Week of January 15–21, 2023

Israeli immigration police are not allowed to arrest children from school, according to a letter sent by the Director of Education Administration in the Tel Aviv Municipality to the city's schools' principals. The letter followed the arrest of an eight-year-old boy from Ghana without Israeli citizenship by immigration police in the middle of the school day in Jaffa. Immigration police claimed they only wanted to ask the child a few questions about his mother in the presence of a social worker, but instead placed him in a car with his mother and drove away. Asafo's mother is "an illegal resident from Ghana who has been in Israel for a few years and was asked to leave Israel in the past and that she had even signed a commitment to do so."

Growing numbers of undocumented Cubans and Haitians attempting to seek refuge in the US have been turned away by authorities in Florida. Since October 2022, the US Coast Guard has intercepted and returned more than 4,900 Cubans at sea, and scores of Haitians who swam ashore in Miami were taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection. Some migrants have attempted to swim ashore, with local US residents on jet skis helping them. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called out national guard troops in a hardline approach to the situation, while the Biden administration has accused DeSantis of staging his own political stunts. Increasing numbers of people are risking their lives to reach the US despite stricter policies from the Biden administration intended to deter irregular immigration and increase humanitarian visa numbers for Cubans and others. The White House says up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will be admitted to the US, but only if they apply online, can pay their own airfare and find a financial sponsor.

Youth riots in Berlin on New Year’s Eve have reignited a debate about immigration in Germany as the country prepares to attract a new wave of skilled foreign workers. Dozens of police officers, firefighters, rescue workers, pedestrians and journalists were injured as young men started fires and lobbed fireworks in the streets of Berlin. The riots mainly took place in neighbourhoods with higher immigrant populations, and 2/3 of those detained were foreigners. The incidents have prompted a national debate about how well migrants are integrating into German life. According to a draft law reported by RND network, Berlin aims to bring in around 50,000 extra skilled foreign workers per year to plug worker shortages that have widened with an ageing population. Meanwhile, campaigning has begun for Berlin's local elections in February, with the conservative CDU polling better than Scholz’s Social Democrats, who currently hold power in the region.

The UK and France have agreed on a new migration enforcement deal to combat the increasing number of illegal crossings of the English channel. Under the terms of the agreement, the UK will pay France 72.2 million Euros in 2022 and 2023 in exchange for a 40% increase in migration enforcement patrols on France's northern coastline. However, the agreement has faced criticism from Members of Parliament, unions, and refugee rights organizations who believe it does not go far enough in addressing the root causes of the growing migration crisis. The UK has also faced criticism for its handling of conditions at migrant reception centers, which include overcrowding and unsanitary conditions leading to the spread of disease. To fully address the migration crisis, the UK needs to work with sending countries to tackle the root causes of migration. The migrant situation is only worsening, and the UK's current reactive policies are too late.

The rate of immigration from the southern border of the US more than doubled after President Biden took office in 2021, in response to the more liberal immigration policies of the Biden administration. However, some conservative governors, such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have been bussing immigrants from their states to northeastern sanctuary cities, such as Philadelphia, as a public protest against the surge in illegal immigration at the southern border. Philadelphia, which has more protective and proactive government policies towards immigrants, has welcomed the influx of foreign-born residents as a necessary boost to the local economy. However, due to ongoing economic struggles related to the pandemic, the city is having trouble keeping up with the continued influx of immigrants. To address this issue, Democratic Representatives Sara Innamorato of Allegheny County and Joe Hohenstein of Philadelphia introduced a bill to create an Office of New Pennsylvanians aimed at welcoming immigrants and their families.

Laura Foote Reiff, a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, believes that Congress can boost the US economy by reforming the employment-based visa quota system. The current system presents a major hurdle for both employers and employees, and quotas are not accurately connected with economic reality. The employment-based visa system needs updating and quota reform to fill skilled positions and boost the US economy. The IV quota system is complex, with priority dates and places in a queue per immigrant visa category and country. The per-country cap established in 1990 is causing a backlog in processing and is severely impacting some countries like India. There have been many attempts to eliminate the per-country quotas. As with IVs, there are caps and quotas on key work visas like the H-1B and H-2B non-immigrant work visas. Changes to immigration laws to meet business needs for essential workers and reform the quotas in both the immigrant and non-immigrant visa system could help bolster the US economy and bring the immigration system into the 21st century.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced on Wednesday that an additional 16,000 children can now receive health care coverage under the state’s Medicaid program, regardless of their immigration status. This expansion is part of the “Cover All Kids” initiative, which aims to provide access to health care to all New Jerseyans under the age of 19. Families must earn less than 355% of the federal poverty level to be eligible for the program. By the end of 2022, more than 47,000 children had enrolled in the program, many of whom had access to health insurance for the first time. The state has allocated $11 million in the budget for the initiative. The program will not be considered a public charge and will not affect families’ chances of applying for a green card. The state plans to continue funding the program in future budgets.

US lawmakers from both parties are grappling with the challenge of finding a bipartisan compromise on immigration, as they seek to attract support from Democrats, moderate Republicans, and hard-line conservatives in the House. The issue has grown even more politically difficult since the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform package failed, with voices on the right becoming even louder. Adding to the issue is the hesitancy of members to deliver any wins for President Biden, particularly on a topic that matters so much to the base. Many House Republicans made immigration a central issue and some are already talking about impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. While a substantive bipartisan acknowledgement of the problem at the border has been welcomed, details will matter as legislation that passes muster with both chambers would need to overcome another complicating factor in the House, where Speaker Kevin McCarthy has empowered a far-right contingent of his party.

The US Chamber of Commerce has urged Congress to reform the country’s immigration system and secure its southern border to address the ongoing crisis. The Chamber argues that demand for workers has increased in recent years, and the outdated and arbitrarily low visa quotas, onerous compliance burdens, decades-long backlogs, and obsolete eligibility requirements that pervade employment-based visa programs leave many companies unable to hire the talent they need to succeed. In addition, the current immigration system contributes to the chaos at the southern border, with historically high levels of unauthorized entries into the US. The Chamber calls for Congress to substantially increase the human, physical, and technological resources along the border and at ports of entry, along with sensible reforms to asylum laws and federal employment verification requirements. It also advocates for the expansion of the number of legal immigration options for future immigrants and temporary workers to the US, including raising the yearly caps on certain temporary worker visas and expanding the H-2A agricultural visa program. The Chamber also urges Congress to provide legal certainty to DACA recipients and long-term beneficiaries of the Temporary Protected Status program.

Small businesses in Kansas City are feeling the impact of the labor shortage caused by a slowdown in immigration, with stores closing early and restaurants failing to fill capacity. The US Census Bureau estimates that the US is missing out on an estimated 2 million immigrant workers due to the immigration slowdown, which has worsened a widespread labor shortage, with over 10 million jobs remaining unfilled, particularly in low-paying industries like hospitality, agriculture and construction. The situation has forced small businesses to adapt and some have had to reduce their operating hours, while others have raised wages and are trying to find other ways to incentivise employees. Economic experts say that immigrants are key to small farms and businesses in the US, and a national plan to address the labor shortage and immigration reform are necessary for small businesses to survive.