Covering immigration with data
Christine Mehta, Nausheen Husain, Ryan McNeill
@christinemehta, @nausheenhusain, @mcneill_tweets
“...that is the way of things, for when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.”
Exit West, Mohsin Hamid
@AngShah
tinyurl.com/angshah
Global Migration
National
Notice of funding FY2016
Notice of funding FY2017
Use a text compare site to compare documents, notices, reports, etc.!
albeit in small ways, it’s transformative to cover migration as a global crisis, not just a political issue in the U.S.
when something is being dismantled, it helps to know how and why it was formed.
migration issues are intersectional, and are often explored in academic studies
you can find data on refugees after they’ve settled here, too.
-- UNHCR displaced population “situations” (some have contacts)
-- Refugee Processing Center, wrapsnet
-- ORR by state
-- USCIS electronic reading room
Think of immigration like a pipeline
--- The visa process: US State Department, US Labor Department, US Citizen and Immigration Services
--- Arrests at the border: US Customs and Border Patrol
--- Arrests inside the country: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
--- Immigration courts: U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
Work visas
Guest worker visas
--- For H2A (agriculture) and H2B (non-agriculture), employers must first submit a “job order” to the state workforce agency.
--- Then employers must first obtain certification from the U.S. Department of Labor. See a list of foreign labor certification forms here.
--- After DOL certification, employers can then petition the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for approval (Form I-129).
--- If approved by USCIS, workers can then visit an embassy or consulate and obtain a visa to enter the United States.
Guest worker visas (part two)
--- H-1B visas work similar to H-2A and H-2B.
--- Employer files a Labor Condition Application with DOL.
--- If approved, employer then seeks approval from USCIS (Form I-129).
--- If approved by USCIS, workers can then visit an embassy or consulate and obtain a visa to enter the United States.
How we did it --- the short version
--- First, we had a tip that Mar-a-Lago had filed a work order for foreign workers.
--- Then we obtained list of Trump companies from his financial disclosure forms.
--- Searched DOL data for H-1A, H-2A and H-2B to identify cases where his company had sought approval for foreign workers in the past.
--- Note the story doesn’t say how many immigrants the company actually hired, but rather how many they won approval to hire.
A couple quick tips
--- Don’t go into this thinking you’re going to be able to get a quick snapshot of how many foreign workers a large company imports. That’s going to take work.
--- Make sure you compare the numbers in the DOL data online to what the agency reports to Congress. I found mistakes.
--- Follow the process. What is the company required to do vs. what did it really do? For example, did the company place an ad in an obscure newspaper?
Investigating the companies
--- Remember, the companies retain a hell of a lot of power over workers.
--- Think about all the ways those companies and their workers create document trails: police reports, autopsies, 911 calls, OSHA enforcement, Wage & Hour enforcement, etc.
EOIR data
--- U.S. immigration courts are administrative courts within the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. Judges are appointed by the attorney general and serve at their pleasure.
--- EOIR courts determine whether someone should be deported.
--- These data are the immigration courts’ case management system. Reade Levinson obtains updates through FOIAs.
Focus: The U.S. Border, Drugs & Immigration
Customs and Border Patrol
Department of Justice
Southwest Border Migration
EOUSA, National Caseload Data –
LIONS
Federal Prosecutors Data (DOJ-EOUSA)