April 2015 Immigration News At a Glance
Written by Kara DeDonato
The April Immigration Roundup takes a look at the appeals process for Obama’s executive action and at the shortage of H-1B visas that is forcing many tech and knowledge workers to leave the US, before turning to an extended New York immigration update.
Brief update on the executive order
In April, the Obama administration continued the appeals process against a Texas federal judge’s order blocking the president’s immigration action. The order, supported by a coalition of 26 mostly Republican states, claims Obama’s executive action is unlawful and a breach of authority. The Obama administration maintains that there is legal precedent, and that deferring deportations, a primary component of the legal memo, has been subject to the executive branch’s actions for decades. A final ruling has still not been reached.
In the absence of a ruling, more than 70 counties and cities have asked for permission to begin implementing programs initiated by the executive order. These counties and cities cite the benefits the programs will deliver for public safety, the economy, and by keeping families together. Some of the cities, like Houston and Austin, are located in states that filed the lawsuit against the executive order. The initiative is spearheaded by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio said: “Cities are where immigrants live, and cities are where the President’s executive action will be successfully implemented,” promising to continue fighting for this much needed immigration reform.
Tech workers and H-1B visas
Skilled immigrants, technology professionals, and entrepreneurs, many of whom have attended university in the US, are often forced to leave the country because they are unable to obtain a visa allowing them to work. The H-1B visa is a temporary visa meant for specialty workers – and it is handed out through a small lottery, with a limit of 85,000 available each year. A record number of 233,000 applications have been received for the year 2016. Since the visa is temporary, even those lucky enough to receive it may eventually be forced to leave, often taking their businesses with them. A bipartisan campaign is trying to increase the visa limits with backing from companies that employ large numbers of H-1B holders (see this article in The Wall Street Journal).
Only three out of ten people who qualify for the visa will be granted one, which Todd Schulte, Director of immigration lobbying group FWD.us describes as a “tragic reminder we have an incredibly broken, outdated immigration system.”
Mike Kreiger, a native of Brazil and one of the co-founders of Instagram, said that it took him longer to secure a visa than to create and launch the app.
Zooming in on New York immigration news
New York City has always been home to a large foreign-born population. This interesting interactive graphic tracks New York City’s immigration population and origins for the past 400 years, showing that when the city was founded in the early 17th century, all of its 270 residents were foreign-born. Today about 3.2 million of the city’s 8.4 million residents are immigrants.
Still, despite its long and continuous history of immigration, New York was recently ranked only the ninth easiest state for undocumented immigrants to live in, according to a study conducted by UCLA researchers. The ranking was based on a series of socio-economic factors, including access to public health, higher education, and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. While New York offers relatively good health coverage to undocumented immigrants, it is behind other states that offer in-state financial aid to undocumented college students. The NY Daily News article notes that immigrant college students have been fighting for access to New York-based tuition assistance, but have yet to achieve their desired outcome. The state’s annual budget once again fell short of including tuition assistance for undocumented immigrants.
Despite such room for improvement, New York continues to promote a pro-immigrant stance. This past month, speaking at the 13th Annual Daily News/CUNY Citizenship NOW! event, Governor Andrew Cuomo voiced his support for immigration and immigrant communities. “We don’t just welcome immigrants, we affirmatively welcome them,” said the governor. At the event, other speakers called for national immigration reform and for the passing of the DREAM Act.
In fact, the New York City Council is already taking steps to implement Obama’s executive order, in defiance of the federal court’s ban on the legislation. The Council has requested additional funding of $2.5 million to support initiatives that would reach 500,000 undocumented immigrants in New York City. Additional funding would also help the Council prepare to carry out the executive order more effectively if the court case against it is overturned in appeals.
In the meantime, New York City has taken action to assist its immigrant population through other initiatives, such as the Municipal ID Program. Additionally, Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York State Attorney Eric Schneiderman announced a new task force that will work to protect immigrants from fraudulent legal resources and other schemes that target at-risk immigrants. Schneiderman described the task force and new initiatives as “sending a powerful message that New York has zero tolerance for anyone who seeks to prey on immigrants and their families.”
Last but not least, we, at New Women New Yorkers, are continuing our work to empower young women immigrants from underserved communities in New York City. Learn about LEAD, a 3-month skills training and leadership development program we launched in February, in this article of the NY Daily News.
