Tag: immigration

Biden immigration policy aides to depart amid criticism of new migration policy

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Staff departures from any administration are common following a midterm election. But news of the impending exits comes days after the Biden administration announced its most restrictive border control measure to date: a proposed rule that will bar some migrants from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they cross the border illegally or fail to first apply for safe harbor in another country. The proposal — which immigrant advocates refer to as the “transit ban” or the “asylum ban” — will take effect on May 11 and serve as its policy solution to the long-awaited end of Title 42, a pandemic-era restriction that lifts the same day.
The policy prompted immediate backlash from immigrant advocates and Democrats who accused the White House of perpetuating a Donald Trump-like approach to border politics that President Joe Biden pledged on the campaign trail to end. Advocacy groups also said they were considering lawsuits.
Amid the blowback, administration officials criticized Congress, arguing that the White House has been left to roll out new policies to fill the “void” left by inaction on the Hill.
“To be clear, this was not our first preference or even our second. From day one, Biden has urged Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform and border security measures to ensure orderly, safe and humane processing of migrants at our border,” a senior administration official said in a call with reporters on Tuesday.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the departures.
Clavel and Perez-Davis’ exit from the administration are just the latest changes on Biden’s team handling migration and the border in his first two years. Tyler Moran, Biden’s senior adviser for migration, left in January 2022, after replacing Amy Pope the previous summer. Esther Olavarria, the deputy assistant to the president for immigration at the Domestic Policy Council, also retired that month.
Roberta Jacobson, Biden’s “border czar” left in April 2021, and some mid and low-level aides have also departed.
Jason Houser, who POLITICO reported was preparing to depart as chief of staff at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will also leave in the coming days. He was the highest-ranking political appointee at the DHS agency since there is no Senate-confirmed director.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 25, 2023
DeSantis blasts immigration laws once popular with Florida Republicans
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Included in DeSantis’ proposal is the repeal of a 2014 law sponsored by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez when she was a member of the Florida House that offered out-of-state tuition vouchers to some eligible Dreamers, those brought to the United States illegally at a young age. It applied to Dreamers who attended a Florida high school for at least three years.
The proposal received wide-ranging Republican support at the time, including from CFO Jimmy Patronis, DeSantis-appointed Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, former House Speaker Jose Oliva — whom DeSantis recently appointed to the Board of Governors of the State University System — and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, each of whom were members of the Legislature when lawmakers first approved the bill.
None returned a request seeking comment about whether they support repealing the law or if they regret their 2014 vote.
At Thursday’s press conference, DeSantis touted Florida’s low cost college or state university system but said the law still needs to be repealed to keep down tuition costs.
“If we want to hold the line on tuition, then you have got to say ‘you need to be a U.S. citizens living in Florida,’” DeSantis said. “Why would we subsidize a non-U.S. citizen when we want to make sure we can keep it affordable for our own people?”
Then-Gov. Rick Scott, who is now a Republican U.S. senator, signed the proposal in what was seen as a signal Florida Republicans had shifting views on immigration issues as they tried to make inroads with Latino voters, who have a much larger political footprint in Florida than in most states. Since DeSantis took office, however, he has rewired that approach, taking a much harder-line stance on immigration as he gains political support, including with Latino voters. In 2022, DeSantis won reelection by a historic 19.4 percentage point margin, including winning the Latino vote over Democrat Charlie Crist.
Scott defended the earlier legislation when asked about it in Tampa on Thursday.
“It’s a bill that I was proud to sign. I believe in it. I believe that these individuals ought to have the opportunity to live their dreams in this country,” Scott said.” It’s a bill I would sign again today.”

DeSantis last year drew widespread criticism from Democrats and immigration advocates after he transported nearly 50 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a move opponents called a political stunt. Since then, the governor persuaded the Legislature to expand the program.
DeSantis’ proposal would also repeal a second law passed in 2014 with bipartisan support that allowed noncitizens to be admitted to the Florida Bar. The proposal was signed into law by Scott and got “yes” votes from Diaz, Nunez and Oliva. Simpson and Patronis, both of whom are seen as eyeing bids for governor in 2026, did not vote on the measure when legislators approved it on the House and Senate floors.
The law allows the Florida Supreme Court to admit noncitizens to the Florida Bar if they meet certain qualifications, including being brought to the United states as a minor and living in the country for a decade or longer. It was passed for José Manuel Godinez-Samperio, who came to the United States at age 9 with his mother and went on to graduate Florida State University College of Law with honors. He was in the House chamber when the bill passed and got direct shoutouts from Republican leadership at the time.
DeSantis said he has no idea why lawmakers at the time made that decision.
“I don’t know why they did this in Florida before I became governor, but they are letting illegal aliens become licensed attorneys in Florida,” DeSantis said at the press conference. “It’s, like, how could you be violating the law and then be practicing the law.”
During the press conference, he did not address the fact that a large number of elected Florida Republicans in the past supported some of the provisions he wants repealed and his office did not respond to questions about that situation.
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican who was at the event and will be a likely sponsor of the bills, also did not return requests seeking comment.
DeSantis is also pushing lawmakers to require all Florida employers to use the E-Verify system, a federal database that allows employers to check workers’ employment status. During DeSantis’ first term, he pushed for universal E-Verify but that was opposed by the state’s business lobby. The bill lawmakers approved only required public employers to use the system.
Conservatives have been lobbying DeSantis to again try and expand the requirement to all employers, and DeSantis now has post-midterm Republican supermajorities in both chambers, which he says should make it easier to overcome opponents from the business and hospitality industries who are concerned changes could cut off their supply of cheap labor.
“It’s a different political context now having super majorities,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis’ immigration package also includes:
- Making it a third-degree felony to “transport, conceal, or harbor illegal aliens,” and a second-degree felony if the person being transported is a minor.
- Mandating that hospitals collect data on the immigration status of patients and submit reports on costs associated with providing care to undocumented immigrants.
- Requiring people registering to vote check a box affirming they are U.S. citizens and Florida residents.
- Prohibiting local governments from issuing ID cards to unauthorized aliens and invalidating out-of-state licenses issued to unauthorized aliens.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
February 24, 2023
Dozens dead in migrant shipwreck off Italian coast

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At least 43 migrants drowned on Sunday after the fishing boat on which they were traveling sank off the coast of the Italian region of Calabria.
According to local authorities, some 250 migrants were crammed aboard the ship, which broke in two about 20 kilometers from the city of Crotone. Over 100 passengers have been rescued, but at least 70 of the people who were aboard the ship remain missing.
Over the course of the morning, bodies, including those of children and at least one newborn baby, have washed ashore in the resort town of Steccato di Cutro, according to local reports.
Although the ship’s port of origin was in Turkey, authorities say the majority of the migrants that have been rescued are from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the disaster was “a huge tragedy that demonstrates how necessary it is to oppose the chains of irregular migration,” adding that more needed to be done to clamp down on “unscrupulous smugglers” who, “in order to get rich, organize improvised trips with inadequate boats and in prohibitive conditions.”
Calabrian President Roberto Occhiuto slammed EU authorities for their inaction in addressing the migration crisis and asked “what has the European Union been doing all these years?”
“Where is Europe when it comes to guaranteeing security and legality?” he asked, adding that regions like his were left on their own to “manage emergencies and mourn the dead.”
According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, at least 2,366 migrants lost their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean last year; at least 124 have been reporting missing in its waters since the beginning of this year.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 21, 2023
Supreme Court cancels oral arguments in Trump-era immigration policy case

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The public health emergency is the legal backbone of the Title 42 policy, a decades-old health directive the Trump administration resurfaced in March 2020 to sharply curtail the flow of asylum seekers into the U.S., particularly across the border with Mexico. The Biden administration has pledged to end the policy.
While the Biden administration officially opposes Title 42 policy, which many immigrant-rights advocates have bitterly denounced, Republicans and even some Democrats welcomed legal action to keep the asylum restrictions in place. Officials in border areas feared a massive influx in migration and even began to see an increase in December before legal maneuvering halted plans to end the policy that month.
Earlier this month, the White House declared the Covid-19 and national public health emergencies would come to an end on May 11. In a statement to Congress, the administration noted that the continual renewal of Title 42 orders — which have allowed the government for the past three years to turn away migrants without listening to their asylum claims — would come to an end, too. Since its implementation, Title 42 has been used more than 2 million times to expel migrants.
“Absent other relevant developments, the end of the public health emergency will (among other consequences) terminate the Title 42 orders and moot this case,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court last week, establishing its legal stance on the fate of the policy. “The government has also recently announced its intent to adopt new Title 8 policies to address the situation at the border once the Title 42 orders end.”
After conflicting court rulings from federal district court judges in Washington, D.C. and Louisiana, a sharply divided Supreme Court stepped in last December, staying an order requiring the Biden administration to end Title 42. By a 5-4 vote, the justices put the D.C.-based judge’s order on hold and appeared to defer to the Louisiana-based judge’s order that blocked a wind-down of the policy.
However, the high court insisted at the time that it was not requiring that the controversial immigration policy be kept in place.
“The stay itself does not prevent the federal government from taking any action with respect to that policy,” the court said then.
The handling of the border has been a constant challenge for the Biden administration — stymied by court battles and a Congress unable to reach a deal on immigration reform. Administration officials have continually said they’re preparing to lift Title 42, and have rolled out new policies intended to alleviate pressure at the border.

In January, Biden unveiled a new border measure that involved accepting 30,000 migrants a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela while cracking down on those who fail to use the plan’s legal pathways. The number of migrants and asylum seekers attempting to cross the border has dropped by 40 percent since December, which administration officials credit to the new policies.
The president’s announcement was made as the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice released details of a plan to impose a new regulation — a version of a Trump-era policy often called the “transit ban.” Under the new rule, migrants would be prohibited from applying for asylum in the United States unless they were first turned away for safe harbor by another country. It would also deem ineligible migrants who don’t go through authorized ports of entry.
The regulation is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks and will likely be met with swift criticism from immigration lawyers, advocates and Democrats.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 17, 2023
‘Finland must triple immigration to maintain labour force’

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Helsinki: Finland needs net immigration of up to 44,000 people annually to stabilize the size of the country’s labor force, a report has said.
The report published by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Etla) on Friday examined the economic effects of work-based immigration, and how immigration can compensate for the effects of Finland’s aging population, Xinhua news agency reported.
Etla said that the level of immigration required to boost the workforce is almost three times the actual level predicted by Statistics Finland: around 15,000 people annually.
Finland’s working-age population began to decline at the turn of the 2010s, when the “baby boomer” generation moved into retirement.
If the current low birth rate and the level of immigration forecast by Statistics Finland continue, the working-age population will drop by nearly 20 percent by 2070.
Such a decrease in the labour force would result in a slowdown in the growth of the national economy, and affect the sustainability of the welfare state, Etla warned.
“There is a lot of room for increasing the employment rate in Finland, but it is by no means enough to cover the future need for labour,” said Tarmo Valkonen, research advisor at Etla.
According to Etla’s model calculations, with the required level of immigration the labour input would increase by almost 10 per cent by 2040, and approximately 40 per cent by 2070.

Although the report points out that the impact of immigrants with low levels of education on the public economy is less positive than that of highly-educated people, low-skilled immigration is still beneficial to Finland’s economy since it enables services to function and the general population to target better jobs that match their education.
“As life expectancy rises, additional immigration would still not be enough to stop the population aging,” Etla added.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 4, 2023
Meet the border-district Republican at the immigration fight’s ‘epicenter’

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You might call Gonzales a political rarity, wading into the kind of huge policy fights that would terrify most swing-district members — but he’s been like this for a while. The Navy veteran and father of six has flouted GOP orthodoxy time and time again as his sprawling border district makes national news for the darkest reasons possible.
Before the smuggled migrant deaths came the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, which hit as another part of his district dealt with a refugee crisis of 12,000 Haitians fleeing political turmoil back home. And now the 42-year-old is clashing with conservatives on immigration, crusading against a draconian immigration bill from fellow Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, while also warning his party against big spending cuts that could hurt military bases like those in his district.
“Whether I want it to or not,” Gonzales said of his district, “it has been at the epicenter.”
That’s not set to change anytime soon. His latest intraparty tension is spiking over an immigration bill that Gonzales fears would effectively ban asylum claims outright — an interpretation that Roy fiercely disputes.
“The bill is the bill, and it ain’t rocket science. Three pages. You either support enforcing laws and ensuring that the American people are protected and migrants are protected and that in fact, asylum is preserved — which the bill does — or you don’t,” Roy said in a brief interview. His proposal would severely curtail migration by seeking to bar illegal border crossings.
While Roy said the two Texans have had some “long conversations” about the bill, initially slated for early action in the new GOP majority, he said he’s still waiting to hear a “substantive” disagreement beyond “broad brush statements in the press.” (Gonzales, for his part, called Roy’s bill a “bad idea” and delivered a jab to non-border members: “While some people may parachute in and parachute out, we live it every single day.”)
Asked about the Gonzales-Roy disagreement on Thursday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters that “a lot of members have a lot of different positions” on immigration and that any legislation will ultimately go through committee: “I know members are working together to try to find a place to get there.”
Gonzales has long pushed the GOP to adopt a more nuanced view on its single most politically explosive issue. As he’s ferried over 100 fellow lawmakers to his district since 2018, the self-described border hawk has implored other Republicans to look beyond headlines and consider an immigration system that also “welcomes those through the front door.”

One of Gonzales’ strategies: Set up meetings for his colleagues with tough-talking sheriffs whom he’ll later reveal are Democrats, or conservative ranchers whom he’ll point out later actually support loosening some immigration laws.
After eking out perhaps the most shocking victory of the 2020 midterms, he’s warned other Republicans that if they want to hold onto their threadbare majority in two years, they need to protect battleground seats.
“We can’t just throw bombs and rhetoric and expect people to reelect us over and over again,” he said.
Several of his colleagues say they understand and are willing to listen to his perspective on bills like Roy’s.
“Nobody wants to put him in a difficult position,” said GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who also hails from the Lone Star State. “We understand that our border reps are in a more difficult political situation. If they have concerns, let’s hear them out.”
Sometimes, though, the rest of Gonzales’ party can’t abide his particular breed of bipartisanship.
Gonzales appeared alongside Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar during the anti-abortion centrist Democrat’s fierce fight to hold his seat in November’s midterms. That display of camaraderie irked some senior Republicans who were dumping money to oust Cuellar. His GOP opponent, Cassy Garcia, even conveyed her frustrations to Gonzales, according to two people familiar with the exchange who addressed it candidly on condition of anonymity.
Cuellar later won reelection by over 13 points. (Gonzales won by 17.)
“He’s not a political guy,” Cuellar later said, speaking broadly about his South Texas neighbor. The two became fast friends after they realized they attended the same school in Camp Wood, Texas (population 700), roughly two decades apart. “He’s willing to take certain stands that are right, and sometimes might not be the most politically expedient thing to do, but he’s willing to do that.”
Gonzales is still speaking out as his party starts to govern with the smallest of margins. This week, he criticized the party’s removal of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee, despite ultimately voting for it. Last month, he was the sole Republican to oppose the GOP rules package after McCarthy made an agreement with conservatives over concerns about potential defense cuts.
“It may not make them right, but at least he’s got the courage to say, ‘Hey, here’s my perspective on this,’” Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) — a fellow battleground Republican and Navy veteran — said of his colleague’s party-bucking tendency. “A lot of people would just kind of roll over and go with the herd.”
So far, despite his rebelliousness, Gonzales has mostly remained in good standing with McCarthy and his team.
Gonzales and fellow battleground Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) were the only two freshmen to land on the coveted House Appropriations Committee when they first arrived on the Hill in 2021. They were also tapped to co-lead the House GOP’s “Young Guns” program to work with top campaign recruits.
But Gonzales has also inserted himself into leadership races that risked major consequences after his preferred candidate lost. Late last year, he threw himself behind Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) in the GOP whip race, despite clear signals that McCarthy opposed the chief deputy whip’s campaign for that position.
Gonzales shrugged off any possible blowback from his party, on that and other matters: “I’m a big boy. This is a big institution. You’re gonna make friends. You’re gonna make enemies. That’s part of the deal. I’m not worried about it.”
It’s perhaps that attitude that propels Gonzales’ work on various bipartisan groups, including the Problem Solvers Caucus. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), who co-led that group’s immigration talks last year, said of his Texan counterpart: “I think if there’s anybody that can really help bridge the divide, and come up with reasonable, decent immigration policy that both parties can work on, it’s Tony.”
And even though few in either party are counting on much immigration action this Congress, lawmakers might be forced to move anyway. The Supreme Court is set to rule this spring on a pair of presidential orders — Trump’s pandemic-era border expulsion policy and Obama’s “Dreamers” protections — that previous Congresses have punted on.
“In this Congress, five votes equals 100,” Gonzales said on possible action on immigration issues. “There’s opportunity there for those that want to govern and not allow the place to get hijacked.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 3, 2023
Florida joins 19 states to challenge Biden’s new immigration program

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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody called the new Biden program “a reckless attempt to continue flooding the country with massive waves of illegal immigrants.”
Florida is already home to sizable populations of people who have left all four countries covered by the White House actions. In recent weeks, hundreds of migrants fleeing Cuba and Haiti have made the dangerous 100-mile journey by boat to the Florida Keys, straining resources and moving Gov. Ron DeSantis to activate the state National Guard to respond to the influx.
A White House representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden announced the program amid a continued surge of migrants crossing the southern border, many of them coming in from countries that are ruled by authoritarian regimes such as Cuba and Venezuela.
Both Republicans and Democrats have been critical over how the Biden administration has handled border issues, but some of the strongest criticism has come from GOP leaders in Florida and Texas. DeSantis last fall arranged to fly nearly 50 mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, an effort that itself has drawn legal challenges in Florida and Massachusetts. Abbott has also bused thousands of migrants from the southern border to Democratic-led cities like Washington, D.C. and NYC.
Under the new program, the United States said it would grant “humanitarian” parole to eligible migrants who apply from their home countries. Those who have an eligible sponsor and pass background checks are allowed to come to the United States for two years and receive work authorization. The program was an expansion of one created for Venezuelans last year.
But Biden and federal officials stressed that those who wanted to apply for the program would not be eligible if they tried to cross the border.
When Biden announced the parole program, he called on Republicans to support comprehensive immigration changes. He said that changes outlined earlier this month “won’t fix our entire immigration system but they can help us a good deal in better managing what is a difficult challenge. … Until Congress passes the funds, a comprehensive immigration plan to fix the system completely, my administration is going to work to make things at the border better using the tools that we have.”

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Miami) has put together a comprehensive immigration package but it’s not clear if the proposal will gain much traction in Congress.
Both Florida and Texas have launched several lawsuits challenging Biden administration immigration policies.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023