• DHS now willing to discuss deportation policy with agents' union

    In an effort to head off a possible set back in  court, the Obama administration said earlier this week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ lawsuit to overturn the president’s selective deportation policy should be thrown out court because the agents originally wanted to handle the issues through collective bargaining.

  • GOP opponents of the immigration bill gearing up for a campaign to kill it

    Republicans opposed to the bi-partisan Senate immigration bill are getting set to launch a campaign to defeat the bill, as the Senate Judiciary Committee begins a review on the bill Thursday. The committee is expected to spend at least three weeks on the bill, with GOP lawmakers opposing the bill ready to offer hundreds of amendments — some in an effort to make the bill more acceptable to them, others in an effort to kill it.

  • Sponsors: Immigration bill addresses visa flaws highlighted by the Boston bombing

    Lawmakers behind the bipartisan Senate immigration say bill directly addresses some of the security flaws that may have been exploited by the foreign student who helped Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dispose of evidence after the Boston Marathon bombings.

  • U.S. may acquire additional land for constructing border fence

    A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) draft plan regarding the final sections of the border fence that separates the United States from Mexico could impact about 100 people, most reside in a nursing home, according to federal documents.

  • DHS instructs border agents to verify all international student visas

    DHS has sent a direct order to its Border Agents telling them that, “effective immediately,” they must verify that every international student who arrives in the United States has a valid student visa The student visa of Azamat Tazhayakov, one of the two Kazakh students charged with trying to destroy evidence related to the Boston Marathon bombing, was terminated before he arrived in New York on 20 January, but the border agent in the airport did not have access to DHS Department’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.

  • Obama says same-sex amendment to immigration bill not likely to pass

    President Barack Obama announced at a news conference in Costa Rica on Friday that he backs a proposal which would allow Americans to seek legal immigration for their same-sex partners. Obama said that it was “the right thing to do,” but he acknowledged that the provision has little chance of making it into the final immigration package.

  • Obama warning liberals to be flexible on immigration bill

    Many in Washington have been worried about Republican objections to the immigration overhaul bill, but President Obama and leading Democrats have begun a quiet campaign to assuage the concerns of liberal groups which argue that the bill excludes too many immigrants and makes the path to citizenship too arduous.

  • Rubio says immigration reform bill will likely not pass the House

    Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) said on a talk radio show on Tuesday that the bipartisan immigration reform legislation unveiled last week, will likely not pass the Republican-led House. “[The bill] will have to be adjusted, because people are very suspicious about the willingness of the government to enforce the laws now,” Rubio said.

  • U.S. tech companies actively lobbying for immigration reform

    Last year, only 14 percent of immigrants (around 144,000 people) were granted a green card owing to their skills and contribution to the U.S. economy. The rest of the green cards were given mostly based on family ties of the applicants to U.S. citizens. Under the Senate immigration proposal, 50 percent of future green cars would be based on skills and employment opportunities. Leading U.S. tech companies are actively campaigning in support of the proposal.

  • Immigration reform conditioned on border being secured by unmanned vehicles

    Between 2006 and 2011, CBP spent $55.3 million on drone use and maintenance operations, according to a DHS Inspector General (IG) report. The IG recommended that the agency stop buying drones because the aircrafts are costly to maintain and have flown significantly less than their predicted flight times. The bipartisan immigration proposal drafted by the bipartisan Gang of Eight includes a provision which would create a 24/7 border surveillance system heavily dependent on the use of drones.

  • Canada considered deporting train terror suspect – but he was stateless

    Raed Jaser, who is accused of planning an “al Qaeda supported” bomb attack aiming to derail a Canadian passenger train, was arrested nine years ago in Toronto and was facing deportation because he had a criminal record. Jaser is a Palestinian who grew up in the UAE. The UAE never gave his family a UAE citizenship, and they refused to take him back. The Canadian authorities say his case is not unique.

  • Critics say E-Verify system still has too many problems

    Lawmakers and attorneys in Minnesota believe that the E-Verify system, a government database for employers to verify that their new hires are eligible to work in the United States, may not be ready just yet.. Lawmakers have raised concerns about a clause in the Senate immigration legislation which would make the E-Verify system mandatory for all businesses within five years.

  • DHS agent in fraud case seeks to separate his trial from that of his former boss

    A former DHS agent is attempting to separate his legal case from that of his former boss, who was the head of the DHS office in McAllen, Texas. The motion is an attempt to oppose a government motion pushing to certify the case as “complex” which would delay the start of the trial.

  • Sen. Cornyn, critics exchange charges over immigration reform measure

    Texas critics charge that Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) is likely to oppose the Gang of Eight bipartisan immigration overhaul proposal, even though it meets his demands on border security, because he is worried about a Tea Party primary challenge. Cornyn disagrees.

  • Gay rights advocates want immigration reform bill to recognize gay couples

    Gay rights advocates are campaigning for changes in the bi-partisan Senate immigration overhaul bill so that it would include homosexual couples. Democrats, however, are being cautious, fearing that adding a reference to gay couples would cause many GOP lawmakers to reject the bill.