Immigration News Weekly

July 10 - 16

Many Fil-Am Families in LA Support Distance Learning Despite Equity Concerns
Balitang America | Steve Angeles | July 16
​“The nation’s second-largest school system will continue with online learning until further notice. While Filipino community members are concerned that students from working families will lack guidance, and those who have no access to needed technology will not be able to catch up with their studies, many Filipino families are supporting distance learning, primarily because they refuse to bring their kids back to school during the pandemic.”

Coronavirus Created a Backlog of Thousands Waiting for U.S. Citizenship. Will They Get It in Time to Vote?
Time | Lissandra Villa | July 16
“In February, the Pew Research Center estimated more than 23 million U.S. immigrants would be eligible to vote, comprising about 10% of the national electorate. Now, because of the pandemic, Alvarez has landed on a long list of people who are worried their citizenship won’t come through in time to vote in the high-stakes election. Critics of the Trump Administration, which has aggressively pursued an anti-immigrant agenda, believe it is not moving fast enough on that backlog in a deliberate effort to disenfranchise immigrant voters.”

U.S. Reverses Student Visa Curbs After Harvard, MIT Fight
Bloomberg | Clare Roth, Janella Lawrence, and Janet Lorin | July 15
“The U.S. reversed a new policy on student visas after a high-profile confrontation with Harvard University, MIT and hundreds of other colleges, ending a standoff that could have sent thousands of students back to their home countries and left schools scrambling to plan for the fall. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs announced at an online hearing on Tuesday that the government had agreed to rescind last week’s requirement that international students take at least one in-person class, even amid the resurgent coronavirus pandemic and as colleges prepare online-only coursework. But she said the case isn’t closed, raising questions about the nature of the agreement and whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had abandoned its position or was retreating and regrouping to fight another day.”