Immigration
Nevada officials applaud decisions on DACA, TPS
Temporary Protection Status benefits, which were scheduled to expire in January, have been extended until October 2021, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday. The move would protect people from El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Nepal, Sudan and Nicaragua who are living and working in the United States. An estimated 6,300 people from El Salvador, Honduras […]
Multiple obstructions stand between immigrants and rental assistance
Like many people during the pandemic, Cristina found herself abruptly unemployed for the first time in five years after the embroidery business she worked for closed down. But the $1,500 a month in rent she pays, which has kept her and her three children, ages 13, 17 and 18, housed during the health crisis, was […]
Budget cuts, pandemic reshape state Office for New Americans mission
The Nevada Office for New Americans has found new purpose during the COVID-19 pandemic despite a reduced budget and leadership change. Established last year by the state Legislature, the Office for New Americans is meant to serve as a hub for refugees and immigrants — who make up 20 percent of the state’s population — […]
Immigration advocates push Biden to not just bring back DACA but expand it
President-elect Joe Biden is promising to reinstate an Obama-era program that shields deportation for some undocumented people who were brought to the United States by their parents when they were children. But immigration advocates are pushing for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to not just be reaffirmed but expanded, and written into law. […]
TPS holders condemn latest court ruling, brace for fight ahead
Miguel Barahona is one of thousands legally living and working in Nevada under humanitarian protections who could now face deportation as early as March, if a decision made Monday by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California stands. “I’m disillusioned and angry,” Barahona said in his native Spanish. “To survive the pandemic is […]
Reports, data detail how pandemic exposes long-standing Nevada inequities
Nevada’s minority populations are the hardest hit by COVID-19 in terms of infection, hospitalization, and mortality rates, according to statewide data trends analyzed by the Guinn Center. The analysis released Tuesday also examines the higher prevalence of other diseases for Nevada’s communities of color in general and underscores the effects of long-standing inequities in health […]
Citizenship application fees nearly double
The Trump administration has nearly doubled the cost of applying to become a U.S. citizen, a development Nevada immigration advocates are likening to “another form of voter suppression.” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register last week detailing a hike in fees for some of its most common […]
Trump’s play to omit undocumented from census could hit Nevada hardest
If President Donald Trump’s attempt to prevent undocumented immigrants from being counted when congressional lines are drawn after this year’s census is successful, immigrant attorneys and activist say it would be disastrous for Nevada, which has the largest number of undocumented immigrants per capita. Trump’s memorandum, which he sent out Tuesday, instructs the U.S. Department […]
Nevadans hail court ruling rejecting Trump’s attack on DACA
Nevada elected officials and immigration activists heaped praise on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday rejecting the Trump administration’s attempt to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA — a court ruling that allows some 14,000 young Nevadans to breathe a sigh of relief. “Dream Big Nevada applauds the Supreme Court’s decision […]
Excluded from CARES Act, immigrant families call for state to step up
Immigrant workers and allies staged a “car-caravan” protest outside a number of government buildings on Friday, in which they urged Gov. Steve Sisolak to establish a state sponsored fund in support of immigrant workers and families who have been excluded from federal coronavirus crisis assistance. Circling the Grant Sawyer Building parking lot about 100 vehicles […]
Excluded from CARES Act and awaiting court ruling, it’s a stressful time for DACA students
Colleges and universities across the country are preparing to distribute nearly $7 billion in emergency grant funding to students affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The money will help millions of students. But it won’t help the hundreds of thousands of undocumented students known as dreamers. The $2.2 trillion coronavirus emergency economic relief package known as […]
Immigrant workers left behind by government aid efforts
Donis Hernandez, works in construction, an industry Gov. Steve Sisolak deemed essential during the coronavirus-related shutdown in Nevada. While Hernandez is grateful to still have a job, he is concerned about carrying the virus home from his work site to his family and elderly parents with whom he lives. “It would be better if I […]