BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK
GOVERNMENT REPORTS
SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
There were no immigration-related bills introduced or considered during the week of Monday, March 18, 2019.
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate will be in session the week of Monday, March 25, 2019.
The House of Representatives will be in session from Monday, March 25 to Thursday, March 28, 2019.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
Department of State Budget Request for FY 2020
This hearing will discuss the Department of State’s budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2020, which includes funding for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and other refugee-related funding.
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. (House Committee on Appropriations)
Location: 2359 Rayburn House Office Building
Witnesses: The Honorable Mike Pompeo, Secretary of the U.S. Department of State
FY 2020 Budget Hearing – U.S. Customs and Border Protection
This hearing will discuss FY2020 budget proposal for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. (House Committee on Appropriations)
Location: 2008 Rayburn House Office Building
Witnesses: The Honorable Kevin McAleenan, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK
Federal
Pentagon Releases List of Military Projects Potentially Affected by Trump’s Emergency Declaration as Deployments to Border Face Scrutiny
The U.S. Defense Department put together a list of all projects that could be potentially affected by President Trump’s emergency declaration allowing the administration to redirect funds to build a wall along the U.S. Southern border. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan promised to share the list with lawmakers in Congress, who have demanded such records for weeks. The affected initiatives are comprised of military construction projects that were approved and had funding appropriated by Congress but not yet awarded under contract by the Pentagon, amounting to nearly $13 billion in potential funding. In his statement, Shanahan pledged to exclude projects that involve military housing.
Impacted projects include updates to military base affecting daily life at the facilities as well as military operations and trainings in everything from schools and childcare centers, to firing ranges and flight simulation facilities,. Major projects impacting U.S. military installations in Puerto Rico and programs benefiting Europeans allies stand to lose significant funding.
On March 14, Senate passed a joint resolution terminating the national emergency declaration, which was promptly vetoed by President Trump. The U.S. House will vote to override the veto on March 26, although it is unlikely there is sufficient Republican support to muster the required 2/3 majority needed. The release of the impacted military projects, however, could lead additional support for the veto override, as members of Congress now know which specific projects in their districts would be impacted.
The release of the Pentagon’s list comes amid a report from the Los Angeles Times about internal Marine Corps memos warning of the impact of Trump border policies on military readiness. The report cites internal memos from Marine Corps commandant Robert Neller which warn that the Trump administration’s deployment of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border posed an “unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency.” In two recent memos, , Neller said that the “unplanned/unbudgeted” deployment to the Southern border, along with the shift of other funds support border security (and hurricane recovery) required him to postpone base repairs and cancel or downsize military training or exercises in Indonesia, Scotland, Mongolia, Australia and South Korea
Asylum Seekers Claim Fear over Returning to Mexico, as Administration Further Expands “Remain in Mexico” Policy
Several Central American asylum seekers, who have been forced to wait for their court hearings in Mexico under the Trump administration’s Migration Protection Protocols (MPP), expressed fears over return to Mexico during their hearings in front of an immigration judge in San Diego. The claims highlighting potential dangers faced by the asylum seekers upon being sent back to Tijuana, represent another complication in the administration’s newly-implemented policy informally known as “Remain in Mexico.” Last week, a scheduling “glitch” prevented two of the first three asylum seekers in the program with court dates from entering the U.S. to attend their immigration court hearings. There, the immigration judge declined to order the absent asylum seekers deported and raised concerns about the policy.
MPP itself also faces a legal challenge on similar grounds, with civil rights groups filing suit in federal court arguing that the policy violates federal law by failing to consider the dangers migrants face in Mexico. A March 22 hearing is scheduled in federal court in San Francisco before Judge Richard Seeborg, who is weighing whether to halt the policy.
MPP’s ongoing logistical and legal challenges come as the administration continues to expand the policy to additional ports of entry. After implementation of a pilot program only at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego, the policy is now being implemented at the Calexico port of entry in California and the port of entry at El Paso, Texas.
Trump Administration to Release Migrant Families En Masse, Citing ICE Detention
The Border Patrol has started to release hundreds of migrant families apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border en masse, rather than transferring into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for longer-term detention, according to a March 19 report by the Wall Street Journal. Officials said they are making the change because there is not enough room for all the families in ICE’s three family detention facilities, which can hold only a few thousand people.
Under the policy change, if there is not enough room in ICE detention facilities, some families will be processed by the Border Patrol and released with an order to show up later to their immigration court hearing to start their deportation or asylum cases. At least 250 individuals were released on March 19 and March 20, with hundreds more expected in coming days. During previous en masse releases, hundreds of families at a time have been dropped off in bus stations with minimal guidance or resources, significantly straining the local non-profit organizations that service them.
The Trump administration argues that the change is necessary because of an increase in the number of migrant families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, many of them to escape poverty and violence in Central America. However, some immigrant advocates questioned the timing and nature of the mass releases arguing the releases are a “manufactured crisis,” intended to support the Trump administration’s argument that there is a national emergency at the border.
The Trump administration, in turn, asserts that Border Patrol apprehensions at the Southern border reached 66,450 in February 2019, a significant increase from the nearly 27,000 in February 2018, but still below the all-time highs of the early and mid-2000s.
At the same time, ICE’s data shows the agency is holding a record 50,000 people in immigration detention. Critics have noted that the proportion of those with criminal records in detention has fallen dramatically to 63.5 percent in December 2018, as compared to roughly 82 percent in December 2016. Immigration advocates argued that given its limited resources, ICE should not focus its resources on those who pose no threat to public safety, like undocumented immigrants with no criminal records. President Trump issued an executive order in January 2017 that directed ICE to prioritize the deportation of all undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Legal
Supreme Court Rules that Federal Government Can Hold Immigrants Indefinitely in Mandatory Detention for Prior Offenses
A narrowly-divided 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal government can hold immigrants in mandatory detention if they were detained for previous crimes, even if the offenses occurred years ago. Writing for the conservative majority in Nielsen v. Preap, Justice Samuel Alito interpreted a 1996 statute governing mandatory detention to require the indefinite detention of immigrants picked up “when they are released” from criminal custody, even if they are picked up years after release.
A group of impacted immigrants, mostly consisting of green card holders, had challenged their indefinite detention without bond, arguing that the 1996 law only referred to instances where the transfer to immigration custody occurs within a day of the release from criminal custody. The four-justice liberal minority agreed and would have interpreted the statute’s “when they are released” language to require a prompt transfer into immigration custody. Writing in dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer raised concerns over the impacts of the mandatory detention of immigrants “who have long since paid their debt to society” without the possibility of bail.
The Court’s decision did not evaluate the constitutionality of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which governs mandatory detention of immigrants, and a subsequent challenge on constitutional grounds could be evaluated by the Supreme Court in the future.
The decision in Preap follows a decision last year in Jennings v. Rodriguez, in which the Supreme Court ruled that immigrant detainees in mandatory detention had no right to periodic bond hearings.
New York Federal Judge Rules against Trump Administration Halting Protections for Abused and Abandoned Young Immigrants
On March 15, a federal judge in New York ruled against the Trump administration’s policy of denying immigration protections to abused, neglected, and abandoned undocumented young immigrants.
Previously, qualifying undocumented immigrant minors under 21 were eligible to qualify for the Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) Status. Children receiving SIJ status, which was created in 1990, are eligible for protection from deportation and are permitted to apply for lawful permanent residency (LPR) status. In February 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued internal guidance barring SIJ applicants over 18 years of age from receiving SIJ status.
Ruling in favor of the class of immigrant children, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl granted the plaintiffs class action status and held that the administration’s policy is not in compliance with federal immigration law.
State and Local
Gov. Northam Vetoes Virginia Bills Targeting Sanctuary Jurisdictions
On March 19, Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Virginia) vetoed Senate Bill 1156 and House Bill 2270, two bills addressing so-called sanctuary jurisdictions in Virginia. SB 1156 would have barred localities from adopting “sanctuary city” policies and required local law enforcement to notify federal immigration officials when they take undocumented people into custody. HB 2270 would have required administrators of local correctional facilities to notify federal immigration authorities of the scheduled release date of any undocumented person held in their custody.
In vetoing the bills, Northam noted that SB 1156 “imposes an unnecessary and divisive requirement upon localities regarding the enforcement of federal immigration laws” and would force localities “to use precious resources to perform functions that are the responsibility of federal immigration enforcement agencies.” He also expressed concern that the bill would send a “chilling message to communities across Virginia that could have negative impacts on public safety.” Northam further noted that HB 2270 “imposes an unnecessary requirement upon localities regarding the enforcement of federal immigration laws” and “impedes decision-making by administrators” of correctional facilities by eliminating their “discretion to determine how they choose to engage with federal immigration agencies.”
Narrow Republican majorities in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate passed the bills on party-line votes earlier this year. Critics of the bills have noted that there are no sanctuary jurisdictions in Virginia. Northam vetoed similar anti-sanctuary legislation in 2018.
ACLU: ICE Issued 420 Detainer Requests for U.S. Citizens in the Miami-Dade Area
An American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report from March 20, 2019, shows that ICE mistakenly issued 420 detainer requests for U.S citizens in Miami-Dade County, Florida, between February 2017 and February 2019. Immigration detainers are federal requests to state and local law enforcement agencies to detain individuals suspected of being in the U.S. unlawfully. Detainers have been the subject of extensive litigation and political controversy, with several federal courts determining that jurisdictions which elect to honor them may face civil liability in cases where someone has been improperly kept in custody in violation of their rights.
After realizing a number of the detainer requests erroneously targeted U.S. citizens, ICE revoked 83 of the 420 requests. The remaining 337 detainers remained in force, and U.S. citizens detained pursuant to them continued to be held, with at least two nearly being deported. The report highlighted the specific problems in Miami-Dade, while also noting that ICE almost certainly is wrongfully detaining U.S citizens elsewhere in the country.
In 2017, the ACLU previously filed a lawsuit on behalf of a U.S. citizen from the Miami area who was wrongly detained pursuant to an ICE detainer.
GOVERNMENT REPORTS
Government Accountability Office (GAO): HOMELAND SECURITY: Research & Development Coordination Has Improved, but Additional Actions Needed to Track and Evaluate Projects, March 21, 2019 (by William Russell)
This GAO report reviews Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) research and development efforts, with specific focus on how much the department has obligated for research and development and what types of research and development it conducts. It also examines to what extent the Science and Technology Directorate coordinates research and development across DHS, and how, if at all, DHS identifies and tracks research and development efforts.
Government Accountability Office (GAO): BORDER SECURITY: DHS Should Improve the Quality of Unlawful Border Entry Information and Other Metric Reporting, March 21, 2019 (by Rebecca Gambler)
This GAO report examines the extent to which DHS reported metrics as outlined in the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) using quality information; and the department’s response to assumptions and statistical uncertainty over the border security metrics.
Government Accountability Office (GAO): STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM: DHS Can Take Additional Steps to Manage Fraud Risks Related to School Recertification and Program Oversight, March 18, 2019 (by Rebecca Shea and Rebecca Gambler)
This GAO report is a review of potential vulnerabilities to fraud in Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). It examines the extent to which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) implemented controls to address fraud risks in the school certification and recertification processes, and implemented fraud risk controls related to Designated School Official (DSO) training. GAO made seven recommendations regarding SEVP.
SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
Border Security Along the Southwest Border: Fact Sheet
This fact sheet provides an overview of border security resources and migration trends along America’s Southwest border.
Infographic: Alternatives to Detention
The infographic shows that alternatives to detention (ATDs) represent a fraction of the cost of detention while continuing to ensure that upwards of 95 percent of individuals on ATDs attend required immigration hearings and appointments.
The Math of Immigration Detention, 2018 Update: Costs Continue to Multiply
This paper highlights the costs of detaining immigrant detention in FY2018, as well as highlighting the increase in the “bed rate” and the bed quota in the FY2010- FY2018 date range.
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*This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact Zuzana Cepla, National Immigration Forum Policy and Advocacy Associate, with comments and suggestions of additional items to be included. Zuzana can be reached at zcepla@immigrationforum.org. Thank you.