The summer began with Vice President Kamala Harris’ unwelcoming words to Central Americans in a speech in Guatemala: “Do not come.” But it’s clear that few heeded her June 7 message seeking to dissuade Central Americans and others from heading, in record numbers, to the U.S.-Mexico border — even during the hottest months of the year.
Two members of the U.S. bishops’ conference migration committee called on Congress to “stop kicking the can down the road” on immigration reform after a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that immigrants who receive Temporary Protected Status (TPS) after entering the country illegally are ineligible to apply for “green cards” to stay in the country permanently.
A June 7 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that hundreds of thousands of immigrants with a temporary immigration status cannot apply for a more permanent way to remain in the country if they first entered without authority to do so.
While on the campaign trail in Miami this past October, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden promised to never quit on the Haitian American community. But now, many Haitian immigrants are confused and anxious, wondering if deportation is imminent.
As the number of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border continues to soar, more than a dozen Catholic bishops from both countries issued a reminder April 1 that “there is a shared responsibility of all nations to preserve human life and provide for safe, orderly, and humane immigration, including the right to asylum.”
From conversations with federal government officials at the border, Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo estimates that there are at least 800 families — thousands of people — waiting on the Mexico side of the Laredo border for entry into the United States.
Democrats formally introduced one of the most ambitious plans to date to address legal and illegal immigration in the U.S., while at the same time signaling limits for those currently attempting to enter without documentation at the southern border.
Two Catholic organizations in southern Texas are prepared to provide humanitarian relief to a combined 400 migrants a day, with the expectation that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will release more migrants as soon as next week.
While new U.S. President Joe Biden is still reviewing immigration directives from his predecessor, policy watchers expect a more immigrant-friendly path forward as well as help for some families adversely affected by Trump administration policies. But that path forward still is not clear.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear cases stemming from President Donald Trump’s immigration policies related to financing border wall construction and the requirement that asylum-seekers remain in Mexico until their claims are processed.
