The government agency in charge of granting citizenship to prospective Americans, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has removed a passage from its mission statement that describes the United States as a nation of immigrants.
Whereas the mission statement had previously read:
“USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.”
It will now read:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.
In the email, later sent to the Guardian by the agency, USCIS director L. Francis Cissna said: “This simple, straightforward statement clearly defines the agency’s role in our country’s lawful immigration system and the commitment we have to the American people.” The director also noted the removal of the term “customers”, arguing that U.S. citizens are the agency’s customers, not those applying for citizenship.
“All applicants and petitioners should, of course, always be treated with the greatest respect and courtesy, but we can’t forget that we serve the American people,” he wrote. However, virtually the entire agency budget, between 95% and 99%, according to publicly available budget documents, is funded through user fees paid by the applicants and petitioners. They added that the new mission statement was effective immediately and was not ordered by Donald Trump or White House officials.
Haitian and Salvadoran Immigrants Are Suing Trump Over His “Racially Discriminatory Immigration Agenda”
President Trump is being sued for promoting a “racially discriminatory immigration agenda,” The Associated Press reported Thursday.
A lawsuit filed to a federal court Thursday on behalf of Haitian and Salvadoran immigrants claims that the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) because the president is prejudiced against black and Latino immigrants. Trump announced in November that he would end TPS for Haitians and followed up in January with an end to the program for Salvadorans, claiming that both countries have recovered sufficiently from the natural disasters that had justified the TPS protections.
But removing the protections is “nothing but a thin pretextual smoke screen for a racially discriminatory immigration agenda,” the lawsuit claims. AP says that the suit specifically notes remarks that Trump made during his presidential campaign disparaging immigrants, including when he called Mexicans “rapists.” The suit also cites reports that Trump said that Haitians who came to the U.S. in 2017 “all have AIDS,” as well as the reports that Trump referred to African nations as “shit holes” last month.
Trump Says He May Pull Immigration Enforcement from California
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he’s considering pulling federal immigration enforcement agents out of California, which declared itself a so-called sanctuary state and limits local police cooperation with U.S. authorities enforcing the president’s immigration policies.
“Frankly, it’s a disgrace, the sanctuary city situation,” Trump said at the White House. If the administration were to remove Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from California, the state would be “begging” for them to come back, he said. “I’m thinking about doing it.”
Just last month ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan said he planned to send additional ICE agents and deportation agents into California in response to the state’s sanctuary policies. “California better hold on tight,” Homan said on Fox News last month. “They are about to see a lot more special agents, a lot more deportation officers.”
Melania Trump’s Parents Relied On Immigration Process That Donald Trump Wants to End
First lady Melania Trump’s parents reportedly obtained green cards and are on track to become U.S. citizens, raising speculation over whether they took advantage of an immigration process that President Donald Trump has vowed to eliminate.
The Washington Post on Wednesday reported that Amalija and Viktor Knavs have become legal permanent residents, according to people familiar with their status. But their attorney declined to explain how or when the Knavs immigrated.
It’s likely that the Knavs, who are from Slovenia, used America’s family-reunification process to immigrate, according to immigration experts. One of the main methods of legal immigration to the US is family-based sponsorship, as citizens may sponsor their parents, children, and siblings for green cards. Some hardline conservatives, particularly the president, call this process “chain migration” and have vowed to eliminate it and slash the U.S.’s overall immigration levels.
Poll of Republican Voters: Reducing Immigration More Important than Replacing Obamacare, Destroying ISIS
Reducing the overall number of illegal and legal immigrants flooding into the United States every year is the second biggest priority for Republican voters.
A new poll by Harvard-Harris shows widespread support for President Trump’s “America First” immigration agenda, which strives to reduce legal and illegal immigration to raise the wages and quality of life for America’s working and middle class, who have suffered under decades of poor job growth, stagnant wages, and increased public costs to offset the importation of millions of low-skilled foreign nationals.
According to the Harvard-Harris poll, 16% of Republican voters said reducing overall immigration levels to the U.S. should be a top priority for Trump and Congress. This makes reducing immigration a bigger priority for Republican voters than repealing and replacing Obamacare, destroying ISIS, and passing an infrastructure bill.
Employers Will Have to Sign Their Own Immigration Petitions
Employers will no longer be able to ask outside counsel to sign immigration applications and petitions on behalf of the company, according to a new policy that takes effect March 17.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Feb. 16 that the agency will no longer accept power of attorney signatures. Forms filed by outside counsel or other immigration preparers must be signed by an authorized employee of the petitioning organization.
As a result of the policy change, employers and their immigration preparers will have to build in more time for documents to be signed by an authorized employee and returned to outside counsel for filing. “Depending on who is authorized within the organization to sign petitions, you may have one person signing over a thousand of them,” said Justin Storch, manager of agency liaison at the Council for Global Immigration, an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management. “It also creates logistical problems because if you’re working with attorneys, you have to send documents back and forth through the mail and work with their deadlines, all while the five-day H-1B cap window is looming.”
Calls for Congress to Pass Immigration Reform Grow Louder in West Michigan
Time is running out for Congress to act on immigration reform and pass a bill to renew the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Yet with DACA ending March 5, many have already lost their protected status. While many young people live in limbo, uncertain of whether Congress will act, protests and calls for action continue throughout West Michigan.
Between uncertainty and calls for change, protests continue in West Michigan, including in Grand Rapids Jan. 19. The West Michigan Coalition for Immigration Reform organized the protest which gathered people holding signs reading, “Stop separating families!”
Cell phone and The Rapid bus footage shows a gray SUV hit two women protesting in the intersection of Michigan Street and Ottawa Avenue downtown. Grand Rapids police say they responded to the protest, and ask future protesters to stay out of the roadway and get permits to organize any future protest. There is no investigation into the incident as no victims came forward, GRPD officials say.
California Agriculture Sees “Chilling, Damaging Effect” From Wave of Immigration Audits
California’s agriculture industry already faces a farm labor shortage, but now it’s facing added pressure due to a wave of employee audits ordered for large farms throughout the state’s Central Valley.
Up to 10 agribusiness employers in the state’s San Joaquin Valley were recently contacted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about notices of inspection, said Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League, a Fresno-based agriculture advocacy group. “These ICE audits have had nothing but a chilling, damaging effect,” Cunha said Thursday.
Some have suggested that California businesses are being unfairly targeted in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts due to the state’s controversial “sanctuary law,” which bars local authorities from asking about the immigration status of people during routine interactions. But Federal officials have previously said the focus of the employee audits nationwide is on a wide variety of industries, because “all businesses regardless of industry or size, are expected to comply with the law.”
