● President Trump’s most recent proposal to end the government shutdown also comes with some major changes to the policies regarding requests for asylum from the children of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The proposed changes will severely limit the number of applications for asylum from this group, as well as require that they apply for asylum in their home country and have a qualifying parent already living in the U.S. The severity of this new language will likely keep the proposal from passing, as Democrats are unlikely to agree to such changes.

● A federal judge reinstated the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program in it’s entirety – but then waked back his decision to include only those DACA recipients already in the program. No new applicants can start the process, but renewals can begin for those who already have DACA protections. The judge’s ruling stated the administration did not have sufficient reason to revoke the program entirely.

● The government says it has reunited all eligible migrant children with their parents. Some 2500 children were separated at the border, and the 700 that remain could not be approved for reunification because of concerns for the children’s safety or a parent’s criminal history.

● The immigration showdown in Congress and with the White House is far from over, with the polarization of each side spelling trouble for any potential compromise. At stake is the fate of DACA recipients who were accepted into the Obama-era program and the Dreamers at large who were brought to this country illegally as children and were either ineligible for DACA or did not apply. Also at stake is funding for the border wall with Mexico and increased spending on border security.

● The administration is also currently working on ending chain migration, where a current green card holder can sponsor someone like an adult child or parent to come to the US. The changes currently proposed would possibly limit sponsorship to spouses and minor children.

● Also on the chopping block is the Diversity Visa Program, where 50,000 Visas are issued annually to those coming from countries that have a low rate of migration to the US. This change will most likely influence those coming from African countries who currently receive the bulk of the Diversity Visas.

● USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) announced changes to the list of countries eligible for the H-2A and H-2B Visa Programs (non-immigrant temporary agricultural and non-agricultural worker Visas), adding Mongolia to the list and removing Belize, Haiti and Samoa. The removals occurred because these three nations were not meeting the requirements for eligibility – USCIS citied concerns over human trafficking (Belize), concerns that those granted the Visas were overstaying the terms (Haiti) or a home country refusing to accept the return of their nationals who were asked to be removed from the US (Samoa).

● The Attorney General of Washington State has sued Motel 6 over the handling of customer data. Motel 6 is accused of disclosing the private information of their guests to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents without proper legal warrants. It is alleged that the ICE agents used that private customer data to find and arrest hotel guests in the country illegally.

● ICE has also tripled the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants who do not have criminal records. The crackdown has been met with backlash, like the city of Philadelphia refusing to renew a data-sharing contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Are you a foreign national who is considering a move to the United States, but have questions about what our current immigration news means for you? Are you a business owner who would like more information on how the possible immigration changes could affect the pool of foreign national business buyers? Ask us! Please contact us today! We would be happy to help.

Michael Monnot

941.518.7138
Mike@InfinityBusinessBrokers.com
5111 Ocean Boulevard, Suite E
Siesta Key, FL 34242

www.InfinityBusinessBrokers.com