Immigration
Federal appeals court weighs fate of DACA program
WASHINGTON — After concluding oral arguments Thursday, a panel of federal judges will determine the fate of a program that has shielded from deportation more than half a million immigrants lacking permanent legal status who came into the United States as children. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a 12-year program that was meant […]
Haitian immigrants find new footholds, and familiar backlash, in the Midwest, South
Fortified with work authorizations and a new freedom, Haitian immigrants are moving out of their longtime strongholds in Florida and New York, often finding good jobs while remaining wary of how they will be received in new places in the Midwest and South. This movement helps explain why Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have become […]
Housing: Where do Trump and Harris stand?
WASHINGTON — As the cost and supply of housing remain top issues for voters, both presidential candidates have put forth plans to tackle the crisis, in hopes of courting voters ahead of the Nov. 5 election. The coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020 exacerbated problems in the housing market, with supply chain disruptions, record-low interest […]
Missouri House Democrat calls for investigation of testimony given under false names
Missouri House testimony presented under several aliases should be investigated and prosecuted under laws making it a felony to file false documents with a government agency, state Rep. Del Taylor said Friday. Taylor, a St. Louis Democrat, said that The Independent’s report that a Columbia restaurant owner is the source of testimony under at least […]
Left powerless: Non-English–speaking parents denied vital translation services
For months, Wendy Rodas felt disempowered and silenced whenever she tried to reach out to her daughter’s Missouri elementary school. The El Salvadorian mother of three, who primarily speaks Spanish, struggled to communicate with teachers, administrators and district leaders. She made repeated requests for the interpretation services that she — and all public school parents who […]
Deportations, raids, visa access: How the presidential election could impact immigrant farmworkers
The farmworkers scattered. There was a union representative in the workers’ employer-provided housing, on an orchard in upstate New York. Their employer, major apple grower Porpiglia Farms, had hired them on H-2A, or temporary labor, visas. That day in August 2023, according to the workers’ union, United Farm Workers, the orchard’s owners burst in. The […]
A Missouri panel of lawmakers looks at immigration — and gets pushback
It’s like clockwork each election cycle. Politicians reach for an old playbook, brandishing images from the southern border, claiming that undocumented migrants steal jobs and commit violent crimes at an alarming rate. The intent is to sow fear and misinformation about immigrants for political advantage. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump talked about immigration more […]
U.S. House GOP sets up fight over noncitizen voting in bill averting government shutdown
WASHINGTON — As Congress returns from a five-week recess Monday, House Republicans have attached a provision to bar noncitizens from voting in federal elections — which is already unlawful — to a stopgap funding bill that is already teeing up a battle with the Senate and White House. The GOP drive in Congress echoes state […]
Federal judge pauses program that grants protections for undocumented spouses
WASHINGTON — A Texas federal judge late Monday sided with 16-Republican led states to temporarily block a Biden administration program that grants deportation protections for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens and a potential pathway to citizenship. The ruling by Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, is an administrative […]
GOP states aim to halt Biden program protecting some noncitizen spouses from deportation
WASHINGTON — Texas and 15 states Friday filed a suit in federal court to block the Biden administration’s program that protects some people in the country without authorization who are married to U.S. citizens from deportation and grants them a pathway to citizenship. States in the suit, which was filed in United States District Court […]
Trump promises mass deportations of undocumented people. How would that work?
WASHINGTON — “Mass deportation now!” is a catchphrase for the Trump presidential campaign, as the Republican nominee proposes a crackdown on immigration that would oust thousands of undocumented people. Often citing a deportation operation enacted by former President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed in campaign rallies that he […]
Congress aims to boost enforcement at the border – with Canada
WASHINGTON – While much of U.S. border security talk focuses on the southwest corner of the country, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill in June aimed at a different target — growing migration along the U.S.-Canada border. The legislation, titled the Northern Border Coordination Act, was co-authored by Sens. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, and […]