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Friday Immigration Bulletin: Magnus Exitus

Added 2022-11-11 20:29:20 +0000 UTC

Good afternoon! Citizens from mixed-status families make their case to Congress; LAT & Politico report DHS drama as Magnus refuses Mayorkas’ order to resign or be fired; and laid off Meta workers tell Buzzfeed that Zuckerberg’s promised “immigration support” is unresponsive.

Escobar Bill Faces Uncertain Future in House

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) has been asking House leadership for months to bring the American Families United Act to the floor for a vote.

This summer, Escobar reached across the aisle to find three House Republicans to cosponsor her bill, which focuses on relief for U.S. citizens living in mixed-status families.

Mixed-status families have both citizen and undocumented relatives. These families have been denied a range of federal benefits, including the pandemic relief checks received by their fellow U.S. citizens via the CARES Act in 2020.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) famously decried excluding undocumented immigrants (and by extension, many U.S. citizens in mixed status families) from pandemic relief.

Nearly 2 million mixed-status families have relatives who have been deported or face deportation, according to the advocacy group American Families United, which has championed earlier versions of their bill since the 113th Congress.

Escobar’s bipartisan bill now has 80 House cosponsors. If passed, the bill allows the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to “exercise discretion by declining to remove an alien or bar an alien from entering the United States to prevent hardship for the alien's U.S. citizen spouse, parent, or child.” It also removes restrictions on birthright citizenship on children born outside the U.S. to a citizen and non-citizen parent.

Just before the midterm, I asked Escobar in passing if she had any update from leadership about her bill. “No, sorry,” said Escobar who at the time was walking in the opposite direction in a crowded Capitol corridor.

Some Hill sources say the legislative calendar is too short to bring Escobar’s bill to the floor, but Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) who has been shepherding the bill in the lower chamber told me she’s “always hopeful” that the bill can move forward.

I followed up with Escobar today for an update on the American Families United Act. As I write, she has not yet replied. The Texas Democrat won a third term on Wednesday night, defeating Irene Armendariz Jackson to represent Texas’ 16th congressional district.

Magnus Ordered Out at CBP

Hamed Aleaziz at the Los Angeles Times had a big scoop this morning that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) director Chris Magnus has been ordered by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign or be fired.

“I expressed to him that I felt there was no justification for me to resign when I still cared deeply about the work I was doing and felt that that work was focused on the things I was hired to do in the first place,” Magnus told LAT.

Politico reporter Daniel Lippmann reports that Mayorkas’ deputy secretary John Tien is now responsible for CBP, with deputy commissioner Troy Miller running the agency’s day-to-day operations.

Last month, Lippmann reported on internal resistance to Magnus’ reformist approach at CBP, which is responsible for enforcing trade, customs, and border regulations and for collecting import duties.

Magnus was confirmed 50-47 by the Senate last December, with Republican Susan Collins joining Democrats to vote for the former Tucson police chief.

If Magnus is out as CPB director, President Joe Biden will likely nominate a replacement to be confirmed by the Senate.

Despite wildly underperforming in the midterm election on Tuesday, House Republicans have vowed to impeach Secretary Mayorkas if they win the majority,

Zuckerberg’s Promised “Immigration Support”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told laid off employees that the company would provide “immigration support” to workers impacted by the social media giant’s first mass layoff. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg laid off 13% of Meta’s workforce.

“I know this is especially difficult if you’re here on a visa,” wrote Zuckerberg “There’s a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, which means everyone will have time to make plans and work through their immigration status. We have dedicated immigration specialists to help guide you based on what you and your family need.”

Buzzfeed’s Pranav Dixit now reports that the hotline offered by Meta has been unresponsive to the laid off migrants seeking answers. “Tech companies in the US like Meta heavily rely on work visas to hire thousands of people, largely from countries like India and China, each year. But US law requires workers holding some visas to find new employers or leave the country within 60 days if they lose their jobs,” Dixit reports.

Visa migrants laid off by Meta, Twitter, Lyft, Netflix, and other tech companies are having to scramble to find employers willing to sponsor their work visa. Otherwise they (and in many cases, their dependents) fall “out of status” 60 days after they lose their job.

Expect more immigration reporting on nightmare scenarios some tech workers are facing as the layoffs continue to play out in the industry. Meanwhile, I’ll keep watching this story from Washington, D.C. …