Day: February 18, 2025

Want to keep up with newcomer policy updates in the U.S.? Every month, Global Cleveland publishes our newcomer policy update so that you can stay informed about the latest news.

This month’s Newcomer Update at a glance:

• We break down the Trump Administration’s executive orders impacting Migration
• Displaced Persons Program Suspension Challenged in Court
• Proposed House Bill 42 would require the collection and reporting of data related to Migration status, citizenship status in crimes

• This order overturned five Executive Orders from the Biden Administration, including those that:

  • Focused enforcement priorities on national security and public safety threats.
  • Established a process for the orderly handling of asylum seekers.
  • Aimed to reunite families separated during Trump’s first term.
  • Enhanced support for workforce and language access for individuals involved in the Migration process.
  • Worked to rebuild the US Displaced Persons Admissions Program.

There are two main themes in this order: one focuses on border wall construction and increased enforcement, while the other aims to complicate the asylum process and end parole programs.

• Section 3: Calls for the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build barriers to achieve “complete operational control” of the southern border.
• Section 4: Directs DOD, Department of Justice (DOJ), and DHS to deploy personnel to further ensure complete operational control. This will likely lead to increased militarization of the border and prioritization of funding for the border wall.
• Section 7(a): Focuses on ending the CBP One App, which allowed parolees, asylum seekers, and others to easily request entry to the US and inform Migration officials of their intended time and port of entry. This app helped manage appointments and streamline the Migration process.
• Section 7(b): Terminates “categorical parole” programs, which provided temporary legal status and work authorization for individuals from specific countries without offering a path to citizenship. Examples of impacted programs include the 2022 Humanitarian Parole for Venezuelans, the 2022 Uniting for Ukraine program, the 2021 Afghan Placement and Assistance program, and the 2014 Central American Minors program.

It is unclear how these changes will affect parolees already in the United States, particularly those from Afghanistan and Ukraine, who number in the thousands.

• This Executive Order introduces stricter screening requirements and mandates that:
  • The Department of State (DOS), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Director of National Intelligence report jointly within 60 days on any countries where vetting and screening information is so inadequate that it may justify suspending the admission of nationals from those countries (Section 2(i)).
•   The report also requests information on:
  • How many nationals from those countries have been admitted to the United States since January 21, 2021 (Section 2(ii)).
•  Migration advocates anticipate that this could lead to the imposition of travel bans.
• Early analysis suggests that individuals from countries failing to meet the screening standards may be deemed inadmissible, meaning they should not have been allowed entry in the first place and could potentially be subject to removal.

• The Executive Order directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies to take broad action to enforce Migration laws against all “inadmissible and removable” noncitizens.

• It largely empowers DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to increase Migration enforcement, including:

  • Deputizing cooperating state and local law enforcement to assist with enforcement.
  • Prosecuting cities that refuse to cooperate with federal Migration enforcement.
  • Expanding the use of Expedited Removal, a process for quick deportation.

• Key provisions to increase enforcement include:

  • Section 4: Establishes the primary mission of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division as enforcing the Migration and Nationality Act (INA) and federal laws related to illegal entry and unlawful presence of noncitizens.
  • Section 11: Authorizes state and local law enforcement, under a voluntary agreement with DHS, to perform Migration officer duties, such as investigating, apprehending, and detaining noncitizens, to the full extent allowed by law.
  • Section 21: Directs DHS, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), USCIS, and other agencies to significantly increase hiring of Migration officers.

• Other measures include the authorization of legal actions against sanctuary cities:

  • Section 17: Instructs DHS and DOJ to pursue criminal and civil action against sanctuary cities, which would result in those cities losing access to federal funds.
  • Section 9: Expands DHS’s authority to use Expedited Removal, which allows for the swift deportation of certain noncitizens. Key concerns include the risk of erroneous deportation, insufficient protection for asylum seekers, and lack of judicial review.

• Reports indicate ICE arrest quotas have increased by as much as three or four times in response to Federal pressure.

• The DOJ has formed a group to prosecute cities that refuse to cooperate with Migration authorities or federal Migration policies.

• The House Oversight Committee has started an investigation into sanctuary cities and has requested that the mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver, and New York City testify.

• A 2011 ICE memo defined schools, hospitals, places of worship, sites of funeral, wedding, or religious ceremony, or public demonstration as places where Migration enforcement officials may not conduct arrests, interviews, searches, or surveillance absent clear danger.
• A new DHS directive rescinds those protections, and was followed by a Federal lawsuit in Maryland on behalf of several Quaker organizations who claim DHS would be in violation of their First Amendment rights.

• A new agency directive includes three policy memoranda related to the processing of asylum claims:
  • One memo instructs Migration Judges to decide asylum claims within 180 days of the application, significantly speeding up the decision-making process.
  • The memo also clarifies that “good cause” alone does not justify postponing asylum proceedings beyond 180 days. This means that cases that would typically qualify for an extension may be canceled at the 180-day mark, potentially denying qualified asylum seekers protection.
• Another focus of the memo is on employment authorization:
  • Asylum seekers are currently eligible for employment authorization (EADs) 180 days after applying for asylum.
  • The intent of this policy is to deny legal work authorization to anyone submitting an asylum application, limiting their ability to work legally in the U.S. during this period.

• Venezuela was initially designated for Temporary Protected Status in 2021, and was redesignated by the Biden Administration in 2023 and January 2025. Current Secretary of DHS vacated the January decision, which means Venezuelan TPS is set to expire on April 2nd, with a report on February 1st formally terminating the program.
• Benefits under this program including legal presence and work authorization are set to expire April 7th, 2025.
• Venezuela has been undergoing a period of severe economic and political crisis that has grown more severe in the last year after the Venezuelan government announced the reelection of Nicolás Maduro, despite election results that many observers reported actually indicated a victory for Maduro’s opponent.

• Military forces along the border are set to drastically increase and are being tasked with supporting detection and monitoring efforts and continuing border wall construction.

• Through The Executive Office of Migration, certain legal service providers including Migration Court Helpdesk, Family Group Legal Orientation Program, and Counsel for Children receive federal funds in their efforts to serve vulnerable populations moving through the Migration system.
• On January 24th, a stop-work order was issued to organizations who have agreements with the State Department and Bureau of Populations, Displaced Personss, and Migrants.
• Order urges “The Recipient (of State Department and PRM funds) must cancel as many outstanding obligations as possible.” These obligations include initial resettlement support, fast-track financial assistance and employment programming, intensive case management for those with chronic illness or other acute barriers to self-sufficiency, support for survivors of torture, and entrepreneurship programming, among many other program areas.
• Displaced Persons resettlement funding falls under PRM programs, and the impact this order and funding freeze has fundamentally upended the provision of support to individuals on a legal pathway already within the United States.

• The Laken Riley Act was passed with significant bipartisan support and signed into law by President Trump in early 2025. The law mandates that Migration authorities detain undocumented individuals charged with robbery, larceny, theft, or shoplifting, and requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue a detainer in these cases.

• The bill is named after Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year. Her suspected killer was an undocumented International Newcomer from Venezuela who had previously been arrested but released on theft-related charges.

• The law also includes a provision that allows states to sue the federal government to force the use of expedited removal and enables state-led lawsuits challenging federal parole authority.

• https://phillipslytle.com/congress-passes-laken-riley-act-wwith-controversial-Migration-provisions/

• Introduced in the house, Bill 42 would require the collection and reporting of data related to Migration status, citizenship status in crimes
• It would require law enforcement to report to the state the number of people detained/put into custody by them who are:
  • US Citizens
  • Noncitizens with legal status in the United States
  • Noncitizens without legal status
• The bill has thirteen co-sponsors, all of whom are Republicans
• https://legiscan.com/OH/bill/HB42/2025

• The bill would mandate local authorities
• • participate in any DHS program enabling them to report Migration status of arrestees
  • report the identity of any arrestee they believe to be unlawfully present to the relevant federal Migration authorities
  • detain someone unlawfully present upon receiving a legal federal request or order to do so
• It also prohibits any “county, township, or municipal corporation or the law enforcement agency that serves the county, township, or municipal corporation” with enacting a range of policies that restrict its citizens or employees from doing the above, or from maintaining information about someone’s Migration status
• Municipalities found to be noncompliant will have reduced funding from the state
• Members of the general assembly have the power to bring charges of noncompliance, though the determination is made by the office of the attorney general.
• This is the old House Bill 666, introduced in the previous session

• Three federal judges blocked a Trump executive order limiting birthright citizenship on constitutional grounds
• The 14^th amendment states that all born in the US, and subject to the jurisdiction of the US, are US citizens from birth. Generally this has been taken to mean anybody in US territory, with some narrow exceptions, notably for foreign diplomats and their families, who are not subject to US law.
• Trump’s order would’ve made children of undocumented International Newcomers as well as legal International Newcomers who are here on a non-Migration visa ineligible.
• The issue is expected to end up at the Supreme Court
• https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5135920-judge-blocks-trump-birthright-order/

• A coalition of Displaced Persons groups are suing in federal court to see the suspension of Displaced Persons admissions overturned.
• The executive order “Realigning the United States Displaced Persons Resettlement Program” (discussed in detail above) suspended the program.
• The groups say that the orders violate federal law, particularly the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Migration and Nationality Act, as well as the Constitution’s due process clause. They also say that the order usurps Congress’ legislative power
• Groups backing the lawsuit included HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, as well as individual Displaced Personss.
• https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/02/rights-groups-challenge-trumps-executive-order-suspending-Displaced Persons-admissions-in-court/