Week of January 8–14, 2023

Florida is taking the Biden administration to trial, claiming that the federal government is violating federal laws by releasing undocumented immigrants, resulting in an increased influx of migrants in the state. The lawsuit, filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, argues that such policies lead to increased costs in services such as prisons, schools and healthcare, as well as public safety issues such as drug trafficking. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has activated the Florida National Guard to deal with the sudden spike in migrants flooding the Florida Keys. The federal government has argued that immigration policies are a federal responsibility and that Florida does not have legal standing to pursue the lawsuit. As immigration issues continue to be debated nationally, the Biden administration has announced new measures to increase border security and reduce the number of people entering the country.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ lawsuit against President Joe Biden's administration over its immigration policies went to trial on March 28 in Pensacola, Florida. DeSantis argues that the administration’s failure to detain illegal immigrants allowed thousands of them to enter Florida, threatening public safety and increasing the state's costs for accommodating them in prisons, schools, and healthcare. However, lawyers for the Biden administration argued that the current White House did not create new policies to release immigrants and that the number of migrants has been surging at the border for decades. The trial began as thousands of migrants continue to cross into the US from the southern border and by sea from Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, and Haiti, placing enormous strains on cities in Texas and beyond. Republican-led states like Florida have also seen a surge in migrants. DeSantis activated the Florida National Guard on March 25 in response to hundreds of Cubans arriving by boat in Southern Florida in recent days.

President Biden defended his border control measures and praised his Mexican counterpart's willingness to take in refugees rejected by the US during "the greatest migration in human history." The president thanked Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for agreeing to take up to 3,000 asylum seekers back, following the announcement last week that Mexico would accept 30,000 migrants each month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba who attempt to cross into the US illegally. However, increased border enforcement at the Mexican border has been criticised by both Democrats and human rights groups as an inhumane denial of asylum rights. In private and public statements during the summit with Canada and Mexico, questions about how to confront the waves of people fleeing their homelands across Central and South America dominated.

A bipartisan group of US senators, including members of both parties, visited the southern border in El Paso, Texas, to discuss a legislative response to the surge of migrants entering the United States. The senators toured a temporary facility for migrants and met with city officials, non-profits and business owners to discuss the impact migration in El Paso has had on the city. The group vowed to form a bipartisan coalition that will work to flesh out a possible plan in the new Congress. This comes less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden made the same trip. However, the reality is more challenging for any proposal in the newly divided 118th Congress, with the House now controlled by Republicans.

North Dakota lawmakers are considering expanding the state's search for talent beyond US borders to alleviate the workforce woes of businesses. The state has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, with an estimated 40,000 positions available statewide. Sen. Tim Mathern is sponsoring two proposals, SB 2142 and SB 2151, aimed at bringing more legal immigrants into the state. The first bill would establish an immigration office within the Department of Commerce to recruit foreign healthcare workers, while the second would create an immigration office within the Bank of North Dakota to resettle refugees and immigrants. Both bills have garnered support from Republicans, who hold a supermajority in the legislature. The state’s medical field representatives have endorsed the bills, with nursing homes bearing the brunt of the state’s labour shortage.

The US government has granted more than 2,000 Somali immigrants the right to work and a deferment on deportation, extending the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) program for those who are already living in the US. The program will be extended to those who have been living in the US since January 11, 2022, and will run through September 2024. The move is designed to help those facing conflict, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters in their home country. It will allow Somali immigrants to legally work and live in the US for a set period of time, provided they pass background checks. The program does not make beneficiaries eligible for permanent legal status. The Biden administration has used TPS to extend temporary legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

US judges will play a key role in shaping the country's immigration policy in 2023 as Congress has not comprehensively revised American immigration laws since 1990. Instead, subsequent administrations' efforts to revise the system through executive orders have been subject to court battles. Some of the major cases before the courts include United States v. Texas, in which the US Supreme Court will rule on the lawfulness of the Biden administration's enforcement priorities for deportation efforts, and the fate of Title 42, a public health policy that allows for the immediate expulsion of migrants during public health emergencies. The Supreme Court justices will also hear the case of DACA, which since its inception in 2012 has protected from deportation hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. Finally, Goodluck v. Biden will be decided in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. This case combines two cases in which tens of thousands of people are fighting for immigrant visas awarded in 2020 and 2021 under the diversity visa program.

Border Democrats are supporting US President Joe Biden's new public strategy on immigration, which includes controversial policies that would offer new temporary, legal pathways but crack down on illegal border crossings and potentially make it harder for some migrants to access asylum. Biden has recently deployed a White House address and visited El Paso to announce the new policies, marking a shift in strategy on a touchy subject that the administration has struggled to address politically. While Republicans have accused Biden of having "open border" policies and rhetoric, left-wing immigration activists decry the administration's use of Title 42, expedited dockets for asylum seekers, for-profit detention spaces, and restricted access to asylum. Some Democrats see a change but are not convinced that the new policies are enough to solve the problem.

Police in Fort Lauderdale, Florida have arrested 12 illegal immigrants out of a group of up to 50 that reportedly made landfall at Fort Lauderdale Beach on 29 March. Of those arrested, nine were from Haiti, two were from Brazil, and one was from the Bahamas. The other migrants fled from the scene. The arrests came just days after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mobilised the National Guard to help combat a migrant influx that the White House described as a "political stunt". The Guard was sent in to help local law enforcement cope with the increased numbers of migrants coming into South Florida from Caribbean nations, including Cuba. The Coast Guard has interdicted more than 8,400 migrants and repatriated more than 7,600 since August 2021, according to a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The Korean community in Hawaii recently celebrated the 120th anniversary of Christ United Methodist Church in Makiki. The church played an important role in providing support, education and activism for the first 102 Korean immigrants who came to work on Hawaii's plantations more than a century ago. The church inspired others to pursue the American dream and fight for freedom. At the anniversary celebration, dozens of community members and officials from Hawaii and South Korea gathered to honor the pioneers who fled poverty and Japanese rule in pursuit of a better life. The Korean Consul General, Seok-In Hong, said that this event marked the beginning of renewing the enduring friendship between Hawaii and South Korea. Efforts are underway to preserve their legacy with events throughout the year and a new Korean Community Center at the Makiki Public Library.