Latest news with #CitizenshipandImmigrationServices
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump records welcome message for new citizens: ‘You have such great wisdom'
A new video message from President Trump will be played at naturalization ceremonies to welcome new U.S. citizens, Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week as protests against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown spread. 'You have such great wisdom,' Trump says in the welcome message. 'Our entire nation is now yours to love and to help build and we trust that you will do a fantastic job and make us very, very proud.' USCIS said the video will be played at naturalization ceremonies after people take the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. 'President Trump's message to new citizens is an essential one, and USCIS is honored to make it part of our naturalization ceremonies moving forward,' USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement. 'U.S. citizenship is a privilege and reserved for those who respect our laws, culture and history.' Meanwhile, people continue to protest in Los Angeles and other cities over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Trump sent thousands of National Guardsmen and Marines to respond to the protests, over the objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump records welcome message for new citizens: ‘You have such great wisdom'
A new video message from President Trump will be played at naturalization ceremonies to welcome new U.S. citizens, Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week as protests against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown spread. 'You have such great wisdom,' Trump says in the welcome message. 'Our entire nation is now yours to love and to help build and we trust that you will do a fantastic job and make us very, very proud.' USCIS said the video will be played at naturalization ceremonies after people take the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. 'President Trump's message to new citizens is an essential one, and USCIS is honored to make it part of our naturalization ceremonies moving forward,' USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement. 'U.S. citizenship is a privilege and reserved for those who respect our laws, culture and history.' Meanwhile, people continue to protest in Los Angeles and other cities over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Trump sent thousands of National Guardsmen and Marines to respond to the protests, over the objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - Democrats must do this to get the GOP on board for immigration and border reform
'We don't have to choose between border security and immigration reform,' Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) recently said. 'We can and should do both.' And he has unveiled a five-pillar plan for doing so. I am encouraged by the fact that a Democratic senator is making a genuine effort to put together an immigration reform bill that would appeal to both parties, but I think he needs to go a little further if he wants his proposal to have real appeal for Republicans. Pillar 1. Border security and interior enforcement The first pillar calls for more resources at the border; building more barriers; improving port infrastructure; and other changes that would make it easier to apprehend illegal border crossers. It also would prioritize Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 'finite resources on identifying, arresting, and deporting convicted criminals, known gang members, and other violent individuals who jeopardize Americans' safety.' The border resources Gallego is offering would certainly make it easier to apprehend illegal border crossers, but he also needs to do something about the magnets that attract illegal immigration. The main one is the job magnet. Forty years ago, Congress established employer sanctions for knowingly hiring unauthorized foreign employees; yet even today, the sanctions still haven't been fully implemented. Former Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman Prakash Khatri and I have proposed a different approach: Require the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division to fine employers who are violating labor laws in industries known to hire unauthorized foreign workers. This division enforces federal labor laws that were enacted to curb such abuses, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a minimum wage, overtime pay and more. This should discourage employers who currently hire unauthorized foreign workers because they tend to work for lower wages and under less desirable conditions than American workers. Additionally, the interior enforcement guidelines in Gallego's plan would create what I call the 'home-free magnet.' Illegal border crossers who reach the interior of the country would not have to worry about being deported unless they appear to jeopardize Americans' safety. This encourages illegal border crossers who think they can avoid problems with the law to to keep on trying until they succeed in reaching the interior of the country. For when they succeed, which is likely if they are persistent, they will be home-free. Pillar 2. Reform the asylum system This pillar would take asylum applications away from the immigration court and have asylum officers adjudicate them. It also would limit access to asylum during serious border emergencies to prevent the border and nearby communities from being overwhelmed. But asylum officers are not a magic bullet for eliminating backlogs. The Citizenship and Immigration Services use asylum officers to adjudicate affirmative asylum applications, and it had a 1.3 million case backlog at the end of fiscal 2024. The estimated wait time for a decision was more than six years. Part of the problem is not having enough asylum officers. The plan can facilitate hiring more officers by providing congressional funding. The Asylum Division currently is funded entirely by fees collected from operations in other parts of the agency. And some asylum applications do need the additional expertise of an immigration judge. The proposal to limit access to asylum is a good idea, but it should be based on whether the court backlog is at a manageable level. It was at 3,629,627 cases as of the end of March. And there are only 700 immigration judges. This is an average of 5,185 cases per judge; the average wait-time for a hearing is 658 days. Pillar 3. Increase visa availability Pillar 3 would increase annual visa quotas, ease per-country caps and create new visa categories. It also would increase refugee admissions and expedite the naturalization process for immigrants who have served in the U.S. armed forces. I would expect President Trump to veto a bill that has the increases Gallego's plan proposes. Trump reduced legal immigration during his first term, and he is doing it again now. Gallego should probably consider less ambitious increases. Pillar 4. DREAM Act This pillar would provide DREAMers — immigrants who were brought here by their parents when they were young children — with a pathway to citizenship. Democrats already have introduced 20 versions of a DREAM Act, but none has gotten the support needed from Republicans to get through the legislative process. Gallego should consider substituting a modified version of the bill Trump offered in his first term to help DREAMers who are participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which, among other things, includes legal status for DREAMers who are DACA participants and limiting family-based visas to spouses and children. I would expect Trump to be receptive to such an approach; he said in a recent 'Meet the Press' interview that he still wants to help the participants in that program. The plight of the DREAMers is sympathetic because they didn't intentionally violate our immigration laws. Their parents brought them here illegally. It wouldn't make sense to let parents profit from the legalization of the children they brought here in violation of our laws. But chain migration doesn't have to be eliminated to prevent this from happening — just include DREAMers in the Special Immigrant Juvenile program instead of establishing a new legalization program for them. The provisions of the program already prohibit participants from conferring immigration benefits on their parents. Pillar 5. Root causes This pillar would create a Western Hemisphere engagement strategy; promote the sharing of refugee-asylum resettlement responsibility with other countries; fund regional enforcement efforts; and do other things that would make our refugee/asylum policies more desirable. These are good ideas, but Pillar 5 also calls for eliminating the root causes of illegal migration. I think the Republicans would be more likely to support a program for eliminating the magnets that attract illegal migration. The takeaway is that Gallego has developed an impressive plan for combining border security and immigration reform, but it needs a few changes to increase the likelihood that Republicans will support it. Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an Executive Branch Immigration Law Expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
27-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Democrats must do this to get the GOP on board for immigration and border reform
'We don't have to choose between border security and immigration reform,' Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) recently said. 'We can and should do both.' And he has unveiled a five-pillar plan for doing so. I am encouraged by the fact that a Democratic senator is making a genuine effort to put together an immigration reform bill that would appeal to both parties, but I think he needs to go a little further if he wants his proposal to have real appeal for Republicans. Pillar 1. Border security and interior enforcement The first pillar calls for more resources at the border; building more barriers; improving port infrastructure; and other changes that would make it easier to apprehend illegal border crossers. It also would prioritize Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 'finite resources on identifying, arresting, and deporting convicted criminals, known gang members, and other violent individuals who jeopardize Americans' safety.' The border resources Gallego is offering would certainly make it easier to apprehend illegal border crossers, but he also needs to do something about the magnets that attract illegal immigration. The main one is the job magnet. Forty years ago, Congress established employer sanctions for knowingly hiring unauthorized foreign employees; yet even today, the sanctions still haven't been fully implemented. Former Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman Prakash Khatri and I have proposed a different approach: Require the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division to fine employers who are violating labor laws in industries known to hire unauthorized foreign workers. This division enforces federal labor laws that were enacted to curb such abuses, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a minimum wage, overtime pay and more. This should discourage employers who currently hire unauthorized foreign workers because they tend to work for lower wages and under less desirable conditions than American workers. Additionally, the interior enforcement guidelines in Gallego's plan would create what I call the 'home-free magnet.' Illegal border crossers who reach the interior of the country would not have to worry about being deported unless they appear to jeopardize Americans' safety. This encourages illegal border crossers who think they can avoid problems with the law to to keep on trying until they succeed in reaching the interior of the country. For when they succeed, which is likely if they are persistent, they will be home-free. Pillar 2. Reform the asylum system This pillar would take asylum applications away from the immigration court and have asylum officers adjudicate them. It also would limit access to asylum during serious border emergencies to prevent the border and nearby communities from being overwhelmed. But asylum officers are not a magic bullet for eliminating backlogs. The Citizenship and Immigration Services use asylum officers to adjudicate affirmative asylum applications, and it had a 1.3 million case backlog at the end of fiscal 2024. The estimated wait time for a decision was more than six years. Part of the problem is not having enough asylum officers. The plan can facilitate hiring more officers by providing congressional funding. The Asylum Division currently is funded entirely by fees collected from operations in other parts of the agency. And some asylum applications do need the additional expertise of an immigration judge. The proposal to limit access to asylum is a good idea, but it should be based on whether the court backlog is at a manageable level. It was at 3,629,627 cases as of the end of March. And there are only 700 immigration judges. This is an average of 5,185 cases per judge; the average wait-time for a hearing is 658 days. Pillar 3. Increase visa availability Pillar 3 would increase annual visa quotas, ease per-country caps and create new visa categories. It also would increase refugee admissions and expedite the naturalization process for immigrants who have served in the U.S. armed forces. I would expect President Trump to veto a bill that has the increases Gallego's plan proposes. Trump reduced legal immigration during his first term, and he is doing it again now. Gallego should probably consider less ambitious increases. Pillar 4. DREAM Act This pillar would provide DREAMers — immigrants who were brought here by their parents when they were young children — with a pathway to citizenship. Democrats already have introduced 20 versions of a DREAM Act, but none has gotten the support needed from Republicans to get through the legislative process. Gallego should consider substituting a modified version of the bill Trump offered in his first term to help DREAMers who are participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which, among other things, includes legal status for DREAMers who are DACA participants and limiting family-based visas to spouses and children. I would expect Trump to be receptive to such an approach; he said in a recent 'Meet the Press' interview that he still wants to help the participants in that program. The plight of the DREAMers is sympathetic because they didn't intentionally violate our immigration laws. Their parents brought them here illegally. It wouldn't make sense to let parents profit from the legalization of the children they brought here in violation of our laws. But chain migration doesn't have to be eliminated to prevent this from happening — just include DREAMers in the Special Immigrant Juvenile program instead of establishing a new legalization program for them. The provisions of the program already prohibit participants from conferring immigration benefits on their parents. Pillar 5. Root causes This pillar would create a Western Hemisphere engagement strategy; promote the sharing of refugee-asylum resettlement responsibility with other countries; fund regional enforcement efforts; and do other things that would make our refugee/asylum policies more desirable. These are good ideas, but Pillar 5 also calls for eliminating the root causes of illegal migration. I think the Republicans would be more likely to support a program for eliminating the magnets that attract illegal migration. The takeaway is that Gallego has developed an impressive plan for combining border security and immigration reform, but it needs a few changes to increase the likelihood that Republicans will support it. Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an Executive Branch Immigration Law Expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'A nightmare': Man detained by ICE for more than 2 years claims he's a U.S. citizen
Mario René López says being locked up in an ICE detention center is a very hard experience since he can't be with his family and conditions are tough, but above all, it's hard because, he insists, he's a U.S. citizen. "I came to the United States when I was 12 years old, with a permanent residence because my mother was a [legal] resident and she put in the papers and went to pick me up in El Salvador," Lopez, 44, said in a call from the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia. 'When my mom became a citizen, I was a minor, so I automatically got citizenship derived from my mother, but for no reason I am now being detained.' According to the Citizenship and Immigration Services website, derivative citizenship refers to the automatic acquisition of citizenship by children who are under 18 through the citizenship status of their parents, and, under certain circumstances, it applies to foreign-born adopted children of U.S. citizens. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained Lopez in January 2023. He has since been held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green. Lopez's ICE detention was the latest step in a long process in the courts to try to have his citizenship recognized. Born in El Salvador, Lopez entered the United States as a legal permanent resident in 1992. His mother naturalized in 1998, when he was 16, theoretically granting him automatic citizenship under 8 U.S. Code 1432, which was in effect at the time. Now the legal framework for that type of citizenship is the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, which says the general requirements for eligibility are that a person must be the child of a parent who is a natural born or a naturalized U.S. citizen (including an adoptive parent) and must be under age 18 and a lawful permanent resident. In addition, the child must reside in the United States 'in the lawful and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent.' Floribel Lopez, 62, Lopez's mother, said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo that that applies to her son. "I gave him the papers when I became a citizen. He is also a citizen because I did it when he was a minor," she said. "I don't know why he's being detained." "We left El Salvador because of the guerrilla problem, because they were killing a lot of people. That's why we came here," Floribel Lopez said. The U.N.-backed Truth Commission report documented that the Salvadoran civil war, which lasted from 1979 to 1992, left more than 75,000 people dead and thousands missing. At age 20, Lopez was convicted of drug offenses (in 2004 and 2005) and served a seven-year prison sentence. According to legal documents in the case, during his time in prison he was visited by officials from the Department of Homeland Security, who in 2009 determined that he had obtained U.S. citizenship from his mother under the law at the time. However, in 2016, according to court papers and Lopez's attorney, DHS changed its position, deemed him a legal resident but not a citizen and initiated removal proceedings because of his drug conviction. "In 2016, officials changed their mind and put him in deportation proceedings. We've been with this case for about eight years, and we're still fighting the same citizenship issue," said Benjamin Osorio, Lopez's lawyer. "We have the proof that he's a citizen because we have his birth certificate, the residency, his mother's citizenship certificate, which she did before he turned 18, and his parents were never married. All of that works to prove that he's an American." According to 8 USC 1432, which was in effect when Lopez filed his case, children of naturalized U.S. citizens were entitled to derivative citizenship when, among other things, both parents were naturalized, the parent who had legal custody of the child was naturalized (in cases where there was a legal separation of the parents), or when only the mother was naturalized "if the child was born out of wedlock and the paternity of the child has not been established by legitimation." The latter is the case for Lopez, as stated by his lawyer and his mother. "I was never married to the father of my children. Mario has no contact with him and never has. I have two children, and the father was never responsible for them, nor did he acknowledge them," Lopez's mother said. But according to legal documents in the case, prosecutors argue that the Salvadoran Constitution changed in 1983, eliminating legal distinctions between children born in or out of wedlock. According to the prosecution, that "legitimized" Lopez (as not being born out of wedlock) before his mother was naturalized, making him ineligible for derivative citizenship. "This case is a bit complicated because the government is asking to study the law in El Salvador to determine whether or not he was, in fact, legitimized. And the irony is that, if it is determined that he was legitimized by the change in the law in that country, then he would have to prove that his father was also naturalized, but apparently his father never had a relationship with him," said Charles Wheeler, a senior attorney with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. "It's really unfortunate, because he is, for all intents and purposes, a citizen of the United States, considers this country his home and has lived here most of his life. He no longer has any real connection to El Salvador. Unfortunately, because the government does not accept his citizenship, he could be deported because of his prior criminal convictions," Wheeler said. Lopez said that he counts the time he has been locked up and that it has already been two years and two months. 'I made mistakes when I was young, but that helped me change. I'm not that person anymore. I went out to work, I have my registered electrician's license, and now this happened to me. I was on the street for 12 years without any problems, doing the right things,' he said. DHS and ICE did not respond to Noticias Telemundo's requests for information about Lopez's case and the change in the determination about his citizenship in 2016. Lopez's case illustrates the challenges faced by many people who are beneficiaries of derivative citizenship. "Because of both legal and procedural barriers, it can be extremely difficult for people to obtain derivative citizenship, even with the help of an attorney," Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst with the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, told Noticias Telemundo. "In fact, in some cases, that can result in people being stateless, meaning they don't have a citizenship." Lopez's attorney filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention on the grounds that he is a U.S. citizen; his case is before the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals, and a ruling is expected later this year. In the meantime, because the government does not consider him a citizen, Osorio filed motions to grant Lopez protection under the Convention Against Torture, a measure that prevents deportation to a country where a person faces a real risk of torture. The courts have ruled in Lopez's favor in that case. Lopez's attorney said that since he won on the Convention Against Torture, "they are looking for another country to see if they can deport him somewhere other than El Salvador." "What we fear is that, because of his background, they could send him to Honduras or to Mexico," Osorio said. "That's another reason to keep fighting for citizenship.' Angelica Reyes, 40, Lopez's wife, says she remembers the day of her husband's detention very well. She woke up in the morning and noticed that her husband's truck was still parked, as if he hadn't left for work at his electrical company. "I got worried and started calling some friends and the guys who worked with him, but no one knew anything. After two or three hours, I was able to get a call from him telling me that he had been detained by ICE," she said in an interview. "It has been very traumatic because, from one day to the next, I was left alone with my children. It's a nightmare, and economically it's not easy, either." There is a positive precedent in Lopez's case, Flores-Torres v. Holder, a 2009 case decided by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In that case, Herbert Flores-Torres, who was also born in El Salvador and was detained by ICE pending removal, successfully established his derivative U.S. citizenship claim. The court found that the fact that Flores-Torres' father never married his mother was "sufficient" to determine that he qualified for derivative citizenship. Derivative citizenship has become an important pathway to citizenship for thousands of children of immigrants who naturalize annually, helping ensure family unity in the U.S. immigration system. Noticias Telemundo analyzed official USCIS figures for fiscal years 2021 to 2024 that show the processing of N-600 forms, which people use to apply for derivative citizenship through their parents. In that period, the agency received 255,126 applications and 230,193 were approved — an approval rate of 91.3%. "If your parents are U.S. citizens at the time of your birth abroad, or if at least one of them becomes a citizen afterwards, you have access to derivative citizenship. It's a right, and that law hasn't changed in about 25 years, and it was passed by Congress,' Wheeler said. Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, where Lopez is being held, drew media attention in 2023 when an inspection by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General revealed systemic failures in health services, food handling and the recording and processing of detainee complaints. 'This has caused me too much stress and worries for my family. This is getting too crowded, there are already people who have to sleep on the floor, and I think that's unfair,' Lopez said. Recent DHS figures show that immigration detention centers are at capacity, housing 47,600 people nationwide. Noticias Telemundo asked ICE and DHS what measures were implemented at the facility after inspection report but did not receive a response. After the 2023 inspection, it was revealed that ICE had acknowledged two of the office's eight recommendations: observations about the handling of inmate food and the processing of grievances. "This has been a trauma for my six children, my wife, my mother and my entire family. I was doing things right," Lopez said. "Even the judge said I am a reformed person, I am not a danger to society. This is a nightmare." An earlier version of this story was first published on Noticias Telemundo. This article was originally published on
