Center for Immigration Studies

View Podcast Archive Follow Parsing Immigration Policy on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, or use the podcast's RSS Feed. Listen to "J-1 Visa Program: A Cheap Labor Program" on Spreaker. Summary Americans visiting beaches, neighborhood pools, summer camps, and resorts this summer are likely to encounter foreign workers filling jobs as lifeguards, ice-cream scoopers, housekeepers, counselors, and restaurant workers.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued guidance in its Policy Manual on August 18, 2026, to provide more information regarding how its immigration officers will determine whether an alien applying for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident (also known as a green card holder) is likely at any time to become a public charge.

This report discusses what happens when state and local governments criminally prosecute federal law enforcement officials in order to obstruct the enforcement of disfavored federal laws. What protections are available to federal officers targeted for prosecution simply for carrying out their duties under federal law? Summary DHS immigration officers are being prosecuted at the state/local level for alleged crimes committed while enforcing federal immigration laws.

Nothing slows removals like administrative interference in the law as Congress has written it On August 13, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) — the DOJ tribunal that reviews immigration decisions — issued an opinion in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, finding that an alien who departed from the United States with advance parole while under a final removal order is inadmissible and therefore unable to receive a green card in the United States — proving dictionaries are still good for something.

Parsing Immigration Policy, Episode 267 View Podcast Archive Follow Parsing Immigration Policy on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, or use the podcast's RSS Feed. Listen to "Panel: Who Gets to Be a Citizen?" on Spreaker. Summary A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision addressing birthright citizenship has renewed debate over one of the most consequential questions in immigration policy for any nation: Who should be entitled to citizenship?

Is nothing sacred? For those of us who believe in the sanctity of certain institutions — like matrimony and children — August 12 was a dark day. On the former front, the Department of Justice announced 11 defendants had been charged in connection with a “decade-long nationwide marriage fraud scheme” involving “more than 1,000 sham marriages”. With respect to the latter, the Department of State (DOS) issued a fact sheet on its new “Task Force to End Birth Tourism”. Is nothing sacred?

Based on my conservative estimates, the Biden administration used its extremely narrow “parole” authority to (unlawfully) grant entry to nearly 2.9 million “inadmissible applicants for admission”, i.e., aliens with no right to be here. The Trump administration is now attempting to quickly screen and deport many of them, using “expedited removal”, a procedure that affords those aliens limited “due process” rights.

Start a company, sponsor yourself for an H-1B visa, and sponsor friends and family for H-1B visas. The H-1B data obtained by Bloomberg suggests that this is happening on a massive scale. H-1B nonimmigrants have always been able to set up companies in the United States and use those companies to sponsor friends and family for additional H-1B visas.

Americans visiting the beach, mountains, neighborhood pools, and summer camps this year are likely to encounter foreign guestworkers filling jobs as ice-cream scoopers, lifeguards, housekeepers, counselors, and fry cooks. Most people don’t realize that these temporary visa workers, also known as J-1 exchange visitors, are considered by proponents to be a major component of what the State Department calls “public diplomacy”.

During a congressional hearing last year, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) explained: “Violent criminals have no place on our streets; if they are undocumented, we want them out of Illinois and out of our country.” And yet, as I explained last October, both the Land of Lincoln and Chicago (it’s largest city) have some of the most restrictive sanctuary laws in the country, meaning they refuse to assist ICE in taking custody of those very same “violent criminals”.