In The News
Lawmakers on both sides of the congressional aisle agree that backlogs and lengthy processing times for immigration applications are a problem, though they diverged during a House subcommittee hearing on the cause.
For the past two and a half years, Congress has largely granted U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) a free pass on immigration backlogs and application delays, denials and Requests for Evidence.
Amid a backlog that sees some applicants waiting decades for green cards, 140 Republican members of Congress joined 224 Democrats and passed a bill Wednesday to end the per-country cap on green cards.
State and federal lawmakers are calling for new rules and investigations surrounding the use of facial-recognition scans of driver’s license databases by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies, fueling a debate over the technology some on Capitol Hill have said represents a “massive breach of privacy and trust.”
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
The stories of the crisis on the U.S. southern border just keep coming. Dangerous overcrowding, squalid conditions, adults and children held for days and weeks at a time - issues that Acting Inspector General Jennifer Costello describes as urgent and needing immediate attention and action.
As we argue about the horrifying humanitarian disaster at the southern border, a fundamental question is hovering in the background: Do we want to make it harder for desperate people to legally secure refuge in the United States, or easier for them to legally do so?
A House panel on Friday backed legislation to improve election security ahead of next year’s contests as Democrats press for shoring up the nation’s voting system after Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Two Vietnamese men hoping to donate blood marrow to their brother in San Jose have been approved visas to travel to the U.S., local politicians announced Tuesday.
House lawmakers demand end to warrantless collection of Americans’ data
Two House lawmakers are pushing an amendment that would effectively defund a massive data collection program run by the National Security Agency i unless the government promises to not intentionally collect data of Americans.
Two Vietnamese brothers have been granted temporary visas to supply a life-saving bone marrow transfer for their dying sibling, a United States citizen living in San Jose, after a Chronicle investigation.