Talking Immigration

What is Title 42? Is it a law?Who has the power to end Title 42?Do we collect COVID data on immigrants who arrive at the border?What does Title 42 say? Does it only apply to non-citizens? Are there any exceptions?How does Title 42 work in practice?How has Title 42 affected the number of people arriving and being apprehended at the border? Is what's happening at the border a crisis?What are the challenges to Title 42?If/When Title 42 is ended, what would happen? Would it create chaos? Guest: Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Policy Counsel with the American Immigration Council

Is there a single US government agency that deals with immigration? What immigration functions are in the Department of Homeland Security?What is USCIS and what do they do?What is the difference between ICE and Border Patrol?Who oversees immigration court?Is the Office of Refugee Resettlement a part of DHS?What other agencies deal with immigration?Guest: Aaron Hall, Immigration attorney and partner at Joseph and Hall, P.C.

How many immigrants work in agriculture? Why are so many farmworkers undocumented?Do farms hire immigrants because they can pay them less?What is the process for a farm to legally hire a temporary H2-A visa farmworker? Is it expensive?Are H2-A visas limited? What is the timeframe allowed? What are the limits on these temporary H2-A visas?What are some of the challenges facing immigrant farmworkers?Guest: Mary Jo Dudley, Director of the Cornell Farmworker Program 

Who is considered an unaccompanied minor? Do unaccompanied minors have special protections at the border? What are the potential outcomes for a child who comes to the border?Where are unaccompanied minors held when they arrive at the border?What is the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status?What exactly is "Family Separation" at the border?What happens when children are separated from their parents or family?What are some of the challenges with reunification efforts?Guest: Anilu Chadwick, Senior Attorney, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

What is immigration detention?Who is in immigration detention?How long do people stay in immigration detention?What is detention like? Is it different for children?What are the possible outcomes for someone in detention?Who overseas detention facilities?How many detention facilities are there and where?How much does detention cost?What are the alternatives to detention? Are they effective?Guest: Laurence Benenson, Interim Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, National Immigration Forum

What does it mean to be in removal proceedings? Is it the same as being deported?Does someone need to be in detention in order to be removed from the US?Are there priorities for who should be removed from the US?What is a "defense against removal?"Does everyone who is caught being in the US without authorization, have the option to present a defense?What are some types of relief against removal and how do they work?If someone wins a form of relief, are they safe from being removed in the future?How frequently does someone win relief from removal?Guest: Patrick Taurel, Senior Immigration Attorney with Clark Hill PLC

What is a labor market test or labor certification and why is it important? What types of businesses use labor certifications? How does the labor certification process work? What do businesses have to do to show they should be allowed to sponsor a foreign worker for a green card? How much does it cost an employer to do a labor certification? How long does the labor certification process take?How frequently is this process used? What are some of the problems or critiques of the labor certification process?Guest: Michael Bailey, Immigration Attorney, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C

Who is TRAC and where do they get their data about immigrants? What does the data actually say about some common generalizations about immigrants? How many immigrants are there? Where are most immigrants from? What does the data say about immigrants having criminal records? Who is in detention centers? Are there alternatives to detention? What do we know about the effectiveness of the border wall? Guest: Austin Kocher, PhD and Research Assistant Professor with TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse).

What is the Remain in Mexico policy or the Migrant Protection Protocols? When did it begin? Who does it affect? How many people are under this program? What are the "protections" given? Guest: Tania Guerrero, Immigration Attorney, Estamos Unidos Asylum Project with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC).

What type of law is broken when someone arrives in the US without documentation? Who enforces immigration law and how? How much does the US spend on immigration enforcement? How does ICE do its job? How do deportations happen? What are sanctuary cities? Guest: Jessica Bolter, Associate Policy Analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.

How does someone get from being undocumented to becoming a citizen? What is the process? When does someone get a social security card and pay taxes? Can earned citizenship be taken away? Guest: Martha Laura Garcia-Izaguirre, Supervising Attorney with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center (NMILC)

A discussion of the visas available to non-citizen victims of violence: U-Visas, VAWA, T-Visas, TPS. Who is eligible for these visas? How long do they last? How many are available? How do they work? Guest: Zeyla Gonzalez, DOJ Accredited Representative with Human Rights Initiative of North Texas

What is asylum? How does someone begin the process of seeking asylum and what do they have to prove? What are the wait times and fees? Is asylum a permanent status? Guest: Heidi Cerneka, Immigration Attorney with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center

Why is immigration court an important topic? How does it function and what is it's purpose? Guest: Rebecca Kitson, Immigration Attorney at Rebecca Kitson Law

What are employment-based visas? What are industries that use work visas? What are the costs and limits? Guest: Michael G. Bailey, Immigration Attorney

What is DACA? How does DACA work? What is the DREAM Act? Guests: Carlos Rodríguez and Shalini Thomas, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center (NMILC)

What is the southern US/Mexico border like? Who guards the border and where should people cross? What are some potential outcomes for someone trying to cross the border without documents? Guest: Luis Guerra, Strategic Capacity Officer for CLINIC, Inc.

Who can come to the US on a family visa? How long does it take? What is chain migration? Guest: Luis Rojo, Immigration Attorney

Marriage visas, why a family-based visa would be denied, and costs. Guest: Luis Rojo, Immigration Attorney

Who can come to the US as an immigrant? How long does it take? Does it cost? Guest: Nubia Torres, Director of Immigration Legal Services at Catholic Charities Dallas.