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New Report Examines the Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Immigrants
As we head into our third pandemic summer time, Boundless analyzed the continued impacts of COVID-19 on immigration and immigrant communities within the U.S.
Throughout the first yr of the pandemic, in 2020, issuances of immigrant visas dropped by 94%. For context, in October 2019, the U.S. Division of State (DOS) issued greater than 750,000 visas, however by April 2020, that quantity was down to simply over 48,000. What’s worse, the digital standstill of visa processing in 2020 added almost half 1,000,000 folks to the already large visa backlog as of late 2021. And although visa issuances have rebounded for the reason that peak of the pandemic, they nonetheless haven’t reached pre-pandemic ranges.
The stalling of visa issuances has taken a serious toll on the U.S. labor power. From February to April, 2020, the U.S. misplaced 6 million foreign-born staff from the labor market — a 21% lower within the general immigrant workforce. Within the following 15 months, the variety of work visas issued dropped by 1.2 million, and by the top of 2021, the variety of working age immigrants within the U.S. was down by 2 million.
In the meantime, immigrants throughout the U.S. saved the nation afloat throughout the pandemic, serving on the frontlines throughout a number of sectors as “important staff.” Practically 1.5 million immigrants work within the U.S. healthcare system, and 73% of U.S. farmworkers are immigrants.
Learn the total report on the impacts of COVID-19 on immigrants, the immigration system, and the U.S. financial system.
Shepherds Sue Ranching Group Over Cartel-Like Wage Suppression
A Peruvian sheep herder working within the U.S. on a seasonal employment visa has sued a ranching commerce group in Nevada federal court docket, accusing the group of colluding to repair wages far under the U.S. minimal wage and locking many staff in labor conditions amounting to “everlasting indentured servitude.”
The lawsuit was filed by Cirilo Ucharima Alvarado, who’s trying to kind a category of doubtless hundreds of sheep herders. The swimsuit alleges that the member ranches of the Western Vary Affiliation (WRA), secretly agreed to set wages for shepherds at extraordinarily low charges, whereas additionally agreeing to not rent from one another member’s ranches, locking the shepherds right into a system just like indentured servitude and violating the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.
The case might have broad implications for antitrust legislation, which governs monopolies, value and wage fixing, and different anti-competitive enterprise practices.
USCIS Releases New Naturalization Eligibility Reality Sheets
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) launched 22 new “Eligible to Naturalize” reality sheets on the U.S. inexperienced card holder inhabitants in sure cities in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. The actual fact sheets describe varied demographic components of the lawful everlasting resident (LPR) inhabitants, equivalent to prime international locations of start, age, variety of years in LPR standing, class of admission to the U.S., and extra.
The actual fact sheets are a part of USCIS’s broader outreach efforts in cities with massive immigrant populations, significantly within the context of citizenship. DHS estimates that there are over 9.2 million inexperienced card holders who’re eligible to change into residents, and is working with the Biden administration on a wider authorities initiative to encourage eligible inexperienced card holders to use for citizenship.
June Declared Nationwide Caribbean-American Heritage Month
June is Nationwide Caribbean-American Heritage Month, and the Biden administration marked this yr’s celebration with a Proclamation honoring “the immeasurable methods Caribbean People have added to our American dream.”
President Biden additionally stated that June is a time to have fun “the extraordinary management and achievements” of Vice President Kamala Harris, the primary Black American of Jamaican heritage to carry this excessive workplace. The Proclamation went on to honor different “sensible and devoted public servants of Caribbeans heritage Secretary of Schooling Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Homeland Safety Alejandro Mayorkas, Home Coverage Advisor Susan Rice, our Nation’s first Supreme Courtroom Justice of Puerto Rican descent, Sonia Sotomayor, and the late Basic Colin Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants and the primary Black Secretary of State.
“The prosperity and alternative that draw so many immigrants to America wouldn’t be attainable with out the contributions and legacies of Caribbean People,” Biden acknowledged.
TPS Registration Course of Introduced for Cameroonian Nationals
The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) this week posted the Federal Register discover describing the registration course of for Short-term Protected Standing (TPS) for Cameroonian nationals in the USA.
Candidates can file on-line starting June 7, 2022 by means of December 7, 2023. To be eligible, an individual should present they’ve had a steady residence within the U.S. since April 14, 2022, and have been repeatedly current within the nation since at the very least June 7, 2022. If a person arrived within the U.S. after April 14, 2022, they don’t seem to be eligible below the present designation.
DHS designated Cameroon for TPS for 18 months on April 15 attributable to “excessive violence perpetrated by authorities forces and armed separatists, and an increase in assaults led by Boko Haram.” The designation will enable Cameroonian nationals who can’t return dwelling to stay within the U.S. with out worry of deportation and with work authorization.
Advocates estimate that round 40,000 folks could possibly be protected by the designation.
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