New immigration bill introduced in the House

House Republicans introduced the Border Reinforcement Act of 2023 in the Homeland Security Committee yesterday. Key components of the bill include resuming wall construction, setting required spending on border infrastructure and technology, restricting government funding of nonprofits, increasing the number of Border Patrol agents to 22,000 and requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report monthly on the number of migrants spotted crossing the border but not apprehended or processed by officials. A markup of the bill is scheduled for Wednesday.

Many Ukrainians in the U.S. face an uncertain future

Thousands of Ukrainians who entered the U.S. under Uniting for Ukraine, a humanitarian parole program introduced by the Biden administration in the months following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have approached the one-year mark of a two-year period of stay allowed under the program. They are worried that the two-year parole will end and that they will lose their protections in the U.S. while the war continues. Many advocates of the program believe that the administration will work to ensure that Ukrainians are able to remain in the U.S. and have begun to push for a process for them to re-apply for parole, but the DHS has not yet announced any plans to do so.

U.S. returned over 120 Cuban nationals on the first deportation flight to Cuba since 2020

At the end of 2022 Cuba agreed to accept deportation flights from the U.S. again for the first time since the pandemic and confirmed the first one arrived on Monday. U.S. and Cuban officials met in Washington D.C. earlier this month to discuss migration as the Biden administration prepares for the end of Title 42 and an anticipated rise in the number of migrants coming to the border at its termination on May 11.

"The United States continues to encourage Cubans to use lawful processes," a DHS spokesperson said on Monday. The administration began expelling Cubans coming to the border in January under Title 42 restrictions, while providing new legal pathways for them to enter the country under a private sponsorship program.