News & Views

Watch it Now | Unchecked: The Growing Use and Misuse of Executive Powers

What power does the U.S. president really have and what happens when that power goes too far?
 
In honor of Presidents’ Day, HIAS PA held this virtual program about how executive authority is intended to function within a system of checks and balances, and how immigration law has always been a tool for executive authority abuse. Watch the recording to learn some surprising truths about what is actually legal, what needs to change and how to make those changes.
 
HIAS PA’s Executive Director, Cathryn Miller-Wilson, was joined by Constitutional scholar Professor Peter J. Spiro.
 
This program was part of a series hosted by HIAS PA that addresses the current challenges immigrants are facing and ways that you can help your immigrant neighbors.
 

Watch it Now | The State of Immigration in America: Citizenship Under Threat

New immigration policies have created urgent challenges for immigrants. This includes changes to the citizenship process.
 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is reviving neighborhood investigations of citizenship applicants, which may include interviews with neighbors, employers, coworkers, and others. This practice has not been done since 1991. USCIS has also changed the “good moral character” standard, which previously disqualified individuals who had committed serious crimes from becoming citizens. Now, an applicant must prove that they have had a positive influence in their community to meet this standard. Additionally, the current administration continues to pursue efforts to end birthright citizenship, despite the initial executive order being blocked by federal courts, and has started a denaturalization campaign.
 
These are a few of the changes that were addressed during HIAS Pennsylvania’s virtual program, The State of Immigration in America: Citizenship Under Threat. This program was held on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. HIAS PA’s Citizenship and Family Unification Program Manager, Lori Alexander, MSW, and Executive Director, Cathryn Miller-Wilson, Esq., discussed these policies and ways that community members can help local immigrants.
 
The State of Immigration in America is a series of programs held by HIAS PA which address the current challenges immigrants are facing and ways that you can help your immigrant neighbors.
 

Watch it Now | State of Immigration in America: Asylum in Crisis

Since Inauguration Day, the right to claim asylum in the United States has been under attack by the current administration. The federal government has increased the arrest and detention of asylum applicants, including those here in Pennsylvania. Procedures allowing rapid deportation without judicial review have been expanded.
 
These are just a few of the changes that HIAS Pennsylvania’s Asylum & Removal Defense Program Manager, Christopher Setz-Kelly, Esq., and Executive Director, Cathryn Miller-Wilson, discuss in this video.
 
This program was part of a series hosted by HIAS PA that addresses the current challenges immigrants are facing and ways that you can help your immigrant neighbors.
 

Watch it Now | State of Immigration in America: ICE Raids & Enforcement Tactics

You probably have heard about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raiding workplaces and homes in our community. ICE officers are expected to meet new arrest quotas, sensitive location protections have been eliminated, and ICE has expanded operations targeting businesses suspected of employing immigrants without work authorization.
 
In this video, HIAS Pennsylvania’s Director of Legal Services, Philippe Weisz, Esq., and Executive Director, Cathryn Miller-Wilson, Esq., discuss how ICE raids and new enforcement tactics are affecting immigrants in our community, and what you can do to support your immigrant neighbors.
 
This program was part of a series hosted by HIAS PA that addresses the current challenges immigrants are facing and ways that you can help your immigrant neighbors.
 

Watch it Now | The State of Immigration in America: How Anti-Immigrant Policies Affect Children & Schools

The new administration’s hostile immigration policies have affected immigrants of all ages. These changes have a particular impact on immigrant youth.
 
In undocumented and mixed-status families, children are experiencing high anxiety and stress, wondering if their parents will be detained or deported. In some instances, immigrant youth have been detained and deported. Additionally, no new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications are being accepted, there is a backlog of green card applications for children who have experienced abuse and neglect, and Office of Refugee Resettlement funding cuts have left unaccompanied children to navigate the complex immigration system without a lawyer.
 
Some families are no longer sending their children to school because of the fear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will show up. Stricter immigration enforcement policies have put added pressure on teachers and school staff, who must now learn how to navigate new and sometimes unclear guidelines on how to handle immigration-related concerns and ICE visits at school.
 
In this video, Stephanie Lubert, Esq., Program Manager of HIAS PA’s Immigrant Youth Advocacy Program, and Cathryn Miller-Wilson, Esq., HIAS PA’s Executive Director, talk about the impact of new immigration policies on immigrant youth and what you can do to support immigrant families in your community.
 
This program was part of a series hosted by HIAS PA that addresses the current challenges immigrants are facing and ways that you can help your immigrant neighbors.
 

Watch it Now | Ask Me Anything: The Truth About Immigration with Professor Exequiel Hernandez

The 2024 election is, in large part, all about immigration. Strong opinions are held on both sides – whether immigration helps or hurts the economy, impacts crime, national security and is ultimately beneficial or problematic. But where are the facts?
 
On October 28, 2024, we were joined by Wharton Professor Exequiel Hernandez for “The Truth About Immigration”, a conversation based on his recent book of the same name. Using decades of research and examples, Professor Hernandez slayed every myth about immigration, unpacked the complex questions that immigration raises, and revealed some startling answers.
 
For more information about Professor Hernandez’s book, visit https://zekehernandez.net/book/

Watch it Now: A Conversation With Author Taylor Shiroff

On June 26th, 2024, HIAS Pennsylvania held a conversation with author Taylor Shiroff, in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month.
 
Taylor Shiroff is the author of Next Year in America: A Family History of Eastern European Jews in the Old and New Worlds.
 
About the Book:
 
Between 1880 and 1924, about two million Jews left the Russian Empire and its poverty and persecution in favor of immigrating to the United States. Few, if any, spoke English. Almost none were accustomed to electricity or running water inside homes. Most had never even seen a “modern” city.
 
Yet, despite lacking work experience to garner a living wage, they settled in. Within a generation, though Yiddish could still sometimes be heard, the typical Jew had become an assimilated American, striving for and even reaching the American Dream. This is their tale, as told through the lens of Taylor Shiroff’s ancestors.
 

Watch it Now: Ask Me Anything: Asylum Seekers

On January 15th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, HIAS Pennsylvania held a virtual Ask Me Anything program about asylum seekers. This program included a panel discussion, followed by a letter writing campaign. This program was inspired by Dr. King’s advocacy for systemic changes to create a more equitable America.

Panelists:

• Matthew P. Egler DiFerdinando, Esq. | Staff Attorney, HIAS Pennsylvania
• Nenehjoh Mansaray | Asylee Client of HIAS Pennsylvania
• Alisa R. Gutman, MD, PhD | Medical Director, Philadelphia Human Rights Clinic | Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

More information about advocating for asylum seekers

Find your members of Congress

Find your PA state legislators

H.R. 1325 – Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act of 2023

 PA House Bill 769 – Driver’s Licenses for All