WASHINGTON/SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The Trump administration is intensifying measures to curb the flow of Central American asylum seekers crossing into the United States from Mexico, officials said on Monday, including sending more people back to Mexico to wait for their asylum claims to be heard by U.S. courts. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency will speed up the reassignment of 750 officers to parts of the border dealing with the largest numbers of immigrants, a shift the administration first announced last week.
Supreme Court agrees to hear immigration case
Identity theft is a serious and growing problem in Indiana and around the country, but the efforts some states have taken to tackle it have been criticized by civil rights advocates and the courts. In 2017, a Kansas court voided the convictions of three undocumented immigrants because prosecutors used information from federal forms. The court ruled that the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 prevents states from pursuing criminal cases based on information found on certain federal immigration documents.
Democrats introduce updated DREAM Act
Indiana residents who follow developments in the nation's capital will likely know that a group of young people known as dreamers have become a hot-button political issue in recent years. Dreamers are undocumented young people who would be offered a path to eventual citizenship by the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act. The bill was introduced in 2001 and has yet to make it to the president's desk, but this deadlock has not prevented Democrats from introducing a new version that would go even further.
Changes may be ahead for spouses of H-1B visa holders
Some H-1B visa holders in Indiana may face an additional hurdle to remaining in the United States if a proposal that changes the status of their spouse changes. The H-1B visa is an employment visa granted to workers with specialized skills, many of whom are from China or India.
Update on H-2B Cap Relief:
On February 15, President Trump signed into law a funding bill for several federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security.
Class Action Member Identification Notice
On Nov. 30, 2018, in Zhang v. USCIS, No. 15-cv-995, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia certified a class that includes any individual with a Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, that was or will be denied on the sole basis of investing loan proceeds that were not secured by the individual's own assets. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated these denials and ordered USCIS to reconsider the petitions.
Immigration courts' backlog grows during shutdown
The government shutdown is having a major impact on federal workers and their families in Indiana and across the country, but it is also affecting others as well. For example, already-massive immigration court backlogs are becoming even greater. For every week the government remains closed, the number of backlogged cases grows by 20,000. The number of delayed cases had already reached a record high, even before the shutdown began after President Trump refused to support a budget that would not fund his proposed border wall.
