🚨The Biden administration just released its Interagency Strategy on Naturalization, a whole-of-government effort to remove obstacles facing immigrants eligible for US citizenship.

Full plan from @USCIS here:
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uscis.gov/promotingnatur… @USCIS I. Outreach: Marshaling agencies like @USDA @SocialSecurity @DeptVetAffairs & @TheJusticeDept, plus state & local govts, to notify immigrants when they're eligible to apply for citizenship.

There's a lot more detail about this "Naturalization Working Group" (NWG), including:

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What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with naturalization ceremonies across the country?

Immigrants from all over the world will take the oath of allegiance to become US citizens, including in a White House ceremony today with @POTUS.

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uscis.gov/news/news-rele… The agency responsible for naturalization, @USCIS, is methodically removing barriers to US citizenship for eligible immigrants, including oath ceremonies by video for overseas US military families. An important step in the right direction...

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uscis.gov/news/all-news/…

President Biden's immigration bill includes not only a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, smart border policies, & humane treatment of refugees—it also promises major & long-overdue improvements to our skills-based immigration system...

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cnbc.com/2021/02/18/imm… Let's start with the broken status quo: Lots of talented people want to be in the US—not as temporary workers, but as permanent residents with green cards, & ultimately US citizens.

But there aren't enough employment-based green cards.

The official cap is 140,000/year, but…
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America welcomes ~1 million new permanent residents each year.

But our annual green card caps haven't changed since 1990, even as US population grew 30% & real GDP doubled.

How much *should* annual immigration go up?

@NatImmForum has a number: 37%

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immigrationforum.org/article/room-t… The argument is rooted in demographics: America's "Old Age Dependency Ratio" (# working-age vs. retirement-age adults) is plummeting, which is very bad news for future economic growth, Social Security solvency, etc.

To stay at par (3.5 ratio) by 2060, we need more immigrants.
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President Biden just signed an executive order on "rebuilding & enhancing" U.S. refugee programs.

Let's pause for a moment, and pray for the return of a day when the following statement of policy is no longer the least bit controversial:

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whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/… For expert commentary on the impact of this order, see @IRAP @RCUSA_DC @RESCUEorg @HIASrefugees @LIRSorg & many more groups that have done the hard work of protecting refugees during the dark recent times.

I just want to point out some elements for the tech community...

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Trump's DHS rushed out a final rule on 1/8/21 to restrict H-1B visas to only the highest-paid workers.

Biden's DHS, today: There's no time to do this by Trump's 3/9 deadline. New deadline is 12/31.

So this year's H-1B lottery will be the usual.

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federalregister.gov/public-inspect… How does DHS justify delaying the effective date without notice & comment?

"USCIS will not have adequate time to complete system development, thoroughly test the modifications, train staff,
& conduct public outreach needed to ensure an effective & orderly implementation."

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🎉First official details of the immigration bill Joe Biden is sending to Congress today, & the name speaks volumes:

The U.S. Citizenship Act

Let's look at 5 pillars:

*Legalization
*Border
*Humanitarian
*Labor protections
*Legal immigration

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buildbackbetter.gov/press-releases… Long-overdue naturalization & integration of undocumented Americans:

*Dreamers, TPS holders, & farmworkers eligible for green cards immediately

*Others get status immediately, then green cards 5 years later

*After 3 years with such green cards, eligible for US citizenship

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Joe Biden will present Congress with an immigration reform bill on his first day in office—Wednesday!—including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, immediate green cards for DACA & TPS holders, & more...

via @seungminkim:
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washingtonpost.com/politics/biden… Legal immigration items newly reported:
*Recapturing unused green cards
*Work permits for spouses & children of H-1B workers

Prior promises by candidate Biden:
* No green card caps for STEM PhD grads
* No caps on spouses & children of permanent residents
* No country caps

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It's no surprise that Joe Biden plans to begin his administration with a flurry of executive actions—that's what presidents tend to do as leaders of the Executive Branch.

"Executive action" isn't the same as "executive fiat" or "executive overreach."
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https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1350548110896984064

In the end, "executive overreach" is whatever the courts find to be outside the authorities granted to the Executive Branch by Congress or the Constitution.

But in the beginning, as a policy takes shape, you could say that executive overreach is a state of mind.

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If Dems control the Senate, then the Congressional Review Act (CRA) suddenly snaps into major relevance as a blunt instrument to eliminate Trump-era rules—at least from the past 6 months or so.

The details are complex, but @CRS4Congress has an FAQ!
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fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R… The CRA lets Congress take a simple majority vote on eliminating most any rule from the past 60 "days of continuous session"—when you include recess days, that ends up being several months.

Here's the @USGAO database of duly delivered rules:
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gao.gov/legal/other-le…

Here's a thoughtful—& therefore damning—analysis of the Trump administration's 11th-hour changes to the civics exam for aspiring US citizens.

Steven Lubet of @NorthwesternLaw susses out some truly fatal flaws beyond those widely reported already.

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politico.com/news/magazine/… Here's an error worthy of Encyclopedia Brown: The Federalist Papers came *after* the Constitution was written, so this shouldn't be an acceptable answer.

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🚨DHS just changed the policy manual for @USCIS officers, making it much more difficult & confusing to get a green card (and ultimately US citizenship).

Let's dive into what is changing, & then why this is happening now...

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uscis.gov/news/alerts/us… Bottom line: USCIS officers are being ordered to exercise their "discretion" to deny a lot more green card applications.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because USCIS made similar moves in July regarding work permit applications:

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https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1283475176227831811

🚨Surprise! The Trump admin just released a new civics test that all aspiring US citizens must pass if applying after Dec 1.

Quoth DHS: "offering a fair test...is of upmost [sic] importance to our agency."

Let's look at what's changing...

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uscis.gov/news/news-rele… Superficially, the 60% threshold for correct answers is the same.

But studying the new 128 (more complicated) questions will be harder than studying the old 100 (more straightforward) questions.

And scoring 12/20 will be harder than scoring 6/10.

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uscis.gov/citizenship-re…

🚨On Trump's way out, expect yet another barrier to immigrants becoming US citizens: @priscialva reports a plan to double the number of questions on the civics test, from 10-->20, & (apparently) make them considerably harder.

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cnn.com/2020/11/10/pol… First of all, the civics questions for US citizenship are already pretty hard—see for yourself!

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nytimes.com/interactive/20…

At last! Instead of poring over Trump's regulatory agenda for new outrages, I present to you an overview of how the Biden administration can reverse it all.

Trump has made >400 changes to the immigration system without Congress, per @MigrationPolicy.

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migrationpolicy.org/research/us-im… All of these changes are "executive actions." That's a catch-all term for anything done by the executive branch, including:

*Executive Orders (a specific kind of White House doc)
*Regulations
*Policy memos
*Other subregulatory actions

Some are easy to rescind; others not.

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🚨DHS just released yet another proposed rule intended to restrict access to permanent residency (green cards) for hundreds of thousands of family-based immigrants each year.

Trump's team will race to finalize this before Jan 20, if he loses.

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federalregister.gov/documents/2020… Most immigrants are already required to have a financial sponsor (eg a close relative) who shows income >125% of the federal poverty line & promises to pay back the gov't if the immigrant uses public benefits.

More on this "Affidavit of Support":
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boundless.com/immigration-re…

Heads up! The Labor Dept is about to publish an Interim Final Rule: "Restructuring of H-1B/H-1B1/E-3 and PERM Wage Levels."

It was received by OIRA on 9/16, & will presumably be cleared & published very soon.

What will it do? We have some clues...
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reginfo.gov/public/do/eoRe… In a June 22 proclamation, Trump banned most new temporary workers from entering the US—& included a preview of more regs to come.

DOL was tasked with this upcoming rule. It might make above-average salaries mandatory for H-1Bs & some green cards.
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whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…

It's bad enough DHS just proposed to put a strict 4-year expiration date on most student visas, with major hurdles against getting an extension.

What about PhDs?

DHS notes that most int'l students are undergrads & master's students, & literally relegates PhDs to a footnote.

1/ If only another federal agency had detailed data on PhDs that DHS could've easily consulted...

Oh, hey @NSF! What's that you say? There are >17,000 int'l PhD grads in the US each year, who spent on avg >8 years to earn their doctorates?

Cool, cool.
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ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf20301/…

Today DHS unveiled a regulatory plan to severely restrict international students & exchange visitors, by making it difficult for them to stay in the US for their full duration of study.

Let's dive into this latest thicket of useless red tape...
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federalregister.gov/documents/2020… Status quo: Your student visa lasts until you've finished your studies; there's no hard expiration date.

Proposed rule: Most students on an F-1 visa would have a hard 4-year expiration date—only 2 years for language training—with limited ability to apply for an extension.

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.@camiloreports does an exemplary job contextualizing the ugly history of the DHS #PublicCharge rule, including its origins for "banning Chinese immigrants under the premise that they 'endangered the good order' of certain American communities."

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https://twitter.com/camiloreports/status/1308439716107255808

Just as predictably, @HomelandKen lies about the effect the Trump administration's #PublicCharge rule would have had on his own Italian immigrant ancestors. In fact, they almost certainly would have been turned away...

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Reporting from @disolis @dallasnews on the disenfranchisement of new Americans in greater Dallas.

My overview:
“At best, this is egregious indifference to ensuring that new Americans have the right to vote. At worst, it is intentional.”

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dallasnews.com/news/politics/… @SarahPierceEsq correctly emphasizes that if DHS is serious about naturalization, they should administer the oath of citizenship right after the interview, instead of imposing a months-long delay.

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