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Nationality Ban Information
The Trump administration has announced that several more countries will be added to its nationality ban in a new presidential proclamation. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar/Burma, Eritrea, and Nigeria will all be banned from receiving immigrant visas, except special immigrant visas that are available to a very limited number of people, beginning on February 21. Citizens of Tanzania and Sudan will not be allowed to get diversity visas, a type of immigrant visa. Nonimmigrant visas will not be affected. Refugees are not included in this ban since they do not enter the U.S. on immigrant visas. There are several troubling provisions and claims in this ban. The Immigration and Nationality Act…
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Public Charge SCOTUS Ruling
Last Monday the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s “public charge” policy change is legal. This change “dramatically increases the government’s ability to reject green cards for people who are deemed likely to depend on government aid, such as food stamps, housing assistance, and Medicaid,” according to The Hill. The administration has advertised the rule change as a way to ensure self-sufficiency among immigrants; however, immigration attorneys argue that the rule is both ambiguous and discretionary. It will allow the government to turn away immigrants who have never used public services. In addition, because of this discretion, people can’t know whether accessing specific services will or won’t matter in…
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Refugee Resettlement: An Update
January 9, 2020 By Christie Black, Director of Engagement I have been working within the Phoenix refugee community since 2015, and my immigrant friends have become a part of my everyday life. When the president issued Executive Order 13888 last fall, which requires all state and local governments to opt in to receive refugees in 2020, my heart sank into my stomach. I thought back to when I was volunteering for a local non-profit in 2016. I was helping with their Facebook posting, which required me to receive Google alerts for any mention of the word “refugees.” Some of the media notifications were absolutely ugly — and absolutely false —…
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Urgent Call to Action: Proposed Fee Increase by USCIS
December 10, 2019 On November 14, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed a fee schedule adjustment that would drastically increase fees for naturalization, asylum, DACA, work permits, and more. The proposed rule would also eliminate fee waivers for citizenship, lawful permanent residency, employment authorization, and other applications. In addition, it would increase fees for obtaining family history records through USCIS by 500% — a move that would have a significantly negative impact on genealogy and family history research. These drastic fee hikes functionally change immigration policy by placing almost all immigration procedures out of financial reach. The fee for an application for citizenship, for example, would be raised…
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Call to Action: Call Your Representatives About Migrant Protection Protocol
November 21, 2019 Last week MWEG introduced the Principles of Ethical Government. One of the three guiding principles is responsibility — that “all human beings are mutually accountable to their fellow human beings.” We believe we will be held responsible by our Heavenly Parents for how we treat each other or allow others to be treated. This is no less true of how we are treating our brothers and sisters south of the border who are suffering in Mexico as they wait for asylum to be granted. In January of this year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a new policy called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP, also publicly…
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Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on Child Detention
August 23, 2019 Mormon Women for Ethical Government condemns the regulation announced by the Trump administration on Wednesday that would abolish the 20-day limit on holding families in jails. Our opposition to this regulation is grounded in our clear and deeply held conviction that families are sacred and all children deserve to be cherished and protected. A government that disregards clear evidence of its own abuse deserves a strong rebuke and should immediately correct the harm it is causing to innocents, many of whom bring with them past trauma. To knowingly inflict further trauma on families upon their arrival at the southern border is intolerable. While children are already a…
