Week of November 22–30, 2022

A study by the American Immigration Council shows that in 2019, immigrants contributed $8.6 billion to the GDP of El Paso, Texas, which has a population of more than 200,000 immigrants. Over 90% of immigrants in the city come from Mexico. They also paid more than $591 million in taxes, which provided local and state taxing entities with around $440 million. Immigrant households had $3.8 billion in spending power, and earned approximately $4.8 billion in income. Furthermore, between 2012 and 2018, immigrants contributed an average of $165 more per capita annually to the Medicare Trust Fund than was spent on their behalf. In Texas, that figure rose to $334 per capita contribution. Despite this, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has referred to an “invasion” of migrants, and has called for increased border security measures.

Immigrant communities in the US are fearful of another potential Trump presidency in 2024, after he announced his intention to run again. His previous term was characterised by xenophobic rhetoric and policies, including the travel ban on majority Muslim countries, family separation at the southern border and ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Community leaders report that Trump's rhetoric empowered people to express xenophobic views, and that his policies created significant uncertainty for vulnerable immigrants. While it is unknown whether Trump will win the 2024 election, leaders are calling for more to be done to address systemic racism and xenophobia in the US immigration system during President Biden's term.

The southern Mediterranean basin needs more investment and policies regulating immigration to mitigate the impact of the food and energy crisis brought on by Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Speaking at the 7th regional forum of the Union for the Mediterranean, which brought together delegations from 43 countries, Borrell said southern countries need support to narrow the growing economic gap with countries in the north. He warned that the war had “aborted the growth that was beginning to take place and it is laying the basis for a financial crisis, more inflation and less growth.” Borrell said southern countries constituted one of the least economically integrated areas in the world, with half of the population in the region being under the age of 24.

A Guatemalan fugitive, Wilder Mario Romero Perez, has been captured by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported back to Guatemala to face charges of attempted murder. Perez, 22, was arrested in Wilmington, Los Angeles, after ICE officials discovered his location and identity. An immigration judge then ordered his removal and on November 9, Perez was flown back to Guatemala and turned over to local officials. Perez’s deportation serves as a reminder that “those seeking to hide in the U.S. for crimes committed in their home country will be aggressively pursued by ERO and returned to face justice,” said Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office Director Thomas Giles. ICE also announced the deportation of Noel Hernandez-Molina, who was arrested in Ontario and deported to Honduras to face charges for murder.

Around 250,000 young people, who were brought to America legally as children and have lived and studied there for years, are at risk of having to leave the country after they turn 21 due to a loophole in the immigration system. A retired United Methodist pastor, Richard Paulus, has called on Senator Chuck Grassley to join his Republican colleagues and former President Donald Trump in supporting a fix to this problem proposed in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. Paulus argues that the US government invests billions of dollars educating these young people, many of whom specialize in highly sought-after STEM fields, only for them to be forced to leave. Paulus highlights the case of Laurens Van Beek, who was forced to leave the US after graduating from the University of Iowa with a degree in computer science, despite Iowa taxpayers having spent roughly $11,000 per year on his K-12 education. Paulus argues that it is crucial to allow young people who grew up in the US legally to stay and contribute to the country's growth.

Texas businesses are struggling to fill job openings due to workforce constraints, despite the number of online job postings in the state more than doubling from 2017 to 2021, according to a report by the American Immigration Council. In particular, STEM workers are hard to find, with 82% of employers struggling to fill engineering positions, according to a survey by recruiting company Linium. Immigrants, including Texas Dreamers, are critical to meeting the demand, making up 21.9% of the workforce, despite representing just 17.1% of the population. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program gave temporary legal and work authorization to 800,000 young people, but a Texas federal judge ruled against the program last year, putting a stop to new applications. Over 100,000 undocumented immigrants are now graduating high school without the ability to apply for legal status. The article argues that a change in messaging around immigration is necessary to prevent businesses from losing out on talented workers.

Hasia Diner, Paul and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History, and Carl J. Bon Tempo, an associate professor at the University at Albany, have published a book titled "Immigration: An American History" that traces hundreds of years of debates over immigration in the United States. The authors argue that throughout American history, the issue of immigration has always been political, with Americans welcoming and rejecting immigrants and debating issues such as whether they strengthen or harm the nation. The authors also identify several recurring themes within what they describe as the centuries-long “drama” of immigration, including the nation’s obsession with race and its changing definitions. The book examines how Republicans have embraced nativism and anti-newcomer politics, while the Democratic Party contains more diversity on immigration admissions and border policy, but favors immigrant rights and is against demonization of newcomers. According to the authors, views on how to address the complexities of immigration have become increasingly partisan in the present moment, leading to unbridgeable sides to a chasm.

Livestock farmers are lobbying the Senate to pass an immigration bill to modernize the agricultural visa system. The agricultural industry is pushing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA), which has already passed the House. The livestock sector needs year-round workers with experience with animals, but the current agricultural visas are only for seasonal work. The FWMA provides a path to citizenship for farmworkers who have been in the country for over a decade. However, the bill's expansion of labor protections under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act is causing friction between the American Farm Bureau Federation and the state chapters of the Farm Bureau. The viability of the FWMA could come down to whether 10 Republicans join Senate Democrats to pass an immigration bill in the lame-duck session. The bill's proponents believe the FWMA's economic benefits could put it over the top.

A bipartisan bill aimed at phasing out per-country caps for employment-based green cards and lifting annual caps on family-based green cards is expected to reach the House floor next week. H.R. 3648, proposed by Reps. Zoe Lofgren and John Curtis, has broad bipartisan support and has been touted as a way to streamline green card access for highly skilled immigrants and meet employer demands in the US. The bill is seen as less politically volatile than negotiations on undocumented immigrants and border security. It has been requested by immigrants for years to address staggering backlogs in the US visa system. The caps on employment visas have an outsized impact on immigrants from India and China, who often must wait decades to get a green card. The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

Texas has claimed in the US Supreme Court that a 2021 Biden administration policy to focus national resources on the most dangerous immigrants is illegal, as it is inconsistent with laws passed by Congress. The Immigration Reform Law Institute, which filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, has argued that not deporting certain immigrants is against the law. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has argued in court that Congress has not given the agency sufficient funds to deport over 11 million undocumented immigrants. Also at issue is when a state can challenge the federal government on immigration, and Texas claims it has standing because the policy costs them money. The policy has been temporarily blocked by a Texas federal judge. DHS has asked the Supreme Court to address a district judge’s ability to block certain federal policy.