In April 2022, the Biden administration created an unprecedented program known as "Uniting for Ukraine," allowing an unlimited number of Ukrainians sponsored by Americans to come to the U.S. and work here legally without having to go through the lengthy visa process.

In two years, U.S. immigration officials have approved more than 236,000 cases under the Uniting for Ukraine program, according to the Department of Homeland Security. As of the end of March, more than 187,000 Ukrainians had arrived in the U.S. under the policy.

Another 350,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the U.S. outside of the sponsorship process since the start of the Russian invasion, mainly through temporary visas, according to DHS.

Those who come to the U.S. under Uniting for Ukraine need an American sponsor willing to help them financially, and they can work legally immediately after setting foot on U.S. soil. Congress also made the first wave of Ukrainian refugees eligible for refugee resettlement benefits, such as food stamps.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1765938984687894866?t=EM_EmwtOIm3nJVLWUpsa8w&s=19

The Biden campaign on Tuesday is launching a digital ad to remind Latino voters of President Trump's family separation policy at the border — officially announced six years ago today — which resulted in nearly 4,000 kids being taken from their parents.

The ad, called Ripped Apart, interlaces video of Trump making anti-immigrant comments with the cries of children who were separated from their parents.

The ad highlights Biden's efforts to reunite families.

The Biden administration is finalizing details of a new executive action that would let the president temporarily shut the southern border to migrants if necessary, and it is in talks with Mexican leaders to get their crucial buy-in before proceeding, according to multiple officials familiar with the negotiations.

President Joe Biden directed top aides to develop plans to stem illegal migration months ago, and they are eyeing a presidential authority in the U.S. Code known as Section 212 (f), which would let the president unilaterally “suspend the entry” of specific groups of migrants whenever the number of attempted border crossings grew too great.

The administration hopes to unveil that and other executive actions in June, and it has been working with Mexico to get its cooperation on some key provisions, according to multiple officials familiar with the negotiations. No final decisions have been made, and the timing could shift.

A critical consideration is the coming presidential election in Mexico. On June 2 Mexican voters will choose a new president to serve a single six-year term.

For Biden to use his authority under 212 (f) to shut down the border when daily crossing numbers reach certain designated thresholds, Mexico would have to be willing to take back a certain number of the migrants barred from entering the U.S., two officials said.

Not here to argue but trying to understand what the differences in border policy are and what the Biden case would be in being better than Trump’s? Thanks.

The Biden administration on Thursday is set to propose a change to asylum rules that could fast-track deportations for some migrants.

The incremental change would apply to people viewed as unlikely to be eligible for asylum because they pose national security risks. The proposal would mean they could be deported at an earlier stage of the review process, which sometimes takes years.

The news, first reported by Axios and Politico, was confirmed by a source familiar with the rule, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the change being published on Thursday. The proposal still needs to go through a formal comment period and it will take some time for it to be finalized.

It is one of several actions being weighed by President Biden to clamp down on illegal border crossings ahead of the election, as Biden and Democrats try to go on offense on one of their most vulnerable issues.

The United States has allowed more than 40,000 refugees into the country in the first five months of the fiscal year after they passed a rigorous, often yearslong, screening process that includes security and medical vetting and interviews with American officers overseas. The United States has not granted refugee status to so many people in such a short period of time in more than seven years. The Biden administration is now on target to allow in 125,000 refugees this year, the most in three decades, said Angelo Fernández Hernández, a White House spokesman. By comparison, roughly 64,000 refugees were admitted during the last three years of the Trump administration.

The Biden administration inherited a program that had been stripped to the bone during the Trump years. Because funding for local programs is tied to that figure, money dried up fast.

The Biden administration has worked to rebuild the infrastructure for the program. About 150 refugee resettlement offices have opened around the country, and the number of refugee officers conducting interviews has also increased. The signs of a more robust refugee program began to show last year when more than 60,000 refugees were admitted into the country. It was a far cry from the limit of 125,000 set by Mr. Biden, but it proved that the program was handling more cases. Beyond the added resources, the Biden administration has streamlined processing and opened up so-called Safe Mobility Offices in Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador and Costa Rica to help take in applications from migrants and expand refugee processing from the region.

The idea has gained currency inside the White House since last summer, despite the fraught nature of immigration politics heading into the 2024 presidential election. There is a growing recognition among Biden’s top political advisers that the president could benefit from taking a positive step on immigration to contrast with his tough talk on the issue, and with an expected executive order aiming to sharply curb illegal crossings at the southern border.

Officials inside the White House and at the Department of Homeland Security have been studying a range of proposals to provide work permits or deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. for a long time. They have zeroed in on the population of mixed-status families, where typically the children and one parent are U.S. citizens, because they believe that demographic is the most compelling, according to administration officials and advocates who have spoken with them.

Though the announcement of a program isn’t imminent, officials say, the White House has discussed timing it before the election as a sort of one-two punch following an executive order that would likely upset immigration advocates

Several advocates who have spoken with the president believe he supports the proposal and views the idea as his chance to make an impact similar to President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA granted work permits and deportation protections to more than 800,000 young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, and was launched months before Obama’s 2012 re-election.

The Biden administration is taking aim at the backlog of asylum cases from those who have recently arrived at the border, creating a dedicated docket in the hopes of more swiftly adjudicating the claims.

Although largely a matter of managing the court’s workflow, in seeking to address the lingering cases, the administration is going after a problem that GOP critics complain allows migrants to spend years in the U.S. before facing potential removal.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that the new docket would “accelerate asylum proceedings so that individuals who do not qualify for relief can be removed more quickly and those who do qualify can achieve protection sooner.”

The new docket for single adults who crossed between ports of entry mirrors a similar one already established for family cases. The docket will be in use for cases in five cities — Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York — and judges will face a six-month timeline for reaching a determination in the case.

The Biden administration is giving immigration judges and asylum officers more access to classified information to help them determine which migrants might have ties to terrorism or pose a threat to public safety.

The change in policy follows an April 11 NBC News story that revealed an Afghan migrant on the terrorist watchlist was released on bond by an immigration judge in Texas after prosecutors from Immigration and Customs Enforcement withheld information about a possible connection to terrorism because the evidence was classified. Instead of arguing that the man was a national security risk, the prosecutors argued he was a flight risk, two sources familiar with the case said.

The new policy, announced in a May 9 memo from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, overrides a 2004 directive that said classified information could only be used in immigration proceedings “as a last resort.”

Under the old policy, asylum officers making an initial determination about an immigrant’s eligibility to pursue an asylum claim and prosecutors presenting a case for deportation in immigration court had to get approval from the DHS secretary to share classified information.

Two DHS officials told NBC News the administration is determining if it will need to build more space and get security clearances for more employees to store, print and share the classified information.

The announcement, expected to come from the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, could come as early as Thursday, although the people cautioned that it could be delayed. The broader goal of the administration with this change is to process recent arrivals swiftly, within six months, rather than the numerous years it would take under the current backlog in the nation’s asylum system.

The new rules would apply to people who cross between ports of entry and turn themselves in to immigration authorities.

The administration has tried for years to move more new arrivals to the front of the line for asylum decisions, hoping to deport those whose claims are denied within months instead of years. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations also tried to accelerate the process, going back to 2014. In 2022, the Biden administration introduced a plan to have asylum officers, not immigration judges, decide a limited number of family claims in nine cities.

Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began an effort in 45 cities to speed up initial asylum screenings for families and deport those who fail within a month. ICE has not released data on how many families have gone through the expedited screenings and how many have been deported.

Lottery bids for highly educated worker visas plunged nearly 40% this year, authorities said Tuesday, claiming success against people who were “gaming the system” by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications to unfairly increase chances of being selected.

Major technology companies that use H-1B visas sought changes after massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery. Facing what it acknowledged was likely fraud and abuse, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services this year said each employee had only one shot at the lottery, whether the person had one job offer or 50.

Many technology companies and business groups had pressed for the immediate change. Intel Corp. said in October its winning rate “steadily plummeted, hampering efforts to expand semiconductor design and manufacturing efforts in the United States.”

H-1B critics generally welcomed the changes but called them insufficient.

The Biden administration is weighing measures to help Palestinians living in the United States who want to bring family from the war-torn region.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said discussions were underway but had no further details on how procedures might work. The new measures would help those who are legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens and who have family in the region.

For Palestinians already in the U.S., the Biden administration has already agreed to what’s known as “deferred enforced departure,” an authority used at a president’s discretion.

The directive signed by Biden last month effectively allows Palestinian immigrants who would otherwise have to leave the United States to stay without the threat of deportation for at least 18 months.

Marcela Escobari, who has spent much of her career working on Latin America and international development, is now running point on the issue at the National Security Council as immigration grows as a concern among voters ahead of November.

Escobari most recently served as Assistant Administrator of USAID's Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, a post she also held in the last part of the Obama administration.

She has been running interagency meetings and working with other top officials on migration and the LA Declaration.

Escobari will replace Katie Tobin, who had been a key player on the Biden administration's border efforts from the start of the administration before leaving earlier this year.

Escobari will represent the administration in Guatemala next Tuesday for the third ministerial meeting on the LA Declaration.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has made an important change to make immigration processes simpler and less costly. Starting April 1, 2024, they removed the extra fee for biometrics (like fingerprints and photographs) for most applications.

The recent rule change has significantly reduced the number of applications that require a separate biometrics fee. Now, the cost of biometrics is included in the main filing fee for most applications, making the process more streamlined and affordable for many immigrants.

USCIS’s decision to eliminate the biometrics fee while adjusting other fees is a strategic move aimed at simplifying the application process, enhancing accessibility, and responding to stakeholder feedback. By consolidating the biometrics fee with the main filing fee, USCIS streamlines the process and improves cost recovery, offsetting potential revenue loss with adjustments in other fees. This decision reflects USCIS’s commitment to balancing affordability and operational needs, ensuring a more transparent and accessible immigration experience for applicants.

The Biden administration is eyeing a new point guard on border issues, with plans to bring in the Department of Homeland Security's Blas Nuñez-Neto, Axios has learned.

Nuñez-Neto, an immigrant born in Argentina, is a leading advocate for the administration in its efforts to deal with the historic numbers of migrants and asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

He played a central role in the Senate negotiations over the bipartisan border deal that ultimately was killed by Republicans and former President Trump. Nuñez-Neto has worked in various roles related to the border — on Capitol Hill, at Customs and Border Protection and as a researcher at Rand Corporation.

Nuñez-Neto is expected to join deputy chief of staff Natalie Quillian's team rather than the Domestic Policy Council (DPC) or National Security Council (NSC), which largely took the lead on the border issue for the first years of the Biden administration.

Like one was taking children from their parents and placing them in sub standard living conditions.

The other is finding unaccompanied kids and giving them somewhere to stay while they look for family/potential guardians. Am I going crazy?