Hey there Immigration Twitter—here are some resources to help us parse what's going on with today's out-of-the-blue policy manual changes from USCIS.

Here's the announcement, "Applying Discretion in USCIS Adjudications":
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https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/policymanual/updates/20200715-Discretion.pdf

Here's the new Policy Manual section on "Discretionary Adjudications" (Vol. 1, Part E, Chap. 8).

Note USCIS has added *4* new chapters here, only one of which is visible to the public.

L: Wayback Machine from June
R: Today's table of contents

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https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-1-part-e-chapter-8

And here's the new Policy Manual section on "Discretion" in work permit adjudications (Vol. 10, Part A, Chap. 5).

L: Wayback Machine from June
R: Today's table of contents (2 public chapters, 5 hidden chapters)

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https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-10-part-a-chapter-5

USCIS: "On June 22, 2020, the President issued a Proclamation that addresses, among other things, [DHS’s] administration of employment authorization benefits."

I see no explicit directive to this effect in the actual Proclamation.

4/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-aliens-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-following-coronavirus-outbreak/

In effect, USCIS is encouraging its officers to find new reasons to deny as a matter of "discretion," even when the applicant is legally eligible.

This discretionary *doesn't* apply to naturalization.

It does apply to EADs, green cards, & more...
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https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-1-part-e-chapter-8

Look at this giant list of things that could be deemed a "negative factor"—insufficiently close family ties, insufficient "value & service to the community," other unspecified indicators of "character"...

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https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-1-part-e-chapter-8

This feels like a whole 'nother public charge rule, creating a thicket of ambiguous new "factors" that serve only (a) deny more applications for green cards, work permits, etc.; and (b) eat up more time that officers should be spending on backlog reduction.

7/

Kind of reckless to drop what looks like a big policy change without going through notice-and-comment rulemaking, given that so many Trump-era immigration actions have been blocked in court for this very reason.

Also no real justification, as required by SCOTUS re: DACA.

8/8

PS: The June 22 entry ban proclamation does include this directive to DHS to deny work permits for anyone ever arrested in the US (even if not convicted), among others.

Note that today's USCIS policy change is even more sweeping.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-aliens-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-following-coronavirus-outbreak/