US Immigration News

Former US President, Donald Trump, visited the US-Mexico border recently and announced plans to finish his anti-immigrant border wall using private funds. Trump, who failed to complete his wall using federal funds, is seemingly attempting to rally his base at a time when he’s not been in the spotlight and is unable to use social media due to a series of bans.

 

The US immigration judges union is set to be reinstated after the Biden administration said it wouldn’t stand in the way of reviving it. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) recently announced that it would be dropping its opposition to the union, which was stripped of its authority toward the end of the Trump administration. 

 

Newly released US government data shows that approximately 50,000 people have applied for the DACA US immigration program since it reopened to first-time applicants in December 2020. Between January and March 2021, fewer than 800 immigrants – or 1.5% of applicants during that time span – had their first-time applications for DACA approved.

 

A tweet posted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to acknowledge Pride Month has sparked a backlash. The tweet has been described as a ‘vapid example of rainbow capitalism and the commercialization and commodification of LGBTQ social movements’.

 

Amid fierce criticism, US Vice President Kamala Harris recently visited the US-Mexico border to see for herself the growing US immigration crisis. Harris visited a border patrol facility and called for a focus on children and practical solutions to migration. The visit was reportedly an effort to ‘blunt Republican criticism of the Biden administration’s US immigration policy’.

 

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has moved to close a legal loophole that allowed US-based blood plasma companies to harvest plasma from thousands of Mexicans a day. Those crossing into the US, on temporary US visas, were lured by the promise of bonus payments and cash rewards, as first reported by a German TV station in 2019 following an investigation.