Top Biden Immigration Official Called to ‘Abolish’ ICE, End Detention of Illegal Immigrants

A top Biden administration U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official previously advocated to “abolish” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and worked with an anti-ICE group, according to her previous work and statements reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Avideh Moussavian began her tenure at USCIS in March 2022 and was later appointed to serve as the agency’s chief of the Office of Policy and Strategy in March 2023. Before her work for the Biden administration, Moussavian tweeted in 2018 the hashtag “abolishICE,” accusing the agency of “misleading the public and making our workplaces less safe.” She has also advocated to “defund” ICE and CBP, according to a 2019 tweet.

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U.S. Citizenship Test May Soon Require Migrants to Speak English

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is considering significant changes to the citizenship test, possibly adding an English-speaking section and multiple-choice civics questions, making it harder for would-be Americans.

Currently, the citizenship test does not evaluate the applicant’s English skills. The only time the applicant’s English skills are put to the test is during the eligibility interview the candidate has with an immigration officer. An officer would show photos of ordinary scenarios to the test takers, which they would have to describe orally.

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Large Number of Criminal Juveniles Entering U.S. Through DACA: Report

Democrats and immigration activists have long claimed that amnesty for illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children wouldn’t include young people with a criminal history, but many of the juvenile beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) were affiliated with gangs and had arrest records when granted the program’s benefits, according to a new report.

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‘Hundreds’ of Afghan Refugees Resettling in Michigan

According to non-profit Samaritas, a Michigan refugee resettlement group that has been providing homes for displaced migrants since 1934, it will be resettling at least 350 Afghan refugees in Michigan. 

“What I can tell you is that Samaritas is committed to serving at least 350 refugees from Afghanistan,” Kelli Dobner, an executive with the organization, told 9&10 News. “Men, women and children.”

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Biden Admin to Launch Government-Wide Effort to Make Up to 9 Million Immigrants Citizens

The Biden administration is expected to launch a government-wide effort to make up to 9 million immigrants living in the U.S. citizens, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday.

President Joe Biden asked federal agencies to work on “welcoming strategies that promote integration, inclusion, and citizenship,” through an executive order, according to CNN. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the agency’s plan to “breaking down barriers to U.S. citizenship” and promote naturalization for immigrants who are eligible.

“The idea is to find a whole-of-government way to reach out to people who are able to naturalize,” a USCIS official reportedly told CNN. The official said there are around 9 million immigrants living in the U.S. as lawful permanent residents who could be eligible for citizenship.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Can’t Confirm Citizenship Status of Gunman Who Shot Metro Nashville Police Officer

Metropolitan Nashville Police Department at house in suburbs

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) couldn’t confirm the citizenship status of Salman Mohamed, the 22-year-old gunman who shot at Metro Nashville Police officers earlier this month. The Tennessee Star placed an open records request with USCIS, only to be told that Mohamed’s date and place of birth would be required in order to verify Mohamed’s citizenship status. The Star offered USCIS this information: Mohamed’s full name, age, last known residence, and date of death.

After assessing your request, and consistent with 6 C.F.R. § 5.3, USCIS FOIA has determined your request did not describe the records sought in sufficient detail to enable our personnel to locate such records with a reasonable amount of effort. A date of birth and place of birth should be provided for the subject of record in order to enable our personnel to locate such records with a reasonable amount of effort. Accordingly, this office is administratively closing your request pursuant to 6 C.F.R. § 5.3(c). This administrative closure does not prejudice your ability to submit a new FOIA request. (emphasis added)

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Homeland Security Nominee Mayorkas Raked in Millions at Corporate Law Firm Representing Utility Company Responsible for Fatal Gas Explosion

by Chuck Ross   Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of homeland security, received $3.3 million last year as a partner at his law firm, where he represented a defense contractor accused of kickbacks to secure a Department of Energy contract and a utility company found responsible for an explosion that killed one person in Massachusetts. Mayorkas, who served as deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Barack Obama, also faced an investigation during the Obama administration regarding a visa program he oversaw as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A 2015 report from the DHS inspector general said Mayorkas “exerted improper influence” to help politically-connected Democrats navigate the EB-5 visa program, which awards green cards to foreigners who invest in American companies. Mayorkas was also accused in a House report in 2002 of “inappropriate” intervention on behalf of a Democratic donor who sought a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton. Mayorkas will appear before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Jan. 19 for his confirmation hearing. Mayorkas, who was a U.S. attorney in Los Angeles during the Clinton administration, joined Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, a prominent Big Law firm, after…

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Ken Cuccinelli Was Illegally Appointed to Top Immigration Post, Judge Rules

by Jason Hopkins   A federal judge ruled that Ken Cuccinelli was illegally appointed to lead a top immigration post last year and invalidated some of his directives. Cuccinelli was illegally appointed by the Trump administration to head U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), according to a 55-page ruling issued Sunday by Judge Randolph Moss of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., an Obama-appointed judge. Moss also found that a directive launched under Cuccinelli, which hastens screening time for asylum seekers, should also be voided. President Donald Trump tapped Cuccinelli to lead USCIS — the agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that manages the country’s legal immigration system — in June 2019. Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general, was later named as acting DHS deputy secretary, making in the second most senior appointed official in the department. During his time at USCIS, Cuccinelli aggressively pushed the president’s immigration agenda. While he no longer leads the day-to-day operations at the agency, he is still listed as the “Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Director,” on the USCIS website. Moss on Sunday ruled that Cuccinelli’s appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, finding that he was not actually…

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ICE ‘Ready’ to Apprehend and Deport One Million Illegal Immigrants

by Jason Hopkins   The acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said the government is “ready” to identify, detain, and deport the illegal immigrants who have ignored court orders to leave the country. “They’re ready to just perform their mission, which is to go and find and detain and then deport the approximately one million people who have final removal orders,” Ken Cuccinelli said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Cuccinelli was referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency with the Department of Homeland Security that’s tasked with locating and deporting aliens living in the U.S. illegally. “Who among those will be targeted for this particular effort, or not,  is really just information kept within ICE at this point,” the acting USCIS director explained. Cuccinelli’s comments come after President Donald Trump announced — and then later scrapped — plans in June to conduct sweeping ICE raids across the country. The raids would’ve targeted major U.S. cities and roughly 2,000 undocumented immigrants who are disobeying deportation orders.  Trump, at the time, said the raids were postponed in order to work with Democrats on a solution to the immigration crisis, but other accusations make it unclear why exactly the raids were…

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Four Things to Know About Ken Cuccinelli, Trump’s New Chief for Lawful Immigration

by Fred Lucas   As acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli becomes a key player in the Trump administration’s enforcement of immigration laws. On Tuesday, Cuccinelli attended a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York as 52 persons from 28 countries became U.S. citizens. “This is a vivid reminder of the resiliency of our nation and why so many people around the world make sacrifices each day in order to call the United States their new home,” Cuccinelli, 50, tweeted. Today I had the privilege of welcoming 52 new U.S. citizens from 28 countries at the @Sept11Memorial. This is a vivid reminder of the resiliency of our nation and why so many people around the world make sacrifices each day in order to call the United States their new home. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Ka4rbq2CsJ — USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli (@USCISCuccinelli) July 2, 2019 In another tweet Wednesday, Cuccinelli called on Congress to step up and address the country’s immigration crisis. While the @realDonaldTrump admin is working to solve the crisis at the southern border, members of the House are preparing for their August vacation. We need Congress to…

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Trump Officially Taps Immigration Reformer Ken Cuccinelli to Lead Citizenship and Immigration Services

by Jason Hopkins   Former GOP Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli officially began leading the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Monday, making him a key player in the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. “I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at this critical time and serve alongside this agency’s dedicated workforce,” Cuccinelli said in a Monday statement distributed by the agency. “USCIS has the extraordinary responsibility to administer and protect the integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system. Our nation has the most generous legal immigration system in the world and we must zealously safeguard its promise for those who lawfully come here.” USCIS, an agency with in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is tasked with managing the country’s legal immigration system. Cuccinelli is expected to hit the ground running on a number of policies backed by the White House – such as finalizing the public charge rule, which blocks visa applicants who are determined to be likely dependent on public safety net programs, and implementing reforms to the country’s guest-worker program. The now-acting director of the agency has long been known as an immigration hardliner. He has publicly opposed birthright citizenship and unemployment benefits…

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White House Reportedly Mulling Immigration Hardliner for Top DHS Position

by Jason Hopkins   President Donald Trump is reportedly not done shaking up immigration leadership in his administration, and is mulling whether to replace the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Lee Francis Cissna, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), might be dismissed from his position by the end of this week, according to sources who spoke with Politico. In his place, the White House might be considering Julie Kirchner, the former executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). A nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., FAIR advocates for the reduction of both legal and illegal immigration. Kirchner worked with the group from 2005 to 2015, and served as its executive director from 2007 to 2015. She later got involved with the Trump administration, and was appointed as USCIS ombudsman in May 2017. Along with the agency’s top post, Kirchner has also been considered for USCIS deputy director. “FAIR has no information regarding any positions to which Julie Kirchner may be appointed by President Trump,” FAIR president Dan Stein said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation on Wednesday. “But we can unequivocally vouch for her as one of the most…

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US Immigration Agency to Slash Overseas Presence

The U.S. immigration agency plans to significantly reduce its presence abroad, according to an internal e-mail seen by Reuters and current and former U.S. officials, in an effort to shift resources to domestic offices that took some career officials by surprise. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, currently operates 23 offices overseas, scattered across Latin America, Europe and Asia, according to the agency’s website. The move comes as the Trump administration has worked in the past two years to limit both legal and illegal immigration with cuts to the U.S. refugee program and USCIS stepping up vetting of visa applications. The USCIS offices carry out a number of services, including helping Americans who want to bring relatives to the United States, processing refugee applications, enabling overseas citizenship applications and assisting U.S. citizens who want to adopt foreign children, the website says. USCIS officers abroad also look for fraud in visa applications and provide technical immigration advice to other U.S. government officials. On Monday, senior USCIS officials told employees within the agency’s Refugee Asylum and International Operations division that the agency had decided to close its overseas posts, one current and one former…

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