How Trump's Mass Deportation Plans Could Have Devastating Effects on the Economy

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to carry out the "largest deportation operation" in American history if he returns to the White House as he ramps up violent rhetoric against immigrants throughout his campaign. But following those plans, experts say, could actually significantly damage another central issue to his reelection bid— the economy. Read more U.S. Labor Force is Expected to Dramatically Shrink by the End of the Decade; Immigrants Might be the Remedy Less jobs Trump baselessly claims that 15 to 20 million undocumented immigrants have come to the U.S. illegally, despite official figures estimating the number is at 11 million. He has promised that because of this, he will begin deporting migrants on Day 1 of his second term. But doing so could be extremely costly and even damaging for the economy, which he says he can handle better than anyone and one of the issues voters trust him the most. A 2015 study by the American Action Forum— a self-described "center-right" economic think tank— estimated that it would cost $18,214 to identify, detain, transport, process, hold, and ultimately expel each migrant. Adjusted for inflation today, that would amount to $24,094 per person, according to a new report by El Pais. If there are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the U.S., that brings the total to $265 billion. But if Trump's estimate of 20 million undocumented immigrants is taken, the cost would be around $481 billion. To put it into perspective, those figures would be much more expensive than the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol's (CBP) combined budget of nearly $30 billion in 2024. Those estimations from El Pais only refers to the cost of deportation and does not take into account the cost of running a program to find immigrants, transport them to the border, and process them in internment camps, which would have to be built. This plan would also entail incorporating members of local police forces, the National Guard and even the military to deportation efforts, which is not allowed under current regulations, and if it were, would drive up that cost even more. The exorbitant amount of money used for mass deportations alone would also likely have ripple effects on the rest of the economy, as it would initially affect the labor market and wages, and then move on to GDP and inflation. The National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that there are 7.1 million undocumented migrant workers in the United States, representing 4.5% of the country's workforce. If Trump expels them all, the most affected sectors would be construction, with 1.5 million fewer workers; hospitality, which would lose 1.1 million workers; the service sector, with another million employees lost; and manufacturing, which would lose 714,000 workers. This could also reignite inflation, the news outlet suggests. Labor costs account for, on average, about 60% of business expenses, and they rise when employers have to replace large numbers of workers. As the political and economic costs of a mass deportation plan come to light, immigration officers argue it is highly unrealistic. "On a practical level, it will be nearly impossible for (Trump) to do the things he's talking about, even if he could bring in the military," said John Sandweg, a senior Homeland Security Department official in the Obama administration. But despite evidence, Trump continues to claim these plans would strongly benefit the country. "Under the Trump administration, if you come in illegally, you were apprehended immediately and you were deported," Trump said at a rally back in July. "That's why, to keep our family safe, the Republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Harris goes to the border to take Trump to task for blocking bill to fix migration issues: ‘He prefers to run on a problem’

Vice President Kamala Harris went on the offensive against former President Donald Trump on immigration Friday during her visit to the southern border in Arizona as she tries to turn a political vulnerability on its head. Immigration has featured prominently in the 2024 presidential election, with polls showing voters placing more trust in Trump to handle the issue than Harris. Democrats, grappling with years of border crises, have tried to gain ground by pointing to the bipartisan border measure that congressional Republicans blocked earlier this year after Trump came out against it. Harris on Friday lambasted Trump for his role in stymying that bill. “It was the strongest border security bill we have seen in decades. It was endorsed by the Border Patrol union. And it should be in effect today, producing results in real time, right now, for our country,” she said at a rally in Douglas, a town on the US-Mexico border. “But Donald Trump tanked it. He picked up the phone and called some friends in Congress and said, ‘Stop the bill,’” she said. “He prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. And the American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games and their personal political future.” She said she would ask Congress to pass the measure if she is elected, and would sign it into law. She also laid out a series of proposals that she said were “not just about some rhetoric at a rally,” but would help stem the flow of migrants into the United States. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an event with NCAA athletes on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024. Related article Harris’ immigration work comes under scrutiny as campaign takes shape Advisers to the vice president remain concerned about the gap between the candidates on immigration. But they also cite recent polling showing Trump’s lead on the issue eroding since Harris took over from President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket – providing them an opportunity, they say, to amplify their message and close the gap further. Harris outlined plans during her Arizona stop Friday that would make it even harder to lift border restrictions that have largely barred migrants from seeking asylum in the US. It’s the clearest example yet of the campaign doubling down on border security by embracing strict rules that have been condemned by some corners of the Democratic Party. Harris would go a step further than President Joe Biden’s June executive action by making the threshold for lifting restrictions harder to reach. “Solutions are at hand if we focus on fixing a problem and not running on a problem,” Harris said. She said she’d work with Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for “hardworking immigrants who have been here for years, for years, and deserve to have a system that works,” as well as “Dreamers” – undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as children, who are allowed to live and work in the US under an Obama-era program but generally cannot become citizens under current law. “They are American in every way. But still, they do not have an earned pathway to citizenship. And this problem has gone unsolved at this point now for decades,” Harris said. “The same goes for farmworkers who ensure that we have food on our tables and sustain our agricultural industry – and they too have been in legal limbo for years because politicians have refused to come together and fix our broken immigration system.” Earlier this year, Biden announced an executive action severely limiting the ability of migrants to seek asylum at the US southern border if they crossed unlawfully – a departure from decadeslong protocol. Immigrant advocates have likened the executive action to Trump-era policies. The measure can be turned on and off and lifted when there’s a daily average of fewer than 1,500 encounters between ports of entry, among other criteria. It remains in place. Homeland Security officials have credited the action for driving down border crossings to the lowest point since 2020. Trump alluded to his current polling edge Thursday as he slammed his rival ahead of her visit to the border. “Why would she go to the border now, playing right into the hand of her opponent?” the former president told reporters at Trump Tower in New York. “She keeps talking about how she supposedly wants to fix the border. We would merely ask: ‘Why didn’t she do it four years ago?’” Part of the Harris campaign’s strategy to counter Trump includes a new ad, titled “Never Backed Down,” that will run in Arizona and other battleground states highlighting Harris’ previous border-related work and outlining her plans, including hiring more border agents. “She put cartel members and drug traffickers behind bars, and she will secure our border,” the narrator says. A smuggler stands in the background as asylum-seeking migrants from India cross the border wall into the United States from Mexico in Ruby, Arizona, on June 26, 2024. A smuggler stands in the background as asylum-seeking migrants from India cross the border wall into the United States from Mexico in Ruby, Arizona, on June 26, 2024. Adrees Latif/REUTERS/REUTERS An early strategy The Harris campaign signaled early on that it planned to counter Trump’s attacks on the vice president and the administration’s handling of border security. Only days after she launched her presidential bid, campaign officials released a video drawing a contrast between Harris and Trump on immigration policy – notably leaning on border security. “Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. Donald Trump blocked a bill to increase the number of Border Patrol agents,” the voiceover in the video stated. Harris previously visited the border as vice president and has cited her work as a border-state senator and state attorney general. Friday’s visit comes at a time when border crossings are the lowest they’ve been since 2020 – and follows a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that showed Trump leading in the battleground state. A Fox News survey of the state that was released on Thursday found no clear leader, with Trump at 50% and Harris at 47% among likely voters. TOPSHOT - US Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol vehicles sit parked along border wall fencing between the United States and Mexico on August 1 in Jacumba Hot Springs, California. Related article Biden administration says number of illegal border crossings has drastically fallen as Trump seizes on immigration US officials have touted back-to-back months of low border crossings, citing recent executive action to curb asylum access at the southern border, even as Trump has levied attacks over the Biden administration’s handling of border security. The dramatic recent drop in border crossings has provided a reprieve to the Biden administration after grappling with record crossings amid unprecedented migration across the Western hemisphere. Over that time, Republicans have falsely referred to Harris as the “border czar,” casting her as solely responsible for the management of the US-Mexico border. It’s a title that Harris team has been trying to shake off since the moment Biden assigned her to tackle the root causes of migration in 2021. Harris has only occasionally talked about her assignment, which, sources said, has shown early success in Central America as a result of major private-sector investment. But that’s been bundled with the administration’s larger migration issues. Harris campaign officials think she has a case on immigration: using the failed bipartisan border measure to cast Trump as unserious at the border and citing her record as California attorney general tackling transnational criminal gangs. Campaign allies have also stressed the need to look beyond the border and speak to broader immigration reform, pulling from the vice president’s background in the Senate and in California working on immigrant issues. “It’s good she’s going. It’s helpful to get her message out there,” one source close to the campaign told CNN. “Obviously, she’s at the border – that’s the primary focus. But also talking more broadly about the whole system.” Last week, Harris slammed Trump over his immigration proposals, citing his contentious policies, including his proposal for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, to paint a dark picture of her Republican rival. “While we fight to move our nation forward to a brighter future, Donald Trump and his extremist allies will keep trying to pull us backward. We all remember what they did to tear families apart, and now they have pledged to carry out the largest deportation, a mass deportation in American history,” she said at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute leadership conference in Washington. “Imagine what that would look like and what that would be. How’s that going to happen? Massive raids, massive detention camps. What are they talking about?” she said. This story has been updated with additional information. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Immigration will likely be a focus at Tuesday's VP debate

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: Immigration and the border are likely to be big topics in the vice presidential debate Tuesday night. The rhetoric's been heated, but might it be of substance when Republican Senator JD Vance and Democratic Governor Tim Walz meet? That's one question for NPR immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd. Jasmine, welcome. JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Hi. RASCOE: Let's start there. Might we actually hear some interactions that are substantive on immigration from Vance and Walz Tuesday night? GARSD: That's so hopeful of you. RASCOE: (Laughter). GARSD: I think the key word is substance. Based on the last presidential candidate debate, we saw very little real substance in terms of policy and how to enact campaign promises on both sides. In the last debate, we heard former President Donald Trump repeating false claims about Haitian migrants in Ohio eating people's pets. And then when it came to being asked about a concrete issue, a real issue, how would you enact these mass deportations that you are promising? It was a quick, one sentence answer - with local police. There was this surprising lack of real policy content for viewers to hold onto. RASCOE: It's interesting that you're going to have these two Midwestern politicians debating about the border and immigration. What do you make of that? GARSD: I think it's so significant. First of all, you know, Vance is positioning himself as Trump's successor. You can see it in that he's really aggressively repeating Trump's stance on immigration and even dialing it up further with stuff like the pet-eating rumors. Both Vance and Walz represent very different stances on immigration. Vance represents the stance that it's a huge problem and that it's threatening the very existence of America as we know it. And Walz has enacted law in which he seems to be open to more bipartisan legislation on immigration. I think they're both very much responding to the reality that Democrats are vulnerable on the issue of immigration. Polls show that voters see immigration as a weakness for the Harris campaign, and I think both candidates are really reacting to that. RASCOE: What else will you be listening for when it comes to immigration? GARSD: Well, Vance is possibly going to bring up the issue of American jobs being taken by migrants, which economists have debunked. He also will very likely bring up the very real strains on cities and towns that have received large influxes of migrants. I also am going to be bracing for more misinformation. The presidential candidate debate - we saw this. We saw this doubling down on false claims by former President Trump, claims about how Vice President Harris is the border czar for the Biden administration - she was not. And also, we've been hearing from both sides discussion of fentanyl. Data shows fentanyl is overwhelmingly brought into the U.S. through legal ports of entry by U.S. citizens. Now, one thing that I'm especially going to be looking out is for the false claim that undocumented immigrants are going to be voting and that there could be voter fraud. To be clear, experts have been studying this for years. It rarely happens that an undocumented immigrant votes. But we're seeing this claim bubbling up from the Republican Party, and election analysts have raised the alarm about those false claims. So I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for that. RASCOE: NPR's Jasmine Garsd covers immigration for NPR. Thank you so much for joining us. GARSD: Thanks for having me. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Are immigrants taking jobs from ‘native’ U.S. workers? Here’s what economists say

The idea that immigration has a negative impact on the U.S. job market is a common theme of former President Donald Trump’s speeches on the presidential campaign trail. “They’re taking your jobs,” the Republican nominee told supporters on Sept. 21 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Immigration is also a top issue for Republican voters: 82% of Trump supporters say immigration is “very important” to their vote in the 2024 presidential election, second only to the economy, according to the Pew Research Center. It’s the lowest-priority issue for Democrats, Pew found. Pew polled 9,720 U.S. adults from Aug. 26 through Sept. 2. However, evidence suggests immigrants help the overall economy. And, at a high level, they aren’t taking jobs from or reducing the wages of U.S.-born (or so-called native) workers, according to economists who study the impact of immigration on the labor market. “Overall, the consensus is very strong that there are not significant costs to U.S.-born workers from immigration, at least the type of immigration we have historically had in the U.S.,” said Alexander Arnon, director of business tax and economic analysis at the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Immigrants expected to boost the economy There are several reasons why immigrants largely benefit the economy and job market, economists said. For one, the job market isn’t static. Immigrants take jobs but they also create new ones by spending in local economies and by starting businesses, economists said. One 2020 research paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found immigrants are 80% more likely to become entrepreneurs than native workers. A recent “surge” of immigrants to the U.S. is expected to add $8.9 trillion (or 3.2%) to the nation’s GDP over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan scorekeeper for Congress. The 2024 election is going to come down to immigration and affordability, says pollster Frank Luntzwatch now VIDEO07:18 The 2024 election is going to come down to immigration and affordability, says pollster Frank Luntz “That’s enormous,” said Michael Clemens, a professor at George Mason University and an economist whose research examines the economic causes and effects of migration. “That creates jobs, that raises pay, that is an increase in the size and complexity of the U.S. economy.” Immigrants also aren’t perfect substitutes for U.S. citizens in many job positions; in fact, the two groups often complement each other rather than compete, economists said. However, some economic research suggests immigration can impact the wages of certain subgroups of U.S.-born workers, especially those with lower levels of educational attainment. Overall, the consensus is very strong that there are not significant costs to U.S.-born workers from immigration. Alexander Arnon director of business tax and economic analysis at the Penn Wharton Budget Model Some economists contend an influx of immigrants can reduce wages for such Americans in the short term, though other researchers have found that Americans ultimately benefit, partly because those in direct competition with immigrants are able to find higher-paying jobs. “Not everybody agrees about it,” Clemens said. A big supply of new labor due to immigration can be “difficult and anxiety-inducing” for American workers who must adjust, he added. “But people end up in better circumstances,” he said. Immigration helped cool ‘overheated’ job market The El Chaparral pedestrian border crossing at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana, Mexico, on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will resume commercial and legal travel at four official crossings along the US-Mexico border Thursday that were partially or fully closed recently due to record levels of migrant crossings. Photographer: Carlos Moreno/Bloomberg via Getty Images The El Chaparral pedestrian border crossing at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 4, 2024. Carlos Moreno/Bloomberg via Getty Images Immigrants accounted for about 14% of the U.S. population in 2022, according to Pew, citing most recently available federal data. Most are in the U.S. legally: Undocumented immigrants represented 3.3% of the total U.S. population and 23% of immigrants in 2022, Pew said. Their number has increased in recent years, to 11 million, but remains below its 2007 peak of more than 12 million. The number of immigrants coming to the U.S. has “increased sharply in recent years,” the CBO wrote in July. More from Personal Finance: How the presidential election could affect your taxes Judge blocks Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan Harris wants to raise the top capital gains tax rate to 28% Net immigration is expected to be 8.7 million people higher from 2021 to 2026 than would have been extrapolated from pre-Covid migration trends, the CBO said. (Its analysis excludes those with green cards.) The influx has been beneficial for the pandemic-era economy, economists said. It “helped cool an overheated labor market” over the past two years, Elior Cohen, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, wrote in May. Demand for workers hit historic highs as the U.S. economy started to reopen in 2021. Wages rose sharply — at their fastest pace in decades — as businesses competed for workers, putting upward pressure on high inflation. Sign Up for Our Newsletter Your Wealth Weekly advice on managing your money SIGN UP NOW Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about about our products and services. By signing up for newsletters, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Immigrant labor alleviated “severe staffing shortages,” especially in industries like leisure and hospitality, helping dilute those inflationary wage pressures, Cohen wrote. In this sense, immigrants weren’t competing with U.S. citizens for jobs but instead taking a surplus of available jobs, said Giovanni Peri, an economics professor and director of the Global Migration Center at the University of California, Davis. In fact, a long-term net decline in the number of non-college-educated immigrants to the U.S. from 2010 to 2021 likely contributed to those recent labor shortages, he said. “If there is a time when low-skilled immigration isn’t competing with natives and helping fill shortages, it’s been the last two years,” Peri said. ‘Little evidence’ of employment impact Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, economists from varying sides of the debate published a “consensus” viewpoint in 2017 on the job market effect of immigration, Clemens said. The panel of economists found “little evidence that immigration significantly affects” overall employment levels among Americans, they wrote for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. “I’d say the consensus has gotten [even] stronger” since then, said Arnon of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, who authored a separate 2016 analysis of existing research on immigration’s economic impact. To the extent there’s job competition from new immigrants, it tends to fall mostly on prior immigrants rather than native U.S. workers, according to the National Academies paper. Prior immigrants are most likely to experience “negative wage effects,” it said. However, native-born high school dropouts may experience that effect, as well, since they “share job qualifications similar to the large share of low-skilled [immigrant] workers,” the National Academies paper said. Immigrants without a high school degree account for the largest share of foreign-born workers, followed by those with graduate or professional degrees, according to the Penn Wharton analysis. A heated debate on low-skilled workers A boat arrives in Key West, Florida with Cuban refugees in April 1980 from Mariel Harbor after crossing the Florida Straits. A boat arrives in Key West, Florida with Cuban refugees in April 1980 from Mariel Harbor after crossing the Florida Straits. Tim Chapman | Miami Herald | Getty Images One influential — and controversial — paper by Harvard economist George Borjas echoes that finding about high school dropouts. Borjas — who was among the more than three dozen economists who authored the National Academies consensus paper — studied the Mariel boatlift, a mass emigration of 125,000 Cuban refugees to South Florida from April to October 1980. At least 60% of these “Marielitos” were high school dropouts, he said. Borjas found that the large boost in labor supply caused the wages of high school dropouts in Miami to drop “dramatically,” by 10% to 30%. Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser during the Trump administration, cited the paper in 2017 as a justification for a new proposal to curtail legal immigration, particularly among lower-skilled workers. Asked to comment on Trump’s campaign statements about immigration and jobs, Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said in an emailed statement that the former president “has never wavered in his promise to put America First, including workers born in the USA and incentivizing companies to keep jobs at home.” US election to come "right down to the wire": Evercore ISIwatch now VIDEO02:24 US election to come “right down to the wire”: Evercore ISI Borjas’ finding was in contrast with earlier work by economist and Nobel laureate David Card, who had found the Mariel boatlift didn’t increase unemployment or negatively affect wages of “less-skilled” non-Cuban or Cuban workers. Some economists, including Clemens, dispute Borjas’ findings. Borjas didn’t return a request for comment. “Sudden surges of immigration obviously affect the ability of native workers to find and take jobs on a given afternoon,” Clemens said. But immigrants “also create jobs,” Clemens said. “A large preponderance of evidence is the job creation effect overwhelms the competition effect, even in the short term.” Effect may depend on the economic environment Migrant workers pick strawberries during harvest south of San Francisco, California. (Photo by: Visions of America/Joe Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Migrant workers pick strawberries during harvest south of San Francisco. Joe Sohm/Visions Of America | Universal Images Group | Getty Images Native U.S. workers and immigrants, even those with similar educational backgrounds, tend to complement each other via their skills, making each other more productive and in essence jointly creating each other’s jobs, Clemens said. For example, in a restaurant, a native worker with better command of spoken English might be a waiter, while an immigrant might do kitchen-prep work or wash dishes, tasks that don’t require such language dexterity. On farms, native workers might be supervisors or run high-tech equipment while immigrants handpick crops, Clemens said. Research by Peri and Alessandro Caiumi of the University of California, Davis, finds that factors like “occupational upgrading” generally lead native workers who initially compete with immigrants for jobs to earn higher wages in the future. For example, from 2000 to 2019, such factors helped boost wages for less-educated native workers by a “significant” 1.7% to 2.6%, and there was also “no significant wage effect on college educated natives,” Peri and Caiumi wrote. Similarly, from 2019 to 2022, estimates suggest “small positive effects” on wages. Ultimately, “what might have happened in Florida during the Mariel boatlift in the 1980s may be different than what happens in Arizona in the 2010s,” said Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. “From a policy perspective, you have to figure out which of the studies are most relevant to the current economic environment you’re considering,” Strain said. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Fact check: To attack Harris, Trump falsely describes new stats on immigrants and homicide

Washington CNN — Former President Donald Trump is wildly distorting new statistics on immigration and crime to attack Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump falsely claimed Friday and Saturday that the statistics are specifically about criminal offenders who entered the US during the Biden-Harris administration; in reality, the figures are about offenders who entered the US over multiple decades, including during the Trump administration. And Trump falsely claimed that the statistics are specifically about people who are now living freely in the US; the figures actually include people who are currently in jails and prisons serving criminal sentences. “Kamala should immediately cancel her News Conference because it was just revealed that 13,000 convicted murderers entered our Country during her three and a half year period as Border Czar,” Trump wrote in one post on Friday, the day Harris visited the southern border in Arizona. Harris “allowed almost 14,000 MURDERERS to freely and openly roam our Country,” Trump wrote in another Friday post. They “roam free to KILL AGAIN,” he wrote, escalating his rhetoric, on Saturday. Facts First: Trump’s claims are false in two big ways. First, the statistics he was referring to are not specifically about people who entered the country during the Biden-Harris administration. Rather, those statistics are about noncitizens who entered the country under any administration, including Trump’s; were convicted of a crime at some point, usually in the US after their arrival; and are now living in the US while being listed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “non-detained docket” — where some have been listed for years, including while Trump was president, because their country of citizenship won’t let the US deport them back there. Second, that ICE “non-detained” list includes people who are still serving jail and prison sentences for their crimes; they are on the list because they are not being held in immigration detention in particular. The new statistics, released by ICE in a letter to a Republican congressman this week, said there were 425,431 total convicted criminals on the non-detained docket as of July 21, 2024, including 13,099 people with homicide convictions. The statistics have been deployed by Trump and various Republican lawmakers and right-wing commentators as alarming evidence of Harris’ supposed mismanagement of immigration policy. But in addition to exaggerating her role on the file — she was never actually “border czar” — much of the chatter has inaccurately described what the statistics show. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a Saturday email: “The data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.” It’s not clear how many of the 13,099 people with homicide convictions on ICE’s non-detained docket as of July 21 are currently incarcerated in jails and prisons. Regardless, John Sandweg, an attorney who served as acting director of ICE during the Obama administration, said in a Saturday interview that it is “100% false” to say all the homicide offenders on the non-detained docket entered the US during Harris’ vice presidency. Sandweg added: “These are individuals who undoubtedly entered the United States over a long period of time. … A lot of them have probably been on the list for 20 years, where the US has just been unable to deport.” CNN could not immediately find public statistics on how many people with criminal convictions were on the non-detained docket during Trump’s presidency. But there are public statistics from just before and just after his presidency — and those statistics, which we’ll discuss later in this article, make clear that Trump, too, presided over a non-detained docket that included hundreds of thousands of people with criminal convictions. A Supreme Court decision requires ICE to release some offenders Trump’s posts left open the impression that the homicide offenders on the non-detained docket had foreign homicide convictions but were nonetheless allowed to cross the US border and live freely in this country. In reality, public data makes it clear that the overwhelming majority of people with criminal convictions on the non-detained docket were convicted in the US, as Sandweg and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, which supports immigration, both told CNN. Why aren’t these people in immigration detention if they have been convicted of a crime as serious as homicide? Under a 2001 Supreme Court decision, the US government is not allowed to indefinitely keep someone in immigration detention after they have been ordered removed from the country. So if someone has served their criminal sentence for homicide and then is ordered to be removed from the US, but their country is uncooperative with the US on immigration and won’t take them back, they must be released in the US — usually after no more than six months in immigration detention. “Let’s say you have a Russian who was convicted of homicide. There’s nothing we can do there,” Sandweg said, given how Russia simply won’t accept the deportation. “There comes a point where you just have to release them.” He added that this doesn’t mean the person is “completely free” — people on the non-detained docket often have to check in with ICE or be monitored electronically — “but there’s just no more legal authority to continue the detention.” Sandweg added: “ICE, of course, is not willy-nilly saying, ‘Okay, people convicted of murder, you’re not a priority.’ … We have a guy convicted of homicide, our strong preference is not to release them onto the streets.” Reichlin-Melnick, who noted Saturday on social media that the non-detained docket includes people in jails and prisons, wrote on social media on Friday that “anyone on ICE’s non-detained docket with a homicide conviction has likely been in the country for decades, served a full criminal sentence, and can’t be removed because they’re from a country which restricts US deportations.” Reichlin-Melnick continued: “There are others on ICE’s non-detained docket who have serious criminal records who, after serving their time, managed to win some form of protection and relief from removal. They are now here legally, but remain on the docket and are required to check in with ICE periodically.” The list of convicted criminals on the non-detained docket includes both people who crossed the border illegally and people who came to the US legally, such as with a visa or green card, and then committed a crime and were placed in removal proceedings or were given a removal order. What the numbers show The non-detained docket is not a new creation of the Biden-Harris administration. In fact, there were hundreds of thousands of people with criminal convictions on the non-detained docket during the Trump presidency, too. A reporter for Fox News, the right-wing outlet whose reporting on these statistics Trump repeatedly promoted on Friday, noted Friday evening on social media that “not all of these criminals entered during the Biden admin, as some are claiming” and that “some of these criminals go back many years across multiple administrations.” A previous official federal report said there were 368,574 total convicted criminals on the non-detained docket as of August 2016, under the Obama administration, about five months before Trump became president. And another federal document said there were 405,786 total convicted criminals on the non-detained docket as of early June 2021, less than five months into the Biden-Harris administration. Again, the July 2024 number was 425,431 total convicted criminals. In other words, the list grew about 10% between August 2016 and June 2021 — a roughly five-year period that included the four-year Trump administration — and then grew about another roughly 5% in the three-plus years under the Biden-Harris administration between June 2021 and July 2024. Because official information on people on the non-detained docket with criminal convictions has only been released sporadically, with dates that don’t line up with the start and end dates of presidential administrations, it’s not possible to say how much of the increase happened under the Trump administration versus how much happened during the final months of the Obama administration and the first months of the Biden-Harris administration. Regardless, there’s no basis for saying, as Trump kept doing Friday, that all of the people on the docket with homicide convictions came in during the Biden-Harris administration — and the numbers show “the docket certainly grew under the Trump administration,” Sandweg said. (He added that, to be fair, Trump faced the same stubborn issues with uncooperative foreign countries as other presidents.) The crimes committed by people on the non-detained docket in July 2024 ranged from the most serious offenses, like homicide and sexual assault, to “gambling,” “liquor,” and “obscenity” offenses. The conviction categories with the highest number of people on the non-detained docket were “traffic offenses” (77,074), “assault” (62,231), “dangerous drugs” (56,533) and “immigration” (51,933). CNN could not immediately find public data on the number of people with homicide convictions specifically who were on the non-detained docket in past years, including during the Trump administration. It is clear that the total number of people on the non-detained docket, including people without any criminal conviction, has spiked during the Biden-Harris administration. (There are numerous reasons that people can end up on the docket; we won’t get into those here.) ICE says the docket jumped from roughly 3.3 million in the 2020 fiscal year, the last full fiscal year under Trump, to roughly 6.2 million in the 2023 fiscal year. Harris critics are entitled to cite this real increase. Her presidential opponent, though, is criticizing her dishonestly. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Trump scapegoats migrants again at Georgia event meant to discuss economy

At an event intended to tout economic policies that would usher in what his campaign calls a “new age of American industrialism”, Donald Trump spent as much time discussing personal grievances and blaming immigrants for everything from fentanyl overdoses to crime and taking Americans’ jobs as he did discussing the economy. “This is a speech on economic development but this is a big part of economic development,” the former president said of immigration at a speech in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday. After about 30 minutes of sticking to prepared remarks about the economy, Trump’s speech veered into other topics like immigration, much to the crowd’s delight. a women wearing a suit jacket speaks into microphone Haitian immigrant group calls for arrest warrants for Trump and Vance in Ohio Read more “Close the border!” a man in the crowd yelled as Trump said that undocumented immigrants were responsible for myriad ills. Some of the loudest cheers from a crowd of about 2,500 came when the Republican presidential nominee claimed that the United States already has much of what it needs to become an “economic powerhouse”, as he put it, including natural resources, skilled workers and leading companies. “The only thing we don’t have is smart people leading our country,” Trump said. Among other promises – including reducing Americans’ energy bills by half and claiming he would “prevent world war three” – Trump said he would revive American manufacturing and restore it to “how it was 50 years ago”. Trump also said he would block the sale of US Steel to the Japanese company Nippon – a plan that Joe Biden has said he plans to block. The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard The former president bashed electric cars – with the exception of those made by his supporter Elon Musk – a perhaps odd tactic considering the ongoing construction of a $5.4bn Hyundai electric car plant that will employ 8,500 workers and has been lauded by Georgia governor Brian Kemp. Trump didn’t mention the plant or Kemp in his remarks. Trump then became sidetracked with immigration, questioning Kamala Harris’s intelligence and patriotism, and reliving an assassination attempt in July in Pennsylvania and another scare in Florida earlier this month. Trump claimed it had been more than luck that saved his life the day he was grazed by an assassin’s bullet. “People say: ‘It was God, and God came down and saved you because he wants you to bring America back,’” Trump said as the crowd began to chant “USA!” Eventually returning to the economy, Trump said a plan to give away federal land to companies willing to build manufacturing facilities there would prompt “entire industries” to relocate to the United States. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to The Stakes — US Election Edition Free newsletter The Guardian guides you through the chaos of a hugely consequential presidential election Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion He also said he would cap the tax rate for corporations at 15% – but only for companies whose products are made in the United States. Trump and Republicans already reduced the highest possible corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% when Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. The top-end corporate tax rate was made permanent under the law, but individual tax reductions included in the legislation are set to expire in 2025. Both candidates have said they want to see those tax cuts extended, but Harris says she would raise the highest rate to 28%. It was Trump’s first visit to Georgia since 3 August, when he held a rally in Atlanta. Last month, Harris visited Savannah and held a rally that drew nearly 9,000 supporters. Much of Trump’s economic policies can’t be separated from his views on immigration. That line of attack – that a weak economy and even inflation and the availability of goods is the fault of immigrants – resonated with a pair of the Republican candidate’s voters waiting to get into his event on Tuesday. “We don’t have enough groceries in our stores because of all the immigrants here,” said Christy Donley, who drove from nearby Pembroke to hear Trump speak. “We’ve got Americans here who can’t get the American dream but we’re giving the American dream to illegal immigrants.” Donley’s friend, Kassie Williams, chimed in. “Loans, healthcare, drivers’ licenses – we’re giving all this stuff to immigrants whether they deserve it or not,” said Williams, who believes that the corporate tax cuts Trump has proposed will help out individual workers. “I want to hear him be more detailed when he says he’s going to give corporations tax breaks. I understand how it benefits everybody – they’ll lower the unemployment rate, which will make for more tax revenue from people – but not everybody might understand that.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

In parroting a lie about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, Trump excites extremists

When former President Donald Trump made a false claim in this month’s debate with Vice President Harris that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, it stunned many who heard it. But perhaps among the most stunned were neo-Nazis, who, for weeks, had been trying to launch that racist lie into the mainstream. “Whether they're neo-Nazi or white nationalist, all of them [were] thrilled,” said Jeff Tischauser, senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “All of them [were] in almost disbelief that they had a presidential candidate recycle and reuse the rhetoric that has been popular in these movements for decades.” Sponsor Message One group, especially, was celebrating. The Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi hate group that Tischauser estimates to have between 50 and 80 members nationally, posted to the group’s Telegram channel. The group claimed that it had “pushed Springfield into the public consciousness.” “When Trump mentioned the pet-eating narrative, Blood Tribe was crowing about it,” said Cass Troy, an extremism researcher who runs an online publication called the Cassandra Report. NPR is using a pseudonym for Troy, because of Blood Tribe’s history of doxing its critics. “They were delighted,” Troy said. “They take all responsibility for it, even though they don't deserve it.” In Tuesday night's debate, former President Donald Trump repeated an unfounded claim that immigrants are eating people's pets. 2024 Election The stereotype of immigrants eating dogs and cats is storied — and vitriolic as ever Reaching a more mainstream audience The narrative about pet-eating has been decisively debunked. Even so, it has taken on momentum. Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance has continued to repeat the lie, even after his campaign staff reportedly heard directly from Springfield officials that there was no evidence to support it. Since the debate, the city has fielded dozens of bomb threats against schools and other municipal facilities. “This fear that's being created in Springfield is something that Blood Tribe is very proud of at this moment,” said Tischauser. While the exact origin of the false claim is not clear, the Blood Tribe was early in featuring it on its alternative-tech Gab social media account. On August 11, a day after the group marched with swastika flags through Springfield, a commenter on the group’s page suggested that the city’s Haitian residents might eat pets. But on its alternative tech platform pages, the group’s reach has been limited. It wasn’t until EndWokeness, a right-wing account on X, posted about the topic on September 6 that the lie reached a significant audience. Sponsor Message “The concerning thing that's happening is we're seeing a convergence of far right mainstream people having the same talking points as out and proud neo-Nazis,” said Troy. “I think that one of the things that people need to be cognizant of is anybody who perpetuates this narrative, do they want to be aligned with people like that?” she said. “You know, if you can't separate out your feelings about basic decency when it comes to immigration, maybe you can separate out basic decency when it comes to not being in league with a Nazi.” In court papers, prosecutors described Timothy Hale-Cusanelli as a Investigations Trump’s Bedminster club hosted an alleged Nazi sympathizer who stormed the Capitol Extremists are activated After Trump amplified the falsehood during the nationally televised event, extremists have stepped up their in-person activities in Springfield. That Saturday, Proud Boys members from several chapters gathered in the city, KKK leaflets were distributed and a white power organization called the Aryan Freedom Network posted flyers on utility poles. “They're just so much more energized now than I've seen them in a long time,” said Tischauser. “Leaders of the Blood Tribe [and] leaders of other white supremacist groups are excited about the possibility that this is a recruitment boon because of the size of the audience that got this message.” Tischauser said in some ways that moment in the debate echoed a moment from four years earlier, when Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during the 2020 election season. Then, leaders from that group responded jubilantly on social media, and the group was launched onto the public radar. But Tischauser noted that it’s not an exact comparison. Trump’s statement did not directly point to an extremist group. And even though it has energized these groups, Troy said this energy is not about promoting Trump’s candidacy. Instead, she said it’s about capitalizing on a moment where many Americans may be ready to consider their agenda of racial hate. Sponsor Message “They're not playing at politics,” explained Troy. “They're playing at messaging and what's getting traction. They want the idea to move forward. They don't actually care who does it.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Harris seeks to pair clampdown on border with immigration reforms

Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Friday. It would mark her first visit to the border since becoming the Democratic nominee for president. The visit underscores the importance of immigration and border security as an issue in the campaign. What You Need To Know The centerpiece of Vice President Kamala Harris’ border plan is enacting the bipartisan border security bill negotiated this past winter by the White House, Democrats and Senate Republicans Republicans ultimately blocked the Senate bill, which would have given the president sweeping authority to restrict the right of migrants to seek asylum when the number of unlawful crossings reaches a certain level, sped up the process for screening asylum applicants, provided money to build and reinforce the border wall and add border personnel Experts say even if Harris is elected, passage of the legislation will depend on the composition of Congress Like President Joe Biden, Harris signaled she wants to pair a clampdown on the border with expanding legal pathways for certain undocumented immigrants The centerpiece of Harris’ border plan is enacting the bipartisan border security bill negotiated this past winter by the White House, Democrats and Senate Republicans. “After decades in law enforcement, I know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades,” Harris said during her speech at the Democratic National Convent in Chicago in August. The bill would have given the president sweeping authority to restrict the right of migrants to seek asylum when the number of unlawful crossings reaches a certain level. It also would have sped up the process for screening asylum applicants and provided money to build and reinforce the border wall, and add border personnel. “That bill would have put 1,500 more border agents on the border to help those folks who are working there right now, overtime, trying to do their job,” Harris said during a presidential debate against former President Donald Trump earlier this month. “It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States.” RELATED: Trump’s im­mi­gration plan includes mass de­por­ta­tions, re­stric­tions on entering U.S. But Republicans blocked the bill. According to Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Trump urged Republicans to oppose the deal to ensure that problems at the border remained a campaign issue. “I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law,” Harris said at the DNC. Experts say even if Harris is elected, passage of the legislation will depend on the composition of Congress. “The Senate border bill that the Harris campaign supports, of course, failed within the Congress and has kind of lost support over time, with many Republicans who previously supported it walking away from it,” said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “We can kind of expect a stymied Congress, especially on immigration. And so it would, I think, really take a huge amount of effort to see that through Congress,” Putzel-Kavanaugh went on to say. Harris might face the same obstacles when it comes to her other policy proposals. Like President Joe Biden, Harris signaled she wants to pair a clampdown on the border with expanding legal pathways for certain undocumented immigrants. “We must also reform our broken immigration system and protect our Dreamers and understand we can do both, create an earned pathway to citizenship and ensure our border is secure,” Harris said at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. last week. Dreamers are undocumented immigrants that were brought to the U.S. as children. It has been 12 years since former President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to allow Dreamers to live and work in the U.S. Congress has failed to approve a permanent solution. Harris has given few details about her proposed earned pathway and whether it would be based on employment, certain nationalities or humanitarian concerns. Experts suspect it would include DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants who have been in the U.S. for years. “Most of the unlawfully present population of the United States, they've not been here for two months or six months. Many have been here for years, five years, 10 years, multiple decades. On top of that, they likely would have to show that they have not had any significant criminal background and possibly enrolled in school,” said Deep Gulasekaram, a professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder. Republicans call Harris the “border czar,” but White House officials say her role was limited to trying to address the root causes of migration in certain Central American countries. She said those efforts led to significant investments into the region. Spectrum News has reached out to Harris' campaign for comment on her reported visit to the border. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Haitian group in Ohio files criminal complaint against Trump, Vance

A grassroots immigrant advocacy group filed a complaint seeking criminal charges in Springfield, Ohio, against former President Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance (R), over their role in elevating false allegations about Haitian immigrants abducting and eating local pets. The complaint, filed by Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) in Clark County Municipal Court, alleges that Trump and Vance, by amplifying those claims, had a “direct impact” in spurring the 33 bomb threats that rocked the southwest Ohio city. “Like those who falsely shout ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater, Trump and Vance do not color within the lines of the First Amendment. They commit criminal acts,” the group said. HBA Executive Director Guerline Jozef filed the document, backed by an affidavit alleging Trump and Vance committed seven separate offenses, including disrupting public services, making false alarms, aggravated menacing, complicity and telecommunications harassment. The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment. “HBA filed this criminal charge to hold Trump and Vance accountable for the devastating harm they caused our community in Springfield and has impacted Haitians around the United States,” said Jozef in a statement. “Thirty-three bomb threats have been alleged across Springfield within the last two weeks. Hospitals, schools, universities, and government offices were all evacuated after receiving racially charged threats. Springfield government officials and their families received threats. Trump and Vance’s lies have harmed the Springfield community, and their lies have violated criminal law.” Individuals and private organizations cannot file criminal charges. Generally, criminal proceedings are initiated by district attorneys filing complaints, grand jury indictments or law enforcement citations. HBA’s complaint does not mean that Trump and Vance have been charged with crimes related to their rhetoric about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, but through it, the grassroots advocacy group is requesting the court to either file arrest warrants against the GOP nominees or refer the matter to a district attorney. According to the complaint, Trump and Vance’s public statements on Haitian immigrants surpass the probable cause standard necessary to formally charge them with the alleged crimes. “Investigation is neither needed nor requested. Despite the facts presented in the affidavit being open and notorious for the world to see, the prosecuting attorney has not yet acted to protect the community and hold Trump and Vance accountable for the harm they have instigated. Thus, the Haitian Bridge Alliance and Ms. Jozef request this Court, independently, to find probable cause based on the facts presented and issue arrest warrants for both Trump and Vance,” reads the complaint. HBA added later in the document that “if anyone else had done what they have done, to the devastating effect experienced in Springfield, police and prosecutors would have filed charges by now.” The affidavit backing the complaint alleges that Haitians in Springfield have suffered direct threats and mockery since Vance provided a national platform for the false allegations. Springfield’s national profile skyrocketed after the vice presidential nominee referenced reports of pet abductions in a social media post, and later that week, Trump directly accused immigrants in Springfield of “eating the pets of the people that live there.” “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” he said during his debate with Vice President Harris in a moment that went viral. There is no public evidence of such incidents, and state and local officials, including Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, have denounced the falsehoods. There is evidence, however, that far-right white supremacist groups either played a role in disseminating the false information or have sought to benefit from the national attention. “HBA is non-partisan, this is not about one candidate or political party. This is about confronting white supremacy, anti-Black rhetoric, and hate speech that seems to be a constant in U.S. politics and that continues to cause suffering. No one is above the law,” said Jozef. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

USCIS Announces Employment Authorization Procedures for Liberians Covered by Deferred Enforced Departure

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today posted a Federal Register notice establishing procedures for Liberians covered by Deferred Enforced Departure to apply for Employment Authorization Documents that will be valid through June 30, 2026. President Joe Biden issued a memorandum on DED for Liberians on June 28, 2024, deferring through June 30, 2026, the removal of certain Liberians who were eligible for DED under the president’s 2022 memorandum, including individuals who have been continuously present in the United States since May 20, 2017. Through this Federal Register notice, USCIS is automatically extending through June 30, 2026, the validity of DED-related EADs bearing a Category Code of A11 and a Card Expires date of March 30, 2020; Jan. 10, 2021; June 30, 2022; or June 30, 2024. There is no application for DED. Nationals of Liberia, and individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia, are covered under DED based on the terms described in the president’s directive. The Department of Homeland Security may provide travel authorization at its discretion to those covered under DED for Liberians. Individuals who wish to travel outside of the United States may file Form I-131, Application for Travel Document. Individuals can also apply for an EAD by filing Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. The Federal Register notice provides additional information about DED for Liberia and how eligible individuals may apply for a DED-based EAD or travel authorization. USCIS adjudicates each EAD application fairly, humanely, and efficiently on a case-by-case basis to determine if applicants meet all standards and eligibility criteria. Over the past year, USCIS has reduced EAD processing times overall and streamlined the adjudication process. More information about fees for DED-based EADs is available on the USCIS website. For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

USCIS Reaches H-2B Cap for First Half of Fiscal Year 2025

We have received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap on H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers for the first half of fiscal year 2025. Sept. 18 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2025. We will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions we receive after Sept. 18 that request an employment start date before April 1, 2025. We are still accepting H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap, including: Current H-2B workers in the United States who extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of their employment; Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam from Nov. 28, 2009, until Dec. 31, 2029. U.S. businesses use the H-2B program to employ foreign workers for temporary nonagricultural jobs. Currently, Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1-March 31) and 33,000 (plus any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year) for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1-Sept. 30).

Report: Immigration enforcement changing, NW detention still high

A new report looked into the recent shift in immigration enforcement, especially at the immigrant detention center in Tacoma. The University of Washington's Center for Human Rights' report "The Border is Everywhere" found immigration arrests have started to tick back up after falling at the start of the pandemic. Angelina Godoy, director of the center, said fewer of the arrests are transfers from jails or prisons in Washington and Oregon like they were in the past. "We see a lot of the more recent arrests happening on ICE check-ins or when folks who have arrived from the southern border are coming here and starting to comply with the process that ICE required them to do in terms of following up on their case," Godoy observed. "That's when they're brought into custody." Godoy noted Washington and Oregon have passed "sanctuary state" legislation, which has reduced the number of transfers. But other factors are making the average length of stay at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma longer than other detention centers across the country. The report found bond is granted in a fewer percentage of cases and relief from deportation is denied on more occasions at the Northwest Detention Center than nationwide. Godoy acknowledged there is a perception the Northwest is more friendly to immigrants. "They might imagine that the conditions here would be better than elsewhere," Godoy explained. "In fact, what we're seeing in report after report is that's not the case." Godoy emphasized organizations like La Resistencia, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Washington Immigration Solidarity Network are fighting to improve conditions for people in detention in the region. However, she argued immigration enforcement should be a big issue for everyone in the country. "A lot of inhumanity is occurring and it's occurring on our watch," Godoy added. "This is something that all of us need to be concerned about and taking action to improve."

Springfield conspiracy theories underscore the evolution of GOP rhetoric on immigration

Former President George W. Bush said in 2006 that Americans are "going to have to treat" immigrants with "dignity." In 2012, then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said the country should "grow our economy by growing legal immigration." Former President Donald Trump said in 2019 that he wants "people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally." Party leaders are now singing a different tune. Trump is promoting the false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio -- in the country legally -- are eating their neighbors' pets. Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, has echoed the same rhetoric, saying over the weekend that he'd be willing to "create stories" to get the media to pay more attention to the broader issue of immigration. To be certain, not all Republicans are singing from the same hymnal. But the growing popularity of conspiracy theories surrounding Springfield underscores a years long shift in rhetoric from underscoring compassionate policies to threatening immigrants in the country legally with deportation. MORE: Springfield, Ohio, parents ask Trump and Vance to stop using their child as 'political tool' "I don't think this kind of rhetoric would have ever been accepted other than in the crassest of ranks" in the pre-Trump GOP, said former Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz. "For the good of the party, that kind of rhetoric was really tapped down and made out to be what it was, ludicrous. I think that a lot of the comments that Trump has made have made the rhetoric more and more extreme over time." Yesteryear's GOP was one where Bush emphasized "compassionate conservatism," John McCain, the former Arizona senator and 2008 presidential nominee, was a bipartisan negotiator on immigration and the party determined in an autopsy after Romney's 2012 loss that it needed to have a more welcoming approach to immigration to expand its base. MORE: 'It's a crying shame:' Harris pans 'harmful' attacks on Haitian migrants in NABJ interview Trump turned that thinking on its head in 2015 when he launched his presidential campaign by calling some Mexican immigrants "rapists," vowing to build a border wall and pushing for a ramp up in deportations. Now, the rhetoric surrounding Springfield is more visceral than in the past -- besides the salacious claims of migrants eating their neighbors' pets, the barbs are targeting migrants in the U.S. who have received Temporary Protected Status, a renewable legal status granted to those who could be endangered if returned to their country of origin. Trump has threatened to deport them to Venezuela, which is not where they're from. When asked to explain that evolution, Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican governor of Arkansas who briefly challenged Trump for the Republican nomination and whose lengthy political career spanned five administrations, replied, "most significantly is Trump's leadership." "Trump has redefined the Republican Party, redefined the debate on immigration, and redefined how you communicate on the important issues of the day," he said. "And so, in every question that you're asking, whether you resort to the emotions of fear or thoughtful discussion of the issues, it's all about leaders." Trump has been particularly keyed into voter concerns about immigration. His political rise in 2016 was largely credited to a relentless message about the danger of illegal immigration and calls for a border wall which Mexico would supposedly pay for that found a receptive audience. He has since repeatedly highlighted violent crimes purportedly committed by undocumented immigrants, leading him to tout the threat of "migrant crime" in his speeches. "Immigration is an animating thing for him. It always has been since he first came down the escalator. He believes this is one of those base issues in which not only do we as a party win, but everyone secretly agrees with him," said a former senior Trump administration official. "He has always found these extreme examples and painted a broader brush with them." Republicans also chalked up the transformation to a bubbling over of frustration with the situation at the border, which has seen fewer undocumented crossings in recent months but saw a surge of migrant encounters for much of President Joe Biden's administration. That frustration has made immigration a top polling issue for Republicans -- and, some operatives said, any conversation bringing the election back to that issue is advantageous. "I think part of it comes out of frustration that we've been told for the last four years and even longer, 'Don't believe your lying eyes.' We've been told, 'Oh, there's no issue at the border there.' I mean, there clearly is," said GOP strategist Tricia McLaughlin. "Now we're talking about an issue. I mean, rightly or wrongly framed, we're talking about it, and that's on our turf," she added. Republicans dismissed the distinction about the Haitians in Springfield having legal status. The town, population just over 58,000 in 2022, has grappled with the influx of migrants, with the boom stressing local schools and health infrastructure. The protections Haitians enjoy are temporary but often renewed, leaving little light at the end of the tunnel for the town to be able to catch up with its growth -- and meshing perfectly with Trump's messaging. "They're here legally. OK, then the policy sucks," one Ohio GOP strategist said. "If you can over four years [bring in] 40,000, 45,000 and basically have a 50% increase in population without the accommodating funding for the services, that's bad policy. That policy needs to be changed." "This example in particular is the exact thing that Donald Trump himself worries about, but also the broader party does in that you've got a very small town that has a very large influx of people. That changes life there," the former senior administration official added. "And we can talk about whether it's good, bad, whatever. Objectively, it changes life there. And it's just something that he's always been concerned with." MORE: Why is the Haitian population of Springfield, Ohio, booming? Not every Republican is leaning into the same rhetoric as Trump. Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine insisted that the migrants' employers have told him that "They're very happy to have them there, and frankly, that's helped the economy" while noting that "when you go from a population of 58,000 and add 15,000 people onto that, you're going to have some challenges and some problems." Jessie Wardarski/AP The sun sets behind St. Raphael Catholic church, which holds services in Creole for Haitian immigrants, in Springfield, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Jessie Wardarski/AP Trump's campaign, for its part, is insisting that its messaging aligns with voters' beliefs. "The Democrat Party has shifted from anti-illegal immigration to pro-open borders and amnesty for all. President Trump and the Republican Party stand for common sense and putting Americans first," said campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. Republican critics of the messaging, meanwhile, warned that the current rhetoric about migrants in Springfield and other poses severe risks for the party's longevity. Mike Madrid, a California-based Republican strategist who has been critical of Trump and studied immigration, noted that the state GOP in the Golden State helped message its way into oblivion with hardline policies on abortion and immigration in the 1990s, when the state lost hundreds of thousands of laborers and saw an influx of Latin and Asian immigrants to the Los Angeles area. "What some of the Republican Party learned then was, if you play with this type of racial fire in a time of transformation instead of speaking about ideas and policy solutions, you will relegate yourself to irrelevancy. That is precisely what is happening nationally at this moment," he said. In an ever-changing presidential race and news cycle, it's unclear precisely how much longer Springfield will stay in the national spotlight -- but it has already outlived many other news cycles, leaving Republicans speculating when asked how much the rhetoric around the migrants there will escalate. "I would have never thought we'd be at this point," said Salmon, who saw the immigration debate evolve as a border-state Republican Party chair during the George W. Bush administration and during House stints during the Clinton and Obama administrations. "So, it's hard to say." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Sing v. Garland - filed Sept. 17, 2024

Immigration Law Appellate review of whether an in absentia removal order is subject to recission because of exceptional circumstances was not possible where the Board of Immigration Appeals did not consider the totality of the circumstances presented in the record, and the board did not provide an adequately reasoned decision on the factors it did analyze; the petitioner did not need to substantially comply with the factors set forth in Matter of Lozada for the BIA to consider the involvement of his attorney as one of many occurrences that, together, might constitute exceptional circumstances. Sing v. Garland - filed Sept. 17, 2024 Cite as 2024 S.O.S. 20-70050 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0924//20-70050

Harris campaign launches Hispanic Heritage Month ad blitz targeting Latinos at boxing matches and baseball games

WASHINGTON — The Harris campaign is launching its largest effort yet to reach Latino voters, with new spending on Spanish-language radio and an organizing push around boxing matches and baseball games as National Hispanic Heritage Month kicks off this weekend. The investments come as early voting is set to begin soon in some of the critical battlegrounds that are home to sizable Latino populations, like Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania. ADVERTISING Vice President Kamala Harris will address the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual conference on Wednesday, according to a senior campaign official, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is expected to pitch Latino voters in swing states in the coming weeks. Surrogates will be a part of the travel plan as well, the official said in plans first shared with NBC News. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez will all attend the highly anticipated super middleweight fight between Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga in Las Vegas on Saturday night, a day after former President Donald Trump held a rally in town. Mobile billboards featuring “Luchadora,” an ad aimed at Latino voters that discusses Harris’ work on the border and actions taken against cartels when she was the California state attorney general, will fan out near the venue that evening. Harris remains an unknown entity to skeptical Latino voter focus group 09:47 “Latinos con Harris-Walz” will also hold events in Michigan, with Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., attending a Detroit Tigers Hispanic Heritage tailgate event on Saturday. On Sunday, Chavez Rodriguez will headline a “call-a-thon” that seeks to reach 500,000 voters in 30 days, according to the campaign. “Hispanic Heritage Month is an important moment to celebrate the richness and diversity of Latino communities across the country,” Chavez Rodriguez told NBC News in a statement. “It is also a critical moment for us to leverage, as we continue to reach Latino voters about the stakes of this election, how crucial their vote will be in deciding this race, and defeating Trump and his anti-Latino agenda.” Latino leaders, including Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, will participate in events in Arizona and Pennsylvania, respectively. The Harris campaign is also planning to host gatherings around Mexican Independence Day on Monday, including voter contact events at churches. Beyond in-person events and organizing, the campaign plans to devote $3 million to new ads on Spanish-language radio from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, which is among the largest and “most significant” spending in Hispanic media ever, according to the senior campaign official. Recommended Live Updates Trump 'assassination attempt' live updates: Suspect charged after second apparent plot News Secret Service chief makes remarkable admission: We need a 'paradigm shift' The plan includes engagements with influential radio personalities and will also be tailored to sports-themed shows, with a focus on local baseball, football and soccer team coverage. The Harris campaign is especially focused on reaching undecided Latino voters who may be persuaded by some of Trump’s economic message. Many Hispanic people rely on their close networks of friends and family for information that could affect how they vote, so the Harris team is also working to ramp up its “trusted messengers” program in those communities. Campaign officials said they launched a “Latinos con Harris-Walz” WhatsApp channel last month in an attempt to reach voters who may be consuming misinformation and disinformation on the platform. Harris is favored by Latinos in Spanish-speaking and bilingual households at a higher rate than in English-speaking ones, according to an August poll of eligible Latino voters. Nearly 60% said they would vote for the vice president, compared to 32% for Trump. In English-dominant homes, 51% of respondents supported Harris, while Trump stood at 38%, according to the survey from UnidosUS, the largest Latino advocacy group. The poll was conducted by BSP Research, a Democratic polling firm whose co-founder, Matt Barreto, is a pollster for Harris. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points, and a quarter of respondents took the survey in Spanish. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Trump says he would deport Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, "back to Venezuela"

Former President Donald Trump said Friday that if he becomes president, he will execute large-scale deportations of migrants, beginning in Ohio and Colorado. "We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," he told reporters during a news conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. "And we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora." This vow came on the heels of his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week, when he made the debunked claim about migrants in Springfield that "they're eating the dogs — the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating — they're eating the pets of the people that live there." Although ABC moderator David Muir said the city manager disputed this claim, which was also made by Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, Trump insisted he had seen people saying so on television. After the debate, Trump also shared AI-generated posts that showed pets supporting his presidential candidacy. Speaking at his golf course at a vista above the Pacific Ocean, the Republican presidential nominee said he's going to bring those migrants "back to Venezuela," although most of the migrants in Springfield are Haitian. Thousands of Haitians have moved to the 58,000-person town of Springfield in the last few years, which Ohio's Republican governor says has burdened the local health care infrastructure. But the vast majority of Haitian migrants are in the U.S. legally and are authorized to work. In the last two fiscal years, the U.S. has processed 156,000 Haitian migrants at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection figures. Of those, about 98% of them have been processed at legal entry points, mostly after securing appointments through a U.S. government app to enter the country legally. Thousands of Haitians are in the U.S. legally under two programs: Temporary protected status, or TPS, provides deportation protections and work permits to immigrants from countries experiencing armed conflict, environmental disasters and other humanitarian emergencies. The program does not offer permanent legal status. During the Biden administration, the U.S. also began a new humanitarian parole program for Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Venezuelans that would allow people from these countries to live and work in the U.S. for two years without fear of deportation if they have a sponsor here who would provide them with financial support. The Associated Press notes that after the pandemic, many Haitians moved to Springfield, which suffered a heavy decline in manufacturing in the 1990s, resulting in a shrinking population. But in recent years, the city has seen an uptick in labor demand, and Haitians have helped fill the jobs. Springfield's mayor, police chief and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, all say there have been no credible reports that pets are being stolen and eaten by migrants. Some Springfield government and school buildings were closed Thursday due to bomb threats, according to a city statement. Vance is still casting Springfield as an example of poor immigration policy. "In Springfield, Ohio, there has been a massive rise in communicable diseases, rent prices, car insurance rates, and crime," Vance posted to "X" on Friday. "This is what happens when you drop 20,000 people into a small community. Kamala Harris's immigration policy aims to do this to every town in our country." Gov. DeWine announced new state support for Springfield as it deals with large numbers of Haitian migrants. DeWine's office said the migrants from Haiti have generally had little or no health care services, including vaccinations. The state is dedicating $2.5 million to expanding primary care access for Springfield residents. "I want the people of Springfield and Clark County to know that as we move forward, we will continue to do everything we can to help the community deal with this surge of migrants," DeWine said. "The federal government has not demonstrated that they have any kind of plan to deal with the issue. We will not walk away." Mr. Biden on Friday blasted the rhetoric from Trump and other Republicans about Haitians in the U.S. during an event honoring Black excellence at the White House. He referred to Haitians in Springfield as "a community that's under attack in our country right now. It's simply wrong." Mr. Biden said of Trump, "This has to stop, what he's doing. It has to stop." Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report. Immigration Eliana, 22, a migrant from Venezuela, holds her daughter Crismarlees, 3, while being denied entry after attempting to cross through concertina wire on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande on March 26, 2024, in El Paso, Texas. States ramp up efforts to enact stricter immigration laws, group finds US-VOTE-POLITICS-CONVENTION-REPUBLICANS Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine pushes back on fake migrant story shared by Trump Migrants wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico on June 14, 2024, in Jacumba Hot Springs, California. Biden administration weighs making it harder to end asylum crackdown 1725203393087.png "Deportations are 24/7": Migrants are quickly returned to Mexico More In: Haiti Migrants Kathryn Watson Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Florida hospitals ask immigrants about their legal status. Texas will try it next

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — For three days, the staff of an Orlando medical clinic encouraged a woman with abdominal pain who called the triage line to go to the hospital. She resisted, scared of a 2023 Florida law that required hospitals to ask whether a patient was in the U.S. with legal permission. The clinic had worked hard to explain the limits of the law, which was part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ sweeping package of tighter immigration policies. The clinic posted signs and counseled patients: They could decline to answer the question and still receive care. Individual, identifying information wouldn’t be reported to the state. “We tried to explain this again and again and again, but the fear was real,” Grace Medical Home CEO Stephanie Garris said, adding the woman finally did go to an emergency room for treatment. Texas will be the next to try a similar law for hospitals enrolled in state health plans, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It takes effect Nov. 1 — just before the end of a presidential election in which immigration is a key topic. Advertisement “Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants,” Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement announcing his mandate, which differs from Florida’s in that providers don’t have to tell patients their status won’t be shared with authorities. Related Stories Proposed law pushes for tougher migrant detention following Texas girl's killing Proposed law pushes for tougher migrant detention following Texas girl's killing 15 states sue to block Biden's effort to help migrants in US illegally get health coverage 15 states sue to block Biden's effort to help migrants in US illegally get health coverage California lawmakers pass bill that could make undocumented immigrants eligible for home loans California lawmakers pass bill that could make undocumented immigrants eligible for home loans Both states have high numbers of immigrants, ranging from people who are in the U.S. without legal permission to people who have pending asylum cases or are part of mixed-status families. And while the medically uninsured rate in these two states — neither of which have expanded Medicaid — are higher than the national average, research has shown immigrants tend to use less and spend less on health care. Texas and Florida have a long history of challenging the federal government’s immigration policies by passing their own. And their Republican leaders say the hospital laws counter what they see as lax enforcement at the border by the Biden administration — though Florida’s early data is, by its own admission, limited. Advertisement Florida GOP state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, who sponsored the hospital bill, said in a written statement that the law is “the strongest, and most comprehensive state-led, anti-ILLEGAL immigration law,” but did not respond to The Associated Press’ questions about the impact of the law on the immigrant community or on hospital patients. Luis Isea, an internal medicine doctor with patients in hospitals and clinics in central Florida, said the law “is creating that extra barrier” for patients who are already exposed to many disparities. Immigrant advocate groups in Florida said they sent thousands of text messages and emails and held clinics to help people understand the limitations of the law — including that law enforcement agencies wouldn’t know an individual’s status because the data would be reported in aggregate. But many outreach calls from health workers went unanswered. Some patients said they were leaving Florida, as a result of the law’s impact on getting health care and on employment; the DeSantis’ administration tied the hospital mandate to other initiatives that invalidated some driver’s licenses, criminalized transportation of migrants lacking permanent status and changed employment verification policies. Advertisement Others, advocates say, languished in pain or needed to be persuaded. Verónica Robleto, program director at the Rural Women’s Health Project in north central Florida, fielded a call before the law took effect in July 2023 from a young woman who didn’t have legal permission to be in the U.S. and was afraid she would be separated from her child if she gave birth at the hospital. “She was very afraid (but) she did end up going after speaking with me,” Robleto said. Whatever data Florida and Texas do collect likely will be unreliable for several reasons, researchers suggested. Health economist Paul Keckley said the report released by Florida state officials could have “incomplete or inaccurate or misleading” data. For one, it’s self-reported. Anyone can decline to answer, an option chosen by nearly 8% of people admitted to the hospital and about 7% of people who went to the emergency room from June to December 2023, the Florida state report said. Fewer than 1% of people who went to the emergency room or were admitted to the hospital reported being in the U.S. “illegally.” The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration acknowledged large limitations in their analysis, saying it didn’t know how much of the care provided to “illegal aliens” went unpaid. It also said it was unable to link high levels of uncompensated care with the level of “illegal aliens” coming to a hospital, saying it’s “more associated with rural county status than illegal immigration percentages.” Advertisement The agency didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment and more information. Its report noted that for much of the last decade, the amount of unpaid bills and uncollected debts held by Florida hospitals has declined. In Florida and in Texas, people who aren’t in the U.S. legally can’t enroll in Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income people — except in the case of a medical emergency. Multiple factors can affect the cost of care for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission, experts said, especially the lack of preventive care. That’s especially true for people who have progressive diseases like cancer, said Dr. James W. Castillo II, the health authority for Cameron County, Texas, which has about 22% of the population uninsured compared to the state average of 16.6%. At that point, he said, “it’s usually much harder to treat, much more expensive to treat.” Texas community groups, policymakers and immigration attorneys are partnering with Every Texan, a nonprofit focusing on public policy and health care access, to encourage people to not answer the status question, said Lynn Cowles with Every Texan. And in Florida, the deportation fears are subsiding but questions about the purpose of the law remain. “How much of this is substantive policy and good policy versus how that fared, I leave that for others to speculate,” said Garris with the Orlando clinic. “But I know the practical effect of the law was egregious and demeaning to patients who are living here, working here. It’s just insulting.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Lopez v. Garland - filed Sept. 11, 2024

Immigration Law The Board of Immigration Appeals’ determination that a theft offense constitutes a crime involving moral turpitude if it includes an intent to deprive either permanently or under circumstances where the owner’s property rights are substantially eroded is entitled to due respect but not binding deference. The lack of availability of a pardon for a conviction does not render the conviction an improper basis for removal. Lopez v. Garland - filed Sept. 11, 2024 Cite as 2024 S.O.S. 23-870 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0924//23-870

California Service Center Relocates

On Aug. 12, the California Service Center (CSC) moved to a new facility as USCIS centralizes processing for immigration benefits. The new address is: USCIS California Service Center 2642 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780 The CSC has three new P.O. boxes to intake U.S. Postal Service mail while UPS, FedEx, DHL, and all other commercial carrier mail will go to CSC’s new facility address. Individuals should refer to form filing address and contact pages on uscis.gov in the coming days to find the specific address information depending on the form or correspondence type being submitted. The previous mailing address for the CSC was WS 13057 P.O. Box 10751, Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-1075. We will continue to accept mail at this address until Sept. 30, 2024. After Sept 30, there will be a two-week grace period, during which time any mail received at the Laguna Niguel P.O. box will be forwarded to the Tustin P.O. box. Beginning Oct. 15, 2024, all mail received at the Laguna Niguel P.O. box will be returned as “Return to Sender.” Individuals responding to USCIS correspondence issued on or before Aug. 12, 2024, such as a Request for Evidence, Notice of Intent to Deny, or Notice of Intent to Revoke, should mail their responses to: USCIS CSC P.O. Box 30113/ALL OTHER Tustin, CA 92781 On Sept. 1, 2024, we changed the filing location for Form I-865, Sponsor’s Notice Change of Address, to the Texas Service Center address below: USCIS TSC Attn: I-865 6046 N. Belt Line Road, Suite 865 Irving, TX 75038-0021. There is a 60-day grace period for filings mailed to the California, Nebraska, or Vermont Service Center. These centers will reject any filing postmarked after Nov. 1, 2024. The reason for this change is to support the service centers’ ongoing efforts to increase efficiency and centralize the intake and digitization of forms. The CSC also has a new filing address for paper inquiries related to Form I-751 waivers based on battery or extreme cruelty. These inquiries will now be mailed to the addresses below: U.S. Postal Service: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services California Service Center P.O. Box 30113 / ALL OTHER Tustin, CA 92781 FedEx, UPS, and DHL Deliveries: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services California Service Center 2642 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780 As a reminder, service centers do not provide in-person services, conduct interviews, or receive walk-in applications, petitions, or questions. They work only on certain applications or petitions that applicants have mailed, filed online, or filed with a USCIS Lockbox. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Republicans use spending clash to highlight immigration issue

House Republicans are using this month’s government funding showdown to spotlight an immigration issue that can fuel their criticisms of Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic lawmakers ahead of the November elections. In a draft measure released Friday to keep the government funded after Sept. 30, the House included the text of another bill, dubbed the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and require states to remove noncitizens from their official lists of eligible voters. The Biden administration and Democrats oppose that noncitizen voting bill and are expected to try to block the measure from becoming law, in part because it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. But the bill dovetails into broader election arguments from Republican lawmakers and Trump that their party will be stronger on immigration and border security, as well as claims made without evidence that Harris and Democrats are seeking to get votes from immigrants without legal status. “Americans overwhelmingly agree that noncitizens shouldn’t vote,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on social media Friday in support of the House push to attach it to the spending bill. “Although existing law nominally prohibits them from voting in federal elections, noncitizens can easily register to vote — just by checking a box on a form while applying for a driver’s license,” Lee wrote. Elon Musk is among voices who have echoed claims that Democrats are seeking to bring in migrants with the plan of having them vote, while other Republicans have taken legal action to have noncitizens removed from voter rolls. A House vote in July on the SAVE Act showed that the issue could cause some swing-district Democrats to peel away from their party. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Donald Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez of Washington joined Republicans to pass the measure on a 221-198 vote. And, earlier, seven Democrats joined Republicans in voting for a resolution that chastised Harris on the Biden administration’s immigration record. Campaign and courts The issue is already hot on the campaign trail and in the election fight. America First Legal, which is led by former Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller, announced on Wednesday his legal firm filed an amended lawsuit broadening existing litigation to target 15 counties in Arizona — including Maricopa, the state’s largest county — for failing to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Bexar County over its plan to mail out hundreds of thousands of resident voter registration forms, citing the lack of authority to send unsolicited forms and the estimated 6,500 noncitizens removed from state voter rolls since 2021. Trump said he “absolutely” would support the idea of attaching the SAVE Act to must-pass spending legislation, when asked if that were the case by Monica Crowley of Fox News during her podcast on Aug. 29, although Trump said he wouldn’t stop there. Under questioning about Congress’ approach to the continuing resolution, Trump said Republicans should pursue a broader strategy that includes paper ballots as well as another Republican border security bill that takes a hard-line approach to immigration. “The SAVE Act is just one element,” Trump said. “They ought to go into a whole thing where you want to have borders, they ought to focus on borders. You know, the House bill that was passed, that’s the real bill that should be passed. But they get on the original one, and not this horrible one that was foisted upon us by some people that had a bad day, but they ought to focus on borders and elections.” Asked if he would support a government shutdown if the SAVE Act weren’t part of the continuing resolution, Trump said he’d “shut down the government in a heartbeat,” criticizing Democrats for overspending. The Biden administration has also come out against the voting measure, which helps Republicans connect the issue to Harris if it does not get signed into law. “This bill would do nothing to safeguard our elections, but it would make it much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from voter rolls,” a statement of administrative policy said. “The evidence is clear that the current laws to prevent noncitizen voting are working as intended — it is extraordinarily rare for noncitizens to break the law by voting in Federal elections.” Instead, the Biden administration said Republicans who want to do something about illegal immigration and border security should vote on the border deal that Biden negotiated with a bipartisan group of senators. Harris has pointed to that same deal as immigration measures she would seek to sign into law if elected. The issue could come up during the debate with Trump on Sept. 10, which would coincide with legislative activity on the continuing resolution in Congress. Lawmaker debate House Republicans are framing the SAVE Act as essential to election integrity and needed to prevent states from allowing noncitizens to vote at a time when the Biden administration has been blamed for mass illegal immigration into the country. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said during floor debate in July the evidence noncitizens are on the voting rolls presents a danger to the electorate at a time when the outcome of the 2024 election is expected to be close. “Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a legal American citizen,” Steil said. “Illegal voting risks swaying elections. Ensuring our laws are being enforced to prevent noncitizen voting is critical. Some will say that illegal voting is already illegal for noncitizens, but it is also illegal to evade the Border Patrol and enter our country illegally. Yet, that hasn’t stopped almost anyone.” Steil pointed to statistics that Illinois removed almost 600 noncitizens from its voter rolls and a Georgia audit that recently determined more than 1,600 noncitizens had attempted to register. In Pennsylvania, a state that may well determine the outcome of the 2024 election, Steil said almost 10,000 noncitizens were removed from their rolls. In August, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he had signed an executive order that streamlined the voter rolls in his state, an effort he said included the removal of more than 6,300 noncitizens from registration. According to a report by NBC News, local election officials in Virginia said the presence of noncitizens on the voter rolls could be the result of “errors made when people fill out paper or online forms or when they respond to a question about citizenship on a touchpad device at the department of motor vehicles.” Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., said during the floor debate in July the requirements for additional documentation to register to vote under the SAVE Act would block certain Republican constituencies as well as Democrats exercising the right to vote. “Let’s be very clear: What is a voter supposed to do if they don’t have a passport?” Morelle said. “What if their Real ID, like almost every American, does not show citizenship status? The SAVE Act will not allow them to register, especially millions upon millions of American women, students, servicemembers, Native voters and many more.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.