Week of June 1–7, 2022

Economist Ran Abramitzky has co-authored a book, "Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigration Success", which is based on large datasets that he and his co-author Leah Boustan compiled over the past decade. The book aims to explore the nostalgic idea that past immigrants got rich quickly, while today's immigrants lag behind. The pair analyzed data about millions of everyday immigrants and their network to help illustrate how they, and their descendants, fared over time in the United States. They found that both in the past as well as today, immigrants are motivated to adapt to life in America, learning to speak English, frequently leaving immigrant enclaves after they find their footing, often marrying U.S.-born partners, and giving their children American-sounding names as they spend more years in the U.S.

The State Department denies a majority of employer-sponsored immigrant visas, which contrast with rare denials for workers applying for green cards while already inside the United States. The department grants so little weight to earlier approvals by the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Homeland Security (DHS), causing the much greater difficulty in obtaining a green card abroad. This high denial rate has existed for decades, yet the State Department has never publicly explained it, and no one has previously reported on it. Denials reverse labor certifications and petitions approved by DOL and DHS. This encourages many immigrants to apply for easier-to-obtain temporary visas, which unnecessarily uses limited cap spots under those programs, while others may give up on legal immigration and seek to enter illegally. The ease of obtaining temporary work visas over difficult immigrant visas certainly contributes to this huge disparity.

The Access to Representation Act (ARA) should be passed by states to establish the right to counsel in immigration proceedings, writes Camille Mackler in the Gotham Gazette. Immigration to the US is complex and requires a lawyer to navigate a bureaucratic system. While President Joe Biden has promised to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, the system is already overwhelmed due to increased enforcement during the Trump era and backlogs caused by the pandemic. Congress is stalemated over the issue, so Mackler argues that the ARA could provide a simple solution by increasing funding for legal service providers, who have been left fully tapped out. With 78% of immigrants with lawyers winning their cases compared with the 15% who win without representation, the ARA could help to tackle a truly broken immigration system that is rooted in the same racist ideology that led to slavery and nationality-based immigration laws.

The City of San Antonio in Texas is set to distribute $1.5m of its federal pandemic relief funds to non-profit organizations that assist immigrants seeking US citizenship. City Council members who approved the plan said it matches the city’s commitment to welcoming immigrants and provides a much-needed boost to groups that are dealing with a surge of immigrants seeking their help. The move is in contrast to Governor Greg Abbott's decision to divert around $1bn of Texas' federal COVID-19 relief money to fund border security. San Antonio received $326.9m in recovery funds from the American Rescue Plan Act passed by Congress in March 2021. The funds will be awarded to non-profits focused on helping older adults and young people later this year.

In May 2022, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested 10 convicted sex offenders who were unlawfully present in the Houston area under the Sex Offender Arrest and Removal (SOAR) initiative. Eight of the individuals arrested were convicted of sex offenses involving minors. The initiative aims to prioritize the arrest and removal of unlawfully present convicted sex offenders. The ERO Houston Field Office Director stated that the office is committed to enforcing immigration laws against violent criminals, sex offenders, and other priority migrants who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security. Three of the noncitizen sex offenders have been removed from the U.S., and a fourth has been ordered for removal. The other six individuals are in ICE custody, awaiting disposition of their immigration proceedings. The National Fugitive Operations Program, established in 2003, has resulted in more than 445,000 removable noncitizens' arrests by fugitive operations officers.

The Immigration Department in Kuala Lumpur has detained 49 immigrants in an operation at a condominium in Ampang. A total of 205 immigrants, including six-month-old babies, were inspected by 31 Immigration officers. The detainees were from Afghanistan, Libya and India and were suspected of various offences such as not having valid travel documents or having fake passes. Most of the Afghans examined were United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) cardholders who had taken refuge in Malaysia following the conflict in their country. The detainees will be placed at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Depot for further action and the case will be investigated under Section 61C of the Immigration Act 1963.

Spain is planning to relax its immigration laws to address a significant shortage of workers, according to the country's security and migration minister, Jose Luis Escriva. The reforms aim to welcome more immigrants qualified to work in sectors such as tourism and construction, which are among those suffering most from the shortage. The government intends to issue more temporary work visas for sectors that need workers, according to a Reuters report. The draft reform contains a list of sectors urgently requiring workers, including telemarketing, sales, delivery, and software development. The new measures would allow up to 50,000 non-EU students to work while studying in Spain. The new law will also relax permit-issuing regulations for those with family or residency connections to Spain, or who have worked for at least two years in the formal or informal sectors.

Undocumented migrants are deterred from seeking medical care in the US due to fear of immigration enforcement, according to Medha D. Makhlouf of Penn State Dickinson Law. Fear of surveillance poses risks to individual health, the healthcare system, and public health, she says. The situation is due to gaps and uncertainties in existing legal protections. Policies by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection limit enforcement activities at “sensitive locations,” such as hospitals and urgent care facilities. However, their scope remains unclear and they contain multiple exceptions. Makhlouf calls on legislators to create “health care sanctuaries” to limit immigration surveillance in healthcare. She recommends that Congress passes the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act and that the Biden Administration creates an immigrant health task force to coordinate actions between multiple agencies.

The Attorney General of Indiana, Todd Rokita, is suing US President Joe Biden, claiming that the administration's immigration policies are burdening Indiana taxpayers, and will only worsen as more immigrants enter the United States. The suit claims that the growing number of fentanyl overdoses throughout the state and a supposed influx of sex offenders are both tied to a "record number" of immigrants entering the US on a daily basis. Rokita has asked the court to order the Biden administration to enforce current immigration laws and pay the state costs as well as reasonable attorney fees. The suit also claims that more undocumented immigrants will cost the state $549m annually, an amount that will only grow as more people arrive in the state. Mexico is now the top importer of fentanyl in the US, and that lax border security has directly led to fentanyl fatalities in Indiana doubling in the last two years, according to the suit.

The Philippines' Office of the Ombudsman has filed corruption charges against 43 people, including immigration officials, over the "pastillas scam", in which money was extorted from Chinese nationals in return for Philippine visas. The list of passengers was funnelled through Viber groups, while Chinese suppliers acted as go-betweens between immigration officers and travel agencies. Each passenger paid PHP10,000 ($208) and 143 passengers entered the country through the scam, according to the charges, bringing the total amount extorted to PHP1.43m. Among those charged were former immigration ports division chief Marc Red Mariñas, who was named by the Senate as the alleged mastermind, and his replacement, Grifton Medina.