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A new study from the Migration Policy Institute found over 5.3 million students enrolled in colleges and universities in 2018 came from immigrant families. That number is 30 percent of all college students, up from 20 percent in 2000. The population of “immigrant-origin” students accounted for 58 percent of the increase in total number of higher education students during that period. Those students are largely the children of Indians who came to study in the U.S. and stayed, the children of Latin American immigrants and some refugees. The New York Times
In other national immigration news…
Analysis: How Trump has Changed the Immigration Courts
Since Trump arrived in the White House, the U.S.’s immigration court backlog has grown to over 1 million cases. Immigration judges have been forced to clear more cases and hit quotas, but their discretionary powers to close cases have also faded away. Asylum seekers have been forced to quickly collect evidence for their cases. Trump has packed the Board of Immigration appeals with restrictionist judges, and many other judges with little or no immigration experience have been appointed immigration judges. BORDER/LINES and Documented looked back at the past four years in the immigration courts to see how they have changed. Read more at Documented
High Number of Migrants Apprehended Crossing the Border
The number of migrants crossing the U.S.–Mexico border rose to a 13-month high last month, according to Customs and Border Protection. A total of 54,771 people were apprehended crossing the border last month. The number of migrants crossing has been steadily declining since late March when the Trump administration used a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order to allow agents to rapidly deport most migrants back to Mexico. This caused the number of people apprehended while crossing the border to significantly drop in the spring. The arrests are mainly of Mexican adults trying to cross repeatedly. The Washington Post
Cameroonian Asylum Seekers Pulled Off Deportation Flight Due to Abuse Allegations
Two Cameroonian men were pulled off an ICE flight moments before takeoff on Tuesday in connection to an investigation over the abuse they allege they endured while in U.S. custody. They were part of a group of eight Cameroonian asylum seekers who alleged they were coerced by ICE into signing deportation documents through force, including the use of pepper spray. The other six were not taken to the airport, but it’s unclear if they had been deported already. An ICE official told NBC News that some of the men were held to be interviewed by the investigating agencies, but they still may be deported. NBC News
Economic Conditions Driving Migration North
A small growing movement of Central Americans are headed north to escape economic devastation brought on by the coronavirus. The shutdowns have hit the already poor nations hard. U.S.–bound migration from Central American and Caribbean countries fell after many countries closed their borders and the U.S. began deporting people quickly after they were apprehended crossing the border. Some coyotes even began moving stranded Central Americans back home instead of north to the U.S. But migration is rising again (see above) as Mexican cartels that had previously banned smugglers due to the pandemic began taking them again. Reuters
