Immigration News Weekly

April 3rd - 9th

​Coronavirus: Attorneys, Advocates File Emergency Motion to Halt In-Person Immigration Hearings
San Francisco Chronicle | Tatiana Sanchez | April 8
​"Immigration advocates and attorneys on Wednesday asked a federal judge to temporarily halt in-person court hearings for detained immigrants, arguing that the government’s decision to continue doing so during the coronavirus pandemic “unnecessarily endangers all participants.” The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Immigration Justice Campaign filed the request for a temporary restraining order against the Executive Office for Immigration Review and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The group is also asking a federal judge to facilitate remote confidential communication between attorneys and detained clients."

More than 400,000 People Barred from Becoming Citizens due to Coronavirus: Report
The Hill | Zack Budryk | April 7
"Hundreds of thousands of people may be unable to complete the process to become American citizens in time for the November election due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to tech firm Boundless Immigration, which helps immigrants apply for citizenship and green cards. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) "did the right thing by pausing live oath ceremonies and live interviews, there’s no dispute about that," Boundless Immigration co-founder Doug Rand, a former immigration adviser to President Obama, told NBC News. "The problem is USCIS hasn’t come up with a next step and come up with remote pathways for people to take the oath and do interviews," he added, saying the agency should explore alternate methods of administering the oath."

The Trump Administration is Raising the Application Fee for U.S. Citizenship. That will Cost the U.S. Later On
Washington Post | Michael Hotard and David D. Laitin | April 7
"In November, the Department of Homeland Security proposed increasing fees for all immigrants’ applications or requests, including a 61 percent hike in the fee for naturalization. The department also proposed eliminating the fee waiver program for potential low-income beneficiaries, which in 2017 served approximately 40 percent of applicants for naturalization. The comment period for these proposed changes ended Feb. 10, and DHS must now review the thousands of public comments before issuing a final rule in the Federal Register, possibly later this year. If realized, these fee increases would make it more expensive for eligible lawful permanent residents to become citizens of the United States — and for some, would put citizenship entirely out of reach."