Miller Mayer immigration attorney Steve Yale-Loehr was quoted by Morningstar in “‘We Need More People,’ Says Fed’s Powell. What Does That Mean for Immigration Reform?” Powell’s remarks could be seen as part of a slow process that eventually results in long-awaited fixes to the U.S. immigration system, Steve said. “To me, it’s like water dripping on a rock. A single drop of water, whether it’s from Fed Chairman Powell or somebody else, won’t make a difference by itself. But if enough drips of water from other people and other studies consistently show that immigration can help our labor shortages and improve our economy, then I hope that will move the needle so that Congress will seriously take up immigration reform in 2023.” Issues on Steve’s wish list for 2023 include “helping the Dreamers to be able to achieve some kind of permanent status and reforming our border-security measures so that we can admit those people who really do need or will qualify for asylum, but otherwise deport people after a hearing if they don’t qualify under immigration laws,” “modernization in our agriculture industry,” and passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act “to allow people who came from Afghanistan a permanent path to citizenship.” That would be “an awful lot to accomplish in one year” and a “hard battle” in an increasingly polarized Congress, he added. Steve noted that the Biden administration can act on its own on some immigration issues, and that grassroots efforts eventually might end up spurring U.S. lawmakers to do more. Read the article here. 

Steve was quoted by USA Today in “As Biden Hunts for Answers to Migrant Crisis, His Policies Are Increasingly Tied Up in Court.” Commenting on a Biden administration effort to create a new rule to expedite the removal of migrants who travel through Mexico but do not claim asylum there, Steve said, “The devil will be in the details: How will the administration define a credible fear? How much time will people have to prepare for their hearing? If only a few days or weeks, few people will be able to gather their evidence or find an attorney.” Regarding the Biden administration’s development of immigration-related policies, he said, “Organizations have sued to stop administrative changes on both substantive and procedural grounds. Groups can usually find sympathetic judges to [halt] an administration’s immigration policy change.” Read the USA Today article here. 

Steve was quoted by Voice of America in “Courts Set to Shape U.S. Immigration Policy in 2023.” Steve said, “Courts are not a good way to manage immigration.” Also, commenting on United States v. Texas, Steve said that based on the oral arguments in 2022, it is not clear how the Supreme Court will rule. Read the article here.