Immigration News Weekly

July 3 - 9

How the Trump Administration is Turning Legal Immigrants into Undocumented Ones
The Washington Post | Catherine Rampell | July 9
“The Trump administration is turning legal immigrants into undocumented ones. That is, the “show me your papers” administration has literally switched off printers needed to generate those “papers.” Without telling Congress, the administration has scaled back the printing of documents it has already promised to immigrants — including green cards, the wallet-size I.D.’s legal permanent residents must carry everywhere to prove they are in the United States lawfully."

Trump is Now Blocking Most of the Legal Paths to Immigrate to the US
CNN | Priscilla Alvarez and Catherine E. Schoichet | July 9
“As the coronavirus spreads around the world, the Trump administration has steadily choked off most avenues for legal immigration to the United States -- effectively shutting down the system that brings in hundreds of thousands of immigrants annually. In a span of four months, people who legally migrated to the United States -- or are trying to -- have had their lives uprooted amid a litany of changes attributed to the pandemic. The abrupt changes have left immigrants and their families in limbo -- confused, frustrated and scrambling to sort out their next steps. The reasons provided by the Trump administration vary, from protecting American workers at a time when the unemployment rate is high to putting public health first.”

Trump Visa Rules Seen as Way to Pressure Colleges on Reopening
New York Times | Miriam Jordan, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Dan Levin | July 7
“A directive by the Trump administration that would strip international college students of their U.S. visas if their coursework was entirely online prompted widespread confusion on Tuesday as students scrambled to clarify their statuses and universities reassessed their fall reopening policies amid the coronavirus pandemic. The White House measure, announced on Monday, was seen as an effort to pressure universities into reopening their gates and abandoning the cautious approaches that many have announced they would adopt to reduce Covid-19 transmission. The effect may be to dramatically reduce the number of international students enrolling in the fall. Together with delays in processing visas as a result of the pandemic, immigrant advocates say the new rules, which must still be finalized this month, might discourage many overseas students from attending American universities, where they often pay full tuition.”