DACA AND THE BANK
In 2017, a group of DACA recipients filed a class-action lawsuit against Wells Fargo bank. They claimed that the bank rejected their applications for student loans, credit cards, home mortgages and other types of loans, on the grounds that they – the DACA recipients – were not U.S. citizens.
The claim of the DACA card holders was that they were legally, permitted to stay and work in the U.S., and that in California it is illegal to discriminate against any person on the basis of citizenship.
A few days ago, Wells Fargo and the rejected DACA recipients agreed on a settlement: the bank will pay $18.7 million ($18,700,000) to compensate the members of that group for their damages and will permit them (and other DACA recipients) to apply for loans at Wells Fargo like every other citizen and resident of California.
A WIN FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS
In his attempts to block ASYLUM seekers from even getting a hearing on the merits in Immigration Court, President Trump finalized regulations that Asylum seekers would not be eligible to apply if they did not apply first in the countries they passed through on their way to the U.S., or if they stayed in the U.S. illegally for one year before filing their application, or if the claim of persecution is based on sexual orientation.
A few days ago, a Federal Judge blocked the implementation of these regulations on technical grounds.
Now it remains to be seen how the new Biden government will handle the whole issue of ASYLUM in the U.S.
MORE DELAYS
On January 8, 2021, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that applicants and petitioners in Family cases may have to wait six (6) weeks for a FILING FEE RECEIPT, to get confirmation that their cases were accepted and entered into the SYSTEM. Applicants of other types of cases (employment-based, students, extensions, etc.) may have to wait even longer than six weeks.
Reminder: in pre-Trump days, it used to take one to two (1 – 2) weeks to get a Filing Fee Receipt.
HEALTH INSURANCE FOR IMMIGRANTS
During the past year (2020) the government made many efforts to implement changes, requirements, restrictions in the PUBLIC CHARGE rules in addition to the old requirement for an Affidavit of Support.