Welcome to the Garfinkel Immigration news roundup, where every month we will summarize and provide links to the latest stories impacting U.S. immigration.
Below is the May 2025 edition of the Garfinkel Immigration news roundup:
4 things to know about navigating visa sponsorship for hospitals, healthcare providers
The U.S. healthcare industry is facing a workforce shortage. From rural hospitals to major urban medical centers, some providers are struggling to recruit and retain the professionals they need to maintain staffing levels and meet patient demand.
To close that gap, many institutions are turning to foreign-trained healthcare professionals including physicians, nurses, therapists and more. For employers hiring international talent for the first time, the process may seem complex, or even overwhelming. But there are strategies that hospitals can implement to help their team navigate the visa sponsorship process.
In her latest article, Partner Colleen F. Molner, head of Garfinkel Immigration’s Healthcare Specialty Practice Group, outlines four things hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers should know about sponsoring foreign national medical personnel.
Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm announces formation of new Religious Worker Specialty Practice Group
Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm is proud to announce the formation of a Religious Worker Specialty Practice Group (SPG).
The new practice group will be led by Partner Meredith W. Barnette and will centralize the Firm’s decades of experience developing innovative legal solutions across the spectrum of the Religious Worker community, including for ministers, instructors, missionaries, and other essential personnel who support religious organizations.
Barnette, along with a highly qualified team of paralegals and professional staff, will concentrate on strategizing and implementing best immigration practices for churches, temples, mosques, and other employers of Religious Workers of all sizes, in the Carolinas, the Southeast region, and across the United States.
“We are thrilled to launch Garfinkel’s new Religious Worker Specialty Practice Group,” Barnette said. “The group will focus on guiding our Religious Worker clients through the complex, ever-changing immigration process. Our team understands the nuances of the immigration system and the many ways in which it impacts these workers.”
Learn more about the new Religious Worker Specialty Practice Group here.
Supreme Court appears skeptical of allowing Trump to implement birthright citizenship plan
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in mid-May in the case related to President Donald Trump’s executive order related to birthright citizenship.
The arguments heard by the Court were not specifically about the constitutionality of the executive order, but instead focused on whether federal district judges can issue nationwide injunctions while the case makes its way through the court system, as detailed by NBC News.
“In more than two hours of oral argument, the justices vigorously debated various ways to limit the number of nationwide injunctions, but on the birthright citizenship issue specifically a majority appeared to think such an approach may have been justified, especially in cases brought by states,” the NBC News story reads.
The story added: “There is also a chance the court could change course and quickly take up the merits of Trump’s birthright citizenship proposal, with several justices indicating the administration would lose. That would allow the court to quickly reach a definitive decision on the subject that would apply nationwide.”
A ruling from the Supreme Court could come by the end of June.
Read the full NBC News story here and find out more about Trump’s executive order changing birthright citizenship here.
Former HHS Secretary Tom Price: Immigration reform could alleviate healthcare staffing crisis
Tom Price, former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary during the first Trump administration, recently called for bipartisan immigration reform to address the healthcare worker shortage.
“The workforce challenges that we have in healthcare are more broad than just physicians and nurses,” Price said during a recent interview with HealthExec. “In fact, it goes from frontline clinical workers, acute care service providers, all the way to home healthcare, nursing care and skilled nursing facilities. It’s top to bottom, from all across the breadth of healthcare and the workforce. Anybody that’s had any dealings with the healthcare system understands this.”
Price said later in the interview: “This is not just a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It’s not just a legislative branch or an executive branch issue. We ought not make it cumbersome for them to be able to come here and to practice medicine. We ought to facilitate that immigration activity again so that it is not just to do what those individuals want done, it’s to help solve these incredible challenges that we have from a workforce shortage in healthcare.”
Watch Price’s full interview with HealthExec here.
Here’s what’s in the GOP megabill that’s just passed the House
This story from NPR details the policies included in the GOP domestic policy bill that was passed earlier this month by the House in a 215-214 vote.
Some of the immigration measures in the bill include changes to border enforcement and policy as well as new immigration fees.
“(The bill) allocates $46.5 billion toward completing Trump’s border wall,” the NPR story reads. “It also allots $5 billion for Customs and Border Protection facilities and more than $6 billion to hire and retain more agents and officers.”
The NPR story adds: “For the first time in U.S. history, the legislation puts a price tag on applying for asylum, proposing a fee of $1,000. … It additionally assigns a $3,500 fee for sponsoring unaccompanied children without legal status, a $1,000 charge for undocumented individuals paroled into the U.S. and a $500 fee for those applying for temporary protected status.”
The bill will now head to the Senate, and it is unclear what, if any, changes will be made by the upper Chamber.
Employers worry over immigration crackdown as labor shortage fears loom
Employers’ worries about “workplace raids and staffing challenges” are increasing, according to a new survey analyzed by Axios.
“75% of executives surveyed … said the administration’s immigration policies were among their top concerns — the only other topic that drew more worry was diversity, equity and inclusion policy,” the Axios story reads. “58% expressed concern that Trump’s immigration policies will create staffing challenges. Companies in manufacturing and hospitality expressed even more worries.”