Undocumented immigrants - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Democrat-controlled House passes immigration bill

Gigi Sukin - AXIOS — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 05:25:29 +0000

Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif) speaks during a press conference with House Democrats at the U.S. Capitol June 4. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

The U.S. House on Tuesday passed the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation and establish a path to citizenship for Dreamers — illegal migrants who arrived to the U.S. as children — the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Despite the fact that the GOP-controlled Senate will likely vote against the measure, 7 Republicans joined the Democratic majority on Tuesday. The House vote shines a spotlight on a hot button issue that Democrats and Republicans are approaching from vastly different points of view.

Earlier in the week, the White House Office of Management and Budget recommended in a letter that President Trump veto to the bill should it reach his desk, per Politico.

Details: The legislation — which came to a 237-187 vote — would grant Dreamers 10 years of legal residence so long as they meet outlined requirements. Permanent green cards would then be attainable after a minimum of 2 years of higher education or military service, or 3 years of work history, the Post reports.

Source: https://www.axios.com/democrat-controlled-house-passes-immigration-bill-b23a7668-1d84-4d2f-a756-a876c1687b96.html

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The Trump administration reportedly sent ‘no-match letters’ to over 570,000 employers telling them they might have unauthorized workers

Alexandra Ma — Fri, 17 May 2019 14:28:46 +0000

President Donald Trump boarding Air Force One on Thursday for a trip to New York to attend a fundraiser. Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration has written to more than 570,000 employers since March telling them some of their workers’ names and Social Security numbers don’t match, The New York Times reports.
Reasons for discrepancies that prompt “no-match letters” can be innocuous, like marital name changes and typos on forms, but they can also indicate immigration status.
The Social Security Administration discontinued its practice of writing the letters in 2012 but restarted it this March under a White House order.
Critics say the revival of the letters is part of the Trump administration’s harder line on immigration and unauthorized workers.
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President Donald Trump’s administration has revived the dormant immigration practice of writing to employers to warn them if any of their workers’ names and Social Security numbers don’t match, The New York Times reports.

The Social Security Administration has mailed “no-match letters” to more than 570,000 employers since March this year, The Times said.

These letters notify employers who submitted W-2 tax forms — which contain employees’ names and Social Security numbers — if those combinations don’t match. Reasons for these discrepancies can be innocuous, like marital name changes and typos on forms, but they can also indicate immigration status.

Adolfo Rodriguez Lopez, 41, has never returned to Mexico to visit his wife and four sons in Ensenada, Mexico, during the 12 years he has lived in the United States.

Gus Ruelas/Reuters

No-match letters do not require employers to take action against an employee but instruct them to correct the mismatch within 60 days, according to Bloomberg Law.

Here’s an example of a no-match letter as shown on the SSA’s website.

The SSA started sending these letters in 1993, stopped doing so in 2012, and then restarted the practice this March.

Though the no-match letters do not threaten legal action, employers are left in limbo as they have to weigh the loss of workers with the chances of being punished by federal immigration authorities in the future.

An American flag next to signage for a United States Social Security Administration office in Burbank, California.Reuters/Fred Prouser

It is not clear whether the SSA plans to share the data mismatches with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Business Insider has contacted the SSA for comment.

The US workforce contains 162 million people, of which 156 million are employed, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month. There were about 7.8 million unauthorized workers in the US civilian workforce in 2016, according to Pew Research.

Though the exact reason for the revival of the no-match letters is not clear, experts say it appears to be part of Trump’s increasingly hardline approach toward immigration.

Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García at a rally in Chicago in January 2015. Jim Young/Reuters

Forty-six Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to the SSA earlier this month calling on it to stop writing the letters.

Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, the Democratic representative from Illinois who organized the letter, told The Hill earlier this month: “Other than to instill fear and to add to the series of attacks that have come down against the immigrant community — whether it’s the Census question, whether it’s the public charge initiative against lawful permanent residents — this is one more tool in their arsenal, I think, to drive the community into the shadows of society, to create more anti-immigrant sentiment in the country, and just to create fear and instability in communities with large immigrant populations.”

“What’s the purpose?” he added. “What’s the aim here? We think it is simply to create distrust, to advance the anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s out there.”

The SSA has said it is sending the letters because it is “committed to maintaining the accuracy of earnings records used to determine benefit amounts to ensure people get the benefits they have earned,” according to Bloomberg Law.

Trump at the White House. Reuters

The Trump administration on Thursday announced a plan to overhaul a large portion of the country’s immigration laws to prioritize skilled workers over family relationships.

The plan would essentially shift the US immigration system from one based on family ties to a “merit and skill” one that would prioritize highly educated and skilled workers who could demonstrate a “patriotic assimilation” into American life.

Lawmakers and legal experts have already derided the bill as “dead on arrival,” but administration officials have hinted that it was to show 2020 voters what the Republican Party supports, INSIDER’s Michelle Mark reported.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-no-match-letters-employers-undocumented-workers-reports-2019-5

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February had highest total of undocumented immigrants crossing U.S. border in 12 years

Julia Ainsley — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 03:11:18 +0000

It is also the highest single month total since Trump was elected in November 2016.

A Central American migrant who hopes to reach the United States, climbs the US-Mexico border fence in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on Dec. 29, 2018.Guillermo Arias / AFP – Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The number of undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border last month was the highest total for February in 12 years, according to statistics released by Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday.

In 28 days, and in the same month President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in order to build a border wall, 76,103 immigrants without the needed documentation to enter the U.S. either presented themselves at legal ports of entry or were apprehended by Border Patrol between ports of entry.

It is the highest total for February since 2007, DHS officials said at a press conference Tuesday. It is also the highest single month total since Trump was elected in November 2016. Crossings hit 66,842 in October 2016, just before Trump’s election.

Still, February did not set an overall record for border traffic. Before 2008, monthly border crossings were consistently over 100,000, and were higher than 200,000 per month in 2000.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan attributed the rise to human smugglers knowing how to exploitloopholes in the American immigration system.

However, previous spikes in border traffic have often preceded crackdowns, such as the uptick that started just before Trump, who had campaigned on getting tough on immigration, was elected and continued till he was inaugurated. The announcement of a government spending deal to build a border wall on Feb. 15 may have precipitated a similar rush, as numbers had been steadily declining over December and January.

The proportion of immigrants crossing illegally by going between ports of entry, rather than presenting themselves at legal ports of entry, also increased in February, making up 87 percent of all undocumented immigrants stopped by CBP.

NBC News previously reported that more immigrants were growing frustrated with long lines to cross the border at legal entry points.

Children traveling unaccompanied as well as families with children made up 65 percent of the crossings in February, up from 61 in January, which CBP officials told reporters is a result of smugglers knowing that children have an easier chance getting through the U.S. immigration system.

The majority of children and families are turning themselves over to U.S. authorities to claim asylum. McAleenan said there was a 120 percent increase in immigrants claiming asylum between fiscal year 2017 and 2018. And so far in fiscal year 2019, which began Oct. 1, there has been a 90 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Border processing facilities were not equipped for children or medical needs of such a vulnerable population, McAleenan said. CBP will add a center in El Paso, Texas, to process families and children.

But, he said, it is only a temporary solution until Congress changes immigration laws.

“The system is well beyond capacity and remains at the breaking point,” McAleenan said.

Julia Ainsley

Julia Ainsley is a national security reporter for NBC News.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/highest-february-total-undocumented-immigrants-crossing-u-s-border-12-n979546

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