Migration News

House passes bill providing pathway to citizenship for Dreamers
Oriana Gonzalez, Axios
The House on Thursday voted 228-197 to pass the American Dream and Promise Act as part of Democrats' first effort at immigration reform under the Biden administration. Why it matters: Nine Republicans joined Democrats to support the bill that creates a pathway to citizenship for about 2.5 million immigrants living in the U.S. The pathway would be available to those who were brought into the country illegally as children and those who have come for humanitarian reasons.

House Passes 2 Bills Aimed At Overhauling The Immigration System
Barbara Sprunt and Claudia Grisales, NPR
The House has overwhelmingly passed a pair of immigration bills that offer a targeted approach to amending the immigration system but have an uncertain future when it comes to passage in the Senate. The American Dream and Promise Act, which previously passed in the House in 2019, would create a process for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — otherwise known as "DREAMers" — to earn permanent resident status and eventual citizenship. It also includes a path to citizenship for people with temporary protected status and beneficiaries of deferred enforced departure. It passed by a vote of 228-197.

First buses of undocumented immigrants arrive at Dallas convention center
Hanna Battah, Alex Boyer and Blake Hanson, Fox 7 Austin
The first busloads of undocumented teenage boys arrived at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas on Wednesday night. Four buses filled with 15- to 17-year-old boys rolled into downtown Dallas around 10 p.m. The convention center has been converted into an emergency intake facility, where the federal government and local charities will provide care for the undocumented minors. They could stay there up to 90 days. All of the teens will be screened for COVID-19. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the goal is get the migrant teens processed and placed with a relative or suitable sponsor as quickly as possible.

Immigration advocacy groups tell their side of the border crisis
Justin Kree and Gabrielle Caracciolo, cbs4local.com
“During the Trump Administration’s 'Remain in Mexico' protocols, more than 20,000 migrants were kept out of the U.S.,” Melisa Lopez, Executive Director, Dioceses Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso said. Lopez explained that many migrants who did cross into El Paso not only had to overcome the border wall but a highway which often resulted in injuries and even death for a number of migrants. “Our immigration policies have to change. We have to become humancentric. We have to think first about the human being that’s being affected by these policies. Because the reality is we’re a great country that has many resources. We have the resources to accept and welcome every single asylum seeker that comes to the United States for their own safety,” Lopez said.

Business Groups Push Immigration Bills in Face of GOP Dissent
Megan R. Wilson, Bloomberg Government
Business and immigration groups are rallying behind two immigration measures pushed by Democrats on Capitol Hill despite Republican opposition stoked by the surge of migrants arriving at the southwest border. The House is set to pass a measure (H.R. 6) that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented individuals brought to the U.S. as children and another bill (H.R. 1603) that would allow about 1 million farm workers to receive new temporary protections or permanent legal status.

More than 500 migrant children have been in Border Patrol custody more than 10 days
Julia Ainsley, NBC News
More than 500 migrant children had been in Border Patrol custody for more than 10 days as of Thursday, well past the three-day legal limit, as many border facilities not built to house children have far surpassed their capacity, according to new data obtained by NBC News. Many of the children are being held in the Rio Grande Valley, the epicenter of the recent migration surge, where as of Thursday more than 4,000 immigrants of all ages were in custody in a sector with facilities meant to hold only 715, according to the data. In the soft-sided tent facility in Donna, Texas, built to house the rising numbers in the Rio Grande Valley, more than 3,300 immigrants were in custody in a facility built for 250 as of Thursday. The numbers fluctuate throughout any given day, as some adult immigrants are quickly processed and released or expelled from the U.S.

Biden administration says migrant teens could be retraumatized with interviews by Gov. Greg Abbott’s team
Dianne Solis, The Dallas Morning News
Responding to a call by Gov. Greg Abbott for access to immigrant children to ferret out human trafficking cases, Biden administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Thursday that federal authorities are careful not to retraumatize the children by repeating their stories to every public official making a request. The exchange came as 200 immigrant teen boys arrived at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas Wednesday night from Border Patrol facilities. Rising numbers of immigrant minors travelling without a parent are being detained, and that flow of children and teens may surpass the last high cycle of 2019.

Further Reading

Advocating for asylum-seeking children is traumatic, new research finds
The Washington Post

Knowing the difference between asylum seekers and refugees
KOLD

Florida Refugee Advocacy Week Teaches Others To 'Be A Good Neighbor'
WUWF

For Some Transgender Asylum Seekers, Fleeing a Dangerous Migrant Camp Meant Being Left Behind
ProPublica