AIS update: Policies that help immigrant survivors seek safety and stability under threat

August 27, 2020

The past several months have been marked by numerous immigration related policy changes and legislative developments. All these twists and turns significantly impact the lives of vulnerable immigrant survivors, especially in the context of a global pandemic.

We wanted to take a moment in this newsletter to update you about these important developments, how they impact immigrant survivors, and how you can help. 

The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS), our Co-Chairs, and our partners have been busy over this period taking action to:

• urge Congress to extend access to vital health and economic supports for immigrant survivors during the COVID-19 crisis,

• oppose policies and proposed rules that would drastically restrict access to asylum and would specifically target survivors with pending asylum, U visa, or T visa applications, and

• monitor other developments in law and policy and sound the alarm about harsh impacts on survivors, from changes to forms and policy manuals that USCIS is undertaking that undermine access to protections, to sweeping changes in Board of Immigration Appeals case-processing protocols and deadlines.  

We expect things to get much more hectic in the coming weeks, so there may be very short windows for you to take action to speak out on behalf of immigrant survivors. Please follow AIS on Twitter @4ImmSurvivors for the fastest access to policy and legislative updates and to help us quickly share developments and calls to action with your community.

Yours in solidarity,
Archi, Cecelia, Grace & Rosie

Here’s what’s included in this policy update:

• The Next COVID-19 Relief Package

• Public Charge Whirlwind

• DHS Appropriations

• Proposed Changes to Board of Immigration Appeals

• Threats to Asylum Protections

• Blank Spaces Policy Rejects Legitimate Claims for Protection

The Next COVID-19 Relief Package

Opportunity to Take Action: See our latest alert, “Tell Congress to Do Right by Survivors,” with sample scripts for calls/emails to Congress and other resources.

Immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are at especial risk in the unprecedented health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including because many work in frontlines jobs or in hard-hit industries, and have little to no access to any safety-net benefits. Yet none of the bills Congress has enacted so far to address the pandemic -- the CARES Act, Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act -- have made economic relief available to all immigrants who pay federal taxes, including immigrant survivors, nor have they provided sufficient support to survivor-serving programs that are facing overwhelming demand for assistance, needs that are particularly acute in community-based, culturally-specific organizations.

In May, the House passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, but the Senate has refused to take up this legislation. The HEROES Act included some critical provisions to help many survivors and immigrants who were left out of the three previous COVID relief bills, such as:

• some increased funding for domestic violence and sexual assault victim services -- however, it did not include dedicated funding for culturally-specifc services for disproportionately impacted communities;

• ensuring that all taxpayers, including immigrant survivors, receive cash relief payments;

• expanding access to free COVID-19 testing, treatment, and care;

• automatically extending immigration status or work authorization that has expired or is set to expire during the emergency -- however, it did not include the blanket suspension of detention/deportation for survivors with pending VAWA/TVPA applications that we’d urged; and

• restricting enforcement at “sensitive locations” and detention and removal of survivors with pending immigration cases. See more on AIS Twitter

Many immigrant survivors have had limited to no access to COVID-19 testing or treatment, have been denied economic support, and continue to be vulnerable to apprehension, detention, and deportation.

Despite the struggles that everyone across the country is facing during the pandemic -- compounded by the reopening of many schools online and a looming eviction crisis -- the Senate went on August recess without voting on an economic relief package. Negotiations over a larger coronavirus relief bill are expected to resume after Labor Day. Pressure on Congress is urgently needed to ensure movement, and especially to underscore that all immigrants must be included in relief in order to stem the crisis for all. Contact your Members of Congress today!
 

Public Charge Whirlwind

One moment (July 29) we’re celebrating a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from enforcing the harmful public charge rule during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yay! The next moment (August 12) we’re lamenting a single judge’s decision to narrow the previous order and apply the injunction only within the states in the 2nd Circuit -- New York, Connecticut and Vermont. Boo! This means, for now, the recently passed public charge regulations cannot be applied in these states, but can be applied elsewhere. We’re hopeful a 3-judge panel will review the motion for a stay.

Meanwhile, cases challenging the public charge rule continue separately from the pandemic injunction. So far, the Second and Seventh Circuit courts have found that the rule is likely unlawful, while the Fourth Circuit court has disagreed. The Ninth Circuit is hearing arguments on the issue next month.

All this activity on the public charge rule can be confusing for immigrant families and survivors. We’re grateful to all the advocates -- including the Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) campaign and AIS Co-Chairs -- who continue challenging the rule and we’ll continue standing with them. PIF keeps updating their helpful resources, including this know your rights document, and reminds us that, under any version of the rules, most immigrants who will face a public charge assessment are ineligible for the benefits listed in the rule that would be considered. It’s also important to note that, according to recent USCIS guidance, testing and treatment for COVID-19 will not be considered in a public charge determination.

We’ll continue keeping track of all the changes to the public charge saga -- as well as these other important policies that help immigrant survivors seek safety and stability -- and keep you informed, too.
 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations

Last month, the House Appropriations Committee approved the draft Homeland Security funding bill for fiscal year 2021. We are were heartened to see that the funding bill sought to provide support for immigrants, including asylum seekers and immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking seeking protection in the U.S.

However, in a House floor vote at the end of July, the bill was ultimately pulled as concerns mounted about what was both included and excluded. As negotiations on DHS appropriations continue -- either in the context of funding for DHS amidst a COVID bill (see above) or a possible continuing resolution -- it’s important to continue reminding your representatives of the important issues facing survivors in the context of DHS appropriations, including those in the House Appropriations Committee bill:

• Increased access to immigration relief for immigrants, including survivors of gender-based violence:

  • Prohibits Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from removing survivors who have pending survivor based immigration applications;

  • Directs USCIS to:

    • refrain from imposing fees on humanitarian applications, including for asylum, VAWA, T visas, and U visas;

    • continue issuing fee waivers and accept several forms of documentation to meet the criteria for fee waivers, both of which could otherwise be restricted beginning in October;

    • adjudicate U visa certifications within 90 days of request and increase personnel to adjudicate survivor based applications; and

    • provide guidance and training to USCIS officers on the dynamics of domestic and sexual violence and how they impact asylum seekers and their applications.

  • Directs Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to refrain from prosecuting asylum seekers for the way in which they enter the U.S.

• Humanitarian responses for immigrant communities:

  • Urges USCIS to rescind the public charge rule;

  • Directs ICE to follow and expand the sensitive locations policy that prevents immigration enforcement at certain public locations; and

  • Reduces ICE detention beds.

Proposed Changes to Board of Immigration Appeals/
Immigration Judge Protocols

The Dept. of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration (EOIR) has released a series of proposed rules concerning the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) that will dramatically curtail due process, already much-eroded through earlier Administration actions.

While the sorts of changes EOIR proposed may sound dry and technical, they will have devastating implications for survivors’ chances at protection – both in the quality of the representation they can hope to receive on such tight timelines, and in the quality of decisions that can be rendered under such high-pressure and rushed circumstances.

The rule was recently published and the public will have an opportunity to provide comments until September 25. AIS will be sharing opportunities for you to weigh in with comments in opposition, especially if you are an immigration law practitioner, citing with specific examples the terrible consequences the proposed rules would have both on individuals and on the system. For now, find out more about these proposed limitations from Immigration Impact.

Threats to Asylum Protections

In defiance of our longstanding obligation to provide refuge for those seeking freedom and safety from persecution, the Administration’s attacks on asylum continue -- even during a pandemic. In fact, under the guise of containing COVID-19, the Administration indefinitely shut the U.S. border in May. In June, they proposed an extensive new rule that would formally gut the U.S. asylum system, and specifically seeks to eliminate asylum for those fleeing gender-based persecution.

In July, the Administration proposed a new rule seeking to codify a public health ban on asylum seekers. The rule is designed to exclude asylum seekers who flee from or travel through a country where infectious or highly contagious diseases are "prevalent," or exhibit symptoms "consistent with" such disease or illness. This new rule would consider such asylum seekers a "danger to the security" of the U.S., another step in a long campaign of “otherizing” and dehumanizing immigrants and one that is particularly hypocritical given the U.S.’ own poor record of combatting the virus and containing the risk of spread.

Thankfully, the courts can serve as a check to these harmful proposals. On the good news front, the Ninth Circuit overturned four Board of Immigration Appeals decisions this month denying asylum to women fleeing gender-based violence in Central America, Mexico, and Cameroon. We hope these recent federal court decisions, despite the current Administration’s efforts, help put us on a path toward restoring vital asylum protections. See more on AIS Twitter
 

Blank Spaces Policy Rejects Legitimate Claims for
Protection by Immigrant Survivors

The Administration continues to use bureaucracy to limit access to protections for immigrant survivors. Recently, they have been rejecting applications for U and T visas simply for having a blank space on a form. Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell calls this new processing policy “perhaps its most arbitrary, absurd modification yet to the immigration system.” See more on AIS Twitter

We’re pushing back! AIS Co-Chair ASISTA has led the charge by educating and engaging advocates by sharing a practice advisory, holding webinars, and getting 146 organizations to support a letter urging Acting USCIS Director Kenneth Cuccinelli to rescind the policy. “Penalizing applicants and petitioners because of non-material blank fields on forms,” the letter states, “creates unnecessary barriers for individuals seeking humanitarian protections, needlessly burdens our organizations, and drains agency resources during this unprecedented time of staggering challenges.”