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There's one section of today's legal immigration executive order that seems exceptionally vague...but it contains multitudes.
TL;DR: @DHSgov, @StateDept, & @TheJusticeDept must eliminate all of Trump's anti-immigrant policies, root & branch.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-on-restoring-faith-in-our-legal-immigration-systems-and-strengthening-integration-and-inclusion-efforts-for-new-americans/
TL;DR: @DHSgov, @StateDept, & @TheJusticeDept must eliminate all of Trump's anti-immigrant policies, root & branch.
1/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-on-restoring-faith-in-our-legal-immigration-systems-and-strengthening-integration-and-inclusion-efforts-for-new-americans/
Only one such policy is actually named—Trump's attempt to jack up immigration fees on those least able to afford them—which is music to the ears of all who sued (successfully) to block these fees & who worked with Congress (successfully) to pass a fix.
2/ https://www.boundless.com/research/uscis-fee-hike-immigrants-affected/
2/ https://www.boundless.com/research/uscis-fee-hike-immigrants-affected/
But this order is a hunting license for all "regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, & any other similar agency actions...that may be inconsistent with the policy set forth in section 1 of this order."
Section 1=we should have a well-functioning immigration system
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Section 1=we should have a well-functioning immigration system
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Where to begin?
Thanks to @SarahPierceEsq & @jessicabolter, we have a list of 400+ Trump-era immigration policies, many of which now have a target on their back.
And that's not counting everything since @MigrationPolicy published this in July 2020!
4/ https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/mpi-report-catalogs-immigration-executive-actions-trump-presidency
Thanks to @SarahPierceEsq & @jessicabolter, we have a list of 400+ Trump-era immigration policies, many of which now have a target on their back.
And that's not counting everything since @MigrationPolicy published this in July 2020!
4/ https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/mpi-report-catalogs-immigration-executive-actions-trump-presidency
Let me give you but a sampling of the obsessively cruel & counterproductive Trump-era immigration policies that will soon be going bye-bye.
A @USCIS directive that gives people no chance to correct innocent errors in their applications...
5/ https://www.boundless.com/blog/insider-alert-no-room-error-visa-applications/
A @USCIS directive that gives people no chance to correct innocent errors in their applications...
5/ https://www.boundless.com/blog/insider-alert-no-room-error-visa-applications/
...insane barriers for victims of violent crime & human trafficking to obtain humanitarian visas...
(Joe Biden first introduced the Violence Against Women Act in 1990—he won't let this stand.)
6/ https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/human-trafficking-victims-blocked-from-visas-by-trump-wage-boss
(Joe Biden first introduced the Violence Against Women Act in 1990—he won't let this stand.)
6/ https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/human-trafficking-victims-blocked-from-visas-by-trump-wage-boss
...rejecting visa applications from victims of domestic abuse who leave any blank space instead of writing "N/A"—a policy so unbelievable that @crampell & other journalists have run out of synonyms for "Kafka-esque"...
7/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trump-administration-imposes-yet-another-arbitrary-absurd-modification-to-the-immigration-system/2020/08/06/42de75ca-d811-11ea-930e-d88518c57dcc_story.html
7/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trump-administration-imposes-yet-another-arbitrary-absurd-modification-to-the-immigration-system/2020/08/06/42de75ca-d811-11ea-930e-d88518c57dcc_story.html
...wasting federal resources on an online "Tip Form" that serves as an open invitation for ill-intentioned people to threaten their neighbors, workers, & even family members...
8/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1234900195453718528
8/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1234900195453718528
...directing @USCIS officers to second-guess every single application for a work permit, green card, & other immigration status, just to build yet another invisible wall around America...
9/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1283481339866558467
9/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1283481339866558467
...wasting untold time on social media vetting that is a poor use of civil servants' talents & is bound to fail (as reported @yjtorbati)...
10/ https://www.propublica.org/article/google-says-google-translate-cant-replace-human-translators-immigration-officials-have-used-it-to-vet-refugees
10/ https://www.propublica.org/article/google-says-google-translate-cant-replace-human-translators-immigration-officials-have-used-it-to-vet-refugees
...conducting thousands & thousands of unnecessary pro forma green card interviews that make backlogs even worse & are downright dangerous during the pandemic...
11/ https://www.boundless.com/blog/new-interview-requirement-for-many-spouses-of-u-s-citizens-green-card-holders/
11/ https://www.boundless.com/blog/new-interview-requirement-for-many-spouses-of-u-s-citizens-green-card-holders/
...dozens of policies intended to hack away at the H-1B system for skilled workers, which would take a whole 'nother thread to articulate in detail, & @NFAPResearch has already done it better than I could...
12/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2021/02/01/the-story-of-how-trump-officials-tried-to-end-h-1b-visas/?sh=34201c5b173f
12/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2021/02/01/the-story-of-how-trump-officials-tried-to-end-h-1b-visas/?sh=34201c5b173f
...a trio of midnight regulations intended to drop an anvil, a safe, & a piano on the H-1B system—again, see @NFAPResearch for the current state of play...
13/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2021/01/21/the-biden-administration-and-what-happens-to-trumps-h-1b-visa-rules/?sh=2130d40e726b
13/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2021/01/21/the-biden-administration-and-what-happens-to-trumps-h-1b-visa-rules/?sh=2130d40e726b
...refusing to let Filipino WWII veterans reunite with family members before they die...
14/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1157384155212275713
14/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1157384155212275713
...a one-page regulation dashed off by Trump's State Dept that has prevented millions of people—disproportionately from Africa—from applying for Diversity Visas despite being legally eligible...
15/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1136345504781078528
15/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1136345504781078528
...another State Dept regulation that orders all consular officers to discriminate against any woman who looks pregnant and deny her a visa...
16/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1220368006569775107
16/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1220368006569775107
...lots of easy-to-miss policies that have tanked international student enrollment, including unreasonable constraints on remote classes during the pandemic (see @NAFSA)...
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https://www.nafsa.org/sites/default/files/ektron/files/underscore/ad_student_contribution_2.pdf
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https://www.nafsa.org/sites/default/files/ektron/files/underscore/ad_student_contribution_2.pdf
...a ban on many graduate students from China that's bound to be overbroad...
18/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1266918414225940483
18/ https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1266918414225940483
...so many asylum regulations calculated to make asylum impossible, despite our national & international obligations to those seeking refuge...
19/ https://www.boundless.com/blog/trump-lame-duck-immigration-policies/
19/ https://www.boundless.com/blog/trump-lame-duck-immigration-policies/
...and let's not forget the internal agency policies that have been kept secret so far, e.g. how else can you explain the denial rate for "genius visas" going up 25 percentage points overnight...
20/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/genius-green-card-visa-nobel-prize-trump/
20/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/genius-green-card-visa-nobel-prize-trump/
...I'll stop now. With the caveat that this was not a comprehensive list!
Today's executive order, while phrased in a cautious & lawyerly fashion, formally kicks off the hard slog of rebuilding (re-mantling?) our legal immigration system.
No Trump-era policy is safe...
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Today's executive order, while phrased in a cautious & lawyerly fashion, formally kicks off the hard slog of rebuilding (re-mantling?) our legal immigration system.
No Trump-era policy is safe...
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Except, maybe, the online H-1B registration process? I think that has fans, when it works.
And Trump finalized some EB-5 investor visa reforms that I think are reasonable.
I'm really struggling to come up with anything else that wasn't terrible.
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And Trump finalized some EB-5 investor visa reforms that I think are reasonable.
I'm really struggling to come up with anything else that wasn't terrible.
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All this work will take time. So much that one will tire of hearing "this will take time."
But it's going to get done. Seldom with more White House signing ceremonies, sometimes without even a press release.
At the deliberate & now-unfamiliar speed of bureaucracy.
23/23
But it's going to get done. Seldom with more White House signing ceremonies, sometimes without even a press release.
At the deliberate & now-unfamiliar speed of bureaucracy.
23/23
