers Act would provide a pathway to citizenship for more than 5 million undocumented essential workers with an immediate adjustment of status to legal permanent resident if it's passed.

Immigration advocates respond to Ricketts' denial of federal request to house migrant children
Katherine Garcia, KETV
Gov. Pete Ricketts' refusal to allow unaccompanied migrant children to be temporarily housed in Nebraska, per request by the federal government, is getting responses from immigrant advocates. Attorney Erik Omar, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Center in Omaha, said parents in Central America feel the dangerous trek through Mexico to the U.S. Southern border is the only option to save their kids. "These three countries have been impacted heavily in the last few years by natural disasters and gang violence." The White House is calling on other states to help house the children, Ricketts said Nebraska will not help, because it's the Biden administration's responsibility.

Indianapolis wants to help immigrants seeking asylum, citizenship. This grant could do it
Natalia E. Contreras, Indianapolis Star
Growing up, Beatriz Preciado watched her parents struggle to support her and her siblings while they also worked to save enough money for costly immigration attorneys and application fees. On Wednesday, Preciado, who has a work permit through the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), said she wished financial assistance could have been available decades ago to assist immigrant families like hers seeking legal advice and resources. "I just know how stressful that was for them," Preciado said. "Having these funds would be less stressful for people who already have to deal with so much on a daily basis, not to mention the language barrier."