Congressional Research Service Reports - 29 Matching Results
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- Would it Violate Equal Protection to Prohibit Naturalized "Dreamers: from Sponsoring Their Parents for Immigrant Visas?
- This report discusses the question of whether "Dreamers" who were given a pathway to citizenship and became naturalized citizens could sponsor their parents for immigration visas in the same way any other U.S. citizen could. Case law and various considerations which could affect such a decision are discussed.
- Noncitizen Eligibility for Federal Public Assistance: Policy Overview
- This report discusses the extent to which residents of the United States who are not U.S. citizens should be eligible for federally-funded public aid. This issue meets at the intersection of two major policy areas: immigration policy and welfare policy. This report deals with the four major federal means-tested benefit programs: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant programs, and Medicaid.
- Fifth Circuit Declines to Lift Injunction Barring Implementation of the Obama Administration's 2014 Deferred Action Programs
- This legal sidebar discusses a decision by the Fifth Circuit in which they declined to lift an injunction barring the implementation of the Obama administration's 2014 deferred action programs. Additionally, the decision argued that the expansions are impermissible because they conflict with certain provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
- State Challenges to Federal Enforcement of Immigration Law: Historical Precedents and Pending Litigation in Texas v. United States
- This report outlines how different states and localities react to the enforcement of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) regarding unauthorized aliens. The report provides a detailed overview of different states challenging the provisions of the INA and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, with cases ranging from the mid-1990's to December 2014.
- Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues
- This report is a brief overview of current policies regarding temporary protected status (TPS), which is relief from removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). It includes information about humanitarian migrants, temporary protected status, other blanket forms of relief, nationalities receiving protections, and issues with TPS, as well as recent legislation.
- Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Programs
- This report analyzes the special immigrant visa (SIV) classifications for Iraqis and Afghans within the context of both the larger Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) special immigrant category and selected other permanent admissions categories. It discusses the legislative changes to the individual Iraqi and Afghan special immigrant programs since their initial authorization, provides statistics on visa issuance, and considers challenges facing the programs today.
- Visa Waiver Program
- This report discusses the visa waiver program (VWP), which allows for a bypass of the first step by which foreign visitors are screened for admissibility to enter the United States. Some policymakers are concerned that this waiver allows terrorists to more easily enter the country. The report provides waiver-related statistics and related legislation.
- Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 112th Congress
- This report discusses immigration-related issues that have received legislative action or are of significant congressional interest in the 112th Congress.
- Immigration-Related Detention: Current Legislative Issues
- As Congress considers addressing some of the problems in the nation's immigration system, the detention of noncitizens in the United States may be an issue as Congress may choose to reevaluate detention priorities (i.e., who should be detained) and resources. There are many policy issues surrounding detention of aliens. The Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) increased the number of aliens subject to mandatory detention, and raised concerns about the justness of mandatory detention, especially as it is applied to asylum seekers arriving without proper documentation. Additionally, as DHS increases its ability to identify aliens who are subject to removal from local jails in more remote locations, the nationwide allocation of detention space may become an issue.
- Overview of Immigration Issues in the 112th Congress
- This report synthesizes immigration issues as a multi-tiered debate. It breaks down the U.S. immigration law and policy into key elements: border control and visa security; legal immigration; documentation and verification; interior immigration enforcement; integration, status, and benefits; and refugees and other humanitarian populations. This report also delineates the debate in the 112th Congress for a range of issues, including border security, criminal aliens, and worksite enforcement.
- Birthright Citizenship Under the 14th Amendment of Persons Born in the United States to Alien Parents
- This report provides background information on birthright citizenship to alien parents in the U.S. The report ends with a detail of amendments in the 112th Congress that would amend the Constitution to exclude from citizenship at birth persons born in the United States whose parents are unlawfully present in the United States or are non-immigrant aliens.
- Immigration: Terrorist Grounds for Exclusion and Removal of Aliens
- This report focuses on the terrorism-related grounds for inadmissibility and deportation/removal. It opens with an overview of the terror-related grounds as they evolved through recent years. The section on current law explains several legal definitions, and describes the terror-related grounds for inadmissibility and removal. The report then discusses the screening process to determine admissibility and to identify possible terrorists.
- Immigration: Terrorist Grounds for Exclusion and Removal of Aliens
- This report provides information about the Terrorist Grounds for Exclusion and Removal of Aliens on Immigration. The INA spells out a strict set of admissions criteria and exclusion rules for all foreign nationals. It gives an overview of the grounds for inadmissibility and summarizes key legislation enacted in recent years.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Immigration Fees and Adjudication Costs: The FY2008 Adjustments and Historical Context
- No Description Available.
- Foreign Science and Engineering Presence in U.S. Institutions and the Labor Force
- The scientific community has been divided over proposals to impose stricter immigration limits on people with scientific and technical skills. Attempts to settle upon the balance between the needs for a highly skilled scientific and technical workforce, and the need to protect and ensure job opportunities, salaries, and working conditions of U.S. scientific personnel, will continue to be debated. This report addresses these issues and their implications.
- Border Security: Barriers Along the U.S. International Border
- This report details the U.S international border security and barriers deployed along the border.
- The Effects on U.S. Farm Workers of an Agricultural Guest Worker Program
- This report discusses the debate concerning an agricultural guest worker program and the impact such a program might have on U.S. workers. Guest worker programs are meant to assure employers (e.g., fruit, vegetable, and horticultural specialty growers) of an adequate supply of labor when and where it is needed, while not adding permanent residents to the U.S. population. They include mechanisms -- such as the H-2A program's labor certification process -- intended to avoid adversely affecting the wages and working conditions of similarly-employed U.S. workers.
- Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity
- No Description Available.
- Immigration Legislation Issues in the 109th Congress
- While immigration reform proposals remain pending, Congress has enacted limited provisions on temporary and permanent employment-based immigration as part of P.L. 109-13. It also has enacted legislation concerning alien victims of domestic violence, trafficking in persons, and refugees. This report discusses these and other immigration-related issues that have seen legislative action or are of significant congressional interest. DHS appropriations and immigration legislation related to Hurricane Katrina are covered in other products and are not discussed here. The final section of the report lists enacted legislation and selected bills receiving action.
- Immigration: Legislative Issues on Nonimmigrant Professional Specialty (H-1B) Workers
- Report detailing the upcoming deadline on increases to foreign temporary professional workers, with a description of the issues, economic effects, and more.
- U.S. Citizenship of Persons Born in the United States to Alien Parents
- Over the last decade or so, concern about illegal immigration has sporadically led to a re-examination of a long-established tenet of U.S. citizenship, codified in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and §301(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. §1401(a)), that a person who is born in the United States, subject to its jurisdiction, is a citizen of the United States regardless of the race, ethnicity, or alienage of the parents. The war on terror and the case of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S.-Saudi dual national captured in Afghanistan fighting with Taliban forces, further heightened attention and interest in restricting automatic birthright citizenship, after the revelation that Hamdi was a U.S. citizen by birth in Louisiana to parents who were Saudi nationals in the United States on non-immigrant work visas and arguably entitled to rights not available to foreign enemy combatants.
- U.S. Immigration Policy on Permanent Admissions
- When President George W. Bush announced his principles for immigration reform in January 2004, he included an increase in permanent immigration as a key component. President Bush has stated that immigration reform is a top priority of his second term and has prompted a lively debate on the issue. Bills to revise permanent admissions are being introduced, but only one has had legislative action thus far in the 109th Congress. A provision in P.L. 109-13 (H.R. 1268, the emergency FY2005 supplemental appropriation) makes up to 50,000 employment-based visas available for foreign nationals coming to work as medical professionals.
- Immigration: Legislative Issues on Nonimmigrant Professional Specialty (H-1B) Workers
- No Description Available.
- Immigration Policy for Intracompany Transfers (L Visas): Issues and Legislation
- During the 108th Congress, a number of proposals related to immigration and identification-document security were introduced, some of which were considered in the context of implementing recommendations made by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) and enacted pursuant to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458). At the time that the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act was adopted, some congressional leaders reportedly agreed to revisit certain immigration and document-security issues in the 109th Congress that had been dropped from the final version of the act.
- Immigration: Legislative Issues on Nonimmigrant Professional Specialty (H-1B) Workers
- No Description Available.
- OSHA Reform: "Partnership" with Employers
- No Description Available.
- Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 105th Congress
- Immigration legislation enacted and considered in the 105th Congress can be divided into three categories: (1) legislation prompted by the major immigration and welfare legislation enacted in the 104th Congress; (2) legislation in response to the expiration dates of existing provisions; and (3) legislation which addressed emerging new issues -- issues that the 104th Congress did not address, or issues that arose since then.
- Immigration: Reasons for Growth, 1981-1995
- Legal immigration to the United States has increased sharply in recent years, and shows no signs of slowing down. The question of why immigration has grown so rapidly and the implications of this growth for the future are expected to be issues in the 105th Congress. Primarily because of legislation enacted in 1980 and 1986, the numerical restrictions of the basic family and employment-based immigration preference system became less significant. The growth in legal immigration during the past 15 years came in three groups admitted outside these numerical limits -- legalized aliens, refugees, and numerically exempt immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. For example, about 2.8 million illegal or undocumented aliens were "legalized" between 1981 and 1995.
- Immigration: Reasons for Growth, 1981-1995
- Report detailing the sharp growth in U.S. legal immigration from 1981 to 1995, including statistics, charts, priorities, and more.