Enlaces News #5 (October 2003)

 

Overview of Recent Changes in Immigration Policy

Enlaces America-organized a gathering of U.S. advocates concerned with regional migration issues. Deborah Meyers, Policy Analyst of the Migration Policy Institute, presented a general overview of recent changes in U.S. immigration policy and enforcement procedures. Below is a summarized version of her remarks.

U.S. immigration policy and enforcement structures have undergone significant transformation since in the last few years. While nationals of Latin American countries have not been the focus of the Bush Administration’s drive to revamp these policies and structures, they will be profoundly affected by all these changes.

The major changes undertaken since fall 2002 can be grouped into a number of categories: institutional restructuring, new requirements for visitors; changes in border enforcement and monitoring; changes in interior enforcement and monitoring; detention rulings.

1. Institutional Restructuring: Department of Homeland Security

On March 1, 2003 the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was eliminated and immigration functions were moved into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Three bureaus in DHS are responsible for carrying out the functions formerly in the INS:

· the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), responsible for providing services and processing applications for immigration benefits;
· the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), responsible for interior enforcement functions;
· the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP), responsible for border enforcement and inspections.

Although President Bush promised that the BCIS would reduce visa wait backlogs, anecdotal reports indicate that waits have actually increased. It remains to be seen how Congress will exercise its oversight responsibilities of DHS’ immigration services and enforcement activities.

2. New Visa Requirements and Systems for Visitors

The government has also overhauled the way in which it processes and tracks persons with non-immigrant visitor visas. By August 1 of this year, all persons holding U.S. student visas and their dependents are supposed to be entered in a centralized database through which schools provide information about student enrollment, etc. In late April the government announced that it plans to implement a new comprehensive entry/exit tracking system that will incorporate all non-immigrant visitors in the U.S. It will be implemented in phases, beginning with air and sea ports (to be completed by end of 2003), then major land ports (by end of 2004), with full implementation by 2005. The State Department also announced in May that beginning in August, it would work to interview nearly every person applying for a visa to enter the U.S. Additionally, the number of countries included in the Visa Waiver Program, which allows nationals of certain countries to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa, has been reduced; some Latin American countries – including Uruguay and Argentina – have been removed from the list. Finally, the fee to apply for a non-immigrant visa was raised in November 2002 from $65 to $100.

3. Border Enforcement

The government is working to deepen its cooperation with neighboring countries in terms of information-sharing, compatible databases, coordinating of visa requirements, joint passenger analysis units. Canada and the U.S. have signed – but not yet implemented - a Safe Third Country Agreement that will require persons seeking asylum to do so in the country of their first arrival. This will result in severe limitations on ability of refugees to access any asylum system; nearly 40% of Canada’s asylum seekers have passed through the U.S.

The Department of Justice extended “expedited removal” authority, which grants low-level immigration officers power to turn away people who present themselves at ports of entry and express a fear of persecution, to sea ports. Immigration officials have had expedited removal authority since 1997 at land and air ports of entry; the extension of this program to sea ports was in response to rising Haitian migration flows in late 2002.

As of October 1, 2002, the U.S. all Mexican Border Residents who wanted to cross for up to 72 hours without a visa. Were required to posses a laser visa instead of a border crossing card Unfortunately, however, border crossings still do not have the appropriate equipment to read the encoded information on the cards.

4. Interior Enforcement

There have been a number of DHS workplace raids aimed at rounding up undocumented immigrant workers at sites deemed to be strategic in terms of national security, notably airports and major landmarks (such as the Sears Tower) as well as nuclear power plants. The Administration has also made a number of moves towards granting federal and local criminal law enforcement officials authority to enforce immigration law; on December 18, 2002 the Department of Justice issued an order granting FBI agents authority to make arrest based on immigration law. In April 2002 the legal counsel of the Department of Justice issued an opinion asserting that local law enforcement officials have “inherent authority” to enforce immigration law.

Additionally, during 2002 the Social Security Administration (SSA) dramatically increased the number of “no match” letters it sends to employers of workers whose names and social security numbers do no match SSA records. Though the SSA is an administrative body with no authority to enforce immigration law, the letters have contributed to a climate of fear and discriminatory practices in workplaces.

5. Judicial Decisions relating to Detention

In April, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued an opinion that undocumented immigrants could be detained indefinitely if the government can prove that their release would constitute a national security risk. The ruling was in response to the case of a Haitian migrant with no alleged links to terrorism; the government asserted that his release could lead to a rise in immigration from Haiti which would divert resources needed in the fight against terrorism.

On April 29 the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a federal law that requires the detention of criminal aliens of certain nationalities while the government attempts to deport them without providing them opportunities for individual bond hearings.