Immigration and Border Issues

WASHINGTON—Representatives Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Joaquin Castro, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, today demanded information from the State Department on recently announced rule changes impacting non-immigrant visa applicants seeking to visit the United States. In a letter to Assistant Secretary of State Carl Risch, the lawmakers called for more information about the rationale for the rule changes, reportedly designed to curb “birth tourism,” while underscoring the potentially significant consequences of the new rules.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, today led a group of leading Democrats in calling on the State Department’s Inspector General to immediately open an investigation into the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for El Salvador, Haiti, and Honduras. Joining Menendez and Castro in requesting the IG probe were House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (NY-16), Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere Chairman Albio Sires (NJ-8), and Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Chair Zoe Lofgren (CA-16).

WASHINGTON— Congressional leaders called on Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to immediately halt implementation of the Trump Administration’s new asylum programs, Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) and the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP). These programs do not help asylum seekers but instead systematically deny them due process, leave them in life-threatening circumstances, and ultimately deny the opportunity to justly seek asylum in the United States.

WASHINGTON — Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) issued the following statement to mark one year of the Trump Administration enforcing their Remain in Mexico Program, also known as the “Migrant Protection Protocols”:

WASHINGTON — Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) issued the following statement following a 5-4 Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump Administration to put into effect the public charge rule while litigation on the cases continue. The public charge rule would allow the government to deny permanent residency to immigrant families that may use public programs and benefits:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, Immigration Subcommittee Ranking Member Dick Durbin and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro and Representative Veronica Escobar, led 113 of their colleagues in submitting an Amicus Brief in Flores v Barr. The Brief urges the Ninth Circuit to reject the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to gut the Flores Settlement Agreement, which provides vital, long-standing protections for children. Flores is key to ensuring there are minimum health and safety requirements for the custody of children.

WASHINGTON — On Friday, January 17, 2020, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressman Filemon Vela (TX-34) will lead a Congressional delegation to Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico to investigate the impacts of the Trump Administration’s Remain in Mexico policy and the use of tent court facilities to adjudicate Remain in Mexico asylum cases.

WASHINGTON — Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) issued the following statement after the Trump Administration confirmed it will begin sending Mexican asylum seekers to Guatemala as part of a bilateral agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the Guatemalan Government: