Immigrant Nannies Make Work Possible for a New York Family

Liz is a fourth-generation New Yorker who found her family’s first nanny through a neighborhood parent group, and their second—after a break during COVID-19 when they lived with her parents—through a nanny co-operative. Both nannies were immigrants, simply because, as Liz put it, “The bulk of nannies who are working in Brooklyn are immigrants.”⁵

“We decided to go with a nanny when my first son was very young because he had pretty serious food allergies, and managing his food was a pretty concerted effort,” she said. Both Liz and her husband work, and both would like to continue doing so.

Liz works in child welfare and philanthropy, helping families across the country care for their children. Her husband is a medical researcher, helping to develop next-generation gene therapies that are already saving lives.

“I like working. I want to be working. I think that the work I do is worth doing,” she said. “If I didn’t have somebody who I thought was safe and caring and aligned with my kids every day then I wouldn’t be working.”

The current nanny, Maria, has worked with the family for four years.⁶ She provides daytime care for their three children, ages 2 through 6, for 42 hours a week. She makes $36 per hour plus overtime, equating to about $80,000 per year.

It’s certainly a substantial sum, and Liz is grateful that she and her husband can afford it. But, said Liz, daycare is also expensive. Three-child families like Liz’s in New York City pay an annual average of $69,000 for daycare.⁷

“The nanny’s work makes all the other work happen. My kids adore her, fully and completely, and they’re legitimately obsessed with her kid,” who the nanny sometimes brings with her, Liz said. “These are essential and important and contributing members to our society and economy.”

Interacting with the nanny gives the children exposure to another culture—over and above the occasional informal Spanish lesson. “We live in a diverse city, and I want my kids to know a variety of people from a variety of places, and to value people from different backgrounds,” Liz said. The family can trust that Maria will devote the personalized attention their children need: “My son with anaphylactic allergies has never had a reaction with her. And I can’t say the same for me.”

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Canada Study Permit Cap: Master’s and PhD Students Not Affected

In the new year, January 1, 2026, master’s and PhD students at Canadian public colleges and universities will not be included in the national study permit cap which was announced in Canada’s 2026-2028 annual levels plan.

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New Podcast Feature: Beyond Borders – Why Cultural Exchange Still Matters

We’re excited to share that Lisa Murray, Program Director for Cultural Exchange at the American Immigration Council, recently joined the Beyond Borders podcast to discuss the lasting value of international exchange programs and how they strengthen communities, institutions, and global understanding.

In the episode, Lisa highlights:

• The diplomacy and people-to-people connections at the heart of cultural exchange
• How programs like ours shape early-career pathways and global talent mobility
• Why fostering cross-cultural dialogue is more important now than ever

👉 Listen to the full conversation here:  Beyond Borders: Why Cultural Exchange Still Matters – Erickson Immigration Group

We hope you enjoy the conversation and share it with others who care about the future of exchange.

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Amidst Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign, Report Shows Access to Lawyers is Critical

New Report Shows Having a Lawyer is a Critical Safeguard Against Deportation 

Washington DC, Nov. 20 — As the Trump administration intensifies its mass deportation and detention campaign, a new report from the American Immigration Council shows that legal representation is one of the most powerful tools to increase fairness in immigration court. 

Read the report here.

The analysis of more than 2.28 million immigration court cases from FY2019 to FY2024 reveals that having a lawyer dramatically reduces the likelihood of being ordered deported. The data also reveals that case outcomes vary dramatically depending on whether someone is detained and where their case is heard, factors that are increasingly undermining fairness in the immigration court system. 

The report, Where Can You Win in Immigration Court? The Impact of Lawyers, Detention, Geography, and Policy, lands at a moment when the Trump administration is dramatically increasing the number of people targeted for deportation and narrowing their access to due process.  

“The Trump administration’s enforcement surge is exposing just how vulnerable people are when they go into immigration court without a lawyer,” said Adriel Orozco, report author and senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. “Americans expect that every single person should get a fair hearing before a judge. While in the current moment of mass arrests and rapid removals that is increasingly difficult, having a lawyer is often critical in protecting a person’s right to argue their case.” 

The report’s findings include: 

• Access to legal representation is a life-changing protection in immigration court. Of the immigration court cases decided from FY 2019–2024, 62 percent of immigrants without a lawyer were ordered deported, compared to 27 percent of those who did have legal aid.  

• Without a lawyer, the odds collapse, especially for those in detention. Of the courts that had the highest deportation rates, more than 90 percent of cases involving people in detention ended in removal orders.  

• Access to legal representation is deeply uneven across geography. Non-detained immigrants in Honolulu had a legal representation rate of 70 percent, while in Harlingen, Texas, it was just 25 percent.  

• Case outcomes shifted sharply between the Trump and Biden administrations. Under Trump (in FY2019), nearly 80 percent of cases ended in removal orders. Under Biden (FY2024), that number was just 40 percent.  

Explore the data here.

The disparities highlighted in this report are likely to intensify because of the current Trump administration policies. Immigration courts are already strained by unprecedented backlogs. The Trump mass deportation and detention campaign is creating even greater chaos, amidst the reassignment and firing of immigration judges, the expansion of “fast-track” deportation, and other policies that limit opportunities for people to present evidence or secure counsel. All of this raises fundamental questions about guaranteeing those in immigration court access to justice, and the integrity of the courts themselves. 

“This report makes one thing clear: ensuring access to a qualified lawyer is a powerful way of protecting someone against unjust or erroneous deportation,” said Orozco. “But whether someone gets a lawyer depends far too much on where they are, whether they’re detained, and which policies happen to be in place. With detentions set to skyrocket thanks to record funding approved by Congress, having a lawyer is critical in a system that this administration is deliberately breaking down.” 

The full report and interactive data, which includes a court-by-court breakdown, is available here. The tool lets users explore outcomes by location, detention status, and representation, offering one of the most detailed looks at immigration court trends to date. 

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SCOTUS Grants Review of Ninth Circuit Decision Holding Turnbacks of Asylum Seekers Unlawful

Washington (November 17, 2025) – Today, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to review a Ninth Circuit decision that declared unlawful the U.S. government’s prior turnback policy, which the government calls  “metering.” Under this policy, border officers physically blocked people from seeking asylum at ports of entry along the southern border, turning them back to Mexico.

In response, attorneys for the asylum seekers and Al Otro Lado, the organization serving them, shared the following comment:

“The issue before the Court is whether noncitizens seeking safety at ports of entry along the U.S. southern border have a legal right to apply for asylum in the United States. As the Ninth Circuit correctly concluded, our immigration laws require the government to inspect and process people seeking asylum at ports of entry and allow them to pursue their legal claims in the United States. The government’s turnback policy was an illegal scheme to circumvent these requirements by physically blocking asylum seekers arriving at ports of entry and preventing them from crossing the border to seek protection. Vulnerable families, children, and adults fleeing persecution were stranded in perilous conditions where they faced violent assault, kidnapping, and death. We look forward to presenting our case to the Court.”

The American Immigration Council, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), the Center for Constitutional Rights, Democracy Forward, and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection serve as co-counsel.

For more information on the case, see here, here and here.

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Al Otro Lado provides holistic legal and humanitarian support to refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the US and Tijuana through a multidisciplinary, client-centered, harm reduction-based practice.  They engage in individual representation, human rights monitoring, medical-legal partnerships, and impact litigation to protect the rights of immigrants and people seeking asylum.

The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications.

The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies defends the human rights of courageous refugees seeking asylum in the United States. With strategic focus and unparalleled legal expertise, CGRS champions the most challenging cases, fights for due process, and promotes policies that deliver safety and justice for refugees.

The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. 

The Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. 

The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection is a non-partisan, public interest organization within Georgetown Law. ICAP engages in litigation, policy, and public education to defend constitutional rights and protect our democratic processes.

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Media contact:

Elyssa Pachico, American Immigration Council, epachico@immcouncil.org, 503-850-8407

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