Statements

August 12, 2021 WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the U.S. Senate agreed to S. Con. Res. 14, setting forth the budget for the United States government for Fiscal Year 2022 and providing budget reconciliation instructions to various committees of Congress. Included among the instructions is funding for the Committee on the Judiciary, in part, to provide “lawful permanent status [...]

August 7, 2021   WASHINGTON - Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will be placing certain migrant families in expedited removal proceedings, a process whereby immigration officers can quickly, and absent a hearing, deport noncitizens suspected of recently entering the United States without inspection. While Congress did not intend [...]

July 30, 2021   WASHINGTON—Since 2001, the United States has been involved in Afghanistan, and later Iraq, in military and a nation-building capacities. During that time, Afghan and Iraqi nationals have assisted U.S. troops, diplomats, and government humanitarian personnel in the region by providing translation, interpretation, security, transportation, and other vital services, often at great [...]

July 19, 2021 WASHINGTON—On July 16, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to be unlawful. DACA allows certain undocumented individuals brought to the United States as children—known as Dreamers—to remain in the country. DACA provides temporary protection from deportation and grants work [...]

June 24, 2021 WASHINGTON—On June 21, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States dismissed Mayorkas v. Innovation Law Lab and ordered that the lower court’s judgement be vacated as moot. Additionally, the Court denied a motion to intervene filed by the States of Texas, Missouri, and Arizona. The case challenged the legality of the [...]

June 18, 2021   WASHINGTON— For the last twenty years, World Refugee Day (June 20) has been observed annually in the United States and around the world\ to increase awareness of the plight of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. The United States has resettled an all-time low number of refugees during the last three [...]

June 15, 2021 WASHINGTON—Today marks nine years since Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was created. DACA allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children—known as Dreamers—to remain in the country, subject to several requirements. DACA does not provide legal status, nor does it create a pathway to citizenship, but it does [...]

May 24, 2021 WASHINGTON—On May 22, the Biden Administration announced that it would redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS allows foreign nationals to remainand work in the U.S. during a period in which it is deemed unsafe for them to return to their home country. Saturday’sannouncement is valid for a period of eighteen [...]

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the Biden Administration announced that it will increase the number of refugees who can be resettled in the United States during the current fiscal year to 62,500. In response to Monday’s announcement, Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, issued [...]

April 19, 2021 WASHINGTON— The Biden Administration announced Friday afternoon that it will not increase the historically low number of refugees who can be resettled in the United States for the current fiscal year. However, it will restore the long-time practice of allocating refugees from every region of the world, thus opening resettlement to some [...]