Tag: Trump immigration policy

White House rejects Democrats’ call for Stephen Miller to testify on immigration

The White House will refuse to allow senior adviser Stephen Miller to testify before the House Oversight Committee, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.

Oversight panel Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) received a letter from the White House counsel Wednesday denying his request that Miller come before the committee to testify on the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“We are pleased that the Committee is interested in obtaining information regarding border security and much needed improvements to our immigration system,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote, offering to make available “cabinet secretaries and other agency leaders” to discuss the issue.

View the complete April 24 article by Colby Itkowitz and Rachael Bade on The Washington Post website here.

Nations targeted by U.S. for high rates of visa overstays account for small number of violators

The White House shifted its focus this week from the surge of families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who arrive in the United States legally and then illegally remain in the country after their visas expire.

Though President Trump has fixated on the rising numbers of Central American families claiming asylum at the southern border, he also promised during his campaign that deporting those who overstay their legal visas would be a priority for his administration.

Trump on Monday issued a presidential memo that declared visa overstay rates “unacceptably high” and calling them a “widespread problem.” On the basis of a recent Homeland Security report, he instructed federal agencies to consider action against countries that have business and tourism travelers — using the popular B1 and B2 visas — who overstay at a rate higher than 10 percent.

View the complete April 24 article by Maria Sacchetti and Kevin Uhrmacher on The Washington Post website here.

How Much Slower Would the U.S. Grow Without Immigration? In Many Places, a Lot

New census data shows that big cities and rural counties depend on international migration the most.

As the United States debates the right levels of immigration — and whether, as President Trump suggested, there is room for much more of it — new census data shows that international migration is keeping population growth above water in much of the country.

Although international migration dropped in 2017 and 2018, it accounted for nearly half of overall American population growth in 2018 as birthrates declined and death rates rose.

International migration helped rural counties record their second straight year of growth, according to local population estimates for 2018 that the Census Bureau released on Thursday. And immigrants bolstered urban counties that have been losing residents to more affordable areas. Even so, the three largest metro areas in America — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — all shrank slightly.

View the complete April 18 article by Jed Kolko on The New York Times website here.

Two New Tent Cities Will Be Built in Texas to Hold Migrants

HIDALGO, TEXAS — The federal government will spend nearly $40 million to build and operate two new tent cities for migrant families and children in Texas, as the Trump administration scrambles to respond to a surge of Central American asylum-seekers at the southwest border.

Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters during a visit to South Texas on Wednesday that the temporary facilities are part of a strategy to ease overcrowding at Border Patrol detention centers. The two tent cities will be built in El Paso and in the Rio Grande Valley town of Donna by April 30 as processing centers and temporary housing for Central American families and unaccompanied children detained after crossing the border from Mexico.

“It’s clear that all of our resources are being stretched thin,” said Mr. McAleenan, standing in front of a section of border wall in the town of Hidalgo. “The system is full and we are beyond capacity.”

View the complete April 17 article by Manny Fernandez on The New York Times website here.

Barr to withhold bail from asylum seekers in latest border crackdown

Migrants who come to the United States seeking asylum may instead wind up jailed indefinitely while they wait for their claims to be processed, the Trump administration ruled Tuesday in its latest crackdown at the border.

Attorney General William P. Barr’s written decision, a policy reversal, applies to migrants who have already established “a credible fear of persecution or torture” in their home country.

Barr ordered immigration judges to stop allowing some asylum seekers to post bail while they wait the months or years for their cases to be heard — a system that President Trump has derided as “catch and release.”

View the complete April 17 article by Reis Thebault and Michael Brice-Saddler on The Washington Post website here.

Why Trump’s idea to send immigrants to sanctuary cities makes no sense

It has now been four days since The Washington Post reported that President Trump has considered sending those who cross the Southern border to sanctuary cities. And despite the White House’s initial effort to downplay the idea, it seems this is a conversation Trump would very much like to have. After contradicting his own officials and confirming the idea was under consideration, Trump tweeted about it repeatedly over the weekend — even challenging sanctuary cities to make good on their pro-immigrant ideals.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Just out: The USA has the absolute legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to Sanctuary Cities. We hereby demand that they be taken care of at the highest level, especially by the State of California, which is well known or its poor management & high taxes!

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Continue reading “Why Trump’s idea to send immigrants to sanctuary cities makes no sense”

Democrats take aim at Miller as questions persist about ‘sanctuary city’ targeting

House Democrats are sharpening their focus on White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller, with key lawmakers saying he should be brought before congressional committees to testify about his role in recent policy controversies.

The talk of hauling Miller before lawmakers comes days after The Washington Post reported that he played a key role in a plan first discussed last year to release undocumented immigrants into “sanctuary cities” represented by President Trump’s Democratic critics. While the plan never came to fruition because of objections from agency officials, Trump has since embraced the idea.

With a spate of new vacancies at the Department of Homeland Security, including the departure last week of the secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, Miller has emerged as a key target for Democrats who see him as an influential survivor in an administration that has otherwise churned through personnel.

View the complete April 14 article by Mike DeBonis, Rachael Bade and Felicia Sonmez on The Washington Post website here.

Trump Sees an Obstacle to Getting His Way on Immigration: His Own Officials

WASHINGTON — Stephen Miller was furious — again.

The architect of President Trump’s immigration agenda, Mr. Miller was presiding last month over a meeting in the White House Situation Room when he demanded to know why the administration officials gathered there were taking so long to carry out his plans.

A regulation to deny welfare benefits to legal immigrants — a change Mr. Miller repeatedly predicted would be “transformative” — was still plodding through the approval process after more than two years, he complained. So were the new rules that would overturn court-ordered protections for migrant children. They were still not finished, he added, berating Ronald D. Vitiello, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

View the complete April 14 article by Eileen Sullivan and Michael D. Shear on The New York Times website here.

Trump sanctuary city idea could help migrants stay in US

PHOENIX (AP) — An idea floated by President Donald Trump to send immigrants from the border to “sanctuary cities” to exact revenge on Democratic foes could end up doing the migrants a favor by placing them in locations that make it easier to put down roots and stay in the country.

The plan would put thousands of immigrants in cities that are not only welcoming to them, but also more likely to rebuff federal officials carrying out deportation orders. Many of these locations have more resources to help immigrants make their legal cases to stay in the United States than smaller cities, with some of the nation’s biggest immigration advocacy groups based in places like San Francisco, New York City and Chicago. The downside for the immigrants would be a high cost of living in the cities.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University announced this week that an analysis found that immigrants in sanctuary cities such as New York and Los Angeles are 20% less likely to be arrested out in the community than in cities without such policies.

View the complete April 14 article by Astrid Galvan and Morgan Lee on the Associated Press website here.

Trump says he has legal right to send undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities

President Trump tweeted on Saturday night that his administration has the legal right to send undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities and demanded it happen.

“Just out: The USA has the absolute legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to Sanctuary Cities,” he wrote. “We hereby demand that they be taken care of at the highest level, especially by the State of California, which is well known or its poor management & high taxes!”

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

View the complete April 13 article by Rachel Franzin on The Hill website here.