US Immigration News

According to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) annual report, immigration arrests and deportations plummeted to record low levels in 2021, despite record-high border crossings. During the 2021 fiscal year (FY), which ended on September 30, 2021, ICE recorded 59,011 deportations, down from 185,884 in 2020.

 

Serbian tennis star, Novak Djokovic has been denied a US visa, ruling him out of tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. Djokovic, who is unvaccinated against COVID-19, was told that he would need to be vaccinated in order to enter the US. The world number 2 was recently forced to miss the Australian open after his visa was revoked and he was deported.

 

Djokovic had admitted that it was ‘unlikely’ he would be able to compete in the two US tournaments, despite being included on entry lists as he sought answers about requirements for entering the US.

US President Joe Biden has been given the green light to continue expelling migrant families caught crossing the US-Mexico border, by a federal appeals court. However, the court ruled that those set for expulsion from the US cannot be sent to countries where they could be subject to persecution or torture. 

 

The Biden administration has said it will extend US immigration relief to Ukrainians currently in the US. The news comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine intensifies with key buildings and cities targeted and civilian evacuation plans failing. The US Department of Homeland Security announced that Ukrainians can remain in America under Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

 

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced new legislation in the US Senate targeting an overhaul of the H1B and L1 visa programs. The group of senators argue that reforming the hugely popular visa categories will ‘protect American workers’ and ‘crackdown on foreign outsourcing companies exploiting the visa programs and depriving highly skilled Americans’.

 

As the world responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by taking in refugees affected by the conflict, two former US immigration officials have urged the Biden administration to grant TPS to Ukrainian nationals forced to flee their homeland.