immigration

Immigrants wait overnight next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum in the United States on Jan. 7, 2023, as viewed from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Biden administration proposes major new limits on asylum at the border

BY: - February 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is rolling out a proposed rule that for two years would bar migrants from applying for asylum at the Southern border if they have not first asked for protection in a country they traveled through. The administration is seeking to limit asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border as a pandemic-era […]

Immigrants wait overnight next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum in the United States on Jan. 7, 2023, as viewed from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

White House targets economic development in Central America to reduce migration

BY: - February 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — The White House Monday announced nearly $1 billion in investments to address economic causes of migration in several Central American countries, an effort being spurred by Vice President Kamala Harris.   Spread over several years, 10 private companies from Target to Nestlé are pledging $950 million to create economic development in Honduras, El Salvador […]

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argues with the chairman during a hearing about the Mueller Reporter in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, June 10, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. House Judiciary’s debut hearing on the border centers on blame for fentanyl crisis

BY: - February 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee blamed the Biden administration for fentanyl drug smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border during a Wednesday hearing. Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio also blamed U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the number of migrants at the border, and said there are already hundreds of […]

DACA recipients and their supporters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on June 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Lengthy timeline for DACA legal fight puts lives on hold for years

BY: - January 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — Karen Judith Briseno Ortiz mailed in her application for a program meant to protect undocumented children from deportation, one day after her twin sister’s application. Her sister was accepted into the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but Briseno Ortiz, who grew up in Dallas, was not. Now her application is in limbo […]

A person from Ukraine holds a Ukrainian passport before being allowed to cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry into the United States to seek asylum on March 22, 2022, in Tijuana, Mexico. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Ukrainians by the thousands arrive in states, but with a time limit

BY: - January 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches next month, Ukrainians who were welcomed to the United States under a special program offering an escape from war are watching another timeline.  The temporary Uniting for Ukraine program, sometimes called U4U, offers a two-year stay in the U.S., given that individuals […]

Adane Redda, Tabitha Mathiang, Kendra Jasso-Chukwuyem, Moses Idris, Aluda Sisto and Nyareik Choul pose for a photo at an Avera Health event. All six are community health workers and community outreach consultants at Avera Health, helping the health care organization reach and communicate with non-English speakers in Sioux Falls. Twelve languages are spoken among the six of them. (Courtesy of Avera Health)

South Dakota’s multilingual population is growing. Advocates say more resources are needed.

BY: - January 7, 2023

Selene Zamorano-Ochoa says her friends and clients can’t simply hop in a car and drive themselves to work or the grocery store like most other South Dakotans. Instead, they use their smartphones to hail ridesharing services. That’s because they can’t speak English well enough to pass the state driver’s license test.  In 2020, the South […]

Vice President Kamala Harris looks on as U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about border security policies in the Roosevelt Room in the White House on Jan. 5, 2023. in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden administration to rapidly expel more migrants at the border, add legal pathways

BY: and - January 5, 2023

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday announced dual immigration strategies that would increase expulsions of migrants who attempt to cross the Southern border, while also expanding opportunities for migrants from several countries to legally enter the United States. But the sweeping new immigration plan brought condemnation from advocates who said he should not broaden […]

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

U.S. Supreme Court temporarily keeps Title 42 immigration program in effect

BY: - December 19, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court is keeping Title 42 in place until the justices can review whether the pandemic-era program should be lifted or continue. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in an order on Monday stayed a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed the program, which was put in place by the […]

Protesters in front of the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol urged Congress to pass the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in December 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Talks over protecting Dreamers pick up in Congress, but agreement still elusive

BY: - December 7, 2022

WASHINGTON — In a last-minute push, U.S. senators are working on a bipartisan agreement to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children. But the success of any major immigration deal appears unlikely, as a lame-duck session of Congress dwindles into its last days. Democrats are […]

COMMENTARY
In this aerial view, a destroyed apartment building is seen next to an area of heavily damaged houses on April 21, 2022, in Borodianka, Ukraine. (Photo by Alexey Furman/Getty Images)

Refugees, immigrants to South Dakota need our compassion

BY: - November 17, 2022

During the past two months, I have emceed three benefit concerts to raise awareness of a statewide effort to bring 5,000 to 10,000 Ukrainian war refugees to our state. The concerts in Watertown, Rapid City and Sioux Falls raised about $50,000 to support a fund that will help defray expenses for those who sponsor refugees. […]

Minneapolis Fed President: let immigration meet labor demand to boost economy

BY: - November 10, 2022

A steady stream of immigrants will be important to the funding future of entitlement programs in the U.S. and for the health of the economy as a whole, the president of the Federal Reserve in Minneapolis told an audience in Brookings this week. President Neel Kashkari shared those insights at South Dakota State University on […]