Immigration
DACA faces ongoing challenge, AZ immigration advocates call for change
More than 30,000 DACA recipients call Arizona home, but a federal judge’s ruling earlier this week — which determined the policy that shields them from deportation is illegal — puts their future safety in jeopardy. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sided with nine Republican-led states in an ongoing dispute against DACA, Deferred Action […]
Business leaders: Solution to dire worker shortage is immigration reform
More than a year after its passage, the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act is creating jobs all over the country, including in Arizona — but the United States doesn’t have enough skilled workers to fill those jobs. In hopes of easing the workforce shortage, more than 120 business leaders across the country, including nine from […]
Court allows Biden rule limiting asylum at the border to be kept in place for now
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Thursday decided to allow the Biden administration to keep in place a temporary two-year rule that restricts asylum at the U.S. border, while the legal challenges to a lower court’s ruling play out. The decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals aids the Biden administration, which […]
More than 100 advocacy groups urge Congress to denounce anti-immigrant rhetoric
WASHINGTON — On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas in which 23 people were murdered, more than 160 religious, civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups called on congressional leaders to denounce lawmakers who use white supremacist, anti-immigrant rhetoric, arguing that it can lead to violence for marginalized […]
U.S. House committee approves bills on whole milk, condemns sheltering migrants in schools
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee on Tuesday passed several bills that are a rebuke of not only the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, child nutrition and healthcare, but regulations from the Obama era. The committee passed a resolution that condemns the use of public schools to shelter undocumented people, a bill […]
Still in Mexico: New concerns in the wake of asylum restrictions
CIUDAD JUÁREZ – The sun beats down on the houses of Pan De Vida, a shelter for migrants in Rancho Anapra, a barrio of Ciudad Juárez. In between white houses trimmed with blue, kids whizz by on bikes, shouts ringing out over the dust settling across the courtyard. Dogs recline in the shade, tongues lolling. […]
New bipartisan immigration legislation proposed in U.S. House
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of six U.S. House lawmakers on Tuesday described details of proposed legislation that would create a legal pathway for citizenship for undocumented people through work requirements, and would also fund border security measures. The two Latinas who spearheaded the bill, Reps. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, and María Elvira Salazar, […]
Sinema says Arizona ‘bears the brunt of the crisis’ as Title 42 immigration policy ends
WASHINGTON — In a rare sit-down with reporters, U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said Thursday that border states are not prepared for the end of a pandemic-era measure called Title 42 used to expel millions of migrants at the border. Sinema, an independent, was joined at the press event at the U.S. Capitol by […]
Title 42 nears an end, marking a shift in U.S. immigration policy at the border
WASHINGTON — A pandemic-era measure that allowed for the swift expulsion of millions of migrants at the Southwest border is set to end Thursday, and the Biden administration and state officials across the U.S. are bracing for a potential increase in asylum seekers. At the same time, House Republicans this week are pushing through a […]
Arizona readies for influx of migrants at the border with expiration of Title 42
With Title 42 set to expire this week, eliminating a pandemic-era policy that fast tracked migrant expulsions, Gov. Katie Hobbs vowed to partner with local officials to ease the expected strain on border communities. “The state of Arizona stands ready to assist our border communities…in any way that we can,” she said, during a Monday […]
Advocates rally to allow undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses
Miah Gomez grew up dreading car rides. The 18-year-old’s parents, who have lived in Arizona for decades, are undocumented and getting behind the wheel without a license is an ever present risk. “It’s always scary just stepping out of the house, let alone driving on the roads,” she said. Arizona is home to more than […]
Labor exploitation of unaccompanied migrant children probed at U.S. House hearing
WASHINGTON — U.S. House members in a hearing on Tuesday questioned the head of a federal agency in charge of unaccompanied migrant children about multiple reports of their exploitation as workers in U.S. meatpacking plants and elsewhere. Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight & Accountability Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs […]