The Justice Department's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division and the Labor Department (DOL) released a memorandum of understanding Tuesday, announcing the agencies' joint effort to target companies that exhibit "unlawful discrimination" against American workers by hiring foreign labor. These employers, often times, hire cheap foreign labor through the H-1B and H-2B visa programs.
According to the State Department only 1,242 refugees were admitted into the U.S. in October 2017 compared to the 9,945 admitted in Oct. 2016 under the Obama administration. This 87% decline can be contributed to Pres. Trump’s executive order for tougher vetting procedures for refugees and capping the number of refugees to 45,000 for the fiscal year.
The Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) released statistics this week that showed that the increase of immigration judges to DHS detention centers had a “positive net effect on the nationwide caseload”. Pres. Trump’s January executive called on Attorney General Sessions to temporarily reassign immigration judges in an effort to reduce the immigration court backlog.
DHS and the State Department have confirmed that they have issued visa sanctions against four countries that have refused accept back their foreign nationals that have been ordered deported from the U.S. The administration declined to name the four recalcitrant countries but sources claim they are Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
New Zealand announced today that they have made changes to their skilled foreign worker visa program that requires immigrants to meet certain income levels to be eligible for the visa. In order to qualify as a skilled immigrant they must get a job in which they earn at least the median income, to qualify as higher skilled the immigrant will need to earn at least 150% of the median income.
Pres. Trump signed his "Buy American, Hire American" executive order today that will direct government departments to review how H-1B visas are awarded and suggest changes so that only the highly-skilled and higher paid applicants receive the temporary work visa. This order is the first step towards moving the program from a random lottery approach to a merit-based system.
After having the lowest number of refugees resettled for FY17 last month, a State Department spokesperson has said they will increase the number of refugees resettled to 900 individuals per week. Under this policy they would resettle 65,000 refugees by the end of the fiscal year, an increase from the 50,000 cap that Pres. Trump set in his executive order.
A new poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for Secure America Now found that most Americans support strengthening interior enforcement, including ending sanctuary cities and catch-and-release. The online poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters during the first week of February.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by Federal District Judge James Robart against Pres. Trump's Jan. 27 executive order. While the Ninth Circuit's job in this ruling was simply to decide whether the executive order was lawful and constitutional, it essentially ignored that question and based its decision on politics.
Border apprehensions dropped in January according to new data from Customs and Border Protection. Apprehensions were down 27% compared to apprehensions in December. The monthly statistics typically provide a snapshot of how many foreign nationals are trying to cross the border illegally. The drop in January could be due to seasonal flows, but could also be due to the new Trump administration.
Washington Examiner -- Chris Chmielenski
In a previous post we gave the plain facts of President Trump’s executive order [EO] temporarily pausing the admission of individuals from countries already identified by Congress and President Obama as posing serious security risks to the United States.
In a telephone call with Pres. Trump on Sunday night Saudi Arabia’s King Salman agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen. Pres. Trump’s new executive order set the cap of new refugees for FY17 at 50,000 and prioritized creating safe zones for Syrian refugees.
On Friday President Trump signed an executive order that pauses the refugee resettlement program for the next 120 days giving time for the administration to review the application and vetting procedures for incoming refugees. Following the review, the order reduces the number of refugees to be resettled in the United States from Pres. Obama’s goal of 110,000 to the more traditional level of 50,000 -- a recommendation of the last bipartisan commission on immigration reform chaired by Barbara Jordan.
On Friday, January 27, President Trump signed an executive order regarding the admittance of individuals from certain countries that Congress previously identified as posing security risks to the United States.
Less than 48 hours after issuing an executive order pausing the U.S. refugee resettlement program, both Pres. Trump and the Department of Homeland Security issued statements indicating no openness to backing down in the face of intense news media criticism.
In response to Pres. Trump’s executive order cutting federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions Miami-Dade Mayor, Carlos Gimenez, has directed local authorities to honor all ICE detainer requests, ending their sanctuary policy.
As the Trump Administration rolled out the new orders on immigration enforcement yesterday, we at NumbersUSA noticed a lot of very familiar ideas. Take a look at our "10 Steps to Fix Our Broken Immigration-Enforcement System." See where we stand on each.
