This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh, Fredrikson Immigration Department Chair, is a member.
On August 5, 2021, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced Deferred Enforced Departure would be provided to eligible Hong Kong residents in the United States. President Biden issued a memorandum directing the Department of Homeland Security to “take appropriate measures to defer for 18 months the removal for Hong Kong residents presently in the United States.” Such residents “may also seek employment authorization through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,” he said.
Secretary Mayorkas said the decision was made “based on the ongoing assault on democracy, and rights and freedoms in Hong Kong by the People’s Republic of China.”
