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In a tweet late Monday, April 20, 2020, President Trump said he will issue an executive order temporarily suspending immigration  “in light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy” and the “need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens.”  The White House did not provide any immediate clarification, including when an executive order

The Canadian government has now published guidance for travelers on the scope of the US-Canada border closure. Last month, the United States and Canada announced that the two countries would jointly and temporarily close the border, until April 20, 2020, to non-essential travel in an effort to limit the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

As of February 24, 2020, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is free to impose the regulation it unveiled in August 2019, which gives its officers significantly expanded authority to deny visas and green card applications from immigrants and prospective immigrants whom the government determines rely, or could rely, on certain public benefits like food stamps and government housing programs.  A narrowly divided Supreme Court lifted the nationwide injunction in January 2020, ruling 5-4 that the administration could begin enforcing the controversial policy, leaving lower courts to wrestle with multiple lingering legal actions challenging the rule.  On February 21, 2020, the Supreme Court lifted the last remaining injunction, which had applied to Illinois residents.

As a result, USCIS has reissued new versions of existing application and petition forms which include attestations regarding the redefined public charge policy.  USCIS has also issued a new form, “Declaration of Self-Sufficiency” (Form I-944), which requires comprehensive information about a beneficiary and accompanying family’s assets, resources, and financial status, including liabilities, debts, credit report and credit score, health insurance, and public benefits. Form I-944 also requires information about the beneficiary’s educational history and skill level.
Continue Reading The Top Issues For Global Employers as Nationwide “Public Charge” Rule Affects Millions of Visa and Green Card Applicants

Since January 30, 2020, when the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (“WHO”) declared the outbreak of the current novel coronavirus (now officially designated by WHO as “coronavirus disease 2019,” abbreviated as “COVID-19”), the total number of cases globally has now reached 80,980, and nearly 3,000 have died. While all but 55 of reported deaths are in China, more new cases were reported outside China than inside for the first time this week, on February 25, 2020. The first case in Latin America was detected in Brazil; Germany is declaring an epidemic; and the United States is bracing for an outbreak, with the president tapping Vice President Pence to coordinate the US response.

Among the issues employers need to address is managing the myriad travel restrictions stemming from host governments as multiple countries and localities seek to prevent further spread of the virus. Mayer Brown’s COVID-19 Global Travel Restrictions by Country, a Global People Solution™ travel tool, provides a summary of the latest country reports Mayer Brown has received regarding travel restrictions.
Continue Reading Travel Disruption Due to the Coronavirus – What Employers Need to Know

The administration announced expansion of the controversial travel ban to include six more countries, following an almost year-long review by the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”).  Restrictions on entering the United States will apply to certain travelers and migrants from Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, as well as Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan, and Tanzania, ,

In a 5-4 decision issued on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, the US Supreme Court upheld the president’s broad statutory authority to suspend the issuance of visas to nationals of certain countries in the interests of national security. Finding the September 24, 2017, Proclamation 9645 (“Proclamation”) to be neutral on its face, the Court rejected the arguments of the State of Hawaii that the ban was a thinly veiled attempt to ban Muslims from the United States in violation of the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution and the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”).

“By its plain language, [the INA] grants the president broad discretion to suspend the entry of aliens into the United States,” the majority opinion, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, states. “The president lawfully exercised that discretion based on his findings—following a worldwide, multiagency review—that entry of the covered aliens would be detrimental to the national interest. And plaintiffs’ attempts to identify a conflict with other provisions in the INA, and their appeal to the statute’s purposes and legislative history, fail to overcome the clear statutory language.”Continue Reading Supreme Court Upholds Trump’s Third Travel Ban

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:

Continue Reading President Trump Signs Executive Order to End Migrant Family Separation by Indefinitely Detaining Parents and Children Together at the Border


In a recent analysis of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)—the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) system used to monitor academic students (F-1), vocational students (M-1) and exchange visitors (J-1)—DHS determined that of the nearly 1.5 million students and exchange who were either expected to change status or depart the United States in FY 2016 there was an estimated overstay rate of 6.19% for F-1s, 11.60% for M-1s and 3.80 % for J-1s.  These figures were included in a report to Congress along with overstay data for other nonimmigrant categories and a game plan for reducing these figures, the centerpiece of which is a new biometric exit verification capability to be implemented by US Customs & Border Protection (CBP).

Last week, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) took another step in the overall DHS effort to reduce the rate of overstays with a focus on the student and exchange visitor populations. By memorandum dated May 10, 2018, USCIS announced a change, effective August 9, 2018, in the way it will calculate periods of unlawful presence in the United States for students and exchange visitors who remain beyond completion of their academic/training program or otherwise violate the terms of their status.  Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a foreign national who remains six months or one year beyond his or her authorized period of stay faces a bar to reentry of three or ten years, respectively, following departure from the United States.   The issue of calculating unlawful presence for students and exchange visitors arises because foreign students and exchange visitors have historically been admitted, not until a date certain, but for the duration of their academic or training programs, designated on the Form I-94 (arrival/departure record) as duration of status or “D/S.”Continue Reading USCIS Changes Policies on Unlawful Presence Calculation and Worksite Location Requirements for Foreign Students

On Wednesday, April 25, 2018, the US Supreme Court will hear argument in Trump v. Hawaii. Mayer Brown’s Legal Update provides background on this challenge to the third in a series of travel bans issued by President Trump and summarizes the questions before the Court in this final oral argument of its current term.