March 4, 2022 WASHINGTON - On March 3, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas designated Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS allows foreign nationals to remain and work in the United States during a period in which it is deemed unsafe for them to return to their home country. In response to this designation [...]
February 7, 2022 WASHINGTON - The International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking will be observed on February 8, the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita. The event is designated by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development as a time of remembrance for victims and survivors of labor and sex trafficking. [...]
December 21, 2021 WASHINGTON—As another year concludes without enactment of meaningful immigration reform, Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, issued the following statement: “As an essential component of any immigration reform, we have long urged Congress and the President to [...]
December 3, 2021 WASHINGTON - On December 2, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico,” would restart the week of December 6. This announcement follows an agreement reached between the United States and Mexico to reimplement the program with certain modifications. In [...]
November 2, 2021 WASHINGTON - On October 29, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a new memorandum terminating the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico.” Secretary Mayorkas previously issued a memorandum to end the program, but a federal district court vacated that decision and ordered DHS to reimplement [...]
October 11, 2021 WASHINGTON—On October 8, the Biden Administration announced a Fiscal Year 2022 Presidential Determination (PD) of 125,000 refugees for resettlement through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). This is the highest PD since 1993 and follows four consecutive years of historic lows. During the previous fiscal year, which ended on September 30, [...]
September 22, 2021 WASHINGTON—Over the last several weeks, there has been a substantial increase in the number of migrants present in the Del Rio Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, roughly 145 miles west of San Antonio. The majority of these individuals are Haitian nationals, many of whom have been living in or traveling through Latin [...]
September 20, 2021 WASHINGTON— National Migration Week 2021 starts today and will conclude on September 26 in solidarity with the Holy See’s observation of the World Day for Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) on September 26. The theme for this year’s WDMR is “Towards an Ever Wider ‘We’,” which Pope Francis drew from his encyclical Fratelli tutti. He [...]
September 15, 2021 WASHINGTON—On September 13, 2021, the House Committee on the Judiciary approved language to be included in the forthcoming budget reconciliation bill that, if enacted, would provide legalization with a pathway to citizenship for millions of Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) beneficiaries, undocumented agricultural workers, and other [...]
August 17, 2021 WASHINGTON—A widespread humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Afghanistan, with the Taliban swiftly seizing control of the capital on August 15. Thousands of people who have worked as interpreters, translators, and in other capacities alongside the United States military over the past twenty years, including Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants, find themselves and [...]