On May 16, 2019, the White House distributed fact sheets to Capitol Hill chiefs of staff, including talking points and slides that outline the president’s immigration proposal. The documents, obtained by Politico, are available here and here.
Legal Battle Over Temporary Protected Status Continues
A legal battle over the future of hundreds of thousands of individuals presently in the United States based upon Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) continues following the Trump administration’s steps to end TPS for certain individuals.
What is TPS?
The United States provides TPS to nationals of certain countries based upon conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, such as ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. At present, 10 countries are designated for TPS: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. A May 2018 report from US Citizenship and Immigration Services noted that 437,402 individuals held TPS status as of December 31, 2017.
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US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Start Accepting E-2 Visa Applications
Effective May 1, 2019, the US Embassy in Tel Aviv will begin accepting E-2 visa applications filed by Israeli citizens. This long-awaited announcement comes close to seven years after President Obama signed legislation in 2012 implementing a bilateral investment treaty with Israel on the condition that Israel provide reciprocal immigration status for American investors. The
Mayer Brown’s Liz Stern and Dan Stein Weigh In On ICE Worksite Enforcement
The US Department of Homeland Security quadrupled its worksite immigration enforcement actions in fiscal year 2018 and no employer is immune from the increased scrutiny on immigration compliance. Mayer Brown’s Liz Stern and Dan Stein offer five questions to help employers assess their risk in an article published in Bloomberg Business.
President Trump Signs Executive Order to End Migrant Family Separation by Indefinitely Detaining Parents and Children Together at the Border
On Tuesday, June 19, 2018, President Donald Trump told House Republicans to send him a compromise immigration bill to address border security and other key issues. Within less than 24 hours, in a move designed to stave off the continued public outcry over the separation of children from migrant parents detained at the southern border, on June 20 the president signed an executive order, “Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation.” The executive order states that officials will continue to prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally but will find or build facilities to hold families together while the parents’ cases are considered by the courts.
Zero Tolerance Policy Reiterated
The president indicated the border will be “just as tough,” with borders “very strong,” but families will no longer be separated. In a news conference where he was flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, President Trump indicated, “We are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a zero tolerance.” The executive order similarly reiterates the administration’s hard-line policy to detain any adults entering the country illegally, a policy that, according to statistics released on June 19, has led to the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents. As stated in the order:
ICE Collaboration with IRS a Signal of Intra-Agency Cooperation Across Contexts
On Thursday, April 6, 2018, federal and state officials arrested approximately 97 workers at a meat-processing facility in Tennessee. The charges faced by the individuals primarily relate to immigration-related offenses.
Media reports noted that the federal affidavit submitted in connection with the raid stated that the facility was targeted as a result of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) criminal investigation related to whether the company had been filing false tax returns and avoiding payment of payroll tax. The company’s bank reported repeated large cash withdrawals to the IRS, which prompted the investigation. The IRS contends the funds were used to pay undocumented workers.