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This Week in Immigration

Top Stories

Thursday, April 13, 2017
(Last Updated: April 13 2017 at 8:00 am EDT)

ThisWeekInImmigration.Com's "Top Stories" page presents a chronological listing and links to all of the site's write-ups on legislative and political actions on immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related policy during the current Congress.

April 2017

April 10, 2017

Congress Begins Two Week-Long Easter Recess But a Heavy Immigration and Refugee Agenda Could Be On Tap Upon Its Return: Both the House and Senate have departed Washington to begin two week-long Easter recesses. The Senate is scheduled to return to the Nation's Capitol on Monday, April 24th, while the House plans to resume its sessions one day later. Once back, the two chambers could immediately be thrown into a showdown between each other and with the White House over funding a border wall and funding increased defense and immigration enforcement spending that could force a shutdown of the federal government.

April 9, 2017

Secretary of State Tillerson, Ambassador Haley, and Senators Rubio, Cornyn, and Cardin Discuss Immigration & Refugee Policy and Politics During April 9th Sunday Public Affairs Programs: Notwithstanding the dominant coverage of the past week’s cruise missile attack that the United States launched against Syria, there still was plenty of discussion about other subjects during the April 9th Sunday public affairs programs, including a significant number of discussions about immigration and refugees.

April 8, 2017

Extensive Immigration Discussions Unlikely Given the Guest Lists on This Weekend's Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: Coverage of this past week's cruise missile attack that the United States launched against Syria will dominate this week's Sunday morning public affairs programs, leaving little room for discussions about other subjects, including immigration and refugees.

April 5, 2017

Senate Confirms Nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security: The full Senate has confirmed President Trump's nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. Senate action confirming the nomination of Elaine C. Duke to the second-in-command position at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) occurred on Tuesday, April 4, 2017. The Senate confirmed the nomination by a vote of 85-14.

April 4, 2017

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Trump Nominees to be Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General: The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has approved presidential nominees to fill two subcabinet positions in the Department of Justice that have responsibility over the Department's immigration-related functions. The committee action occurred on Monday, April 3, 2017, in connection with the nominations of Rod J. Rosenstein to be Deputy Attorney General and Rachel L. Brand , to be Associate Attorney General. The Committee approved the Rosenstein nomination by a vote of 19-1]. it approved the Brand nomination by a vote of 11-9.

April 3, 2017

A Hearing Featuring Secretary of Homeland Security Kelly, Another on Border Fencing, and Committee Votes on Two Subcabinet Nominees to Positions that have Jurisdiction Over Immigration Matters Highlight the Week's Immigration- and Refugee-Related Agenda: The highlight of this week's migration-related activity will likely be Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly‘s testimony at a Senate hearing. Fireworks could ensue when freshman Senator Kamela Harris (D-CA) questions the Secretary about the Trump Administration's immigration enforcement policies.

April 2, 2017

McConnell Downplays Speculation that Funding for the Border Wall Could Result in a Government Shutdown During the April 2nd Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: The subject of immigration was only mentioned on one of the day's five venerable Sunday morning shows: FOX’s “Fox News Sunday” program, and it only came up briefly, in discussions about whether President Trump’s request for funds to construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico could result in a government shutdown.

April 1, 2017

Extensive Immigration Discussions Unlikely Given the Guest Lists on This Weekend's Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: Coverage of the multiple investigations into potential ties between President Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian intelligence operatives will dominate this week's Sunday morning public affairs programs, leaving little room for discussions about other subjects, including immigration and refugees.

March 2017

March 30, 2017

A Federal District Court in Hawaii Extends Bar on Implementation of Executive Order's Travel Ban and Refugee Admissions Pause Until Lawsuit is Resolved: A federal district court in Hawaii late last night dealt the most serious blow yet to President Trump's attempt to impose a 90-day long travel ban for travelers from six predominantly-Muslim countries, bar refugee admissions from all countries for 120 days, and reduce the number of refugees who may be admitted to the United States in the current fiscal year from 110,000 to 50,000.

March 28, 2017

House Committee Expected to Strip Refugee Provisions from Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act: The House Committee on Foreign Affairs has scheduled a business meeting for this week, during which it will mark up a number of measures, including H.R. 390, the "Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act". In acting, however, the Committee is expected to strip all of the refugee-related provisions from the bill.

House Appropriations Panel to Hear from Secretary of HHS on FY '18 Appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies has scheduled a hearing for this week to examine the President' FY '18 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services

President Appoints New Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement: Sources indicate that late last week, President Trump appointed Edward Scott Lloyd to be the new Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

Federal District Court in Hawaii to Hold Hearing on Case that has Temporarily Blocked Key Sections of the Most Recent Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order: A federal district court in Hawaii has scheduled a hearing for this week in the case that resulted in the issuance of a nationwide temporary restraining order (Hawaii Order) blocking the Trump Administration from implementing two key portions of the March 6, 2017, executive order on refugee admissions and travel to the United States. The hearing is scheduled for 3:30 pm EDT on Wednesday, March 29, 2017.

March 27, 2017

A Hearing on Immigration Enforcement Policy, an Appearance by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Action on Several Nominees to Positions that have Jurisdiction Over Immigration Matters Highlight the Week's Immigration- and Refugee-Related Agenda: The highlight of this week's immigration- and refugee-related Congressional activity could prove to be a hearing in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration an Border Security that promises to examine how the nation can "restore" enforcement of our nation's immigration laws.

March 26, 2017

Schumer, Brown, Kristol, Schultz, and Meadows Discuss Trump and Immigration During this Weekend's Sunday Programs: There was plenty of talk during the weekend's Sunday programs about immigration and refugee matters, with extensive discussions of the subjects coming from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), former Secretary of State George P. Schultz, Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA), Tea Party Chairman Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC), and journalist Bill Kristol.

Extensive Immigration Discussions Unlikely Given the Guest Lists on This Weekend's Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: Coverage of the demise of the Republican effort to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act is likely to dominate this week's Sunday morning public affairs programs, leaving little room for discussions about other subjects, including immigration and refugees.

March 20, 2017

Consideration of a "Repeal and Replace" Health Bill that Impacts Noncitizens, a Hearing on DHS Staffing and Security Needs, and a Hearing on Border Security Task Forces Highlight the Week's Immigration- and Refugee-Related Agenda: House floor action on the GOP's controversial "repeal and replace" health care legislation and high profile hearings on a Supreme Court nominee, Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on unsubstantiated allegations that President Obama wiretapped soon-to-be-President Donald Trump are all likely to compete with one another for attention during what promises to be a frenetic week in Washington. Nonetheless, notwithstanding all that drama, there still is room on Capitol Hill for plenty of action during the week on immigration- and refugee matters during the week ahead.

March 19, 2017

There was Virtually No Talk About Immigration on this Weekend's Sunday Programs: The big subjects on the March 19, 2017, editions of the Sunday morning public affairs programs were the House GOP's bill to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act, the submission late last week of President Trump's Fiscal Year 2018 budget "blueprint;" and the burgeoning investigations in Congress and in the Department of Justice of yet-to-be-substantiated charges that there was collusion between associates of then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian intelligence officials in an attempt to impact the 2016 presidential election. That left (very) little room for discussions about immigration or refugees. Indeed, there was only a scintilla of discussion of the subjects on just one of the five programs, all of it coming during one segment on CBS's "Face the Nation" program.

March 16, 2017

Trump Requests Increased Immigration Enforcement and Border Security Spending in FY '18 Budget Blueprint: President Donald J. Trump has delivered his first budget to Congress. He did so in an abbreviated volume, delivered to Congress this morning, that foreshadows a much larger set of documents that the Administration will deliver to Congress in May. Today's request asks Congress to dramatically increase spending for the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). It also will ask for significant increases in spending for immigration court functions within the Department of Justice. And it calls for the elimination of a longtime account that funds emergency refugee and migration assistance.

Federal District Court in Hawaii Issues Order Temporarily Blocking Two Key Sections of the March 6 Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order: A federal district court in Hawaii last night issued a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking the Trump Administration from implementing two key portions of the March 6, 2017, executive order on refugee admissions and travel to the United States. The action in a Hawaii courthouse was the first of what could be three rulings on the executive order that could be handed down in the coming days.

March 15, 2017

Three Federal District Courts to Hold Hearings in Lawsuits that Seek to Block Implementation of Trump’s Revised Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order: Preliminary rulings could be handed down as soon as this week from any one of three courts that are holding hearings this week on lawsuits that are seeking to block the revised Executive Order on refugee admissions, immigration, and travel to the United States that the President Donald J. Trump signed last week.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Holds Up Vote on Deputy Attorney General Nominee: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) has informed the Trump Administration that he will not scheduled a vote in the committee on the President's nominee to be Deputy Attorney General until the Committee has received a briefing from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the Trump campaign's dealings with Russia..

March 14, 2017

Trump Said to be Readying Requests for Dramatic Increases in Immigration Enforcement and Border Security Spending in Forthcoming FY '18 Budget Blueprint: President Trump is expected this week to submit his fiscal year 2018 budget “blueprint” to Congress. While the details of what will be in the document were not known at the time of this writing, early indications are that, from an immigration and refugee perspective, it likely will contain proposals to make deep cuts in spending for the Department of State’s humanitarian assistance programs, including deep cuts in refugee programs, and dramatic increases in spending for the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement and border security functions.

Senate Homeland Security Committee to Vote on Nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security: The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has scheduled a business meeting for this week to vote on the nomination of Elaine Duke to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. The meeting is scheduled for 10:00 am EDT on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

March 13, 2017

The Release of Trump's FY '18 Budget Blueprint, a Hearing on the Vetting of Immigration Benefit Applicants, and a Hearing on Fraud in K-1 Fiancé Visas Highlight the Week's Immigration- and Refugee-Related Agenda: Legislation to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act will take up most of the oxygen in the Capitol this week. However, plenty of immigration- refugee-, and homeland security-related action is occurring in Washington this week, as well.

March 12, 2017

Baker and Lakshmanan Comment on Revised Refugee/Travel Ban Executive Order During This Weekend's Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: The big subject on the March 12, 2017, editions of the Sunday morning public affairs programs were the attempts by the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act, the impending submission of President Trump's Fiscal Year 2018 budget blueprint, and the burgeoning investigations in Congress and in the Department of Justice of yet-to-be-substantiated charges that there was collusion between associates of then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian intelligence officials in an attempt to impact the 2016 presidential election. That left (very) little room for discussions about immigration or refugees.

March 7, 2017

President Trump Signs Revised Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order: President Donald J. Trump has signed a new executive order on refugee admissions, immigration, and travel to the United States, replacing the embattled Order that he signed on January 27, 2017. The President signed the revised Executive Order behind closed doors on Monday, March 6, 2017, with none of the fanfare that accompanied his signing of his first Order, which will be revoked, effective March 16, 2017.

March 5, 2017

Rubio Addresses White House "Misdirection" on Immigration and its Reported Plan to Separate Children from Adults at the Border During This Weekend's Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: Two somewhat related subjects dominated the discussions on the March 5, 2017, Sunday public affairs programs. The first of these is the widespread, but heretofore unsubstantiated allegations that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russian intelligence officials in the Russian government's attempts to impact the 2016 U.S. election, And the second is President Trump's unsubstantiated allegations, delivered at 6:00 am on Saturday, March 4th, via Twitter, that President Obama wiretapped him during the campaign. Notwithstanding the dominance of those two matters, there still was some discussion about other subjects, including immigration, during the March 5th Sunday public affairs programs, including discussion from Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), as well as from journalists Ed O'Keefe and Jennifer Jacobs, and political analyst Jamelle Bouie.

March 1, 2017

Trump Paints Dystopian Picture of Immigrants and Immigration During His First Address to a Joint Meeting of Congress: In remarks that were peppered throughout with references to immigrants and immigration, President Donald J. Trump painted a dark, dystopian image of immigrants and immigration as he delivered the first address to a joint meeting of Congress of his presidency.

February 2017

February 27, 2017

Trump Expected to Sign Revised Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order: President Trump is expected this week to sign a new executive order on refugee admissions, immigration, and travel to the United States. Should he do so, it is likely to completely replace the embattled refugee admissions/travel ban executive order that the President signed on January 27, 2017, and that has been tied up in litigation ever since.

Trump Likely to Touch on Immigration and Refugee Matters in His First Address to a Joint Meeting of Congress: President Donald J. Trump is scheduled this week to make his first address to a joint meeting of Congress. The Address is scheduled for Tuesday, February 28, 2017, in the House Chamber. The text of the Address was not available at the time of this writing. However, it is anticipated that the subjects of immigration and refugees feature prominently among the many other matters that he mentions during his Address.

House Committee Establishes a Task Force on Denying Terrorist Entry into the United States: House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) last week announced the creation of a new Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry into the United States. The panel will be comprised of five Republican and three Democratic Committee Members

February 26, 2017

Pelosi, McAuliffe, and Brennan Express Concerns About Trump Immigration Policies While Walker and Lewandowski Express Support During Sunday Program Appearances: Among those appearing on the February 26, 2017, Sunday public affairs programs were House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Representative Ruben Gallego (D-CA), former CIA Director John Brennan, and Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA), all of whom expressed concerns about President Donald J. Trump's immigration policies.

February 25, 2017

Immigration Discussions Likely Given the Guest Lists on This Weekend's Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: Given the guest lists on the coming weekend's Sunday public affairs programs, there is likely to be significant discussion about immigration and refugees during the February 26, 2016, Sunday public affairs programs.

February 24, 2017

DHS Issues Memos Revealing Plans to Dramatically Step Up Immigration Enforcement: Pro-immigrant advocates have reacted with alarm to memoranda signed on January 20, 2017, and issued one day later on January 21st from Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly. The two memoranda contain numerous sweeping changes in procedures for ICE, Border Patrol, and USCIS officers. Advocates fear the changes in procedure will result in deprivations of due process for aliens in removal proceedings, the near-indiscriminate roundup of unauthorized migrants who have not committed serious crimes, summary deportation of unauthorized migrants without regard to whether they have counsel or have substantial equities in the United States, and the denial of protection to vulnerable children and asylum seekers.

February 22, 2017

Trump Expected to Sign Revised Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order: In action that is now likely not to occur until next week, President Trump is expected soon to sign a new executive order on refugee admissions and travel to the United States. Should he do so, it will replace the embattled refugee admissions/travel ban executive order that he signed on January 27, 2017, and that has been tied up in litigation ever since. Versions of the new draft have leaked to the media. However, at the time of this writing, the text had not yet appeared in public.

February 20, 2017

Congress Begins Week-Long Recess having Done Little So Far on Immigration: After a week during which almost all of the action on immigration took place on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the House and Senate have begun a week-long recess. Both the House and Senate are not scheduled to return to the Nation's Capitol until Monday, February 27th.

February 19, 2017

Senators Menendez and McCain Express Concerns About Trump Immigration Policies During Sunday Program Appearance: White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus made appearances on three of the five Sunday, February 19th public affairs programs. However, notwithstanding the intense activity that the White House has been involved in on immigration and refugees during the first month of President Trump's term, Priebus was not asked a single question about the subjects during any of his appearances.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus Headlines This Weekend's Sunday Morning Public Affairs Programs: White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus makes appearances on three of the five Sunday public affairs programs this week and is likely to face questions on each of them about President Trump's immigration and refugee policies, including questions about the President's embattled refugee admissions/travel ban executive order.

February 17, 2017

Trump Addresses DACA, Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order, His Immigration Enforcement Agenda, and More in First Solo Press Conference as President: President Donald J. Trump addressed a number of immigration-related matters during a press conference yesterday, including his embattled refugee admissions and travel ban executive order, his stepped-up immigration enforcement activities, his efforts to deport "criminal aliens" from the United States, his efforts to defund sanctuary cities, his call for "extreme vetting" of persons seeking to travel to the United States, the wall that he has proposed building along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the fate of DACA beneficiaries.

White House Repudiates Memorandum Calling for the Use of the National Guard to Round Up Unauthorized Migrants in the United States: The White House has quickly moved to repudiate a draft memorandum from Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly that, among other things, calls for the use of the National Guard to help perform functions of immigration officers.

February 13, 2017

White House Could Act This Week on New or Revised Immigration Security-Related Executive Orders: President Donald J. Trump last week pledged that his Administration will take actions this week to increase the security of the United States, implying at various times that the actions could include both new executive orders and revisions to the embattled refugee/travel ban order that currently is the subject of litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Immigration Advocates Await the Signing of Additional Migration-Related Executive Actions and Orders: Drafts of at least three additional migration-related Executive Orders have been leaked to the media, including ones that would restrict benefits for noncitizens, restrict legal immigration, and cancel President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for the Parents of Childhood Arrivals (DAPA) initiatives.

White House "Confirms" Reports of ICE "Raids" Pursuant to Trump Executive Order: After a week of denying multiple reports from Congress, the press, and the pro-immigrant advocacy community that the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) component has begun to aggressively enforce President Trump’s interior immigration enforcement executive order, the President and his senior White House staff finally confirmed those reports on Sunday, February 12th.

February 10, 2017

Appeals Court Upholds Lower Court Order Blocking Implementation of Key Portions of Refugee/Travel Ban Executive Order: A federal appeals court three-judge panel has upheld a lower court order that has temporarily halted implementation of five key aspects of the Executive Order on Refugees, Immigration, and Travel to the United States that was signed by President Donald J. Trump on January 27, 2017. The unanimous decision, handed down on Thursday, February 9, 2017, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, represented a total – but preliminary -- victory for the states of Washington and Minnesota, which filed suit against President Donald J. Trump on Monday, January 30, seeking to invalidate key parts of the controversial Executive Order.