Agencies Continue Reform of Immigration Rules

January 6, 2021

IRLI shows changes will streamline immigration proceedings and protect American workers

WASHINGTON—Last month, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) submitted four public comments in support of important new changes in immigration regulations proposed by the Trump administration.

In the first comment, IRLI supports the administration’s proposal to stop an abuse that has been going on for decades: allowing aliens in the United States on a business visa to work in this country beyond the scope of that visa. IRLI shows that this practice violates the law, and points out that ending it will protect American workers from unlawful foreign competition.

Likewise, in the second comment, IRLI supports the administration’s roll-back of regulations that unlawfully expanded work authorizations for aliens who had been ordered removed but could not be removed immediately because their home countries would not accept them. In limiting such work authorizations to, for example, aliens who have an economic need to work, or who have dependents in the United States, the proposed rule brings the regulations in line with the governing statute.

In the third comment, IRLI explains its support for the administration’s proposed limits on continuances in immigration proceedings, showing how the proposed rule would only allow continuances for good cause, and thus help reduce the backlogs in the nation’s clogged immigration courts. Similarly, in the fourth comment, IRLI supports a laundry list of proposed rules aimed at streamlining immigration proceedings—for example, by requiring aliens who petition for reopening of proceedings to apprise the court of facts that might affect the propriety of reopening—and incentivizing aliens not to seek reopening or reconsideration in the United States, but from abroad.

 “In prior decades, anti-borders bureaucrats, often in concert with cheap-labor lobbyists, have littered immigration regulations with rules that both depart from the statutes passed by Congress and harm the American people,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “We applaud the administration for its hard work uncovering these unlawful regulations and correcting them with new rules that reflect the will of Congress while advancing the national interest and the interests of American workers. We are pleased to give our continued support to the administration in these vital reforms.”

The comments are on Docket No. DOS-2020-0041; RIN 1400-AE95: Visas: Temporary Visitors for Business or Pleasure (85 Fed. Reg. 66,878-888); DHS Docket No. USCIS-2019-0024: Employment Authorization for Certain Classes of Aliens With Final Orders of Removal (85 Fed. Reg. 74,196-253); EOIR Docket No. 19-0410; RIN 1125-AB03: Good Cause for a Continuance in Immigration Proceedings (85 Fed. Reg. 75,925-941); and EOIR Docket No. 18-0503; RIN 1125-AB01: Motions To Reopen and Reconsider; Effect of Departure; Stay of Removal (85 Fed. Reg. 75,942-959).

For additional information, contact: Brian Lonergan • 202-232-5590 • [email protected]