All Categories - THIS WEEK IN IMMIGRATION

February 15, 2021 Legislative Preview

2/15/2021

All Quiet on Immigration as the full House and Senate
Take Week-Long Recess Amidst
Limited Committee Activity

Monday, February 15, 2021

There is little scheduled immigration-related legislative activity during the holiday-shortened week as the full House and full Senate stand in recess and the relatively few committees holding hearings and business meetings take a break from immigration- or refugee-related action.

Indeed, the only anticipated migration-related action taking place on Capitol Hill during the week of February 15, 2021, is the likely unveiling by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) of the text of "the “U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021", immigration reform legislation that was largely put together by the Biden Administration to fulfill the new president's immigration-related campaign promises.

As far as the week beginning February 15, 2021, is concerned, from the perspective of those interested in migration policy, at the time of this writing, the week's legislative schedule includes no hearings on migration-related matters, no business meetings of committees that either have jurisdiction over migration matters or that could produce legislation impacting migration law or policy, and no floor actions on migration-related legislation..

February 8, 2021 Legislative Preview

2/7/2021

House Panels to Take Up Reconciliation Measures While Senate Conducts Second
Trump Impeachment Trial

Sunday, February 7, 2021

The House Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled the first of what could be numerous hearings and actions during the 117th Congress on migration matters. while at least three House committees have scheduled markups of legislation that eventually will be packaged into a measure forming President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.'s $1.9 TRILLION COVID-19 relief legislation..

The action that will probably generate the most attention from the news media during the week ahead, though, is the second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump, which is set to begin on Tuesday, February 9.

The most consequential migration-related actions that are taking place in Congress during the coming week may not yet have been officially placed on the week's calendar; Twelve House committees are required to produce legislation by Tuesday, February 16, that will be packaged into the Biden COVID-19 relief bill. However,, only three of them were officially scheduled at the time of this writing. The biggest of them, including one of the two that are most likely to include provisions impacting migration law and policy are yet to be officially scheduled. Word could come early in the week of when the remaining nine committees will hold their markup sessions.

As far as the week beginning February 8, 2021, is concerned, from the perspective of those interested in migration policy, at the time of this writing, the week's legislative schedule includes one hearing (occurring in the House), four business meetings of committees (all occurring in the House) that either have jurisdiction over migration matters or that could produce legislation impacting migration law or policy.

Congress Passes FY '21 Budget Resolution

2/5/2021

Congress Adopts Budget Blueprint Paving the Way for the Eventual Enactment of a $1.9 TRILLION
COVID-Relief Bill

Friday, February 5, 2021

The House and Senate completed action today on a fiscal year 2021 budget blueprint that is intended to pave the way for the eventual enactment of a $1.9 TRILLION COVID-19 relief bill. The Senate acted on the measure in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, February 5, 2021, with the House following hours later.

While the blueprint that Congress adopted did not contain any explicit immigration provisions, it is widely anticipated that the legislation that will result from House and Senate adoption of the budget blueprint will have impacts on immigration policy.

Friday's congressional action occurred in connection with S. Con. Res. 5, the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2021 (Budget Resolution). The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, at about 5:23 am EST on February 5. The House concurred in the Senate action at about 2:23 pm EST later that day, doing so by a vote of 219-209.

Background. As introduced in the Senate, the text of S. Con. Res. 5 was almost identical to the text of H. Con. Res. 11, the Fiscal Year 2021 budget resolution, which the House passed on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.

The measure is a "skinny budget resolution" designed to provide a vehicle for facilitating enactment of a budget reconciliation bill that would be comprised of President Biden's COVID-19 relief proposals.

February 1, 2021 Legislative Preview

1/31/2021

Congress Poised to Begin FY '21 Budget Process that Could Produce Significant Coronavirus and Immigration-Related Provisions

Sunday, January 31, 2021

After a month spent negotiating committee ratios and assignments, posturing over power sharing arrangements between the two political parties, navigating the second impeachment of an outgoing president, ratifying the election of and then inaugurating a new president, and dodging a violent insurrection, Congress is set to kick into high legislative gear this week as both the House and Senate take their first steps in producing coronavirus legislation.

While the House and Senate Democratic Leadership intend to use the coming budget action as a vehicle for producing coronavirus legislation, the pro-immigrant advocacy community is hoping to use this week's budget action as a vehicle for enacting immigration reform legislation.

Away from the Capitol Dome, the Biden Administration is expected to issue a number of immigration-related executive actions during the coming week, including actions reversing Trump-era asylum policies, a plan to reunite migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, and a plan "to modernize the U.S. immigration system.'

As far as the week beginning February 1, 2021, is concerned, from the perspective of those interested in migration policy, the week's legislative schedule includes one hearing (occurring in the House), two business meetings of committees that have jurisdiction over migration matters, and the possibility of three floor actions impacting migration law or policy.

Biden Takes Steps to Reverse Trump Enforcement Priorities

1/20/2021

Biden Issues Order Reversing Several Key Trump Administration Civil Immigration
Enforcement Priorities

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

President Biden

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. issued an executive order today reversing a number of civil immigration enforcement policies put into place by former President Donald J. Trump. The action, embodied in Executive Order 13993, was one of six migration-related first-day actions taken by the new president. This one effectively reverses a policy that expanded enforcement priorities within the U.S. to include broad categories of immigrants, rather than prioritizing efforts that targeted immigrants with serious criminal convictions.

As a technical matter, Wednesday's action by the new president revoked former President Trump's Executive Order 13768 of January 25, 2017 (Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States).

The order, further, directs the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, and the heads of any other relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies) to undertake a review of any agency actions developed pursuant to the Trump executive order and take action, including issuing revised guidance, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, that advances the policy set forth in the Biden executive order.

Biden Order Ends Construction of Border Wall

1/20/2021

Biden Issues Proclamation Ending "Immigration Emergency" and Halting Construction of
Trump's Border Wall

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

President Biden

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. issued a proclamation today terminating the emergency with respect to the Southern Border of the United States that was declared by President Trump and redirecting funds that President Trump diverted to border wall construction.. The action, embodied in Presidential Proclamation 10142, was one of six migration-related first-day actions taken by the new president. This particular one asserts that the national emergency declared by President Trump will no longer be used to construct a wall at the southern border of the United States.

As a technical matter today's Proclamation terminates the emergency declared in President Trump's Presidential Proclamation 9844, and continued in several subsequent actions, is terminated and that the authorites invoked in that proclamation

Biden Extends DED for Liberians

1/20/2021

Biden Extends Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians Living in the United States

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

President Biden

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., today directed his Administration to reinstate Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians living in the United States.

Today's order was one of six migration-related first-day actions taken by the new president. This particular one is embodied in a Presidential Memorandum to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security. It must be implemented by an order published in the Federal Register, a step that is expected to be completed next week.

In the Memorandum, President Biden asserts, "I have determined that it is in the foreign policy interests of the United States to defer through June 30, 2022, the removal of any Liberian national, or person without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia, who is present in the United States and who was under a grant of DED as of January 10, 2021. I have also determined that any Liberian national, or person without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia, who is present in the United States and who was under a grant of DED as of January 10, 2021, should have continued employment authorization through June 30, 2022. "

The Deferred Enforced Departure program covers around 4,000 Liberians who have lived in the U.S. for many years and for whom returning would be unsafe due to conditions in their country. President Trump declined to renew Liberian DED.

Biden Reverses Trump "Muslim Ban"

1/20/2021

Biden Issues Proclamation Reversing
Trump "Muslim Ban"

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

President Biden

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. issued a proclamation today undoing former President Donald J. Trump's ban on migration to the United States of persons from a number of mostly Muslim-majority and African countries. The action, embodied in Presidential Proclamation 10141,was one of six migration-related first-day actions taken by the new president. This particular one effectively revokes the Trump-era policy that was widely referred to as the "Muslim Ban."

As a technical matter, Wednesday's action by the new president revoked four different actions taken by President Trump: Executive Order 13780 of March 6, 2017 (Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States); Presidential Proclamation 9645 of September 24, 2017 (Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats); Presidential Proclamation 9723 of April 10, 2018 (Maintaining Enhanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats); and Presidential Proclamation 9983 of January 31, 2020 (Improving Enhanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats).

Biden Reverses Trump Census Actions

1/20/2021

Biden Takes Action to Reverse Trump Actions on the Undocumented and the 2020 Census

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

President Biden

President Joseph R Biden, Jr. issued an executive order today reversing former President Donald J. Trump's effort to exclude the undocumented from being considered for the purposes of apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The action, embodied in Executive Order 13986, was one of six migration-related first-day actions taken by the new president.

The new President's actions revoked two Trump-era measures: Executive Order 13880 of July 11, 2019 (Collecting Information About Citizenship Status in Connection With the Decennial Census), and the Presidential Memorandum of July 21, 2020 (Excluding Illegal Aliens From the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census).

In the executive order, aimed at the Secretary of Commerce, the official who administers the decennial census, the President ordered that "the Secretary shall use tabulations of population reflecting the whole number of persons whose usual residence was in each State as of the census date, without regard to immigration status, in reports provided to the Governor and officers or public bodies having responsibility for legislative apportionment or districting of each State."

Biden Moves to "Fortify" DACA on First Day in Office

1/20/2021

Biden Moves to Undo Trump's Attempts to
Rescind DACA

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

President Biden

President Joseph R. Biden moved today to preserve and fortify the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, directing the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, to "take all actions he deems appropriate, consistent with applicable law, to preserve and fortify DACA." The action, embodied in a Presidential Memorandum was one of six migration-related actions taken by the new president on his first day in office.

The Presidential Memorandum commends the DACA program, asserting the persons who have been protected by it "were brought to the United States as children, have obeyed the law, and stayed in school or enlisted in the military." Continuing, it asserts that "DACA reflects a judgment that these immigrants should not be a priority for removal based on humanitarian concerns and other considerations, and that work authorization will enable them to support themselves and their families, and to contribute to our economy, while they remain.