New York Times: Trump Will Deny Immigrant Visas to Those Who Can’t Pay for Health Care

The Trump administration will deny visas to immigrants who cannot prove they will have health insurance or the ability to pay for medical costs once they become permanent residents of the United States, the White House announced Friday in the latest move by President Trump to undermine legal immigration.

Mr. Trump issued a proclamation, effective Nov. 3, ordering consular officers to bar immigrants seeking to live in the United States unless they “will be covered by approved health insurance” or can prove that they have “the financial resources to pay for reasonably foreseeable medical costs.”…

…Thousands of people annually would be denied green cards if the executive order takes effect, said Steve Yale-Loehr, an immigration scholar at Cornell Law School.  “President Trump has failed to build a physical wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigrants,” he said, “but he has effectively built an invisible wall to keep out legal immigrants.”…

South China Morning Post: Reprieve for Controversial US Immigration Visa Programme fails to Ease investors’ Woes

The US government extended a controversial US investor visa programme once popular among mainland Chinese, but financial professionals steeped in the programme say it could still face tough times as an overhaul to raise the investment minimum could shut out applicants.  Known as EB-5, the programme grants permanent resident status to foreigners who invest at least US$500,000 and create at least 10 American jobs in economically struggling parts of the US….

…“It is a boom and bust time for EB-5,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration lawyer at Miller Mayer and law professor at Cornell University, pointing to various levels of uncertainty. “I expect a steep drop in filings after November 21, as fewer investors can afford to invest.”…

Forbes: Trump Order May Give Veto To People Who Hate Or Fear Refugees

Donald Trump’s new executive order appears designed to give veto power over resettling refugees to people who don’t like refugees and elected officials willing to play on those fears. What are the implications of this new order – and is it legal?…

…Stephen Yale-Loehr, a Cornell Law School professor and an advisor to the National Foundation for American Policy, told me in an interview that Trump’s executive order runs contrary to the law. “The law doesn’t allow a state or locality to veto the placement of refugees,” according to Yale-Loehr. “The executive order acknowledges that under 8 U.S.C. § 1522(a)(2), the federal agency coordinating refugee policy should consult with state and local governments. But the executive order ignores subsection (a)(5), which states that ‘[a]ssistance and services funded under this section shall be provided to refugees without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, or political opinion.” If a town tells the federal government that it doesn’t want any African or Muslim refugees, they are arguably violating that subsection.”

Discrimination might not be the only grounds to strike down the executive order. Yale-Loehr notes that while the statute requires the federal government to consult with state and local governments about the distribution of refugees, it doesn’t give such governments veto power over where refugees go….

Vox: America is Stepping Down as a Global Leader on Refugees

The United States’ refugee program once served as a global model of how a powerful country should support the world’s most vulnerable people. But under President Donald Trump, America is now accepting fewer refugees than ever, signaling that not even they are immune to the president’s restrictionist immigration policies….

Trump’s executive order Thursday may vindicate the states that wanted to turn refugees away. (The International Refugee Assistance Project said it is contemplating challenging the order in court.) Under the executive order, local governments that do not have the resources to support refugees in becoming “self-sufficient and free from long-term dependence on public assistance” will be able to turn them away.

It’s not clear how [the new refugee executive order] will play out in practice. States won’t just be able to refuse refugees from certain nations, such as Syria, Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor at Cornell Law, said. Immigration law provides that state and local governments must provide aid “without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex or political opinion.”

USA Today: Trump Administration to Slash Admission of Refugees Fleeing War, Violence and Persecution

The Trump administration said Thursday it will reduce the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the United States to a historic low – permitting no more than 18,000 people fleeing war, violence and persecution across the globe to make a new home in America….

… Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law school professor and immigration expert at Cornell University, said the administration’s justification for slashing refugee admissions – blaming the asylum backlog–  is faulty. He said that fewer people are being apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border now than in 2000.

“Moreover, the Trump administration has aggravated the backlog in asylum cases by failing to hire enough immigration judges,” Yale-Loehr said….