In Utah speech, U.S. immigration chief says system is unjust

Leon Rodriguez, top administrator of the nation's immigration and naturalization system, says one key word is absent from the vast U.S. laws and regulations on immigration. "You will never once see the word 'justice,' " Rodriguez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), told a convention of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network at the Salt Lake City Sheraton Hotel on Wednesday. The son of Cuban immigrants said it is time to change that, and called for Congress to make the immigration system more just. He also defended President Barack Obama's executive orders seeking to defer deportation of millions.

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How Immigrant Entrepreneurs Move the U.S. Economy Forward

This week, National Small Business Week, which has occurred each year since 1963, recognizes the contributions of entrepreneurs and small business owners in the United States. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, which SBA defines as an independent business having fewer than 500 employees. Small businesses created about two out of every three (63 percent) net new jobs in the U.S. from 1993 to 2013, and 60 percent of net new jobs since 2009. Behind these broad numbers is the critical role immigrant entrepreneurs play in America’s small business environment.

See more at: http://immigrationimpact.com/2015/05/06/how-immigrant-entrepreneurs-move-the-u-s-economy-forward/#sthash.eEyWhP1R.dpuf

What GOP Presidential Hopefuls Fiorina, Carson, and Huckabee Have Said on Immigration

This week, three GOP candidates entered the 2016 race. Here’s what we know about their stance on current U.S. immigration policy:


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Actually, Immigration Can Create Jobs

The traditional view that an influx of new workers takes work away from native-born Americans is only part of the story.

When critics of immigration make their case, they often point to the labor market. The argument goes something like this: An increase in the supply of workers creates additional competition for jobs, and if immigrants are willing to accept lower wages than American-born workers, then it's the American workers who will suffer.

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McClatchyDC: "The Beginning of the End" for Obama's Migrant Family Detention?

McClatchyDC reports that a U.S. District Judge in California distributed a 22-page tentative ruling on Friday that concluded that the Obama administration's family detention policy violates parts of an 18-year-old court settlement regarding the detention of migrant children. According to memos that outline the tentative ruling, which has not been officially filed, children and mothers in family detention cannot be held in unlicensed secure facilities such as those in the towns of Karnes City and Dilley, Texas. The tentative ruling also states that it is not appropriate to hold a child and accompanying parent in detention unless there is a flight or safety risk.

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Thousands Of Dreamers Are Losing Their Work Permits

The federal government is struggling to renew work authorizations for thousands of undocumented immigrants temporarily protected from deportation by the Obama administration.

Thousands of undocumented immigrants who gained work permits as part of an Obama administration effort to shield young people from deportation are suddenly losing their ability to work legally as the federal government struggles to renew their authorizations on time.
Exactly 11,028 young immigrants have had their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status and work permits expire in spite of having applied on time, according to numbers released for the first time to BuzzFeed News by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that handles the permits. The number of lapsed cases represents roughly 5% of the total number of DACA renewals that USCIS has approved so far.

Yael Pineda, a 19-year-old undocumented student at UCLA, owes her job to DACA, the Obama administration’s 2012 program that gave her a work permit and protected her from deportation because she had arrived in the United States as a child. When her DACA status started nearing the end of its two-year term, Pineda applied to renew well within the window of time recommended by USCIS, according to documents she shared with BuzzFeed News.

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DHS FY2015 Mid-Year Border Security Update

DHS press release with a status update on border security efforts mid-way through FY2015. During the first six months of FY2015, the number of total apprehensions along the southwest border, was 28% lower than total apprehensions during the same period in FY2014.

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