Commerce Secretary

Donald Trump government siding with Asian American students suing Harvard: 'No American should be denied admission to school because of race'

The Justice Department on Thursday sided with Asian-American students suing Harvard University over the Ivy League school's consideration of race in its admissions policy, the latest step in the Trump administration's effort to encourage race-neutral admissions practices.

Race-based school criteria roils Asian-Americans enough to push for legal fight as immigration takes centerstage in US midterms

The U.S. Department of Justice is backing a 2014 lawsuit against Harvard University by Asian-American applicants, who say the Ivy League college unlawfully suppresses the number of Asians admitted. The DOJ also said last year it would investigate a May 2015 complaint filed against Harvard by a coalition of Asian-American groups.

New Jersey's Sikh attorney general Gurbir Grewal faces 'turban man' slur before radio show hosts are kicked off air

The hosts of a popular New Jersey radio show were off the air Thursday after calling the nation's first Sikh attorney general "turban man" — the latest slur against a career prosecutor who says he faces countless "small indignities and humiliations" no matter how far he rises or how important his position.

The new normal of H1B extensions: 'Take the kitchen sink approach, prepare the best possible application', says immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta

Leading US immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta is making a strong case for H1B workers to file extensions as early as possible and use premium processing for the same because the “new normal” of visa processing in America gives officers of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services extraordinary scope to slap denials and begin deportation proceedings without many of the interim processes involved earlier like a request for evidence (RFE), for instance. Yesterday’s worst case scenarios are today’s reality and denials of H1B extension requests have surged in the last 18 months.

H1B: New USCIS policy makes it easier to refuse visa applications without RFE; apply early but brace for headwinds, says top immigration lawyer Cyrus Mehta

America’s top visa issuing authority the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has lobbed a new policy memo into circulation that makes it quick and easy for its officers to deny an application (including H1B) <em>without </em>first having to issue the typical request for evidence (RFE) or even a notice of intent to deny (NOID).

H1B, H4 visas: Microsoft could move jobs abroad if US immigration policies turn sour, top exec Brad Smith tells CNBC

Chief Legal Officer and President of Microsoft Brad Smith has warned in an interview with <em>CNBC</em> that the company may be forced to move jobs out of the US if decisions on worker visas by the Donald Trump administration push business in that direction.

H4 EAD: Donald Trump government misses 'deadline' to decide on work permits for H1B workers' spouses but tension continues to run high

The Trump government’s Department of Homeland Security has ‘missed’ its self imposed deadline of end June 2018 to make its position known on whether spouses of H1B workers in the US will be allowed to continue working for pay or not but this does not mean the worries of the H4 community disappear. That’s not going away.

Family separation: Donald Trump admin says all eligible youngest children, families reunited but nearly half remain separated

The Donald Trump administration says all eligible small children separated from their families as a result of its zero-tolerance immigration policy have been reunited with their parents. But nearly half of the children under 5 remain separated from their families because of safety concerns, the deportation of their parents and other issues, the administration said.

US midterm elections: Donald Trump more hardline and confident than he ever was in 2016; immigrants are firmly in the crosshairs

2016 was just a test run. The 2018 version of US President Donald Trump’s hardline politics is going further right than it ever was at the time of the US President’s controversial campaign two years ago. Trump is now cycling through a more grisly version of many of his favourite themes as he hits the campaign trail for the 2018 midterms which have begun to look much more like it’s already 2020.

Finally, US commits to reuniting migrant families from next week as immigration politics boils over; Trump fumes saying 'fix our insane laws now!'

Stung by a public outcry, the Trump administration said Thursday it will meet court-ordered deadlines for reuniting families separated at the border, even as the politics of immigration remained at a boil.