Week of February 8–14, 2023

Harry J. Seigle, a Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumnus, has donated $5m to expand the law school’s immigration clinic, which represents children, young adults and parents in immigration court proceedings. The Seigle Clinic for Immigrant Youth and Families, endowed by the donation, will provide ongoing support for clinic programming and operations, as well as staff recruitment, retention and professional development. The immigration law clinic has long been part of the Law School’s Bluhm Legal Clinic’s Children and Family Justice Center. It represents young people in immigration court proceedings seeking humanitarian protection due to violence, persecution or torture in their countries of origin. Law students play a vital role in the work of the clinic by interviewing clients, conducting investigations, drafting pleadings and motions, preparing legal briefs and representing clients at hearings. The donation will allow the clinic to increase the number of immigrants it represents, improve access to support services to help immigrants become more self-sufficient and advocate for immigration reform.

Immigrants make up 9% of Utah's population but account for 13% of its physicians, 8% of pharmacy technicians, and 5% of dental hygienists, according to the American Immigration Council. The nonprofit report argued that immigrants are helping address labor shortages in Utah's healthcare industry and are uniquely placed to provide support due to increased demand for multilingual and culturally competent employees. The report also pointed out that 33% of immigrants with health care-related professional and doctorate degrees in Utah worked in a health care job that didn't require their qualification, and that reducing "brain waste" would be crucial in attracting and retaining talent. The report identified policies in Minnesota and Washington as examples of ways to reduce barriers for internationally trained health care workers.

A 56-year-old woman has been charged with scamming more than a dozen immigrants in Los Angeles by pretending to be an immigration consultant and, at times, an attorney. Nubia Esmeralda Burrier allegedly preyed on immigrants who lacked the sophistication to navigate the immigration system, filed for political asylum on their behalf despite knowing they were not eligible, and rendered services she never provided. Burrier met with victims at her office across the street from the US Immigration Court for the past 14 years, stealing $127,150 from 17 victims in total. She has been charged with ten counts of grand theft and one count of first-degree residential burglary with a person present. The case remains under investigation by the District Attorney’s Economic Justice and Notario Fraud Unit and the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.

A federal appeals court has voided a 2020 ruling allowing the Trump administration to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of more than 300,000 immigrants in the US. The move means the fate of TPS beneficiaries is again up for debate. The ruling is a victory for TPS holders, who have called for Congress to allow them to apply for permanent residency. TPS provides deportation protections and work permits to people from countries affected by war, environmental disasters, or other humanitarian crises. The Trump administration sought to end multiple TPS programs, arguing that previous administrations had abused their authority. TPS holders are from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. The Biden administration has allowed immigrants to retain their work permits and deportation protections until at least one year after the government can end the TPS programs.

The US state of Florida has passed a bill that provides $10m to fund an initiative called the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program, which allows Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to transport migrants and asylum seekers from anywhere in the US into Democratic-controlled parts of the country. Critics have denounced the measure, calling it "indefensible", and accused DeSantis of using asylum seekers as political pawns. Last year, DeSantis and other Republican state leaders funded the relocation of asylum seekers to largely liberal areas of the US, sparking outrage and questions about the legality of the transfer. Republicans have said the relocation campaign aims to bring attention to a growing immigration “crisis” at the US’s southern border, where record numbers of asylum seekers have arrived in recent months.

US President Joe Biden has not taken the border crisis seriously, according to the editorial board at the left-leaning Bloomberg Opinion. His administration has released more than 1.8 million illegal entrants on to American streets, making cities of all sizes struggle to cope with the influx. The situation has been exacerbated by Biden’s rejection of his predecessor's policy to deter illegal entry at the US-Mexico border, and his welcoming of individuals to "safe, orderly, and legal pathways for individuals to be able to access our legal system". Recent polls reflect the public's growing concern about the issue. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll, immigration was identified as the third most pressing issue facing the country today, and in a CBS News survey, 64% of respondents disapproved of Biden’s handling of immigration. In his recent State of the Union address, Biden spoke just 117 words on immigration, and his call for a "billionaire minimum tax", among other measures, has not assuaged the House GOP conference’s concerns.

Canada added 150,000 jobs in January, ten times the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey, while the unemployment rate remained at a record low of 5%, according to data from Statistics Canada. The labour market has continued to defy predictions of a slowdown, with the economy creating 326,000 jobs since September, pushing the number of employed Canadians to over 20 million for the first time. The strong jobs data increased the chances that the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates again, despite the central bank pausing in December to assess the state of the economy. The benchmark two-year yield rose to a three-month high, while the loonie rallied to C$1.3362 per US dollar. Traders in swaps markets put the odds of another 25-basis-point hike at around three quarters by summer, from less than half before the release.

Harry Seigle, a Pritzker School of Law alumnus, has gifted $5m to the school's immigration clinic. The donation will go to the Seigle Clinic for Immigrant Youth and Families, which represents low-income immigrants in court proceedings to prevent family separation. Seigle donated the money in memory of his mother, Lora Seigle, who was a Jewish refugee who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1936. The clinic plans to use the money to represent more immigrants, increase access to support services and advocate for immigration reform. “The idea behind e pluribus unum, ‘out of many, one,’ is central to my family’s heritage. Immigrants have helped make this country what it is today, and we are better for it,” said Seigle in a news release. Pritzker Dean and Professor Hari Osofsky said the donation would make a critical difference in the school’s efforts to assist immigrants and provide students with important learning and service opportunities.

The UK Home Office has added a new exemption and removed another from the Immigration Skills Charge. The new exemption applies to Global Business Mobility: Senior or Specialist Workers who are assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship on or after 1 January 2023. They will not be required to pay the Immigration Skills Charge if they are sponsored as Senior or Specialist Workers to work in the UK for up to three years, are EU nationals or hold a Latvian non-citizen passport, and currently work at one of the sponsor’s offices in the European Union or for a linked business in the European Union. The exemption will benefit employers bringing current European employees to the UK for short-term assignments. Meanwhile, the European Union will introduce an automated information technology Entry/Exit System (EES) from the end of 2023 to register travellers from third countries crossing an EU external border. The system will replace the current method of manually stamping passports with travel entry and exit dates and places, creating reliable online records that can be monitored by authorities.

The Australian government has introduced an amendment to close a legal loophole that resulted in the release of 163 people with criminal records from immigration detention. The High Court of Australia ruled in December that aggregate prison terms could not trigger automatic visa cancellations under section 501 of the Migration Act. The section permits the immigration minister to cancel visas on character grounds, including if someone has a “substantial criminal record” defined as a prison term of 12 months or more. The court found the legislation did not specifically include aggregate sentences when considering a “substantial criminal record". The amendment will also retrospectively amend the Migration Act to validate past decisions and actions that have been invalidated on the basis of the Pearson ruling. The legislation has been opposed by the Greens and some independents, who have raised ethical concerns about the impact on individuals who had already been released from detention.