ICE Misconduct Claims Increase Across Pennsylvania

A recent report from ProPublica and the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed numerous cases in which ICE agents and police officers allegedly used racial profiling, conducted warrantless searches, detained people without probable cause, fabricated evidence, and, in one extreme instance, attempted to solicit a bribe. Despite these allegations, not a single ICE agent or officer has been put on the stand ...

No Sanctuary for Undocumented Immigrants Living in Pennsylvania

A recent article states that since President Trump took office, deportation officers no longer have to adhere to Obama-era mandates that focused on limiting enforcement resources for deporting immigrants with serious criminal convictions. As the White House describes it, ICE has been “unshackled” in the era of Trump. Throughout the country, ICE has been rounding up people who have been living and ...

The End of DACA & Congress' Task

After the Trump administration announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in September, there has been mounting pressure to replace it with a new program. Both parties have been working to draft and champion legal protections for these immigrants, but the Republican leaders have ruled out reaching a solution before the end of the year. With a final deadline of ...

After Harvey, Houston Needs Immigrant Workers

The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey highlights a problem that is faced by many cities after a natural disaster—rebuilding. The cost of property damage is immense following the hurricane that struck Houston this summer, but there is another obstacle that is hindering the city’s ability to recover from the storm. Without enough workers, there is no one to do the labor. Removing storm-damaged materials ...

How Cities Are Looking to Immigrants for Help

Across the U.S., individual cities are taking it upon themselves to make their homes friendlier to immigrants . In an age where anti-immigrant rhetoric is rife and both state and federal laws are being passed to make it more difficult for immigrants to settle, some city leaders are looking to immigrants to help them revive their fading communities. One such city is Baltimore, where Mayor Stephanie ...

Is the End of DACA Imminent?

Attorneys general from ten Republican-led states are pushing for Trump to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This program grants deportation relief and work permits to approximately 788,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as young children. Republicans have called for the end of the Obama-era program since its beginning, and now they hope to ...

Attorney Rosina Stambaugh Receives PIRC Light of Liberty Award

The Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) is a York County based nonprofit organization that provides volunteer and no-charge legal services to asylum-seekers held in civil detention, or who have encountered other serious legal complications. Originally founded in 1996, PIRC has since been able to expand its services into nine south-central Pennsylvania counties. The expansion and ...

The Financial Cost of an ICE Deportation on the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is one of two agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that is doing their part of fulfilling President Donald Trump's goal of deporting two to three million criminal, undocumented immigrants. One of ICE’s main duties is to seize undocumented immigrants who have received their final deportation notices or who have failed to report to the ...

White House Cracks Down on H-1B Visa Employers

One of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises is for American companies to hire more Americans instead of outsourcing jobs to countries with cheaper labor or bringing in lower-paid foreign employees. This promise includes a crackdown on a work visa program which enables thousands of skilled foreign employees to work in “specialty occupations” throughout the United States, especially the ...

New Changes to Employment-Based Immigration Visa Regulations

When it comes to deciding how to maintain our borders while simultaneously keeping a good reputation with allied countries, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have a delicate job to balance. In an effort to improve our nation’s immigration policies and encourage occupational specialists, such as engineers and doctors of ...

USCIS Raises Costs of Many of Its Services & Applications

People who frequently and infrequently deal with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) got an unwelcome surprise at the end of December 2016: a noticeable price hike to many of the agency’s services. In particular, the majority of petitions and applications pertaining to visas of all sorts got a 20% price increase, on average. If you need to fill out an application or ...