Migration News

Judge bans enforcement of Biden’s 100-day deportation pause 

Nomaan Merchant, AP News 

A federal judge late Tuesday indefinitely banned President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a preliminary injunction sought by Texas, which argued the moratorium violated federal law and risked imposing additional costs on the state. Biden proposed the 100-day pause on deportations during his campaign as part of a larger review of immigration enforcement and an attempt to reverse the priorities of former President Donald Trump. Biden has proposed a sweeping immigration bill that would allow the legalization of an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally. He has also instituted other guidelines on whom immigration and border agents should target for enforcement. 

Lightfoot signs ‘Welcoming City’ ordinance, adds protections for immigrants in Chicago 

Julian Crews, WGN-TV 

Mayors, past and present, long described Chicago as a “Sanctuary City” for immigrants.  But Tuesday, amendments were made to the city’s “Welcoming City” ordinance. The amendments took the legal protections a step further and instituted policies to protect the due-process rights of Chicago’s immigrants. 

Asylum-seekers have to pay money to use bathrooms at border migrant campsite 

Salvador Rivera, WANE 

Capitalism is alive and well in Tijuana even if it comes at the expense of asylum-seekers who don’t have very much, to begin with. A business owner near a newly-formed migrant campsite just south of the border is charging people from the camp eight pesos (40 cents) to use his bathroom. The migrants say they have no other options. Since last week, asylum-seekers and others have been gathering and camping out on a sidewalk and plaza next to the Mexican side of the San Ysidro Port of Entry in South San Diego. 

U.S. consumer watchdog, state attorneys general sue company over immigrant bail bonds 

Reuters/NBC News 

The U.S. consumer watchdog and attorneys general in three states are suing Libre by Nexus for allegedly preying on immigrants in U.S. detention centers by misrepresenting fees for paying bail bonds and threatening borrowers who cannot repay. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and attorneys general in New York, Massachusetts and Virginia have sued Libre by Nexus and its parent company for alleged predatory practices that “bind the immigrants to years of exorbitant monthly payments,” the agency said on Monday. 

Process for asylum seekers changing amid new immigration policies 

Liliana Soto, ABC15 Arizona 

In one of his first moves in the White House, President Joe Biden ended the Trump administration policy requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases worked through the system. In California, some of the people who were waiting are now being let into the United States to await hearings. Texas is expected to start processing them this week and Arizona could start in just a few weeks. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that about 25,000 asylum seekers with active asylum cases have been waiting in Mexico. 

Virginia joins federal lawsuit against company accused of preying on immigrants 

Michael E. Miller, The Washington Post 

The attorneys general for Virginia, New York and Massachusetts joined a federal consumer watchdog Monday in suing an immigration bond services company accused of preying on undocumented immigrants. The federal lawsuit marked the culmination of a multiyear investigation into Libre by Nexus and its parent company, Nexus Services, according to officials from the three states and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). 

Local faith organization prepares to welcome asylum-seekers, puts COVID-19 protocols in place 

Tatiana Favela, KTSM 9 News 

El Paso is expected to be the next port where asylum-seeking migrants under the Migrant Protection Protocol program will arrive. Local immigration advocates and faith leaders are preparing to welcome them with dignity, while also implementing COVID-19 protocols as the migrants travel amid the pandemic. “Thinking back to 2018, there could be several hundred folks that could be processed into the U.S. at any given day,” said Dylan Corbett, executive director at Hope Border Institute.

Further Reading 

No, Biden’s new border move isn’t like Trump’s ‘kids in cages’ 

The Washington Post 

A path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants is a no-brainer 

The Washington Post 

An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Launching a Refugee Private Sponsorship Pilot Initiative in the U.S. 

Niskanen Center  

Why Biden Is Tackling Immigration Now 

The New York Times