President Donald J. Trump’s first day in office on January 20th, 2025, was sealed by his passing forty-six presidential actions in line with “President Trump’s America First Priorities”. Keeping in line with his campaign promises to eliminate illegal immigration many of his executive orders are targeted at immigration. A few hours into his second term President Trump suspended US asylum, along with refugee, and other humanitarian programs. He also increased security screening of all foreign nationals seeking entry to the US and continued with his campaign to limit birthright citizenship. Let’s examine a few of Trump’s mandates that affect our communities.
Read moreThe H-1B Visa Program is Dividing MAGA
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who until a few days ago were co-leaders of President-elect Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) recently ruffled feathers amongst Trump’s MAGA supporters when Ramaswamy and Musk tweeted their support for the H1B program. In a surprising turn of events after having moved to limit H-1Bs during his first term, Trump responded by applauding the program, noting “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program.”
Read moreDHS Publishes H-1B Modernization Final Rule to Improve Program Integrity and Efficiency
On December 18, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) published a Final rule in the Federal Register modernizing and increasing the efficiency of the H-1B program, adding benefits and flexibilities, and improving integrity measures. This rule will become effective January 17, 2025.
The final rule imposes changes to the H-1B program and codifies a number of existing rules. We must point out that the final rule is quite lengthy; therefore, our summary does not cover all of the changes. We have outlined a few of the most notable updates and changes below which we feel may be of most interest to our community.
Read moreThe New York Times: “Colleges Warn Foreign Students to Get to Campus Before Trump Takes Office”
Ahead of President Trump’s upcoming inauguration on January 20, 2025, some universities, including Harvard, USC, and Cornell are advising their international student body to prepare to return to campus from their winter breaks before Trump is sworn in to office. The warnings are a result of Trump’s expressed desire to reimpose a travel ban previously instituted during his first term as President and ended by President Biden when he took office.
Read moreThe Fabric of America
Recent Ruling puts DACA in Jeopardy (Again)
On September 13, 2023, the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the Biden Administration’s codification of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) is not legal. The ruling does not prevent DACA beneficiaries enrolled in the program prior to July 16, 2021, to renew their status. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will also continue to accept new applications from first-time, would-be DACA recipients; However, they will not process any new applications.
Read moreA Child’s Perspective on Immigration Reform: “Until Someone Listens”
Having her family fall victim to the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which criminally prosecuted immigrants that crossed the US border without documentation and separated families as a consequence, Estela Juarez has written a children’s book with the help of Lissette Norman and illustrator Teresa Martin, titled “Until Someone Listens.” The book offers a personal account of Estela’s story of loss and lack of protection under our current immigration system, in the hopes that all who read will listen to the pressing need for immigration reform.
Read moreWhen Dreamers Find Themselves in Limbo
A decade ago, President Obama signed an executive order instituting The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program, which protects undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors. This program acknowledges that the beneficiaries have been raised in the United States and “pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one - on paper.” The program was a temporary solution which does not provide a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship in the United States. Instead, it was intended as a “stopgap measure to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable immigrants”, known as Dreamers, from deportation. The program also enabled beneficiaries to obtain work authorization and reside legally in the US in two-year intervals. DACA was created as a temporary measure until Congress passed new immigration legislation addressing the immigration status of certain undocumented minors.
Read moreH-1B Salary Based Selection Process Final Rule is Officially Withdrawn
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that the January 2021 final rule modifying the H-1B selection process has officially been withdrawn by The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). This rule would have eliminated the random selection process known as the H-1B visa lottery, and replaced it with a process prioritizing those foreign nationals who are offered the highest salaries relative to their occupation and geographic area according to the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) prevailing wage system.
Read moreJudge Issues Preliminary Injunction Halting Proclamation Suspending Entry of H-1B, H-2B, J-1, and L-1 Workers for Plaintiffs
In early October, Judge Jeffrey S. White of the US District Court for the Northern District of California temporarily blocked further implementation of section 2 of the June 22 presidential proclamation (PP 10052) that suspended entry into the US for H-1B highly-skilled workers, H-2B nonagricultural workers, J-1 exchange visitors including interns, trainees, teachers, camp counselors, and au pairs, and L international intracompany transfers, and all their dependents. This injunction is not nationwide and only applies to plaintiffs and members of the plaintiff groups. In his opinion, Judge White criticized the June 22 presidential proclamation noting it did not address the issue it was supposed to fix, namely helping the domestic economy by providing more job opportunities for Americans. “[T]he Proclamation completely disregards both economic reality and the pre-existing statutory framework. Furthermore, without any consideration of the impact on American firms and their business planning, the Proclamation abruptly changed the scope of immigration policy in the United States.”
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