“Building a Wall Out of Red Tape” from PRI/The World

PRI’s The Reveal has segments on the bureaucratic barriers and challenges to legal migration. Coverage of citizenship and naturalization backlogs at 38:30 (segment to be repeated with expanded coverage on The World).

While a debate has raged over the U.S.-Mexico border wall, less attention has been paid to the invisible barriers affecting tens of thousands of immigrants seeking U.S. visas and citizenship.

Every year, 80,000 immigrants rely on H-1B visas to work legally in the U.S., and in many ways, they seem to embody the kind of highly skilled immigrants President Donald Trump says he wants. Yet H-1B denials are surging under his administration. Mother Jones reporter Sinduja Rangarajan investigates what’s behind the trend and whether people are being denied for legitimate reasons.

Next, Reveal’s Laura C. Morel tells the story of a visa that’s as much for immigrants as it is for police. Congress created the U visa to build trust between law enforcement and undocumented immigrants who become victims of violent crime. The visa is meant to help police put criminals behind bars, but many agencies aren’t using it the way it was intended.

In our final story, reporter Monica Campbell with the public radio show “The World” travels to a citizenship ceremony to report on how the process of becoming a U.S. citizen is becoming more difficult and potentially a whole lot more expensive.

MHC