General information

On August 26, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security, administratively stayed the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), from granting parole-in-place (PIP) under the Biden Administration’s Keeping Families Together program for another 14 days. In the meantime, USCIS can continue to accept and review PIP applications but cannot grant parole.

To comply with the district court’s administrative stay, USCIS will:

• Not grant any pending parole in place requests under Keeping Families Together.
• Continue to accept filings of the Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens.
• Continue to schedule biometric appointments and capture biometrics at Application Support Centers (ASCs).

The program, announced by the Biden Administration on June 18, 2024 and officially implemented on August 19, 2024, is a process for certain noncitizen spouses and noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens to request parole-in-place under existing statutory authority.  If granted parole, and if otherwise eligible, these noncitizens may apply for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident without having to leave the United States and be processed by a U.S. consulate overseas. The district court’s administrative stay order does not affect any applications that were approved before the administrative stay order was issued at 6:46 p.m. Eastern Time on August 26, 2024.

If you have questions about the Keeping Families Together program, please schedule a consult with a CYA attorney today!

In 2017 the US Supreme Court heard the case of Sessions v. Morales-Santana. This case dealt with the issue of gender-based discrimination in the context of U.S. citizenship law. The case addressed whether the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) provisions for acquiring U.S. citizenship at birth violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

The specific question was whether the INA’s differing requirements for a U.S. citizen parent to transmit citizenship to a child born abroad based on the parent’s gender were unconstitutional. Under the law, if a U.S. citizen father had a child abroad, the father had to meet a higher residency requirement than a U.S. citizen mother in order for the child to automatically acquire U.S. citizenship.

In Morales-Santana, the Supreme Court found that the gender-based disparity in these requirements was unconstitutional and did violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The Court ruled that the law must provide equal treatment for both fathers and mothers in terms of the residency requirements necessary for a child born abroad to acquire U.S. citizenship. The decision required the government to apply the same residency requirements to both mothers and fathers, thus aligning with principles of gender equality under the Constitution.

In its newly released guidance and pursuant to the decision in Morales-Santana, USCIS clarifies how and when children may obtain US citizenship if they were born abroad through their US citizen parent or parents. Want to know more? Schedule a consultation with a CYA attorney!

On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, the Biden Administration announced that DACA Recipients and other Dreamers who have earned a degree at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education and have an offer of employment from a U.S. employer in a field related to their degree will have an easier path to a U.S. work visa.  

The Biden administration stated, “Recognizing that it is in our national interest to ensure that individuals who are educated in the U.S. are able to use their skills and education to benefit our country, the Administration is taking action to facilitate the employment visa process for those who have graduated from college and have a high-skilled job offer, including DACA recipients and other Dreamers.”

Stay tuned!  There will be more information soon about these opportunities for Dreamers!

On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, the Biden Administration announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will allow certain noncitizen spouses & children of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card without having to leave the U.S.  if they have lived in the U.S. for 10 years or longer, do not pose a threat to public safety or national security, are otherwise eligible to obtain a green card in the U.S. and merit a favorable exercise of discretion.  DHS estimates that approximately 500,000 people who, on average, have lived in the U.S. for 23 years, could benefit from this process. 

To be considered on a case-by-case basis for this process, an individual must:  

• Be present in the United States without admission or parole;

• Have been continuously present in the United States for at least 10 years as of June 17, 2024; and

• Have a legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024.

In addition, individuals must have no disqualifying criminal history or otherwise constitute a threat to national security or public safety and should otherwise merit a favorable exercise of discretion. Noncitizen children of potential requestors may also be considered for parole under this process if they are physically present in the United States without admission or parole and have a qualifying stepchild relationship with a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024.

Upon receipt of a properly filed parole-in-place request, USCIS will determine on a case-by-case basis whether a grant of parole is warranted and whether the applicant merits a favorable exercise of discretion. All requests will take into consideration the potential requestor’s previous immigration history, criminal history, the results of background checks and national security and public safety vetting, and any other relevant information available to or requested by USCIS. USCIS has strong processes in place to identify and address potential fraud, which will be applied here to ensure the integrity of this program.

Stay tuned!  There will be more information soon about this new process!

On June 4, 2024, President Biden issued a Presidential Proclamation that went into immediate effect at the border.  The order severely limits an individual’s ability to claim asylum at the border.  Asylum grants individuals the right to stay in the U.S. based on fear of persecution at home because of one’s race, nationality, political opinion, membership in a particular social group, or religious beliefs. The Presidential Proclamation allows the U.S. government to refuse to accept asylum claims from people arriving at the border during any period of time when there has been an average of more than 2,500 people encountered at the border over a 7-day period.  The asylum ban remains in place until 14 days after another 7-day period in which the average number of encounters at the border falls below 1,500.   Given these metrics, it is likely that the ban on applying for asylum at the border will last for a long time and possibly be an indefinite ban.  There will be legal challenges asserting that this Proclamation violates U.S. and international asylum law. 

The U.S. Department of State predicts that heavy demand for immigrant visas this fiscal year will cause additional backlogs in the worldwide (including Mexico and Philippines) employment-based 1st and 3rd preference categories starting in July 2024. For June 2024, the employment-based worldwide, Mexico and Philippines 1st preference categories are current (meaning no waitlist for immigrant visas); while the employment-based worldwide, Mexico and Philippines 3rd preference categories have cut-off dates of November 22, 2022 (meaning that only intending immigrants with a priority date earlier than November 22, 2022, can proceed with their immigrant visa applications). There are at least 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas available each fiscal year. The U.S. Department of State uses complicated statistical modeling to try and allocate all available visas throughout the fiscal year by monitoring usage monthly. If usage is heavy during the fiscal year, there are often backlogs in visa categories over the summer. Once the new fiscal year starts on October 1st and the next round of immigrant visas becomes available, those backlogs often (but not always) clear out.

On Wednesday, May 22, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida struck down a key part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-immigrant law. Section 10 of Senate Bill 1718 made it a crime to drive an immigrant who entered the U.S. without inspection into Florida.

The law has deeply impacted immigrants and communities of color at large. Something as simple as a trip to the grocery store or driving to a doctor’s appointment became potentially dangerous and put large numbers of residents at risk of being arrested, charged, and prosecuted with a felony. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice, American Immigration Council, and the Southern Poverty Law Center successfully sought a preliminary injunction of Section 10 on behalf of the Farmworker Association of Florida and various impacted individuals, arguing that Section 10 unconstitutionally inserts the state into immigration enforcement. The court agreed that the law is likely unconstitutional, and temporarily blocked Section 10 from going into effect. It is expected that the Florida Attorney General’s office will appeal the ruling.

Some good news for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)! Under a new rule promulgated by the Biden Administration, federal healthcare coverage will be available to DACA recipients for the first time since DACA was implemented more than 10 years ago. The new rule will allow DACA recipients to enroll in a qualified health plan through the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace or become eligible for coverage through a basic health program. Up until this point, DACA beneficiaries had been barred from accessing federally funded health insurance despite contributing billions in federal taxes. It is estimated that there are about 580,000 DACA recipients living, working, and studying in the U.S. The addition of federal healthcare coverage is a welcome step for the program.

In the heart of the nation’s political arena, immigration policies are once again taking center stage, casting a spotlight on the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. With uncertainty looming, senators convened for a hearing today to address what the Senate Judiciary Committee deems an urgent need to protect immigrant youth.

Senator Dick Durbin (IL) chairing the Judiciary Committee, led the discussion by underscoring the invaluable contributions of Dreamers and DACA recipients. However, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the committee’s ranking member, struck a different chord in response. Graham emphasized that his current focus lies in addressing what he perceives as the dire state of the border and U.S. immigration policies, expressing reservations about prioritizing the resolution of DACA.

Graham’s stance on the issue suggests a shift from the bipartisan efforts of just a year ago, when both senators introduced the Dream Act of 2023, aiming to grant Dreamers lawful permanent residence. This change underscores the increasingly polarized nature of immigration politics, particularly in the lead-up to the November presidential election.

The DACA program, initiated in 2012 through executive action by former President Barack Obama, has provided a sense of security to over 800,000 young adults brought to the U.S. as children, who lack legal immigration status. However, the program has faced persistent challenges, including attempts by former President Donald Trump to dismantle it. Ongoing lawsuits challenging DACA, primarily led by Republican-led states, have left approximately 400,000 eligible individuals in limbo since a federal judge halted new registrations in 2021.

Despite these hurdles, proponents of DACA emphasize its effectiveness in integrating immigrants into American society. Since its inception, DACA recipients have significantly bolstered the economy, contributing $108 billion in wages and paying a combined $33 billion in taxes, as reported by FWD.us, a bipartisan group advocating for immigration reform.

The DACA debate encapsulates broader tensions within the immigration landscape, reflecting divergent viewpoints on border security, immigration policy, and the rights of undocumented immigrants. As political rhetoric intensifies, the fate of immigrant youth remains uncertain, awaiting decisive action from policymakers grappling with the complexities of the issue.

The H-1B cap lottery process has been conducted and completed for this fiscal year. Given the new H-1B regulation and registration process that was applied to this years’ lottery, no one really knew what to expect as far as what the odds of winning would be and how the process would go. This week USCIS finally released the lottery data which tells us:

• 114,017 beneficiaries were selected in the initial lottery this year.
• There was a decrease in the total number of registrations submitted as compared to last year, including a decrease in the number of beneficiaries with multiple registrations submitted on their behalf.
• This year there were ~442,000 beneficiaries who applied for the H-1B lottery whereas last year the number was ~446,000. However, the number of eligible registrations was down by 38.6% this year as compared to last year.
• Beneficiaries with multiple H-1B registrations submitted on their behalf decreased significantly – this year there were ~47,000 eligible registrations for beneficiaries with multiple registrations compared to more than 408,000 last year. That’s an 88% decrease!

This data tells us that while USCIS’s new regulations have improved the H-1B lottery process and made the system more fair, the H-1B system still falls short of offering the number of temporary nonimmigrant work visas that are needed by U.S. employers to cover demand.