Even the best immigration attorney California offers must stay on top of immigration headlines and with a new president, there are plenty of those! Today Attorney Nelson is sharing some of the current immigration headlines.
Best Immigration Attorney California Shares Recent Immigration News
With a new president in office, there have been plenty of policy changes, but have their been any changes to immigration policies? Let’s take a look.
US ends deal with Arizona restricting Biden on immigration
In the last days of Trump’s presidency, he curated an agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and Arizona’s top prosecuting attorney. The agreement was set in place to restrict President Biden from overturning any of the immigration policies that Trump put into place. On February 3rd, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security terminated the unusual agreement.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued to try to stop the newly appointed Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, from acting on President Biden’s 100-day pause on deportations. In response, a Texas judge has put the moratorium on hold already.
The reasoning behind Brnovich’s action is based on concern over illegal immigrants who have been charged or convicted of crimes bring released. He also states concern over the strain that releasing illegal immigrants will have on a healthcare system that is already strained by COVID-19.
The argument is also being made that jurisdictions should be given 180-days consultation time before any executive branch changes take place.
Apparently, this agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and Arizona’s top prosecuting attorney was not the only agreement made in Trumps last few weeks in office. Multiple similar agreements were put into place with other officials and jurisdictions in Arizona, but no comments are being made amid pending litigation.
Poll: Most Americans support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
President Biden has proposed to legalize ten and a half million undocumented immigrants and it’s a plan that is popular among Americans in general. A poll held between January 29 to February 1 by Vox and Data for Progress (DFP) found that approximately 86 percent of democrats offered some degree of support for the idea.
President Biden has called for the creation of an eight-year earned path to citizenship for immigrants who were in the US on or before January 1, 2021. These immigrants must be able to pass a background check and pay taxes, however.
This article also highlights Biden’s push to offer a stimulus payment for members of mixed-status immigration families. This will provide a $1,200 check to many individuals who did not receive an original stimulus payment. The same poll as mentioned above mentions that this decision is expected to receive approval from around sixty-four percent of voters.
Biden signs immigration executive orders and establishes task force to reunite separated families
On February second, President Biden wasted no time signing executive orders on immigration. Biden signed three executive orders in total. Additionally, Biden set about setting up an immigration task force whose job would be to reunite immigrant families that were split during Trump’s immigration policies. The “Zero Tolerance” policy implemented by Trump wound up splitting countless immigrant parents from their children, many of whom remain separated today! The CNN article states that:
“The task force will be chaired by the Department of Homeland Security secretary and work across the US government, along with partners, to find parents separated from their children under the former administration. CNN previously reported that first lady Jill Biden is expected to take an active role in the task force. The secretary of state, Health and Human Services secretary and the attorney general will also be involved.
It will be charged with identifying all children separated from their parents or legal guardians on the southern border, facilitating and enabling the reunification of children with their families, and providing regular reports to the President, including one containing recommendations.The consequences of the “zero tolerance” policy which led to the separation of thousands of families are still felt today. Lawyers are unable to reach the parents of 611 children who had been split from their families by US border officials between 2017 and 2018, according to the latest court filing in an ongoing family separation case.”
- Scrutinizing the “Remain in Mexico” policy implemented by Trump. This policy required non-Mexican immigrants to stay in Mexico until their US immigration court date rolls around – which could take over a year!
- Revive the Central American program that was eliminated by Trump. This program offered aid and support to initiatives whose intent is to eliminate corruption in the region and it allows select youths who were deemed “at risk” the opportunity to live in the United States.
- The order signed on Tuesday also directed for the Homeland Security secretary, in consultation with the attorney general, the Health and Human Services secretary and director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to begin “taking steps to reinstate the safe and orderly reception and processing of arriving asylum seekers, consistent with public health and safety and capacity constraints.”
- The order also kickstarts a review of the “expedited removal” policy implemented by Trump which allowed for illegal immigrants to be deported immediately from the U.S. before being given a hearing in front of a U.S. judge!
Biden states that the new policies being implemented aren’t so much new policies, but they are policies that are being implemented to rectify some of the atrocities that resulted from the anti-immigrant sentiment that was supported by the Trump administration.
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