Citizens Naturalized This Fourth Of July Could Become Fortune 500 CEOs

Immigration is a topic that has dominated national headlines and will undoubtedly continue to do so from now through the 2024 Presidential Election and beyond. One thing that cannot be denied about immigrants from all nations is that they are, by nature, risk takers. After all, it takes bravery and a sense of adventure – and sometimes desperation – to leave your native land and head to a country that you might not have ever seen before and where you may not speak the language well or even at all. What’s undeniable, especially as we approach the Fourth of July, a day when citizens will be naturalized all across the nation, that immigrants come here in hope of better opportunities for themselves and their families. They are ambitious and highly motivated because, in most cases, failure is not an option. They believe in the American Dream. Teaching Office Workers A multi-ethnic group of business people making [+] GETTY Immigrants have started more than half (55%) of America’s startup companies valued at $1 billion or more, and nearly two-thirds (64%) of U.S. privately held, billion-dollar companies (unicorns) were founded or cofounded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, according to the National Foundation for American Policy. Additionally, almost 80% of America’s unicorns have an immigrant in a key leadership role, such as founder, CEO, or vice president of engineering. U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) research reports that immigrant owners comprise roughly 18% of business owners with employees and almost 23% of business owners without employees (solopreneurs). Immigrant-owned businesses are found in every sector of the U.S. economy. Accommodation and food services had the largest share of immigrant employer business owners at 36.8%, while transportation and warehousing had the largest share of immigrant non-employer company owners at 46%. According to the Kauffmann Foundation, which tracks immigrant entrepreneur trends, 28% of Main Street business owners are immigrants, even though immigrants comprise just 16% of the labor force and 18% of overall business ownership. Additionally, the Kaufman Foundation determined that 53% of grocery stores, 45% of nail salons, 43% of liquor stores, 38% of restaurants, and 32% of clothing and jewelry stores are immigrant owned. Indeed, 48% of overall growth of business ownership in the U.S. between 2000 and 2013 was attributed to immigrant business owners. Mexican chef working in an authentic Mexican restaurant A Mexican chef working in an authentic Mexican [+] GETTY Every large corporation at one point started as a small company. According to the Immigrant Learning Center, an astounding 43% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by first or second generation immigrants. These include corporate titans such as AT&T, Verizon, Pfizer, Google, Capital One, Nordstrom, Comcast, LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, and Tesla. Immigrants come from many cultural backgrounds and bring different experiences and perspectives. This diversity can spark creativity and innovation, as well as different insights and approaches to problem-solving. Further, immigrant entrepreneurs often have the ability to tap into previously untapped markets back home and in immigrant communities. They can reach out to suppliers and customers that were previously unknown and can build extensive networks across the world to their homelands. This enables them to identify unmet needs and introduce new ideas and products into this country. Immigrant access to capital In part because they are new to this country, immigrants often utilize their own savings and tap into the resources of family and friends in their ethnic communities to fund their ventures. These businesses tend to have lower failure rates because their founders are driven not to let their families, friends, and other investors down. Asian male florist, owner of small business flower shop, using digital tablet while working on laptop against flowers and plants. Checking stocks, taking customer orders, selling products online. Daily routine of running a small business with technology Asian florist, owner of small business flower [+] GETTY If more capital is required to launch a business than an aspiring entrepreneur can put together from personal savings and family and friends, they may look to various forms of debt financing. Undoubtedly, bank loans are harder for new immigrants to obtain because banks tend to look at personal credit history. Immigrants may have bad credit or no credit history at all, which hurts their chances of obtaining small business loans from traditional sources (banks). Immigrants who are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. are eligible for SBA loans. People who have just recently arrived in the country and who are awaiting their green card can apply. SBA loans are available for firms that are at least 51% owned and operated by non-U.S. citizens. It is important to note that the application process can be quite extensive, and there are several eligibility requirements for immigrant business owners must meet before applying. However, in the current atmosphere where banks are rejecting more than eight-in-ten term loan applications, SBA loans have become a lifeline for small business owners. Approval also will depend heavily on the applicant’s business history and credit score. But if you are willing to deal with all the red tape that goes with applying for an SBA loan, the upside is markedly lower financing rates and generous lengths of time to repay the loan than is the case with other loan options the immigrant business owner might be exploring. Borrowers who don’t qualify for traditional bank loans or SBA loans can look to alternative sources of funding, such as a merchant cash advance. These non-bank lenders grant the borrowers access to cash, and the business owner is then required to pay an agreed upon portion of sales made via credit and debit cards and other business receipts, until the entire payback amount has been repaid with interest. While a merchant cash advance company does not require collateral or even a minimum credit score, they charge a premium interest rate for assuming the risk of lending to someone with bad credit or no credit history at all. Thus, immigrant business owners can pay a higher cost of capital than other borrowers who qualify for bank loans. Immigrants are willing to take risks because they bring unique business propositions and often launch companies that successfully cater to specific ethnic or cultural communities. Often, they provide goods and services that underserved markets need. In fact, this niche focus often is a competitive advantage for immigrant entrepreneurs, who understand their clients in the community. This is how my company, Biz2Credit, began more than 15 years ago. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

As new Florida immigration law takes effect, undocumented workers ask: Do I stay or go?

IMMOKALEE, Fla. – It was still dark at 5 a.m. as workers with backpacks arrived on bicycles and foot to a parking lot next to Azteca market. Some ducked inside to buy drinks, or lunch, or work gloves, as a song by Mexican music icon Joan Sebastian played on the intercom. Then, they waited. Roosters crowed as vans and repainted school buses rolled in to haul the workers to farms or construction and landscaping jobs 45 minutes away in cities on Florida’s southwest Gulf Coast. In Immokalee, where nearly 40% of residents are foreign-born, it’s a pre-dawn ritual that’s familiar to one 59-year-old woman from Mexico, who spent much of her adult life picking tomatoes, making a home and raising children. But on this morning earlier in the week, the still undocumented mother and grandmother sat at the kitchen table in town, agonizing over a painful decision ahead: Whether to leave it all behind. On Saturday, a Florida law known as Senate Bill 1718, backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, will go into effect. It will impose some of the nation’s toughest penalties and new restrictions on undocumented immigrants – which has led many to consider moving out of state. The 59-year-old sighed as she weighed a seemingly impossible choice. A 59-year-old Immokalee, Florida woman who spent decades as a farm worker, but remains undocumented, is among those weighing whether to leave the state because of a law that imposes new penalties and restrictions on undocumented immigrants. Staying could mean living with the fear of being asked about her status at a hospital, new struggles to find work or worries about criminal charges related to transporting undocumented migrants into Florida, she said. But moving would mean leaving her citizen children and grandchildren, her longtime home and the family support that recently helped her battle cancer, she said. She wiped away tears, shaking her head as her daughter sat next to her. “You want to stay, but you also want to go,” said the woman, who spoke to USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted for deportation. A new immigration law in Florida, July 1, 2023 Similar dilemmas have played out in recent weeks across a state that is home to an estimated 772,000 undocumented immigrants ahead of the law’s enactment. The immigration law's provisions range widely, including third-degree felony charges for “knowingly” transporting people in the country illegally across state lines into Florida. New employment requirements that will include random audits of businesses suspected of hiring illegal workers. And it makes it a felony to use false identity documents to get employment. Hospitals will be required to ask patients about whether they are in the country legally. Driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens in other states would be barred from use in Florida. And it takes $12 million more from the state’s general fund for its migrant relocation program – part of an effort that has already drawn national scrutiny for shipping migrants to far-flung spots including Martha’s Vineyard and Sacramento. The 59-year-old says she’s not sure if the new law is just meant to scare people, as some argue, or will be actively enforced. In some immigrant communities, rumors and conflicting information circulated on social media have exacerbated fears. Critics worry it will lead to a labor shortage, potentially hobbling crop harvests, home construction and the tourism industry. Some business owners say they are already struggling to find workers. Stephanie Murillo, 19, the daughter of former farmworkers, said some in her community of Immokalee Florida fear the fallout from a state law that imposes new penalties and restrictions on undocumented immigrants. In Immokalee, the question of whether to stay or go is a conversation that’s been happening in homes, work sites and restaurants, some residents said. “Everyone’s scared,” said Stephanie Murillo, 19, the daughter of former farmworkers in a town she said was still home to an unknown number of undocumented residents. Waiting for the effect of SB 1718 Immokalee is a tight-knit community of nearly 25,000 residents, dotted with restaurants such as Juanita’s and Bibi’s Tropical, shops that wire money to other countries, produce-packing warehouses and a farmers market. It’s home to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker advocacy group and a Seminole casino. About 28 percent of residents live in poverty, twice the state average. Most of the community’s foreign-born workers came from Mexico, Haiti and Central America. Murillo, who is studying cosmetology, said it’s usually quieter in the summer when some people migrate north to pick blueberries, peppers and other produce. This time, though, she thinks many migrants will choose not to return. She’s noticed fewer people on the streets and emptier restaurants. Immokalee social worker Maria Cardenas, 34, whose father recently retired after 49 years in farm work, said it’s a particularly stressful time for those whose children are citizens because they were born in the United States. “Their lives are here, their children are here, they don't know how they can uproot their family,” she said. Nevertheless, she said, “We know a lot of families that have left.” DeSantis, who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, has said he supports ending automatic citizenship for any child born in the country – though this is a constitutional right – and favors allowing local authorities to enforce federal immigration laws. The door of an office offering services to immigrants sits across the street from a market in Immokalee, Florida, one of the spots where workers gather before dawn to board vans and buses to jobs in farm fields, construction sites and landscaping companies. Eloise Ayala, an immigration attorney in town, said she’s consulted with clients and advised some to get their children's passports in case they get deported and complete power of attorney forms. She said misinformation or rumors have left some vulnerable to scams and helped stoke fears among those not familiar with the law’s precise language. Ayala said one client told her a neighbor had to leave because their landlord was worried he would get in trouble for housing them, even though that’s not part of the law. Some Republican state lawmakers have tried to downplay its impact. At a public meeting in South Florida earlier this month, Republican state Rep. Alina Garcia said the law was “basically to scare people from coming into the state of Florida.” Yet there are plenty of signs it’s scaring workers inside Florida. Some small construction contractors who work in Ft. Myers and sometimes hire workers from Immokalee said they had to delay projects because too few day laborers were showing or being supplied by labor subcontractors. Irma Bautista, 37, who helps run a concrete business, said it’s frustrating because recent immigrants are often the only ones they can hire in a state where the unemployment rate in May was 2.6%. “There’s a lot of work. Americans, come work (concrete) block. Let’s block all day in the sun!” said Bautista said. “I’ve seen American people who come and get a job with us. One day, and the next day they’re out.” More:Here's what advocates are telling migrants ahead of July 1 Florida immigration crackdown A flyer for a protest against a Florida law that imposes new penalties and restrictions on undocumented immigrants is pasted along an Immokalee, Florida strip mall. Away from the swirl of politics in the kitchen of her Immokalee home, on a street lined with mobile homes, the 59-year-old migrant mother said it was work and opportunity she sought more than three decades ago when she left her home in a rural area of Guanajuato, Mexico. She left behind relatives she hasn’t seen since then. She still remembers the river she swam across on her way to the U.S., ice along its banks. The water left her numb in the January cold. She couldn’t imagine attempting the trip today. “It’s a very tough journey,” she said. She made her way to Immokalee, where she knew others who had already migrated. Soon she was getting up in the dark to pick tomatoes. She recalled earning about 50 cents a bucket on exhausting days that often stretched into the evening. When she started having kids, she would sometimes take them with her. During summers, she would drive to North Carolina or other states to pick produce. The family would rent trailers or stay in hotels, she said, before returning to the Florida migrant farmworker town that became home. She sometimes worried about her immigration status, she said – and at one point sought to obtain legal immigration status – but was unsuccessful. In more recent years, she left farm work and recently battled cancer that is now in remission. How the law might change her life – whether she leaves or stays – isn’t clear. As the days ticked down toward the law’s enactment, she was praying with a rosary and lighting a candle, hoping for clarity in deciding whether to move north – to states where she has relatives – or hold her breath and wait to see what happens. “​​Life was peaceful before,” she said. “And now it's full of worry." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Nicaraguan migrant who died in ICE custody had been recommended for release, advocates say

A Nicaraguan migrant who died in immigration custody last week had been recommended for release by an ICE panel last year but remained detained until his death, advocates said Thursday. Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra, 42, died Friday at a hospital in Jena, Louisiana, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement this week. The preliminary cause of death “was reported by hospital medical officials to be cardiac arrest,” it said. An ICE panel recommended that Rocha-Cuadra be released in November, a coalition of immigration advocacy groups said in a statement Thursday. The statement said officials at the detention center declined to release him. From left, Frank Rocha-Cuadra, and his brother Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra. Ernesto died while in ICE custody last week. From left, Frank Rocha-Cuadra, and his brother Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra. Ernesto died while in ICE custody last week.Courtesy Rocha-Cuadra family “They kept telling him he was going to be released soon,” Frank Rocha-Cuadra, who is Ernesto’s brother and a U.S. citizen, said in the statement from the Shut Down NOLA ICE Coalition. “He was guaranteed he was coming home. Our message is, we want to know what happened to our Ernesto and we will not stop until we find out.” The coalition said that according to Rocha-Cuadra’s attorneys, he had been petitioning for his freedom and was scheduled for an immigration hearing July 9. “Ernesto’s untimely death raises many questions that should be investigated at the highest levels. This immigrant prison must be shut down,” Rose Murray, a senior direct services attorney with the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in the statement. The statement said that while the details of Rocha-Cuadra’s death were still unclear, his attorneys say that he never mentioned having heart-related medical issues and that his medical records did not indicate heart-related medical issues, either. ICE did not immediately respond to request for comment on Rocha-Cuadra’s case and whether he had been recommended for release. Recommended LATINO Without affirmative action, advocates fear students of color at elite colleges may feel disenfranchised ASIAN AMERICA Asian American low-income, community college students feel unheard in affirmative action debate Immigration authorities apprehended Rocha-Cuadra after he crossed the border near Andrade, California, on April 17, 2022, according to ICE. On April 26, 2022, he was transferred to ICE custody as he waited for his immigration case to play out. “ICE incarcerated Ernesto for over a year during which he suffered extensive time in solitary confinement,” the immigration advocacy groups’ statement said. Rocha-Cuadra’s immigration counsel, Homero López, the legal director of the group Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, said, “His tragic death after being caged by ICE for more than a year is a reminder of how useless and unnecessary the immigration detention system truly is.” The immigration groups said Rocha-Cuadra was the fifth person to have died in ICE custody at the Jena detention center since 2016 and the 11th during the Biden administration. ICE said in its statement this week that it notified the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility and the Nicaraguan Consulate General in Miami of Rocha-Cuadra’s death. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Impeachment push set to take center stage in House, bringing new chapter for GOP

CNN — House Republicans are preparing to let the push for potential impeachment proceedings dominate their agenda over the next few months, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces growing pressure from an increasingly restive right flank eager to take aim at President Joe Biden and his Cabinet. The increased focus on impeachment — with Biden’s attorney general and homeland security secretary the highest on the GOP’s list — underscores how Republicans are quickly shifting their focus to red-meat issues that could fire up their base, even as some in their conference are nervous about voter backlash over the more aggressive approach. Between July and September, Republicans are slated to hear high-profile testimony from a trio of Biden Cabinet officials who have been top impeachment targets on the right: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Just this week, a new focus emerged for McCarthy when he announced that Republicans are prepared to open an impeachment inquiry into Garland if an IRS whistleblower’s claim about alleged meddling in the Hunter Biden case holds up, an idea that has been heavily promoted by the far-right bloc of his conference. McCarthy’s comments then set off fresh momentum. He appeared side by side with House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan on Fox News Wednesday night to reaffirm his position. And on Thursday, Jordan, along with House Oversight Chair James Comer and House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith requested transcribed interviews with Department of Justice, FBI and IRS officials involved in the Hunter Biden case, including US Attorney David Weiss, the Trump-appointed attorney who oversaw the criminal investigation. Garland has rejected claims that the Justice Department improperly interfered in the probe. The moves come amid pressure on House GOP leaders and committee chairmen to launch official impeachment proceedings – potentially on Biden himself. House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green said he is conducting a “five phase” investigation into Mayorkas over problems at the southern border that could culminate in an impeachment recommendation to the House Judiciary Committee, which Green expects to finish by this September. His committee is also expected to include a review of Biden’s handling of the border as part of that impeachment probe. “We’re looking at all the things that they’re failing to do,” Green told CNN. “There’s not going to be that much of a change other than we’ll dig into the actual actions of the president in conjunction with what’s happened.” With patience on the right wearing out, one hardline GOP member, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, tried to force a snap floor vote last week on impeaching Biden, though Republican leaders rebuffed the effort and referred the matter to relevant committees instead. “We’ve been investigating this failure at the southern border now for a little while … and now the House has asked us to add the president’s actions into this,” Green said. “And we’ll dig into that too.” Conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has introduced a slew of impeachment articles against Biden and various Cabinet members, has also signaled she intends to force floor votes on her resolutions, meaning the issue is sure to take center stage for the House GOP in the weeks and months ahead. “I’ve talked to everyone here until I’m blue in the face for a long time about impeachment,” Greene told CNN. It all represents a new chapter for the nascent House Republican majority – and particularly for McCarthy, who has up until this point been reluctant to lean into impeachment proceedings, instead insisting that his committee chairs focus on gathering evidence and holding hearings before going down that route. And he has instead tried to channel his conference’s focus on messaging bills like energy and immigration. Many in McCarthy’s conference are uncertain about the new focus. “Impeachment should be treated in the serious matter it deserves,” said Rep. Don Bacon, who represents a Nebraska swing district and said he would review the facts before deciding how to proceed with any impeachment proceedings. “We’ve lowered the bar over the last four years, and it’s not healthy.” After facing backlash from conservatives for cutting a debt limit deal with Biden and as the clock ticks toward the 2024 elections, McCarthy has started to warm up to the idea of impeaching a member of Biden’s Cabinet – whether it be Garland or Mayorkas or both, according to multiple sources familiar with this thinking. The move could win over some on his right flank. McCarthy has also faced pressure behind closed doors as members like Greene have met with him to personally make their case for why the House GOP should launch impeachment proceedings. And McCarthy will need every ounce of conservative support he can get as he heads into spending season, where he may be forced to ultimately compromise with Democrats once again and fall short of the demands from the far right. “I think what the House is going to do, we’re going to continue to investigate. We’re going to continue to follow this chain of evidence,” Rep. Byron Donalds, a member of the hardliner House Freedom Caucus, told CNN after the IRS whistleblower testimony was revealed. “I think the evidence is leading us to clear issues of obstruction of Justice at the Department of Justice. And with the White House.” Impeaching a Cabinet official has only happened once in US history when William Belknap, the secretary of war, was impeached by the House before being acquitted by the Senate in 1876. But some in the GOP view the idea of charging a Cabinet member with committing a high crime or misdemeanor as an easier sell than impeaching Biden himself. Yet McCarthy would still have some serious work to do in wrangling the votes for impeachment, with some moderate and vulnerable House Republicans still concerned about the optics of the politically contentious move, which would be dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Some of those Republican holdouts serve on the House Judiciary Committee, whose panel would be responsible for launching any official impeachment proceedings. “I don’t know why we have members on Judiciary that can’t vote for impeachment,” Greene told CNN. In the meantime, committees are expected to plug away with their investigative work. The House Oversight panel intends to conduct transcribed interviews with witnesses in the investigations into Biden’s mishandling of classified material and potential Biden family influence peddling, an Oversight Committee aide told CNN, while Weiss faces a deadline of next week to hand over documents related to the Hunter Biden probe. And in addition to taking aim at Biden, some key Republicans are pushing the House to take up a symbolic effort to clear Trump’s name, in just another example of how Republicans are using their power to run defense for Trump. Last week, Greene and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik introduced a pair of resolutions to expunge both of Trump’s impeachments – something McCarthy also said he supports. “It is past time to expunge Democrats’ sham smear against not only President Trump’s name, but against millions of patriots across the country,” Stefanik said in a statement. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

USCIS Celebrates Independence Day 2023 and Continues its Commitment to Naturalization

WASHINGTON— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will celebrate Independence Day this year by welcoming more than 5,500 new citizens in more than 180 naturalization ceremonies between June 30 and July 7. These ceremonies demonstrate our commitment to welcoming immigrants and promoting the benefits of U.S. citizenship for all who are eligible. In fiscal year (FY) 2022, USCIS welcomed 974,000 new U.S. citizens. So far in FY 2023, USCIS has welcomed 588,900 new U.S. citizens as of June 7 and made significant progress in reducing our naturalization pending queues. “Promoting citizenship and making the naturalization process accessible to all who are eligible are a beautiful extension of many ideals that birthed our nation 247 years ago,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “This holiday is always a special opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the USCIS mission and to welcome new citizens as they begin their American journey.” Every July 4, we celebrate the day the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, declaring that the 13 American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation—the United States of America—and were no longer part of the British Empire. USCIS commemorates this momentous occasion by hosting special Independence Day-themed naturalization ceremonies across the country. Throughout these ceremonies, USCIS will honor and recognize the commitment and contributions of our newest U.S. citizens. This summer, USCIS is highlighting the importance of civics and citizenship with a series of events. Civics Season began with a special ceremony on World Refugee Day and will end with the Fiscal Year 2023 Citizenship and Integration Grants award announcement. This year’s Independence Day activities will include special naturalization ceremonies across the country, including close to our nation’s capital at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia, and the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. For additional venues, please view a list of highlighted 2023 Independence Day-themed ceremonies. USCIS reaffirms our commitment to making the naturalization process accessible to all who are eligible. Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, USCIS has taken a number of steps to support implementation of Executive Order 14012: Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration System and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans. After each naturalization ceremony, we encourage new U.S. citizens to share their naturalization stories and photos on social media using the hashtag #NewUScitizen. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Biden admin won't tell USA TODAY why it's fighting migrant families separated at the border

The White House has continued to dodge questions on why the Department of Justice is going to great lengths to fight against monetary relief for migrant families separated at the border, including subjecting parents to lengthy examinations meant to weaken their trauma claims. Its lack of answers comes after USA TODAY and the Arizona Republic published a story on Monday revealing previously unseen details about the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. That reporting, among other things, found some government officials had believed the purpose of the plan was to harm families. In one case, a father said he was forced to sign documents agreeing to be deported without his daughter, but he couldn’t read what he signed. On Monday, during the White House briefing, a USA TODAY reporter asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why the Justice Department continued to fight the cases despite Biden calling the policy a “moral and national shame.” Politics:DeSantis' administration breaks silence, defends relocating migrants to California Families with young children protest the separation of immigrant families with a march and sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building, Thursday, July 26, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Trump administration faces a court-imposed deadline Thursday to reunite thousands of children and parents who were forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. What did the White House say about separated families? Jean-Pierre largely repeated what the White House already had told USA TODAY and said Biden has repeatedly described the policy as a violation of “every norm of who we are as a nation.” She added that Biden ended the practice and created a task force meant to reunite families. That group has reunited at least 700 families, and the administration continues to support families, she said. She said work is still being done, though she declined to directly answer why government attorneys are fighting the tort claims brought by families in court. “When it comes to DOJ and what they’re doing and how they’re moving forward on their litigation, I am just not going to comment from here,” she said. A group of migrant families walks from the Rio Grande, the river separating the U.S. and Mexico in Texas, near McAllen, Texas, March 14, 2019. A Biden administration effort to reunite children and parents who were separated under then-President Donald Trump's zero-tolerance border policy has made increasing progress as it nears the end of its first year. The Department of Homeland Security planned on Dec. 23, 2021, to announce that 100 children, mostly from Central America, are back with their families and about 350 more reunifications are in process after it adopted measures to enhance the program. Biden himself has spoken out against the family separations policy, calling it “abhorrent,” and one of his earliest actions as president was to officially end the practice. His Justice Department attorneys, meanwhile, are fighting against tort claims brought by dozens of families the government separated. By refusing to settle these claims, advocates and families say, the government is asking those affected, including the children, to relive their pain or risk losing out on a payout. What did the USA TODAY Network reporting find? In reviewing hundreds of pages of court filings, reporters also found that government officials didn’t have a framework in place to track separated families and struggled to keep phone lines open to children in detention. The documents also revealed how immigration officials interpreted their orders to split families at the U.S.-Mexico border and how quickly those decisions were made. Shawn Jordan, a special operations supervisor for the Border Patrol in Arizona when the policy was in place, said agents couldn’t wait on criminal referrals from U.S. attorneys to separate families. Instead, the intent to separate was often enough. In another incident, Michelle Lee, an administrator with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Arizona, gave approval to split a child and a parent after receiving an email on her BlackBerry in just two minutes. Esvin Fernando Arredondo of Guatemala reunites with his daughters Andrea, left, Keyli, right, and Alison, second from left, at Los Angeles International Airport after being separated during the Trump administration's wide-scale separation of immigrant families. Before the story’s publication, USA TODAY reached out to the Justice and Homeland Security departments. DHS declined to comment and referred questions to the Justice Department. The agency declined to comment on the cases but pointed USA TODAY toward a statement it had given in 2021 after monetary negotiations between the administration and families fell apart. “While the parties have been unable to reach a global settlement agreement at this time,” the statement read, “we remain committed to engaging with the plaintiffs and to bringing justice to the victims of this abhorrent policy.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

U.S. to house migrant children in former North Carolina boarding school later this summer

Washington — The Biden administration is planning to start housing up to 800 unaccompanied migrant children processed along the southern border in a repurposed boarding school in North Carolina later this summer, a U.S. official familiar with the plan told CBS News. The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency charged with caring for unaccompanied migrant minors, intends to open the facility in Greensboro, North Carolina, in August, according to the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal plans. The former home of a boarding school known as the American Hebrew Academy will house migrant boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17 who entered U.S. border custody without their parents or legal guardians. With 800 beds, the campus will become the government's largest active housing facility for unaccompanied minors. It will be opened as an "influx care facility," a term HHS uses to describe emergency housing sites it sets up during a spike in child migrant arrivals along the southern border. The U.S. official said HHS plans to stop housing unaccompanied children at another influx care facility inside the Fort Bliss U.S. Army post on Friday, placing the site in a "warm," or inactive, status. The tent camp at Fort Bliss, which can house up to 500 migrant teens, was dogged by reports of substandard conditions and child depression in 2021. The other influx care facility, a former work camp in Pecos, Texas, has not housed children since earlier this year. Advocates for migrant children have long criticized the establishment and use of influx care facilities, particularly because they are not regulated by state child welfare agencies, unlike traditional HHS shelters. Over the years, facilities like the Fort Bliss camp — and a now-shuttered facility in Homestead, Florida — have gained national infamy because of reports of subpar services and distressed children. The facility in Greensboro, however, was originally set up to house students, and includes more than two dozen buildings, sport fields and an athletic center in a green campus near a lake. The site will offer migrant children educational instruction, recreation, mental health support and medical services. Still, Neha Desai, a lawyer at the National Center for Youth Law, one of the groups representing migrant children in a landmark court case, said the government is relying too heavily on influx care facilities. HHS should instead use shelters licensed by state child welfare authorities, she said. "This protracted and inappropriate reliance on unlicensed facilities undermines the commitment to placement in licensed facilities and moreover, undermines the best interests of children," Desai added. Migrant children border In a photo taken on March 27, 2021 unaccompanied child migrants who arrived into the U.S. across the Rio Grande river from Mexico, stand at a makeshift processing checkpoint before being detained at a holding facility by Border Patrol agents in the border Texas city of Roma. ED JONES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES HHS houses unaccompanied children who lack a legal immigration status in shelters, foster homes and emergency housing facilities until they turn 18 or can be placed with a U.S.-based sponsor, who is typically a family member, such as a parent, older sibling or grandparent. Most unaccompanied children who pass through the agency's custody are teenagers who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization after fleeing poverty and violence in Central America. U.S. law prevents border officials from rapidly deporting non-Mexican unaccompanied children, and allows them to apply for an immigration benefit, such as asylum or visas for abused, abandoned or neglected youth, to try to stay in the country legally. HHS facilities generally have more services and better conditions than the jail-like stations and tents overseen by Border Patrol, which is bound by law to transfer unaccompanied minors to HHS within 72 hours of processing them. While influx care facilities have been opened during spikes in child migration, arrivals of unaccompanied minors along the U.S.-Mexico border have declined since setting a record high in fiscal year 2022. Border Patrol processed 9,458 unaccompanied minors in May, a 34% drop from the same month last year, according to federal statistics. As of earlier this week, HHS was housing just over 5,800 migrant children, the lowest level during the Biden administration, and a nearly 75% drop from a peak of 22,000 minors in the spring of 2022, government records show. At that time, the Biden administration struggled to respond to a sharp increase in the number of unaccompanied children entering border custody and was forced to convert work camps, convention centers and military bases into makeshift shelters. Overall illegal crossings along the southern border have also declined recently. While the termination of the Title 42 public health restrictions on migration on May 11 were expected to fuel a massive rise in migrant arrivals, unlawful border crossings have instead plunged to roughly 3,000 after peaking at 10,000. HHS' processing of unaccompanied minors has been under scrutiny under the Biden administration due to a marked increase in cases of migrant teens working dangerous and grueling jobs after being released from government custody. Their jobs in factories, meat plants and construction sites violate federal child labor laws, which severely restrict the type of physical work minors can do. After The New York Times published an investigation into these cases earlier this year, the administration announced it would improve the vetting of adults who sponsor migrant children out of government custody, and ramp up efforts to prosecute cases of child exploitation in worksites. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Trump’s immigration policy becomes GOP orthodoxy

The once-fringe immigration proposals pushed by former President Trump are now the backbone of the GOP’s immigration and border security platform. Trump, who is leading the race for the 2024 Republican nomination, launched his 2016 candidacy with a speech denigrating Mexican immigrants that at the time was panned as sorely out of touch with the party and the general electorate. Yet in the 2024 race, GOP candidates are scrambling to outdo each other with statements and proposals ideologically aligned with Trump’s golden escalator speech. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday launched his official immigration and border security platform titled “Stop the Invasion” — a term civil rights organizations associate with the Great Replacement Theory. Trump’s campaign quickly responded, accusing DeSantis of “copying and pasting” his proposals. “What we’ve identified is that from Donald Trump, and I think even further after him, we’re seeing a continued escalation that is a like nativist doom loop that Republicans seem to be on further and further escalating those tensions,” said Zachary Mueller, who monitors Republican rhetoric on immigration for America’s Voice, where he serves as political director. “Where the Republican Party is at now and what they’re pushing isn’t the same Republican Party that they were even in 2018, and the kind of ideas that they were pushing. The foregrounding of what I think are white nationalist slogans like ‘stop the invasion,’ is different even than it was several years ago, as Republicans compete with each other, specifically around that insular base.” The shift to the right in many ways mirrors the way Trump rattled GOP orthodoxy in 2016, though 2024 dynamics are different, because his immigration rhetoric has been thoroughly audience tested. DeSantis and other contenders such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have hardened their tone on immigration, aware that appealing to Trump’s base is a necessary prerequisite to be competitive in a national Republican primary. DeSantis on Monday advocated for the use of deadly force against people crossing the border “demonstrating hostile intent.” “If you drop a couple of these cartel operatives trying to do that, you’re not going to have to worry about that anymore,” he said. That strategy comes with risks, as voters outside the GOP base tend to have more moderate positions on immigration and are rarely energized by the issue — only 8 percent of voters cited immigration as their top issue in a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll. But the tough rhetoric is not about addressing policy issues, said Mario H. Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, a conservative advocacy group. “Most of the politicians that tout anti-immigrant propaganda are not interested in solutions. They’re not interested in a secure border. They’re perpetuating the insecurity of the southern border for their own political benefit and so they can fundraise, scream on Twitter, and get on TV,” said López. Experts on extremism say the rhetoric is nothing new, although it has grown in scope. “It’s important to point out that the word invasion has been used for many, many years by various political figures on the right who don’t want undocumented immigrants coming into the country,” said Marilyn Mayo, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that DeSantis is promoting the Great Replacement Theory. It does mean that he has some viewpoints that overlap with that theory,” added Mayo, who described the term “invasion” as “extremely derogatory.” The Great Replacement Theory is the idea that white people are being systematically replaced by nonwhite immigrants — in its most extreme form, the theory states that Jews are purposely fostering that replacement to gain economic and political power. “There’s a third version, and this is where I think you have the most overlap … which is that it’s a more subtle version of the Great Replacement Theory,” said Mayo. “And it claims that, for example, the Democrats or the liberals are purposely allowing for an open border so that immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean can enter the country, receive amnesty and then eventually vote Democratic.” Though neither Trump or DeSantis’s campaign platforms directly accuse Democrats of purposefully inviting illegal immigration, the idea has become a mainstay of Republican rhetoric on border security. Pushing for a GOP border bill last month, House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) panned the administration for opposing the legislation. “So that tells you exactly where the Biden Administration is. They want an open border. They created an open border,” he said. Groups including the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an advocacy organization that calls for drastic reductions in immigration, say “invasion” is fair game. “I don’t think that anything Governor DeSantis said was over any lines or even close to the line,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for FAIR. “You know, when you have that many people coming across the border, invasion is not an unreasonable term. Other people might choose other terms, but it’s certainly not unreasonable to say that the volume of people coming across the border illegally, that it could be termed an invasion,” added Mehlman. FAIR is part of a network of restrictionist groups that have worked since the late 1970s to mainstream policy platforms of hawkish immigration restrictions that were once mostly brushed aside, but now form the backbone of GOP immigration orthodoxy. Until Trump’s 2016 win, the national Republican stance on immigration seemed to be shifting to the center. Bruised by the 2012 election loss, the Republican National Committee conducted an “autopsy” that concluded the party wasn’t inclusive enough and, among other things, would have to back comprehensive immigration reform to win national elections. The report convinced the party elite, but the populist Tea Party movement, a precursor to the Freedom Caucus, rejected its findings and played a key role in blocking immigration reform in 2013, backed by groups like FAIR. And FAIR had other real world effects pre-Trump. For instance, Haley in 2011 signed an immigration bill into law in South Carolina modeled after Arizona’s SB-1070, written by a lawyer working with the Immigration Reform Law Institute, FAIR’s legal arm. The broader network of restrictionist groups is known as the Tanton Network, after founder John Tanton, a Michigan ophthalmologist who wrote about eugenics and the environmental case for population control. The group has long been a lightning rod among immigration advocates, both for its ideology and origins and because of its political effectiveness. In 2007 and 2013, for instance, advocates with connections to Tanton played quiet but key roles in scuttling promising immigration reform initiatives. But the GOP’s wholesale embrace of restrictionist ideology and rhetoric worries experts such as Mayo. “There’s definitely an ebb and flow of extremism. I think what’s different now, what we sense in terms of those of us who do this work of looking at extremism, is that there is more mainstreaming of extremist ideas,” said Mayo. “And what do we mean by that? We mean that you have elected officials and public figures like media personalities promoting things like the Great Replacement Theory, or promoting conspiracy theories about all sorts of things that are current right now, whether it’s the 2020 election, COVID or any one of a number of other things.” And Mueller said that rhetoric is “inexorably tied” to political violence such as racially motivated mass shootings at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, an El Paso, Texas, Walmart in 2019 and a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket in 2022. Business leaders plea with Biden for work visas to help with unfilled jobs Democrats call for DACA health care expansion “First and foremost is, if you look at the white nationalists, especially the violent white nationalists who left manifestos, they talk about [invasion and Great Replacement] as the same thing,” said Mueller. Though Mayo warned against blaming public figures for the actions of violent extremists, she said large public platforms do carry inherent risks. “People who speak about immigration have to be aware that the language or the rhetoric they use that demonize immigrants who come here for a variety of reasons, that those words will have an impact. And sometimes you can’t predict who might take it further, but it does have an impact.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

DeSantis unveils an aggressive immigration and border security policy that largely mirrors Trump’s

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis promised to end birthright citizenship, finish building the southern border wall and send U.S. forces into Mexico to combat drug cartels as part of an aggressive — and familiar — immigration policy proposal he laid out Monday in a Texas border city. The sweeping plan, the Florida governor’s first detailed policy release as a 2024 contender, represents a long-established wish list of Republican immigration proposals that largely mirrors former President Donald Trump’s policies. Much of DeSantis’ plan faces tall odds, requiring the reversal of legal precedents, approval from other countries or even an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Still, DeSantis projected confidence on Monday, excoriating leaders in both political parties for failing to stop what he called an immigrant “invasion.” He addressed his plans while touring Eagle Pass, a community that has emerged as a major corridor for illegal border crossings during Joe Biden’s presidency. OTHER NEWS On the morning of the summer solstice, Walt Disney World cast members stretch at Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in a pre-dawn gathering before the park opened Wednesday, June 21, 2023, for their annual team yoga session to commemorate International Yoga Day. An estimated 2,000 employees participated in Wednesday's rain-shortened event, now in its 7th year at Disney World. The International Day of Yoga occurs worldwide each year on the summer solstice and was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 2014. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP) DeSantis, appointees to Disney World governing board ask that Disney lawsuit be dismissed Rivalry between Trump and DeSantis deepens with dueling New Hampshire campaign events Sweat rolls off the lip of Robert Harris as he digs fence post holes, Tuesday, June 27, 2023, in Houston. Meteorologists say scorching temperatures brought on by a heat dome have taxed the Texas power grid and threaten to bring record highs to the state. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) A heat wave in Texas is forecast to spread scorching temperatures to the north and east Nic Zantop, left, waves a transgender flag while on a float sponsored by several transgender groups, with Tiffany Arieagus, second from left, and Miss Naples Pride Velvet Lenore, second from right, during the Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival, Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Wilton Manors, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Florida’s law targeting drag shows is on hold under federal judge’s order ADVERTISEMENT “I have listened to people in D.C. for years and years and years, going back decades — Republicans and Democrats — always chirping about this yet never actually bringing the issue to a conclusion,” DeSantis told an audience of roughly 100 residents, including local Democratic officials, school teachers and mothers of children lost to fentanyl overdoses. “What we’re saying is no excuses on this.” He likened illegal border crossings to home break-ins and warned that drug traffickers trying to bring their product into the United States could wind up “stone cold dead.” “If somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad, you would respond with force. Yet why don’t we do that at the southern border?” DeSantis asked. “So if the cartels are cutting through the border wall, trying to run product into this country, they’re going to end up stone cold dead as a result of that bad decision. “And if you do that one time, you’re not going to see them mess with our wall ever again,” he said. The DeSantis campaign has promised to release more detailed policy rollouts in the coming weeks. But in leading with immigration, the two-term Florida governor is prioritizing a divisive issue that has long been a focus of the GOP’s most conservative voters. The pro-immigrant group America’s Voice condemned DeSantis for making “invasion” references that have been used by white supremacists. Yet voters in the political middle have warmed to more aggressive immigration policies in recent months as illegal border crossing surged. Overall, 6 in 10 adults in the U.S. disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration, according to a recent AP-NORC poll. ADVERTISEMENT Still, it may be difficult for DeSantis to separate himself on immigration from the many other Republicans seeking the 2024 presidential nomination — especially Trump, the front-runner. That didn’t stop him from trying. Speaking from a podium emblazoned with the words, “No Excuses” and “Stop the Invasion,” DeSantis noted that there were more immigrants deported in the first four years of the Obama administration than in Trump’s first term. He made repeated references to the unfinished border wall, an indirect knock on the former president, who is now his chief rival in the crowded Republican presidential primary. Trump tried and ultimately failed to finish a border wall along the entire 1,950-mile (3,140-kilometer) U.S.-Mexico border during his four years in office. Before the Monday announcement, the DeSantis campaign released new merchandise bearing the words, “Build The Wall. No Excuses.” Trump apparently watched DeSantis on television, describing his trip to the border as “a total waste of time.” ADVERTISEMENT “He is a failed candidate, whose sole purpose in making the trip was to reiterate the fact that he would do all of the things done by me in creating the strongest Border, by far, in U.S. history,” Trump wrote on social media. The fierce feud between Trump and DeSantis, which includes clashes over policy and personality, will continue on Tuesday as both men are scheduled to campaign in New Hampshire. But immigration has been central to their messages no matter where they are. Trump emphasized immigration while delivering the keynote address to hundreds of enthusiastic religious conservatives at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s conference in Washington over the weekend. He promised to carry out “the largest domestic deportation operation on the border” and boasted about completing more than 300 miles (or 480 kilometers) of wall along the southern border during his administration while promising to build even more should he win another term. Trump’s policies worked to constrict immigration, but the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border still swelled during his time in office before dropping during the COVID-19 pandemic. And his policies caused clogs in the system that led to massive overcrowding; for instance, the immigration court case backlog alone grew from roughly 500,000 in June 2016 to 1.3 million cases by the end of 2020. There were massive human rights concerns, too, particularly with the Remain in Mexico program and the separation of children from their families at the border. Facing reporters on Monday, DeSantis said he would be more “aggressive” than Trump in implementing strong immigration policies if elected president. ADVERTISEMENT “I think a lot of the things he’s saying, you know, I agree with,” he said of Trump. “But I also think those are the same things that were said back in 2016.” Like Trump, DeSantis vowed to end the practice, as outlined in the Constitution, that grants citizenship to all babies born on U.S. soil. The 14th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.” DeSantis promises to end the United States’ so-called catch-and-release policy, which currently allows for the release of immigrants in the country illegally until their court dates. That’s because federal immigration authorities have the money for just 30,000 beds, making it impossible to detain everyone who is arrested. DeSantis also wants to reinstitute the Remain in Mexico policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. Such a plan would need Mexico’s approval. He’s calling for closing the “Flores loophole,” which, among other things, requires families to generally be released from custody in 20 days. It is part of a federal court order, so it’s unclear how he could close it. DeSantis is also promising to use military force against drug cartels if necessary. He would “reserve the right to operate across the border to secure our territory from Mexican cartel activities,” according to the plan, which also calls for the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard to block precursor chemicals from entering Mexican ports if “the Mexican government won’t stop cartel drug manufacturing.” ADVERTISEMENT DeSantis’ plan says little about the millions of immigrants already living in the country illegally, aside from promising to deport those who have overstayed their visas. Deporting such people has been a challenge that has eluded authorities for decades. In September, the small border city of Eagle Pass made international headlines when nine people drowned in their attempt to swim through the Rio Grande. DeSantis was supportive of one audience member who suggested that the situation at the border constituted an “act of war.” “I think the state of Texas has the right to declare an invasion,” DeSantis told the man. “You’re going to see as president under Article 2 of the Constitution, you have a responsibility and a duty to protect the country. We are going to do that and we are going to do that robustly.” ___ Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Will Weissert and Colleen Long in Washington, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

What to Know About Trump’s Vow to Keep ‘Communists’ and ‘Marxists’ Out of the U.S.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has announced a new campaign proposal on United States immigration — barring “communists” and “Marxists” from entering the country. The Republican former president, who is making another bid in 2024, on Saturday said he would use “Section 212 (f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act” to “order my government to deny entry to all communists and all Marxists.” 00:11 / 00:30 The announcement was reminiscent of Trump’s ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries during his first term, which was heavily criticized as anti-Muslim and ultimately revoked by President Joe Biden. “Those who come to enjoy our country must love our country,” Trump said during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s conference in Washington, adding, “We’re going to keep foreign, Christian-hating communists, Marxists and socialists out of America.” PAID CONTENT When You Eat Avocado Every Day, This Is What May Happen BY GUNDRYMD Read More: Why Trump’s Indictment Can’t Stop Him From Being Elected President He also said there needs to be a “new law” to address communists and Marxists who grew up in America, but didn’t elaborate on what it would include. Trump’s proposal also raised questions about whether a decades-old law could actually be used to ban all communist and Marxist immigrants to the U.S., how it would work, and why Trump is so focused on these political theories in a country where few residents support them. Here’s a look at existing U.S. laws and what Trump’s proposal could look like: What does current U.S. law say about this? U.S. immigration law already bars people who are members of a Communist Party from becoming naturalized citizens or green card holders, said Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that advocates for less immigration in the U.S. U.S. immigration law says that any immigrant “… who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible.” Read More: Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Was Never About Legality The origins of that rule date back to 1918 when the U.S. government became concerned about “external threats of anarchism and communism,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy manual. At that time, it was also the end of World War I, communism was taking root in the Soviet Union, and the country would soon impose strict immigration quotas in the U.S. But, it does have some exceptions. For example, people who had to join the Communist Party in order to get a job or if their membership was issued when under age 16, according to immigration code. The prohibition also doesn’t currently apply to someone who wants to visit the U.S., such as on a tourist visa or as a student. During his speech Trump said he would use a particular section of U.S. immigration law — Section 212 (f) — to bar “all communists and all Marxists.” That section gives broad authority to bar people who aren’t U.S. citizens entering the country if their entry would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” Is there precedent for this? Trump’s comments on barring communists and Marxists harken back to one of the more controversial actions of his administration — often referred to by critics as a travel ban on Muslims. Opponents cited Trump’s own tweets and rhetoric in arguing that the travel ban discriminated against Muslims. But the high court ruled 5-4 in Trump’s favor. Chief Justice John Roberts said in the majority opinion at the time that the justices weren’t weighing in on whether it was good policy but that it was well within U.S. presidents’ considerable authority over immigration and responsibility for keeping the nation safe. Read More: Biden’s Rightward Shift on Immigration Draws Comparisons to Trump Arthur said that case was a key indicator making him think that Trump would be on sound legal ground if he tried to bar communists or Marxists from entering the U.S. Arthur also said that foreign nationals trying to enter the U.S. have little of the constitutional rights afforded to American citizens. Trump wasn’t the first president to use this specific power of immigration law to limit who can come into the U.S. A 2020 Congressional Research Service report noted instances where it had been used by various presidents, but the report noted that Trump used the authority to impose broader restrictions than his predecessors. But how would this actually work? Bill Hing, a professor at the University of San Francisco and general counsel to the California-based Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said Trump would run into legal trouble if he just did a blanket exclusion of all communists or Marxists. In the travel ban that was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court, Hing said the court paid particular attention to the steps that the Trump administration had taken to check with U.S. embassies abroad on whether they could guarantee that people coming from those countries would not be a threat to the U.S. “You have to have some justification,” Hing said. That thought was echoed by immigration attorney Allen Orr, the former president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Immigration Lawyers Association. Orr said the version that eventually made it to the high court had a “whole list of exceptions.” “It’s not a blanket ban if there are a ton of exceptions,” Orr said. If Trump is elected, who would be affected by this plan? Analysts point squarely at one country: China, where tens of millions of people are members of the country’s Communist Party. Bates Gill is the executive director of the Center for China Analysis at the Asia Society. He said such a ban would most heavily impact China and should be viewed through that lens. Gill said beyond the vast number of members being Chinese government officials, party membership has also traditionally been a pathway for the upwardly mobile in China who are often well-educated, urban and internationally oriented. Since the late 1990s, Gill said, businesspeople have also been joining the party. Read More: Xi Jinping Says China’s Success Rests on the Communist Party. In Reality, It’s All About Him “In essence you would be banning the elite of China from entering the United States,” he said. “It would be vast and sweeping and of course highly damaging to the relationship with China.” Are there Communists and Marxists in America now? There are some, but judging by the membership of the national Communist Party, it’s a fairly small number. Communist Party USA has about 15,000 people on its membership list, said party co-chair Joe Sims. The list is “pruned regularly,” he said, but some of that group may not be active members. The party is growing with about 2,000 to 3,000 new members a year, and has run some local school board and city council candidates, Sims added. However, it doesn’t have anyone in federal or state elected office, and hasn’t run a presidential ticket since the mid-1980s, he said. Read More: What Is Democratic Socialism? How It Differs From Communism Then why does Trump talk about them so much? Seeding fears that communists and Marxists are poised to take over the country has proved an effective way for the former president to animate his base. While there’s no real risk that the U.S. could soon become a “third world Marxist regime” as Trump has suggested, these attacks have helped him target voters’ emotions in a country with a long history of anti-communist sentiment. The tactic has also helped Trump appeal to some immigrants whose families faced oppression and political persecution under Communist regimes in countries such as Venezuela, Cuba and Vietnam. Trump has also baselessly referred to his Democratic rivals with these terms since he first appeared on the political scene, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans recently have piled on with similar attacks, claiming “woke” policies in America are part of a Marxist agenda. Experts say it’s false to suggest that communists or Marxists rule major U.S. institutions. Biden, for example, is a capitalism advocate who has taken executive action to promote economic competition. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Biden admin won't tell USA TODAY why it's fighting migrant families separated at the border

The White House has continued to dodge questions on why the Department of Justice is going to great lengths to fight against monetary relief for migrant families separated at the border, including subjecting parents to lengthy examinations meant to weaken their trauma claims. Its lack of answers comes after USA TODAY and the Arizona Republic published a story on Monday revealing previously unseen details about the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. That reporting, among other things, found some government officials had believed the purpose of the plan was to harm families. In one case, a father said he was forced to sign documents agreeing to be deported without his daughter, but he couldn’t read what he signed. On Monday, during the White House briefing, a USA TODAY reporter asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why the Justice Department continued to fight the cases despite Biden calling the policy a “moral and national shame.” Politics:DeSantis' administration breaks silence, defends relocating migrants to California Families with young children protest the separation of immigrant families with a march and sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building, Thursday, July 26, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Trump administration faces a court-imposed deadline Thursday to reunite thousands of children and parents who were forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. What did the White House say about separated families? Jean-Pierre largely repeated what the White House already had told USA TODAY and said Biden has repeatedly described the policy as a violation of “every norm of who we are as a nation.” She added that Biden ended the practice and created a task force meant to reunite families. That group has reunited at least 700 families, and the administration continues to support families, she said. She said work is still being done, though she declined to directly answer why government attorneys are fighting the tort claims brought by families in court. “When it comes to DOJ and what they’re doing and how they’re moving forward on their litigation, I am just not going to comment from here,” she said. A group of migrant families walks from the Rio Grande, the river separating the U.S. and Mexico in Texas, near McAllen, Texas, March 14, 2019. A Biden administration effort to reunite children and parents who were separated under then-President Donald Trump's zero-tolerance border policy has made increasing progress as it nears the end of its first year. The Department of Homeland Security planned on Dec. 23, 2021, to announce that 100 children, mostly from Central America, are back with their families and about 350 more reunifications are in process after it adopted measures to enhance the program. Biden himself has spoken out against the family separations policy, calling it “abhorrent,” and one of his earliest actions as president was to officially end the practice. His Justice Department attorneys, meanwhile, are fighting against tort claims brought by dozens of families the government separated. By refusing to settle these claims, advocates and families say, the government is asking those affected, including the children, to relive their pain or risk losing out on a payout. What did the USA TODAY Network reporting find? In reviewing hundreds of pages of court filings, reporters also found that government officials didn’t have a framework in place to track separated families and struggled to keep phone lines open to children in detention. The documents also revealed how immigration officials interpreted their orders to split families at the U.S.-Mexico border and how quickly those decisions were made. Shawn Jordan, a special operations supervisor for the Border Patrol in Arizona when the policy was in place, said agents couldn’t wait on criminal referrals from U.S. attorneys to separate families. Instead, the intent to separate was often enough. In another incident, Michelle Lee, an administrator with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Arizona, gave approval to split a child and a parent after receiving an email on her BlackBerry in just two minutes. Esvin Fernando Arredondo of Guatemala reunites with his daughters Andrea, left, Keyli, right, and Alison, second from left, at Los Angeles International Airport after being separated during the Trump administration's wide-scale separation of immigrant families. Before the story’s publication, USA TODAY reached out to the Justice and Homeland Security departments. DHS declined to comment and referred questions to the Justice Department. The agency declined to comment on the cases but pointed USA TODAY toward a statement it had given in 2021 after monetary negotiations between the administration and families fell apart. “While the parties have been unable to reach a global settlement agreement at this time,” the statement read, “we remain committed to engaging with the plaintiffs and to bringing justice to the victims of this abhorrent policy.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

U.S. to house migrant children in former North Carolina boarding school later this summer

Washington — The Biden administration is planning to start housing up to 800 unaccompanied migrant children processed along the southern border in a repurposed boarding school in North Carolina later this summer, a U.S. official familiar with the plan told CBS News. The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency charged with caring for unaccompanied migrant minors, intends to open the facility in Greensboro, North Carolina, in August, according to the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal plans. The former home of a boarding school known as the American Hebrew Academy will house migrant boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17 who entered U.S. border custody without their parents or legal guardians. With 800 beds, the campus will become the government's largest active housing facility for unaccompanied minors. It will be opened as an "influx care facility," a term HHS uses to describe emergency housing sites it sets up during a spike in child migrant arrivals along the southern border. Another influx care facility in Texas, a tent camp inside the sprawling Fort Bliss U.S. Army post with 500 beds, was was dogged with reports of substandard conditions and child depression in 2021. The U.S. official said HHS plans to stop housing unaccompanied children at another influx care facility inside the Fort Bliss U.S. Army post on Friday, placing the site in a "warm," or inactive, status. The tent camp at Fort Bliss, which can house up to 500 migrant teens, was dogged by reports of substandard conditions and child depression in 2021. The other influx care facility, a former work camp in Pecos, Texas, has not housed children since earlier this year. Advocates for migrant children have long criticized the establishment and use of influx care facilities, particularly because they are not regulated by state child welfare agencies, unlike traditional HHS shelters. Over the years, facilities like the Fort Bliss camp — and a now-shuttered facility in Homestead, Florida — have gained national infamy because of reports of subpar services and distressed children. The facility in Greensboro, however, was originally set up to house students, and includes more than two dozen buildings, sport fields and an athletic center in a green campus near a lake. The site will offer migrant children educational instruction, recreation, mental health support and medical services. Still, Neha Desai, a lawyer at the National Center for Youth Law, one of the groups representing migrant children in a landmark court case, said the government is relying too heavily on influx care facilities. HHS should instead use shelters licensed by state child welfare authorities, she said. "This protracted and inappropriate reliance on unlicensed facilities undermines the commitment to placement in licensed facilities and moreover, undermines the best interests of children," Desai added. Migrant children border In a photo taken on March 27, 2021 unaccompanied child migrants who arrived into the U.S. across the Rio Grande river from Mexico, stand at a makeshift processing checkpoint before being detained at a holding facility by Border Patrol agents in the border Texas city of Roma. ED JONES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES HHS houses unaccompanied children who lack a legal immigration status in shelters, foster homes and emergency housing facilities until they turn 18 or can be placed with a U.S.-based sponsor, who is typically a family member, such as a parent, older sibling or grandparent. Most unaccompanied children who pass through the agency's custody are teenagers who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization after fleeing poverty and violence in Central America. U.S. law prevents border officials from rapidly deporting non-Mexican unaccompanied children, and allows them to apply for an immigration benefit, such as asylum or visas for abused, abandoned or neglected youth, to try to stay in the country legally. HHS facilities generally have more services and better conditions than the jail-like stations and tents overseen by Border Patrol, which is bound by law to transfer unaccompanied minors to HHS within 72 hours of processing them. While influx care facilities have been opened during spikes in child migration, arrivals of unaccompanied minors along the U.S.-Mexico border have declined since setting a record high in fiscal year 2022. Border Patrol processed 9,458 unaccompanied minors in May, a 34% drop from the same month last year, according to federal statistics. As of earlier this week, HHS was housing just over 5,800 migrant children, the lowest level during the Biden administration, and a nearly 75% drop from a peak of 22,000 minors in the spring of 2022, government records show. At that time, the Biden administration struggled to respond to a sharp increase in the number of unaccompanied children entering border custody and was forced to convert work camps, convention centers and military bases into makeshift shelters. Overall illegal crossings along the southern border have also declined recently. While the termination of the Title 42 public health restrictions on migration on May 11 were expected to fuel a massive rise in migrant arrivals, unlawful border crossings have instead plunged to roughly 3,000 after peaking at 10,000. HHS' processing of unaccompanied minors has been under scrutiny under the Biden administration due to a marked increase in cases of migrant teens working dangerous and grueling jobs after being released from government custody. Their jobs in factories, meat plants and construction sites violate federal child labor laws, which severely restrict the type of physical work minors can do. After The New York Times published an investigation into these cases earlier this year, the administration announced it would improve the vetting of adults who sponsor migrant children out of government custody, and ramp up efforts to prosecute cases of child exploitation in worksites. For more information visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

How Other Countries Benefit From America's Dysfunctional Immigration System

America is the top destination for international students, the place most would-be migrants say they'd go if they had the chance, and home to more immigrant inventors, foreign-born Nobel laureates, and high-skilled migrants than any other country. Here are some other notable numbers: Over 99 percent of people who want to immigrate to the U.S. have no legal option, Indians stuck in line for certain employment-based green cards have faced projected waits of more than 150 years, and the U.S. government let 400,000 visas go to waste in 2021 alone—including one-quarter of all employment-based green cards. In so many areas of its immigration policy, the U.S. is failing to attract and retain talented foreigners. Most international students say they want to stay in the U.S. after graduation, but very few are able to do so. Many high-skilled professionals look elsewhere when they realize how difficult it is to immigrate to the U.S. permanently. As Nicolas Rollason, head of business immigration for the London-based law firm Kingsley Napley, told The Hechinger Report this month, "We are a beneficiary of the failures of the U.S. system." "We are losing talented immigrants, directly affecting our economy," says attorney Tahmina Watson, an expert on high-skilled and business immigration. "Many [international students] will be compelled to leave the U.S. because their visas are expiring. And why would they want to stay when their futures are uncertain in the U.S.?" As the Hechinger Report article explains, other countries are capitalizing on that uncertainty: The U.K. last year added a "high potential individual" visa, offering a two-year stay to new graduates of 40 universities outside the country ranked as the best in the world—21 of them in the United States…. Nearly 40,000 foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities were recruited to Canada from 2017 to 2021, according to an analysis by the Niskanen Center, a Washington think tank that advocates for immigration reform. Australian recruiters are also fanning out across the United States, attending job fairs and visiting university campuses. And fewer international students are choosing to study in the U.S. in the first place. In 2020, new international student enrollments dropped by 72 percent compared to 2019. COVID-related border closures were the main driver of that decline, but U.S.-specific issues such as the Trump administration's throttling of the immigration system also contributed. As of late 2022, international student enrollment was still shy of pre-pandemic levels. Chinese students make up the largest share of international students in the U.S., but their numbers have declined even as other nationalities' have rebounded. "International students and immigrant entrepreneurs can infuse much needed knowledge and skills, especially in STEM fields, into U.S. communities," says Aaron Kochenderfer, an attorney at the law firm Fakhoury Global Immigration. "Tech leaders across the country have said that the U.S. has a shortage of tech talent. International students account for over half of the graduate students studying STEM subjects in U.S. universities." One reason the United States is losing international students is how difficult it is for them to work here after graduating. The U.S. has no dedicated postgraduate work visa. (Meanwhile, countries such as Canada and Australia have streamlined the steps from graduation to employment to permanent residency.) Graduates in the U.S. may complete Optional Practical Training, but this doesn't lead to permanent residency either. It lasts just 12 months, with a two-year extension available to STEM degree recipients. From there, many international students try their luck with H-1B visas, which are reserved for skilled workers. But demand for H-1Bs far outpaces supply, and the annual cap of 85,000 visas hasn't changed in over 15 years. It can take ages for an H-1B holder to adjust to a green card. ("The government is currently processing green card applications of H-1B workers from India whose employers applied for them in 2011 or 2012," writes the Cato Institute's David J. Bier.). And if a worker is unemployed for over 60 days, he must self-deport. On top of all that, H-1Bs can't start their own businesses. Kochenderfer notes that many international students may want to start businesses in their fields of study but lack a clear option. "Immigrant entrepreneurs can utilize the U.S. International Entrepreneur Rule…program," he says, but "its benefits are only…available for existing startups." Such startups need to clear high prerequisites to qualify, and even then the program "does not provide a way to obtain permanent residency." This is why it's important for the U.S. to establish a startup visa, says Kochenderfer. "The U.S. can attract more immigrant entrepreneurs if they have an easier way to ultimately receive a green card and eventual citizenship," he argues. Over a dozen countries offer a startup visa. Though American politicians have introduced this idea on multiple occasions (and repeatedly tried to include it in must-pass legislation), Congress has never managed to get the job done. "International entrepreneurs are moving to Canada and other countries that value talented revenue generators and job creators," says Watson, who has written a book on startup visas. "In other words, we are losing our global competitiveness due to Congress' inaction on immigration reform." It should come as no surprise that American employers are unwilling to navigate such complex processes to hire foreigners. In March, Envoy Global, an immigration services provider, reported that 82 percent of the employers it surveyed "had to let go of foreign employees in the past year due to difficulties securing or extending an employment-based visa in the U.S." Roughly an equal share transferred foreign workers to an office abroad for similar reasons. Due to U.S. immigration restrictions, a whopping 93 percent of businesses surveyed were considering nearshoring or offshoring, Envoy found. The U.S. will need to get out of its own way if it wants to keep attracting students, entrepreneurs, and other talented workers from abroad. Otherwise, they'll simply look for more welcoming pastures. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

DeSantis takes aim at Trump on immigration

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved on Monday to undercut Donald Trump on immigration, casting the former president as ineffectual on the issue that helped propel him to the White House in 2016. He depicted President Joe Biden as even worse. In his first major policy proposal as a presidential candidate, DeSantis called for an end to “catch and release” — a practice of discharging undocumented migrants into their American homes while they await court hearings. He called for asylum seekers along the U.S.-Mexico border to be blocked entry while their claims are processed. And he said, as Trump has previously, that children born in the United States to parents living here illegally should no longer be granted citizenship, a proposal that stands to face significant legal challenges. But DeSantis also specifically criticized Trump on his signature policy issue from 2016, an unfinished U.S.-Mexico border wall, saying that if elected, he would complete it. Ahead of a speech on Monday delivered from the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, the Florida governor viewed the southern border from a helicopter with a Fox News reporter and later criticized the porous nature of Trump’s wall. “I was in Arizona the other day. You have like — wall, then it just kind of stops,” he said, warning that the structure allows illegal entry by members of Mexican drug cartels, who can “cut through the really fortified steel beams.” “If somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad, you would respond with force. Yet why don’t we do that at the Southern border?“ DeSantis said during a press conference following the speech. “If the cartels are cutting through the border wall, trying to run product into this country, they’re going to end up stone cold dead as a result of that bad decision and if you do that one time, you are not going to see them mess with our wall ever again.“ DeSantis refuses to say he'll support Trump if he's the nominee SharePlay Video DeSantis is running second in polling, trailing Trump by double digits and watching the field expand to a crowd that dilutes his own standing. His speech signaled he views the border as an issue that damages both Trump and Biden, while also appealing to his following of hard-liners. Streamline Your Practice with Customizable Immigration Workflows SPONSORED BY LOLLYLAW Manage your firm, your way with LollyLaw ✅ Our #1 rated practice management solution for immigration law firms lets you build custom workflows to streamline paperwork, people, and processes all from one location. See More “What I’ve seen at the border is just humiliating as a country — that we can’t even enforce the territorial integrity of this nation,” DeSantis said in a speech designed to undermine Biden on one of his bigger political liabilities. He even seemed to agree with the prospect of declaring war over unlawful immigration when asked by someone in the audience. “I think the state of Texas has the right to declare an invasion,” DeSantis said. DeSantis said the “ruling class” in Washington, D.C., is ignoring the spread of fentanyl in the United States — a problem he repeatedly attributed to illegal Southern border crossings. And he vowed to employ executive authority to crack down on border crossings. Public polling has shown voters are troubled by Biden’s handling of the border — a problem exacerbated by the end of a Covid-era policy restricting migrants from entering the country. A Global Strategy Group survey released in April found 58 percent of voters in seven battleground states reported disapproving of how the White House is handling the subject, compared to just 32 percent who supported the president. DeSantis is hoping to make the issue just as much of a problem for his leading Republican competitor. Trump ran in 2016 on a mantra of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but the structure was not completed — something DeSantis, who is trailing Trump in the polls, has seized on as he crisscrosses the country’s early voting states. Trump’s MAGA PAC issued a scathing statement in anticipation of DeSantis’ speech, opening with a tweet DeSantis posted in 2021 applauding Trump’s border policies. “President Trump secured America’s border, just ask Ron DeSantis,” the statement read. DeSantis praises judge for blocking part of Biden border plan SharePlay Video The statement delineated Trump’s own border policies, including a vow to issue an executive order ending the policy of automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children of parents who do not live here lawfully, and would “build even more border wall.” Democrats slammed DeSantis, who has shipped border crossers from Florida to swanky parts of New York and California as he geared up for his presidential run, and again after declaring. “Ron DeSantis has repeatedly used young children and families as pawns in his shallow political stunts to pander to the MAGA base,” Democratic National Committee spokesperson Ammar Moussa said. “This latest plan is more of the same — political gimmicks that are merely an echo of the same cruel and callous policies of the Trump administration that broke our immigration system.” DeSantis, who represents a state with a large Latin American population, routinely makes a point of discussing border crossers who are not of South and Central American descent. On Monday he warned of border crossers from China and Tajikistan, as well as those on terrorist watch lists. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

DeSantis unveils border plan focused on curbing illegal immigration

Eagle Pass, Texas — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his immigration plan near the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, a sweeping set of policies that aimed at restricting border crossings, increasing deportations and completing the construction of a border wall. DeSantis' first presidential policy proposal includes declaring a national state of emergency and reinstating the "Remain in Mexico" policy for asylum seekers, which required certain migrants to wait for their asylum hearings in Mexico. It was imposed by President Donald Trump and ended by President Joe Biden. The Florida governor said he'd also terminate the "catch-and-release" policy, to keep migrants at the southern border detained until their hearings, as well as the "Flores loophole," which requires children to be released from detention within 20 days. "We have to establish the rule of law in this country," DeSantis said to applause at the town hall where he announced the proposal. "What you're seeing right now is an abuse of asylum… It's a lot less appetizing to make a trip like that knowing you don't qualify in the first place and you're gonna have to wait on the other side of the border before you get a decision." DeSantis would also target Mexican drug cartels, declaring them "Transnational Criminal Organizations" and targeting them with sanctions and penalties. He also said he'd "authorize appropriate rules of engagement at the border" against cartels and those smuggling drugs into the U.S. This "of course" would include deadly force against cartels looking to smuggle drugs across the southern border, he later told reporters during a news conference. "If you drop a couple of these cartel operatives trying to [smuggle drugs], you're not going to have to worry about that anymore," DeSantis said. DeSantis and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley are the only ones to have held events on the southern border as 2024 presidential candidates. Under Haley's immigration plan, businesses would be required to implement E-verify in their hiring process, government "handouts" to migrants crossing the border would be ended and IRS agents fired. Haley says she would also hire 25,000 new border patrol agents and ICE workers to deal with the overflow of migrants. But the issue of immigration and the border wall have long been tied to Trump. DeSantis said he'd use "every dollar available to him" and "every dollar he can squeeze out of Congress" to build a wall along the roughly 600 open miles of the border. He said he also wants more funding for technology and military assistance for border patrol. DeSantis also wants to end birthright citizenship, the policy that gives children of undocumented immigrants citizenship if they are born in the U.S. and says he would look at using the courts and Congress to push for this. Asked why he thinks the border wall wasn't completed during Trump's tenure, DeSantis pointed to congressional allies like Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who was by his side at events Monday, and he repeated that he'd make building it a top priority. "It requires discipline. It requires focus. It just requires an attention to what the ultimate objective is. And there's going to be things every day that can throw you off course if you let it. We're not going to do that," DeSantis said. "You did have some wall built during [Trump's] tenure, but not nearly enough… A lot of the things he's saying, I agree with, but I also think those are the same things that were said back in 2016," he added, claiming his plan is "more aggressive" in terms of empowering local officials to enforce immigration law and to target drug cartels. DeSantis would also penalize organizations or cities that defy his federal immigration rules or aid illegal border crossings. DeSantis says he'd stop the Justice Department from suing states that are enforcing stricter immigration laws, impose fiscal penalties on "sanctuary" jurisdictions, or places that have policies discouraging disclosure by individuals of their immigration status and end the counting of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Census for apportionment. As Florida governor, DeSantis has repeatedly criticized Mr. Biden's immigration policies. In May, he signed an immigration bill that instituted stricter policies for businesses that hire undocumented immigrants, prohibited the use of out-of-state driver's licenses by undocumented migrants, and mandated the use of "E-Verify" for Florida employers. In 2022, he sent 49 migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts as part of a migrant relocation program that received $12 million more in state funding in May. Florida also sent roughly 1,100 law enforcement officers to Texas' southern border in May. On Monday, Trump said in a post that DeSantis' trip's "sole purpose… was to reiterate the fact that he would do all of the things done by me in creating the strongest Border, by far, in U.S. history." "A total waste of time!" he posted. Cristina Corujo and Emma Nicholson contributed to this report. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Top Trump Adviser Pushed for Drone Strikes on Migrants, New Book Claims

STEPHEN MILLER, ONE of Donald Trump’s top immigration advisers, advocated using U.S. predator drones in 2018 to blow up migrant boats full of unarmed civilians, according to an upcoming book by a former administration official. In a passage reviewed by Rolling Stone, former Trump Department of Homeland Security appointee Miles Taylor writes about an April 2018 conversation in which Miller allegedly advocated an attack on a migrant ship headed for the United States. Miller, Taylor writes, argued for the potential mass killing of civilians by suggesting they were not protected under the U.S. Constitution because they were in international waters. Taylor is the writer behind the infamous “Anonymous” New York Times op-ed that set off a furious hunt for the turncoat in the halls of Trump’s administration. After leaving the administration, Taylor endorsed Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election, and later revealed himself to be “Anonymous.” Rolling Stone has reviewed written documentation from during the Trump administration that supports Taylor’s claim. Taylor’s account, however, is contested, both by Miller and by another person present. “This is a complete fiction that exists only in the mind of Miles Taylor desperate to stay relevant by fabricating material for his new book,” says a spokesman for Miller. Taylor’s book claims Miller made his argument to Paul Zukunft, a since-retired admiral who was then commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Reached for comment, Zukunft replied he had “no recollection” of the exchange as described in the book. “I vividly recall having a lengthy conversation with Stephen Miller regarding Southwest border security in 2018,” says Zukunft. “My point was that the U.S. is not exerting enough influence in the form of foreign aid in the tri-border region of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador that have been key source nations for illegal migration. In effect, get at the root cause of illegal migration at the source rather than a goal-line defense at the border. And the preponderance of these migrants traverse on foot. But to use deadly force to thwart maritime migration would be preposterous and the antithesis of our nation’s vanguard for advancing human rights.” EDITOR’S PICKS The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Zukunft was appointed by former President Barack Obama and, after retiring from the Trump administration in the summer of 2018, backed Biden in the 2020 election. ADVERTISEMENT Asked to respond to the retired admiral saying he had “no recollection” of the book’s explosive detail, Taylor said: “The conversation happened.” Taylor’s book, Blowback, describes the alleged 2018 conversation in depth. The critical passage reads: ‘Admiral, the military has aerial drones, correct?’ Stephen inquired. ‘Yes,’ Zukunft replied. ‘And some of those drones are equipped with missiles, correct?’ ‘Sure,’ the commandant answered, clearly wondering where the line of questioning was going. ADVERTISEMENT ‘And when a boat full of migrants is in international waters, they aren’t protected by the U.S. Constitution, right?’ ‘Technically, no, but I’m not sure what you’re getting at.’ RELATED Audio: Trump Caught Showing Off Classified Doc He’s Said He Didn’t Have Trump Honored as ‘Man of Decade,’ Tells Crowd: 'I’m Being Indicted for You' ‘Past Lives’: A Tour of New York City With Greta Lee and Celine Song ‘Tell me why, then, can’t we use a Predator drone to obliterate that boat?’ Admiral Zukunft looked nonplussed. ‘Because, Stephen, it would be against international law.’ According to the book, Miller begins arguing with Zukunft: [The] United States launched airstrikes on terrorists in disputed areas all the time, Miller said, or retaliated against pirates commandeering ships off the coast of Somalia. The Coast Guard chief calmly explained the difference. America attacked enemy forces when they were armed and posed an imminent threat. Seafaring migrants were generally unarmed civilians. They quarreled for a few minutes. Stephen wasn’t interested in the moral conflict of drone-bombing migrants. He wanted to know whether anyone could stop America from doing it. The book continues: ‘Admiral,’ [Miller] said to the military chief nearly thirty years his senior, ‘I don’t think you understand the limitations of international law.’ Miller’s stance on immigration and human rights remains deeply relevant. Trump is the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination, and multiple people intimately familiar with the matter say that Miller, along with other anti-immigration hardliners of his stripe, are still on the shortlist for administration posts should the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president retake the White House. Trump himself is campaigning on promises to run on more extreme anti-immigrant policies than his first term’s, including proposals for attacking or invading Mexico and reviving and expanding his travel “Muslim ban.” For years, including well before his entrance into Trump’s inner circle during the 2016 election, Miller has been a uniquely aggressive, far-right voice operating in conservative and anti-immigration circles in Washington, D.C. The Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies — largely spearheaded by Miller — became so heavily entrenched in government that some significant aspects endured during the Biden administration. TRENDING Top Trump Adviser Pushed for Drone Strikes on Migrants, New Book Claims Christina Aguilera and Adam Lambert Slay 'Lady Marmalade' Duet at NYC Pride Island Jo Mersa Marley Cause of Death Revealed Everything Lewis Capaldi Has Shared About His Struggle With Tourette Syndrome Taylor is not the first Trump administration veteran to speak out in recent years about Miller and his alleged proposals for violence. Trump’s former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wrote in his memoir last year that, in October 2019, Miller once “proposed securing [ISIS leader] Mr. al-Baghdadi’s head, dipping it in pig’s blood and parading it around to warn other terrorists,” according toThe New York Times. Miller denied that this occurred, telling the Times that Esper was “a moron.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.