AuthorAmy Lieu

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a man who pretended to be an attorney for scamming undocumented immigrants out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, as various types of fraud are cropping up across the nation. Elvis Harold Reyes, 56, was sentenced to 20 years and 9 months in federal prison after pleading guilty on Dec. 15, 2020, for mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. His victims lost...

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday was confronted about why he was suddenly speaking up against alleged sexual abuse in immigrant detention centers but was silent on the issue during the Trump administration. Abbott last Wednesday called the Freeman Coliseum, an event center in the state which is currently housing around 1,300 unaccompanied immigrant children, “a health and safety...

States are pushing hard to remove or replace the terms “illegal alien” and “alien” from official documents when referring to noncitizens — a fight that experts say has a monumental impact on creating a more inclusive society, at a time when immigration has become the topic du jour among GOP lawmakers. California Democrats in February introduced a bill to eliminate...

The Biden administration sent its discretionary funding request for fiscal year 2022 to Congress on Friday, asking, among other things, for a major investment to tackle a number of long-simmering immigration issues. President Joe Biden requested $52 billion in overall funding for the Department of Homeland Security, approximately the same amount that the prior administration had requested for...

The New York State Legislature on Wednesday passed a budget that includes a historic $2.1 billion fund to aid the nearly 300,000 undocumented immigrant workers in the state. The Excluded Workers Fund was incorporated in the state’s record $212 billion budget for fiscal year 2022, a deal agreed to by both Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers. The fund would assist noncitizen workers who...

Republican lawmakers have unleashed a barrage of attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris for not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border so far, where they claim the Biden administration’s policies have cause a crisis, with rising numbers of immigrants trying to enter the country. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), the embattled former White House physician accused of misconduct, tweeted on Tuesday...

President Joe Biden announced plans in early February to dramatically raise the refugee admissions ceiling for the current fiscal year, which had been set at a dismal 15,000 limit by the prior administration. Months later, he has yet to follow through on that promise — and refugee groups are demanding answers. Biden reportedly notified Congress on Feb. 5 of his plan to increase the admissions cap...

Texas and Louisiana filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Biden administration over its new U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement guidelines, suggesting they aren’t strict enough and lead to fewer deportations. President Joe Biden announced an interim, 90-day policy back in February directing ICE officials on which noncitizens to arrest, detain, and deport. Arrest criteria still include...

GOP lawmakers have ramped up their xenophobic claims of a “crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border following reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had arrested two Yemeni men on the FBI Terrorism Watch List attempting to enter the country near a legal port of entry in California. CBP announced Monday that the two men, 33 and 26, were on the “no-fly list” and had been...

A well-known legal and data brokerage firm signed a $16.8 million contract earlier this year to sell people’s information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, drawing swift backlash from advocates who say the move could adversely harm immigrants. LexisNexis, a robust tool used for scholarly and legal research, said it provides 10,000 data points on hundreds of millions of people as...