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Category: Immigration

The Trump Administration Begins

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Donald Trump was officially sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on Monday, and quickly got to work, signing a flurry of Executive Orders, pardons, and personnel actions. Many of the most notable actions of his first 24 hours in office relate to immigration, the federal workforce, foreign relations, and those charged with crimes on January 6th, 2021.

One of the most controversial actions taken by Trump, and one that has already garnered legal pushback, is an order to narrow the constitutional definition of those eligible for birthright citizenship. For over a century, birthright citizenship has been considered guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified on July 9, 1868, which states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Under this new order, the Trump Administration seeks to deny the extension of citizenship to persons born in the United States “(1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary…and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.” A coalition of more than twenty Democratic-led states, along with the city of San Francisco and the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston on Tuesday, alleging that these efforts are unconstitutional.

This was far from the only immigration-related policy enacted during Trump’s first day in office. He also signed several orders seeking to increase border security, including declaring a national emergency, designating numerous cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, restricting funds from sanctuary cities, and reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy, among others.

Trump has also issued orders that make it easier to remove career civil servants from the federal government by reinstating “Schedule F,” which states that occupants of career/policy positions are “required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the vesting of executive authority solely in the President. Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”

In yet another controversial move, President Trump has issued a sweeping grant of clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Most of those affected by this order will be granted full pardons, effectively wiping all charges from their criminal record. In a separate move, Trump commuted the prison sentences of members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, many of whom were charged with seditious conspiracy. In total, the commutations erased more than 100 years of prison time for the 14 defendants.

Furthermore, among the slew of executive actions taken by President Trump on Monday and Tuesday include a number related to energy and power. Trump declared a national emergency designed to promote the development of energy resources and issued memorandums to restrict and review numerous wind-power projects throughout the country.

Finally, in foreign policy news, Trump issued orders withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Climate Accords. The order withdrawing from the WHO cites the organizations “mishandling” of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the unfair payments extracted from the United Staes as the motivation for leaving.

Many of these executive actions will face significant legal resistance in the coming weeks.

 

 

 

 

119th Congress: Appropriations/Budget Outlook

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Members of the 119th Congress have officially been sworn in, with President-elect Trump soon to follow. Republicans will now look to navigate a number of important pieces of legislation in the coming months, with slim majorities in both chambers.

To start, the latest Continuing Resolution (CR) for FY2025 passed in late December funds the government through March 14th, meaning some of the immediate attention of this Congress—at least that of the appropriators in both chambers—will be focused on funding the government through the end of the fiscal year.

Since the beginning of the Fiscal Year 2025 on October 1, Congress has passed two short-term spending extensions that maintained levels of government spending from the prior year but punted on the important funding decisions that need to be made for the rest of the fiscal year. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) now face the difficult task of attempting to pass appropriations bills in two sharply divided chambers with small majorities.

Regardless of when Congress finishes the appropriations for FY2025, it will need to turn its attention to the FY2026 process.  It is possible that the relevant committees may start crafting legislation for FY2026 before FY2025 is fully wrapped up.  The FY2025 process started under the Biden Administration, and the new Republican Congressional majorities and the new incoming Trump Administration after the November elections wanted to hold off on finishing it in order to give the new Trump team an opportunity to shape the remainder of the year.  With the vast majority of the FY2025 bill already drafted, it remains to be seen how the negotiations to finish out the year will turn out.  It is against this backdrop that FY2026 will kick off, with Republicans fully in control.  The FY2026 appropriations process will be affected by the incoming Administration’s budget request. The budget is due by the first Monday in February, though this is typically delayed and will almost certainly be late during a transition year.

Additionally, President-elect Trump and GOP leaders in both chambers have stated their intent to pass much of Trump’s agenda through budget reconciliation early in the year, a very exacting and complicated process through which mandatory spending levels must be addressed.  The benefit of this process is that changes being mandated by it can be passed with a simple majority in the Senate, thus avoiding the filibuster. This plan has generated the most attention on the budget front for the new Administration and Congress.  This plan has already been complicated, however, by disagreements within the Republican party.

At the end of the day, in broad terms, the GOP’s goals for reconciliation are to pass immigration and tax legislation as well as bring about changes to other mandatory programs.

With respect to the process, House GOP leaders have spoken in favor of passing one large reconciliation bill, which would include tax, defense, and immigration provisions. House leaders argue that the one-bill approach will build maximum support within the party, and have also noted the difficulty of passing two reconciliation bills in the same year.

Senate GOP leaders, however, believe that a two-pronged approach would put the party in a better position. Passing an initial bill focused on border and security legislation would give Trump an early win, Senate leaders say, while also allowing for more time to construct the complicated and time-consuming changes to tax law to be passed in the second bill.

Trump initially voiced support for the House approach, though he walked back his commitment the next day, saying he was open to either approach. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) publicly shared that party leaders may need several more weeks to agree on a plan. Per Scalise, the party is “moving forward under the guise of one bill…how we do it is a discussion, but what we’re doing is not under discussion. Everybody’s focused on the same thing.”

Both Scalise and Johnson have both stated that they would like to move a reconciliation package through the House by the end of April.

Graduate Student & Professional Senate Leaders Take D.C.

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This week, four graduate student leaders from UW’s Graduate Student & Professional Senate (GPSS) visited Washington D.C. to meet with Congressional staff and advocate for their priorities as graduate students across the country and in Washington specifically. The annual trip to D.C. was put on hold the past few years due to the pandemic, making this year’s visit a great opportunity to reconnect with offices in person and update them on graduate student concerns. The group, which included A.J. Balatico (GPSS President), Kaustubh Yadav (GPSS and SAGE Communications Director), Janis Shin (TABS Chair), and Ella Spurlock (GPSS Exec Senator, Science and Policy Chair), met with 11 of the Washington delegation’s offices where they discussed support for higher education, international students, and research opportunities and advocated for efforts to diversify academic pipelines, ease the visa processes for international students, and expand direct financial support to graduate students. 

 

DACA Program Remains but Future is Uncertain After Fifth Circuit’s Decision

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On October 5th, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2021 ruling that struck down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The 2021 decision by Judge Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found that the program is illegal, stating that the Obama administration did not have the authority to institute the DACA program the way that they did – under a memorandum by the Department of Homeland Security.

The October 5th decision did not end the program — DACA recipients who are already enrolled in the program are still protected and their work authorizations are still valid. Those that are already enrolled can also continue to renew their DACA grants, however first-time applications are still not being processed.

Back in late August, the Biden administration released a new rule that codifies the DACA program into federal regulation that would go into effect on October 31st. In its ruling, the Fifth Circuit sent the case back to Judge Hanen in Texas to consider the impact of the administration’s new rule and judge its legality. The new rule has a similar structure as the current DACA program and faces similar limitations – even if Judge Hanan rules positively on Biden’s rule, it cannot provide Dreamers with permanent legal status or fully protect them from legal challenges in the future. Only Congress can fully protect Dreamers.

After the decision from the Fifth Circuit, President Biden, along with several advocacy groups, called on Congress to pass permanent protection for DACA recipients. The House already passed a bill in March of 2021 to provide Dreamers with a pathway to citizenship, but the Senate has not considered it so far. Some Democratic senators have called for Congress to pass DACA legislation during the lame duck period after the midterms but the biggest hurdle for Democrats to pass immigration legislation is the Senate filibuster – they will need all 50 Democrats and 10 Republicans to agree to a bill. So far this has seemed unlikely, but it still could be the best chance for Democrats, especially if Republicans take the majority in the House or the Senate in the next Congress.

If Biden’s rule is struck down again, further appeals are expected and DACA is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court this term or next term. This would be the third time that a case regarding the DACA program has been taken up by the Supreme Court. The first time, in 2016, the Court was deadlocked at 4-4 which ended up blocking an expanded version of DACA. The second was in 2020 when the Court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration improperly ended DACA, which allowed it to stay in place. This would be the first time that the current, more conservative leaning Court would hear a case regarding the legality of the program itself.

UW recognizes in its 2022 Federal Agenda the need for comprehensive immigration reform which includes a permanent legal fix for DACA-eligible recipients and their families. The office will continue to monitor and provide updates on DACA in Congress and in the courts.

More information about the decision can be found here and here.

2022 Federal Agenda Now Live

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The University of Washington has published our 2022 Federal Agenda reaffirming our commitment to a robust partnership with the federal government. You can view the agenda here.

On March 24th at 12pm PT, Director of Federal Relations Sarah Castro will participate in a Town Hall highlighting the key elements of our federal agenda. Members of the UW community can register here.