Immigration News Digest, August 2014
Written by Kara DeDonato
This month’s News Digest focuses on the president’s expected executive order on immigration, and examines the actions of Republicans in both the House and Senate as they threaten to dismantle important legislation protecting young immigrants. The Digest also takes a look at the legal process in overburdened courts for the first cases of unaccompanied minors and families who have recently crossed the border from Central America; and concludes with a celebration of New York’s immigrant communities.
Presidential action and the “immigration crisis”
President Obama continued to craft his executive action on immigration throughout the month of August. The Washington Post cites the “current surge of Central American children” and “Congress’s failure this year to pass a broader education overhaul” as the two key reasons behind the president’s determination to take action on the issue.
This NPR article outlines two important actions the president could take to improve the country’s broken immigration system.
The first one would be an extension of a deferred action program similar to DACA beyond the Dreamers, which would give other immigrant groups access to work permits and protection against deportation. Immigration activists and organizations are pushing for undocumented parents of children born in the US to be the priority beneficiaries of such a program, so as to prevent the separation of mixed-status families.
The second action item would be ‘Parole in Place’, an idea of Republican Raul Labrador (Idaho), which calls on “immigration authorities to use prosecutorial discretion.” Typically, individuals who entered the United States illegally cannot apply within the US for an adjustment of their legal status even, for example, after they marry a US citizen; they have to return to their home country to apply for reentry into the United States, which often results in lengthy family separations and significant financial costs. If granted ‘parole in place’ status by immigration authorities, these individuals would no longer be required to leave the country in order to apply for an adjustment of their legal status.
This Wall Street Journal Q&A article provides further information on the possible actions President Obama might consider under his executive power. But the exact form that executive action on immigration will take remains unclear as much of its crafting has taken place “behind closed doors,” according to this New York Times article. President Obama has pursued the advice and suggestions of many lawmakers, advocacy and interest groups, business leaders, academics, and other experts on immigration issues.
The person who may have the largest influence on Obama’s executive action is Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson. Johnson, who has only held his post for eight months, has been working very closely with the president to address the Central American border surge and the country’s larger immigration crisis. According to The New York Times, he has the “cautious support, so far,” of many immigrant advocacy groups, which credit him with listening to everyone and “with speaking up about a border crisis that both Democrats and Republicans say the White House was slow to notice.” An active member of the Democratic Party who has served under the Clinton and Obama administrations, Johnson appears to have a middle-of-the-road approach to the current immigration crisis. As reported in this Huffington Post article, he has stressed that the US government needs to “do right by the children” and deal with them in a way “consistent with our laws and our values,” while, at the same time, taking steps to stem the tide of “illegal migration” across the Rio Grande border.
Update: as this blog post was being prepared for publication, President Obama announced that he would delay executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections (more to follow in the September Immigration News Digest).
Elsewhere in the federal government
August was a busy month for the federal government regarding issues related to immigration.
Just before the start of Congress’ five-week summer recess on August 1, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted a $694 million bill to provide for additional security and law enforcement measures on the border, including provisions amending a 2008 anti-trafficking law that would facilitate and speed up the deportation of unaccompanied minors recently arrived from Central American countries. After a heated debate, the House passed a separate bill to freeze the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA) program. Neither bill, however, is expected to succeed in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats (for additional background information on these two bills, see these articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal).
Tension continued to rise during the month as Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate worked to minimize the efficacy of the president’s expected executive action. Senator Marco Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, warned that his party could remove funding of any immigration executive order from the federal budget, required to be passed before the end of September. Such an action could potentially lead to another government shutdown, according to this New York Times article. While “Republican leaders in the House and Senate say they have no intention of shutting down the government just weeks before the midterm elections,” tying the immigration issue to the federal budget remains a worrying prospect.
Several articles also discussed the influence immigration issues may have on elections. This article in The Christian Science Monitor stresses that Republican action pertaining to the current Central American border surge could “energize” their constituents for the midterm elections: as explained by Republican strategist Ford O’Connell, “[t]he immigration issue gives Republicans a better chance of consolidating the older, conservative white vote (…) That’s who is most likely to turn out in the midterms.” At the same time, the Latino vote is not expected to have a large influence in the midterm elections as the most critical Senate battles will take place in conservative states with small Latino populations (see this article in The Washington Post). However, the Latino vote is expected to be a political game-changer in the 2016 presidential elections.
Central American border surge
As predicted, the Central American border surge continued to dominate the news during the month of August. Courts have already begun to work on the large number of cases of undocumented children and families recently arrived, as the result of an expedited hearing process established by the Obama administration. Articles in The New York Times, USA Today, The Nation, and The Wall Street Journal discuss the challenges faced by overburdened courts and those whose cases are being processed.
Several articles chronicle the experience of youths who are facing courts for the first time. This Epoch Times article details the journey of Juan, a young Honduran who walked for two weeks without food to gain entry into the US and reunite with his family in New York. While Juan is currently beginning school in New York, it is unclear whether he or his uncle will be permitted to stay over the long term. Unfortunately, the majority of children are facing immigration courts alone, without family.
The fast tracking of recent arrivals has elicited outrage from numerous immigrant advocates. In particular, the treatment of women and children held at an immigration detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, has led to the filing of a federal lawsuit against the US government by several key immigration legal and advocacy organizations (for more information on this lawsuit refer to these articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and to the online resources provided by the American Immigration Council).
A second important legal development is the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals, the country’s highest immigration court, to grant asylum to a woman from Guatemala, Aminta Cifuentes, victim of domestic abuse in her home country. The court established that Aminta qualified for asylum status as she had a well-founded fear of persecution as a member of a particular social group. This created the first instance in which married women in a country characterized by “a culture of machismo and family violence” have been recognized as a ‘particular social group’ under US asylum law. The repeated failure of Guatemalan police to protect Aminta from her husband’s abuse formed another key ground of the immigration judges’ decision. According to articles in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and many other national as well as international media outlets, this case sets a groundbreaking precedent that may help many of the Central American women whose cases will soon be reviewed by immigration courts across the country.
Zooming in on New York City immigration news
During the month of August, both New York City and New York State continued to address the influx of undocumented immigrants from Central America. New court procedures that accelerate the processing of deportation cases against unaccompanied minors and mothers with children are straining the resources of advocacy groups. Cases that would have taken years to process previously are now being decided in a matter of months. In New York City, advocates have worked to develop a “strategy to respond to the shift, including recruiting and preparing pro bono lawyers and searching for additional financing to support their efforts.”
On a more positive note, August also featured a number of joyful events and celebrations hosted by immigrant communities throughout the city. This blog post, written by NWNY’s own Arielle Kandel, describes the 33rd Annual Dominican Parade and Festival, which took place along Sixth Avenue on Sunday, August 10. Dominicans are New York City’s top immigrant group, accounting for about 12 percent of the foreign-born with slightly more than 380,000 residents. More photos of the event are featured on Newsday’s website – you will notice that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was in attendance.
On August 23, another event celebrating the African Diaspora may portend greater political influence for African immigrants in New York City. The celebration came in the form of another parade in the streets of a Bronx neighborhood, and ended in a park where Continental Africans, African Americans, and members of the African Diaspora from Latin America and the Caribbean enjoyed music and other shared elements of their cultures. Many believe that the political clout of African immigrants will grow as groups from varied countries and backgrounds overcome their differences and come together.
