New Report: COVID19 and the Remaking of Immigration Policy?

Professor Tom Wong at UC San Diego’s US Immigration Policy Center has published new research that speaks to recent and looking immigration changes against the backdrop of COVID-19. The main findings include:

• Finding no empirical evidence to suggest that changes to asylum and immigration policies will have effect the spread of COVID-19
• Southern Border: From fiscal year 2000 to present, there is no statistically significant relationship between the monthly total number of persons coming into the U.S. through all southern border ports of entry and the prevalence of the flu—this time period includes both the H1N1 pandemic and our current COVID-19 pandemic
• Asylum Requests: From fiscal year 2009 to present, there is no statistically significant relationship between the monthly total number of persons requesting asylum and the prevalence of the flu—this time period includes both the H1N1 pandemic and our current COVID-19 pandemic
• Credible Fear Interviews Where Fear is Established: From fiscal year 2011 to present, there is no statistically significant relationship between the monthly total number of credible fear interviews where fear is established and the prevalence of the flu—this time period includes our current COVID-19 pandemic
• USICS Approvals Across All Visa Types: From fiscal year 2012 to present, there is no statistically significant relationship between the quarterly total number of USCIS approvals across all visa application types and the prevalence of the flu—this time period includes our current COVID-19 pandemic
• Conclusion: “The results presented here bolster the argument that the Trump administration may, indeed, be using the global COVID-19 pandemic as a guise to further change U.S. immigration policies”

MHC