Week of March 22–31, 2022

As the US marks two years of Title 42, an immigration policy that has allowed border agents to expel migrants seeking asylum without offering any protection, experts are calling on President Biden to end the practice. The policy was introduced under President Trump and cited public health concerns as its justification, however, experts have repeatedly called for it to be scrapped as it does not have any scientific foundation, is seen as cruel and discriminatory, and has the potential to worsen the spread of Covid-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is due to decide whether or not to renew the policy by 30 March. If it is lifted, experts predict that the US will face an influx of people seeking asylum, as the backlog of refugees has built up over the last two years.

The American public supports a practical and bipartisan compromise on immigration, despite politicians and pundits portraying the issue as highly divisive, according to an op-ed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal by Ronnie Najarro, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Nevada, and Eddie Diaz, strategic state director for The LIBRE Initiative-Nevada. The op-ed argues that problems with the US immigration system, such as the unprecedented number of asylum seekers at the southern border, can be addressed with a compromise that includes enhanced border security, an earned path forward for eligible Dreamers, and a modernized legal guest worker program for agricultural workers. Polling suggests that large majorities of Americans from both parties support these measures. The op-ed concludes that there is ample time and opportunity for leaders on all sides to find a workable compromise, and that cooperation is essential for addressing America's broken immigration system.

A report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has revealed that almost one-third of all new cases in US immigration courts are children under the age of 18, with 40% of those being toddlers under four years old. Since the fiscal year began in October 2021, 12% of all Notices to Appear in immigration court were issued to children aged 0-4, equating to 82,000 cases in total. The data is believed to be an undercount, with 15% of cases this year not reporting the child’s age. Unlike in the American criminal justice system, there is no constitutional right to counsel for someone in immigration court proceedings, including for children. The American Immigration Council (AIC) estimated in 2016 that only 37% of all immigrants nationwide had legal representation during their removal cases. The hundreds of thousands of cases initiated in FY2022 have been added to the immigration courts’ backlog of over 1.6 million pending cases.

Norberto Navarro, who was detained in Illinois since January, was released from the Will County Adult Detention Facility on March 23. Navarro was detained because of his conviction for a drug charge in Texas, but his detention was against state law. The Illinois Way Forward Act, which came into effect on January 1, prohibits local law enforcement from carrying out immigration operations, making arrests, facilitating transfers, and holding detainees. His attorney, Nicole Hallett, said this is the first time the Illinois Way Forward Act has been invoked in court to request someone's release. Navarro testified that day as a witness in a trial about a fatal crash in Beecher, Illinois, where he called the police and tried to rescue the family. He is currently obtaining his U visa which grants citizenship to those who have suffered significant mental or physical abuse from criminal activity.

The Biden administration has announced changes to the asylum process, with asylum seekers to have their claims heard by an asylum officer with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, instead of an immigration judge, potentially taking just a few months instead of several years. This has raised concerns among Borderland immigration advocates and attorneys who believe the new policy is a violation of the rights of asylum seekers, as they should be afforded enough time to prepare their case and collect evidence. Advocates also believe that many people who would be granted asylum will end up being turned away and that the system isn’t built to support the new policy, potentially leading to an overwhelming of officers who are not properly trained. The new policy is set to take place in late May or early June.

Mina Melad, who had been living in Canada since 2016 on humanitarian grounds, was forced to leave the country with his family and return to Ukraine after his immigration application was denied. Due to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Melad had to flee to Poland and hopes that Canada will one day welcome him back. All three of his children were born in Canada and thus are Canadian citizens. After crossing the Polish border last week, Melad and his family went through Germany and eventually made it to Switzerland, and they have since recovered from COVID-19, which they contracted during their journey. Melad is hoping to hear back from Canadian immigration authorities on whether he, his wife and his three Canadian-born children could return to Canada and says his former Canadian employer and colleagues are eager to welcome him back.

The Dominican Republic's immigration authorities are stepping up measures to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants in the country. Since taking office in 2020, President Luis Abinader has limited access to healthcare for foreign nationals, launched a 190km-long fence along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and taken a tougher stance on immigration. In 2021, more than 28,000 Haitian migrants were repatriated from the country. The Dominican Republic has enjoyed some of the fastest economic growth in the Caribbean over the past decade, driven largely by tourism, services and construction. However, the economy has long benefited from Haitian migrant labour in sectors such as agriculture and construction. Only 16% of Haitians hold written employment contracts, compared to 61% of the rest of the foreign workforce.

The US has several options for Ukrainians who want to stay in the country, such as extending their stay or changing their status in the country if they meet the eligibility requirements. For instance, Ukrainian nationals who are already in the US as visitors or in a non-immigrant visa category may extend or change their status in the country. Also, they may consider applying for asylum in the US or at the border. However, to qualify, the applicant must prove that they are unable or unwilling to return to their home country due to persecution or fear of persecution. Additionally, the US has designated Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months based on ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions. Finally, the US has also designated Ukrainians as a Homeless Nationality, allowing them to continue their immigrant visa journey to the US despite conditions in their home country, although visa processing times remain long due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US immigration system faces a backlog of over 9.5 million applications for entry and residency visas, with President Biden's announcement that the country will accept up to 100,000 people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine set to exacerbate the problem. Despite Biden's plans to hire more caseworkers and special asylum officers, Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is struggling to process the existing backlog. One solution could be to hire retired criminal and civil court judges to help reduce the backlog. With their knowledge of the law and experience with victims of abuse and crime, former judges could quickly hear and make decisions on cases that have been pending for several years. DHS should consider offering contracts to experienced jurists who could help decide immigration cases, even on a part-time basis, to address the country's dire need to decide the fate of millions of immigrants.

The belief that mass migration is inevitable is creating complacency among some advocates for more humane and fairer processing of arrivals into wealthy nations. The rhetoric has been used to galvanise anti-immigrant forces, which risks distorting the politics of nations such as the US, according to Darrell Bricker, author of 8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World. In reality, Bricker says, national governments can control how many people cross their borders, and will only do so if immigration advocates can convince the public that an influx is desirable. Bricker’s book notes that although individual countries may differ in their willingness to admit migrants, the welcome mat can be rolled up as easily as it is rolled out.