Immigration Nerds

On May 23, 2022, the controversial Trump administration policy known as Title 42 is scheduled to officially end. The end of Title 42 follows the CDC announcement that the policy measure is no longer necessary based on current COVID-19 public health conditions. In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we talk to Aaron Karnell, Erickson Immigration Group Senior Attorney, Government Affairs, about t...

Cair Coalition's Senior Attorney Elizabeth Schmelzel joins EIG 's Partner Hiba Anver. They discuss: How international travel expanded her notions of hard work, survival, and compassion experienced worldwide Working in a career that allows you to live out your values The empathy needed to represent clients in immigration detention, and tend to their needs Wrestling notions of gender dynamics in wor...

Erickson Immigration Group's Senior Attorney Lauren Clarke joins this week. We walk through the H-1B post-selection process, what to expect, how to prepare, and provide the information necessary to be successful after receiving a determination. A quick guide to help applicants navigate their way through each round.

Sarah Paoletti is a Practice Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she founded and directs the Transnational Legal Clinic. Prof. Paoletti is a founding member of the Board of Directors of Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. , a binational migrant worker rights organization with offices in the U.S. and Mexico, and she serves on the Executive Committee of Mi...

University of Illinois-Chicago History Professor and Author Michael R. Jin joins the podcast. His latest book Citizens, Immigrants, and the Stateless: A Japanese American Diaspora in the Pacific captures the lives of more than 50,000 U.S.- born Japanese American Migrants across the U.S. and Japanese colonial borders pre and post-WWII. Actions taken to combat anti-Japanese sentiment throughout wart...

Today we discuss the State Department's role during a war crisis and the resulting visa implications that follow. US Embassy's role in facilitating humanitarian parole to Ukrainian refugees Nonimmigrant visa implications How USRAP handles refugees State Department role in managing surge capacity Erickson Immigration Groups' Senior Attorney, Consular Affairs Aaron Karnell joins Lead Researcher and...

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a non-profit organization that welcomes and supports  refugees  and  migrants  entering the United States. It is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies working with the  Office of Refugee Resettlement [2]  and one of only two that serves  unaccompanied refugee minors . With more than 1 million refugees fleeing U...

Kahn Branch is a Corporate Immigration Legal writer for Erickson Immigration Group. This year we wanted to take an outward-facing scope during black history month, in particular examining the exportation of the Black experience abroad. We take a look at a few notable figures in American history, who used the challenging conditions of their homeland as a creative force to bring insight to the...

Doris Meissner is the former Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)  under President Bill Clinton, heading the program from 1993 to 2000. And now the Senior Fellow and Director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. We discuss: Immigration's social and structural changes over the last 30 years Biden's first year: Immigration record...

Today we are joined by Masha Rumer, Author of the new book “Parenting with an Accent”. This book encapsulates many things, it's part memoir, part interview series, and part academic research highlighting the findings from social science and migration experts. Masha explores how immigrants honor their heritage, navigate setbacks and chart new paths for their children. 

Evan Taparata is a postdoctoral fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University. Evan is currently authoring his latest book “State of Refuge: The Origins of Refugee Law and Policy in the United States”. In this edition, he explores the origins of American refugee law in the years after World War II and how immigration policy in the past and present has ce...

Thank you Jerry for the opportunities you provided all of us, the joy and leadership you brought to the company. We will carry on the legacy you worked so hard to build. You will be truly missed.

Welcome to Immigration Nerds, this week's episode centers around the rapidly evolving visa saga between Tennis star Novak Djokovic and Australia, in advance of the Australian Open. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, January 12th, and since then, the decision has been made to cancel Djokovic’s visa for a second time for entering the country without obtaining a valid covid-1...

Happy New Year, we're kicking off the year with a light conversation. Namely Immigrant led stories in film, and where we can find them. Luckily, Bilal Zouheir joins to navigate us through that journey. Bilal holds an MBA and started his business as a film curator, founding uprootedmovies.com, the internet's first immigrant cinema website. He also runs agoodmovietowatch.com, a film recommendation s...

As the Build Back Better Act approaches its deadline, we like to recap its status till now, with a previous episode from our catalog, to refresh what's at stake. Enjoy this previous recording. We'll be back after the holidays. Today we examine the Biden administration's Build Back Better Act, $100 billion dollars of which is sought to be allocated to immigration reform. Please note that this act h...

After our Build Back Better episode, we find it important to reflect back to our history of US immigration and how it affects sentiments on migration today. Namely, examining historically overlooked regions such as Hawaii and Cuba, the precedents established, and how we can move forward today. Visiting Assistant Professor of History & Race and Ethnic Studies at St. Olaf College, Kent Webe...

Today we examine the Biden administration's Build Back Better Act, $100 billion dollars of which is sought to be allocated to immigration reform. Please note that this act has already passed the House but at the time of this recording on 12/10/21 it has not yet passed the Senate and is not officially enacted. We’ll walk through the key immigration initiatives being proposed, how they will aff...

On November 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security entered into a settlement with plaintiffs, significantly changing USCIS policy regarding work authorization for qualified H-4 and L-2 status holders. On November 12, 2021, USCIS  updated  its Policy Manual to reflect these changes. USCIS and CBP are working to reflect these changes on Form I-94 so as to distinguish E and L de...

Joining today is Senior Staff Attorney for Immigrant legal Resource Center, Rose Cahn. Rose oversees the resource center’s pro bono Immigrant Post-Conviction Relief Project, coauthors many manuals at the cusp of criminal and immigration law, and was instrumental in drafting California Penal Code § 1473.7, a landmark piece of legislation that created a legal framework to vacate unconstitutional con...

This September Erickson Immigration Group hosted their Women in Law event, which highlights the contributions and stories of pivotal women who work in immigration law. This event was led by EIG’s Erickson Immigration Group’s Partner, Hiba Anver. In this conversation, Policy and Advocacy Strategist, Maunica Sthanki joins Hiba to share her story. The two address navigating the legal industry as a wo...

Global Strategy Advisor and best-selling author Dr. Parag Khanna joins Immigration Nerds. Dr. Parag is the Founder & Managing Partner of FutureMap, a data and scenario-based strategic advisory firm, a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, and Author of the latest book titled “MOVE: The Forces Uprooting Us” (2021). FutureMap has developed a comprehensive data forecasting suite to ide...

Today, Ari Shaw Director of International Programs at the Williams Institute, and Ingrid Eagly Law Professor at UCLA joins Immigration Nerds. The Williams Institute conducts independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy. In March earlier this year, the team completed a comprehensive research paper titled LGBT ASYLUM Cases in the US. Where they tracked th...

Erickson Immigration Group’s Partner Justin Parsons and Lead Researcher Luke Bianco welcome guest Executive Director of National Foundation for American Policy, Stuart Anderson. They discuss the context surrounding Stuart’s latest Forbes article titled “H-1B Visas Are Scarce As Computer Job Vacancies Reach 1.2 Million”. They address: The recent growth trends in the Technology/Computer sector, and...

E. Kyle Romero is a visiting professor of history at Loyola University Maryland. He teaches U.S. foreign policy, immigration and global migration, and the history of humanitarianism and human rights. He is currently working on his first book, titled, “Moving People: Refugee Politics, Foreign Aid, and the Emergence of American Humanitarianism”.

This week was dominated by a flurry of headlines, centered around the creation of new standards, unfulfilled promises in policy, and how recent government actions may or may not align with its prior declared commitments. Three stories this week predominately enveloped our timelines. The senate parliamentary issues guidance against Biden’s proposed immigration measures in the upcoming budget bill T...