US Immigration News

Alejandro Mayorkas has been confirmed by the US Senate as the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to become the first ever Latino and immigrant to be appointed to the role. Mayorkas secured US citizenship in 1973 after his father had fled Cuba and takes the DHS hotseat after a 56 – 43 vote in favor of permanently appointing him.

 

Switching employers for US E3 visa holders has effectively been barred amid the coronavirus pandemic and lengthy USCIS processing times. Currently reserved for nationals of Australia, the E3 visa allows Australian citizens to work in the United States in a speciality occupation. 

 

The Optional Practical Training (OPT) US immigration program, which allows international students to remain in the US for up to three years to work after they graduate, has survived a legal challenge over its extension. However, the labor union that filed the lawsuit is set to appeal the ruling.  

US District Court Judge for the District of Columbia, Reggie B.

The Biden administration has announced that it won’t be making routine immigration enforcement arrests at COVID-19 vaccination sites.

President Biden has paused construction on his predecessor’s anti-immigrant border wall for two months. The wall, constructed along the US border with Mexico, was a pillar of Donald Trump’s controversial US immigration policies. However, critics of the wall have described it as a waste of US taxpayer money and a symbol of xenophobia.  

The anti-immigrant structure is reported to have cost in the billions, costing an estimated $20 million per mile. 

The new First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS), Jill Biden, will monitor a US immigration task force that will be set up to reunite families separated at the US-Mexico border under Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance policy. The zero-tolerance US immigration policy was recently quashed by an executive order issued by President Biden.