Category: Features & analyses
Written by Lumi Zogaj Earlier this month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed a ruling that granted asylum to a Salvadoran woman on the basis of domestic violence. In 2016, The Board of Immigration Appeals had found that the woman qualified for asylum on the grounds of her membership to a particular social group, because married women in El Salvador cannot leave their relationship and the government fails to protect them. Sessions’ decision not only narrowed the use of the...
Written by Lumi Zogaj On September 5, 2017, the Trump administration announced plans to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, implemented via executive order by President Obama in 2012. As of early February 2018, the fate of DACA remains up in the air, with both Democrats and Republicans pledging to continue working toward new legislation to resolve the issue. The main objective of the DACA program is to shield Dreamers – undocumented immigrants who came into...
Written by Brittany L. Stalsburg Creating a roadmap to citizenship for immigrants in America seems like a no-brainer to you. After all, you know that immigrants are the backbone of this country, and have contributed positively to America’s economy and communities. But not everyone agrees with you, and there are still real concerns among members of the public who are not yet sold on granting immigrants citizenship. A recent poll from Quinnipiac University found that although the vast majority of...
Infographics by Christine Kim; Written by Sarah Amandolare The current immigration debate often positions newcomers to the US as a burden or drain on the system. There have even been suggestions of implementing “merit-based” admissions into the country. But the conversation around immigration typically fails to take into account what the Migration Policy Institute refers to as a “shift in composition of immigration flows over the past decade, with immigrants’ human capital rising sharply.” A report produced by the Institute in...