Senate Bill 667 Sent to Governor Pritzker Would Improve Trust Between Undocumented Immigrants and Local Law Enforcement

Jul20

By Taher Kameli and Chathan Vemuri     The Illinois legislature has forwarded a bill to Governor J.B. Pritzker that, if passed, would go far in strengthening trust between Illinois law enforcement and immigrant communities. The bill, known as Senate Bill 667, or, the Way Forward Act, restricts local law enforcement from working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and close immigrant detainment centers across Illinois.[1] Proponents of the Way Forward Act argue that the bill would improve trust between immigrants and the police so that there would be better cooperation between the two to help detect and deter crimes, without

July 20, 2021
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Supreme Court Jeopardizes Thousands of Migrants with Temporary Protected Status in Its Ruling in Sanchez v. Mayorkas

Jul07

By Taher Kameli and Chathan Vemuri   On June 7, 2021, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that unlawful migrants in the United States whose presence was permitted by having Temporary Protected Status (TPS) were not eligible to apply for green cards to become lawful permanent residents.[1] This ruling followed a case involving Jose Santos Sanchez and his wife, who had arrived in the US unlawfully during the late 1990s and both of whom were granted Temporary Protected Status after the 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador, when the US made El Salvadorian nationals eligible for that status.[2] In 2014, Jose Santos

July 7, 2021
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Biden Raises the Refugee Cap to 62,500 in Response to Pressure, Signaling a Dramatic Improvement in the United States’ Refugee Policy

taher kameli
May17

By Taher Kameli and Chathan Vemuri   The Biden administration challenged a core controversial feature of the Trump administration’s immigration policy this Monday when President Biden announced that it was abandoning the noticeably low Trump refugee cap.[1] Instead, President Biden has announced that the refugee cap would be raised to 62,500 people for this fiscal year.[2] This was done in response to pressure challenging the President for initially sticking by the Trump-era policy.[3] President Biden also announced that he would set a goal of 125,000 refugee admissions for the next fiscal year.[4] He justified

May 17, 2021
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Supreme Court Rejection of GOP Attempt to Legally Defend the Trump Expansion of the Public Charge Rule is a Welcome Yet Insufficient Development

May12

By Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri   In a further demonstration of the Biden era Federal Government’s rejection of Trump-era restrictive changes to US immigration policy, the US Supreme Court turned down an attempt from several Republican states to defend the Trump-era expansion of the public charge rule.[1] Under the Trump administration’s rule, immigrants were denied the use of several public benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps.[2] Furthermore, they were required to prove that they had enough means to not rely on government assistance in the future.[3] Such a policy had the effect of filtering

May 12, 2021
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Biden Administration Partially Lifts Green Card Ban

Biden Administration Partially Lifts Green Card Ban
Mar04

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri   This week, a major Trump-era immigration ban has been considerably rescinded by executive order.[1] On Wednesday 24th, 2021, the Biden administration lifted the Trump administration’s immigrant visa ban for many green card applicants.[2] The ban was originally imposed on April 2020, under an order known as Presidential Proclamation 100014[3], and was justified as being necessary to protect American workers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]  Under the ban, the Trump administration froze the issuing of green cards for new immigrants and stopped temporary work visas for

March 4, 2021
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President Biden Reinstates Deferred Enforced Departure for Eligible Liberian Nationals in the U.S.

Liberian Nationals Eligible for Deferred Enforced Departure
Feb23

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri At the very beginning of his term in office, President Biden has put immigration reform at the top of his agenda, passing a series of executive orders challenging and even overturning President Trump’s immigration policies.[1] Be it rescinding the Muslim travel ban or restoring DACA, the Biden administration has made impressive gestures towards repairing an immigration system affected by the Trump administration’s more exclusivist hardline policies.[2] One particular change of note is the President’s revival of the Deferred Enforced Departure program.[3] This program, which covers around 4,000 long-term

February 23, 2021
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Southern District Court of Texas Overrules Biden Administration’s Deportation Moratorium

Texas Overrules Biden Administration Deportation Moratorium
Feb18

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The first two weeks of the Biden presidency has seen a dramatic pause on many of the Trump administration’s most controversial immigration policies, from ending the Muslim ban to reversing the policy focusing immigration law enforcement on any undocumented person regardless of criminal status or lack thereof, to ending an emergency declaration to divert funds to proposed border wall.[1] Yet opposition to these reversals remains as strong as ever in those states where the former President still commands high levels of support. In Texas last week, one state attorney general was able to

February 18, 2021
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How Confronting The Past Can Change Our Future

How Confronting The Past Can Change Our Future by Taher Kameli
Feb11

Written by Taher Kameli On Wednesday, January 20, 2021,  the U. S. witness the change when former Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. It was the culmination of a vicious presidential campaign that effectively served as a referendum on the performance of Donald Trump.[1] A campaign that saw Trump’s most fervent supporters come out in record numbers to keep him in the White House, as well as new voters too.[2]   After, a volatile election the result was not even known for almost a

February 11, 2021
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President Biden Withdraws Trump’s H-4 EAD Proposal

President Biden Withdraws Trump’s H-4 EAD Proposal
Feb04

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri Among the many changes to Trump’s hardline immigration policies pursued by the Biden administration during his first two weeks in office, President Biden’s latest action has been to withdraw a proposed rule of the Trump administration concerning H-4 EAD holders.[1] Under the proposed rule (which was introduced in 2019[2]), the H-4 EAD program would have been rescinded, preventing spouses of H-1B visa holders from getting paid employment in the U.S.[3]   Nevertheless, this has brought great relief to spouses of H-1B visa holders who

February 4, 2021
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DHS Changes the H-1B Visa Cap Selection Process

DHS Changes the H-1B Visa Cap Selection Process
Jan29

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri In one of the final acts of the Trump Administration’s hardline anti-immigration policies prior to his departure on January 20, 2021, the Trump-led Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule that upends the traditional selection system for the H-1B visa in favor of highly paid workers, at the expense of those who make less.[1] Every fiscal year, the numerical limit on the number of foreign workers authorized for H-1B visa status is capped at 65,000 initial visas, with an additional 20,000 H-1B visas for workers

January 29, 2021
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