U.S. Immigration Issues and Resources

This section provides information and resources on current issues related to U.S. immigration and immigrant communities. New information and resources are added regularly.

THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION & IMMIGRATION REFORM

NEW! NNIRR's Organizers' guide to the Executive Orders with human rights concerns and questions for community dialogue and planning for action and advocacy.

• Guide to Biden's Immigration Executive Orders in English
• Guía a las Órdenes Ejecutivas de Inmigración de Biden en español

NNIRR Statement on Day 1 Executive Orders and priorities for changes moving forward.

The Biden-Harris Immigration Plan

2021 Immigration Action Plan, sponsored by the Immmigration Hub and endorsed by NNIRR and 200+ organizations

Letter To President-Elect Biden on Central America Policy, a joint letter from US civil society organizations, including NNIRR, January 15, 2021

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CURRENT BILLS MOVING THROUGH CONGRESS

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The 117th Congress

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

** The Dream and Promise Act (HR 6) passed on March 18, 2021. The bill's main provisions provided paths to permanent residency to undocumented youth and to TPS (Temporary Protected Status) holders. However, the paths for some will be long and burdensome, and includes "criminal bars" and secondary review processes that will exclude many who are otherwise eligible.

** The Farm Workforce Modernatization Act (HR 1537) also passed the House on March 18, 2021. The bill provides a path to permanent residency to certain undocumented farmworkers and modifies the current guestworker programs with addiitonal protections for workers. However, like the provisions in the Dream and Promise Act, the bill extends the period of time that farmworkers must continue in agricultural work in order to qualify for access to a green card -- and it continues the guestworker program, a system rife with a legacy of abuse and exploitation, and designed to provide a cheap labor force of largely non-white workers.

Read NNIRR's Statement on the Dream and Promise, and the Farm Workforce Modernization bills.

** The New Way Forward Act (HR 536).

Introduced Jan. 28, 2021 by Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, with 41 co-sponsors. The bill proposes to:

• End mandatory immigration detention
• Restore judicial discretion and end summary deportations
• Limit the criminal legal system to deportation pipeline
• End entanglement between federal immigration law enforcement and local law enforcement
• Provide an opportunity to come home for people previously deported.
• Decriminalize migration by repealing criminal prosecution for illegal entry and re-entry

** Roadmap to Freedom Resolution (H.Res. 64) Introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal and others on January 27, 2021. The Roadmap to Freedom "re-establishes the United States as a beacon of hope and humanitarian protection for those seeking safety on our shores and achieves a vision of an immigration system that works for all" by:

• Ensuring a fair immigration process that establishes a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million people while centering family unity and promoting and preserves diversity

• Welcoming immigrants by supporting integration efforts and ensuring access to critical public services

• Creating a just, humane way to uphold immigration laws, including by investing in humane, community-based alternatives to detention and creating scalable consequences for enforcement. This is possible by modernizing the system, ensuring judges have the ability to exercise discretion, and having reasonable, more humane options on the table

• Investing in border policy that protects the rights of communities in the borderlands and ends the mass militarization of the region

• Understanding that we must uphold the rights of all workers and that increasing protections for immigrant workers will lift up all workers—immigrant and American-born alike.

** PROKID Act (HR 1238) Introduced in the House by Rep. Pramila Jayapal and others on Feb.23, 2021. This bill (Protection of Kids in Detention) will establish a permanent Office of the Ombudsperson within the Department of Health and Human Services to act as advocate, subject-matter expert, and independent authority to ensure the rights afforded to children by various statutes are recognized, applied and enforced.

 SENATE

 ** DREAM Act (S. 264) Reintroduced to the Senate by Senator Durbin, Feb. 4, 2021. This bill provides a roadmap to citizenship for nearly 2 million undocumented people, including current DACA recipients, those eligible to apply for DACA, and other immigrant youth. For Senator Durbin's remarks on the Senate Floor while reintroducing the bill, go here.

** SECURE Act (S. 306) -- Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and in Emergency Act. Reintroduced to the Senate on Feb. 8, 2021 by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) & Senate Majority leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). This bill gives Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders a path to permanent residency and eventual citizenship. Press release from Senator Cardin here on the bill. 

** PROKID Act

Introduced by Senator Gillibrand and others on Feb. 23, 2021. The bill will:

• Ensure that immigrant children are only held in government custody in the least restrictive setting;
• Empower the Ombudsperson to advocate for the quick, safe, and efficient release of immigrant children from government custody whenever possible, including the right to review placement decisions;
• Create an expert advisory committee made of up immigration law and child protection specialists to report on trends from the field and advise on best practices; and
• Mandate the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate a close working relationship and ensure visibility, real-time communication, and influence policy and procedures for those children in temporary DHS custody.

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IMMIGRATION, IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES AND THE 2020 ELECTIONS Resources and tools on immigrant community participation in the election and information on critical issues.

CORONAVIRUS & IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: RESOURCES AND ADVOCACY A round-up of community informational and educational resources, as well as advocacy initiatives and actions to ensure that all immigrant community members have safe health care access.

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 LEGISLATION

Legislative Resources & Tools  Resources for how-to organize advocacy efforts in your community & take individual action!

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THE ISSUES 

Proposed 'Public Charge' Rule -- Resources and Updates

Deferred Action - DACA - Updates & Tools DACA news updates and resources. 

Trump Executive Orders and Policies Information on Trump administration actions, responses, and resources.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) An updated (September 2020) list of TPS and DED (Deferred Enforced Departure) holders, published by CLINIC, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. See their update page here.

Immigrant Detention, Private Prisons and Minimum Occupancy Quotas  Under current U.S. leadership, immigration policy is developed within a framework of criminalization and punishment. This page introduces resources that provide in-depth analysis of how these policies are imbued with exploitation for the sake of corporate interests.

Immigration Enforcement & Policing A selection of reports that highlight the abusive nature of immigration policing. 

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POLICY REFORM

Over the years, NNIRR has taken consistent, rights-based positions on immigration policy and reform proposals. These pages provide key documents that reflect these principles and positions.

Immigration Policy Reform - Trump Era

NNIRR Position Statements   

Principles for Immigration Policy Reform  

Related Reports, Positions, Background Statements  

(Image courtesy of flickr user blugrn)

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Past Legislatiive Congresses Imigration Bills

Immigration Policy Legislation - 115th Congress, 2017-2018  A comprehensive list of immigration-related bills introduced in Congress.