November 15, 2023

Experts: Texas Immigration Bill "Plainly Unlawful and Plainly Unconstitutional"

Aarón Torres and Alfredo Corchado, The Dallas Morning News, Nov. 14, 2023 "A sweeping border security bill prioritized by Gov. Greg Abbott would allow for Texas to order undocumented migrants to return to Mexico, but experts, including former federal immigration judges, question whether the legislation would be constitutional. ... In a statement, a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security said...

November 15, 2023

Former IJs and BIA Members Push Back Against Texas Bill

Statement of Former Immigration Judges and Appellate Immigration Judges regarding H.B. 4/S.B. 4, Nov. 10, 2023 "We are former Immigration Judges with decades of experience as experts in Immigration Law. We were appointed by and served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Our personal politics may vary, but we dedicated our careers to the equal and fair administration of federal immigration law...

November 15, 2023

Staffing Agency Pays $900K to Settle Hiring Discrimination Case

DOJ, Nov. 15, 2023 "The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a settlement agreement with Kforce Inc. (Kforce), a staffing agency with 36 offices across the United States. The agreement resolves the department’s determination that Kforce violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against non-U.S. citizens with permission to work in the United States and excluding...

November 14, 2023

Chicago Law Firm Provides Pro Bono Counsel to Migrants

Kasey Chronis, Nov. 13, 2023 "After trekking thousands of miles prior to arriving in the United States – at times in dangerous conditions – the journey for migrants doesn’t end when they get to America. Instead, a complicated legal process awaits. That's why one Chicago law firm is working to ease the burden. On top of a language barrier, some migrants have reportedly been assigned immigration...

November 14, 2023

San Diego County Program Provides Access to Counsel

Gustavo Solis, KPBS, Nov. 14, 2023 "San Diego County has a program to offer free lawyers to people in immigration court. The San Diego County Immigrant Rights Legal Defense Program started last April. Only a handful of cities, including Los Angeles and New York City, have similar legal defense programs. San Diego is the first border community to do so."

November 13, 2023

Expert Not Surprised by Gov. Hochul's Work Permit Decision

Tim Balk, NY Daily News, Nov. 13, 2023 "Gov. Hochul, who had pursued the idea of issuing state-approved work papers to migrants, took the plan off the table Monday, saying she would not have been able to protect New York employers from criminal exposure under federal laws. “I’m constrained by the law,” Hochul said at a news conference in Midtown Manhattan , two months after she indicated she was...

November 13, 2023

New Book: Humanizing Immigration

Humanizing Immigration: How to Transform Our Racist and Unjust System By Prof. Bill Ong Hing “Incisive and compelling, reflecting the painful wisdom and knowledge that Bill Ong Hing has accrued over the course of fifty years . . . ”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow ... "First book to argue that immigrant and refugee rights are part of the fight for racial justice; offers a humanitarian...

November 12, 2023

Expert: Targeted Immigration Reforms Possible Even in Gridlock

Jorge Cancino, Univision, Nov. 10, 2023 "After a review of the political scenario and the stagnation of the immigration debate in both houses of Congress in the last two decades, a group of academics from Cornell University, New York, urged the legislature to urgently debate bipartisan proposals and find solutions to serious problems, such as the historic backlog of cases in the immigration courts and the immigration...

November 09, 2023

Apple Pays $25M in Massive PERM Settlement

DOJ, Nov. 9, 2023 "The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a landmark agreement with Apple Inc. (Apple) to resolve allegations that Apple illegally discriminated in hiring and recruitment against U.S. citizens and certain non-U.S. citizens whose permission to live in and work in the United States does not expire. Under the agreement, Apple is required to pay up to $25 million in backpay and...

November 09, 2023

Free Webinar - Immigration Enforcement Mechanisms at the U.S. Southwest Border: The Only Constant is Change

ABA Commission on Immigration , ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2023 Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET Format: Free non-CLE Webinar Joint Sponsors: ABA Commission on Immigration , ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice The ABA Commission on Immigration and the ABA Section of the Civil Rights and Social Justice invite you to a webinar designed to offer up...

November 09, 2023

Unlocking American Competitiveness: Understanding The Reshaped Visa Policies Under The AI Executive Order

Divyansh Kaushik, Ph.D., Oct. 30, 2023 "The looming competition for global talent has brought forth a necessity to evaluate and update the policies concerning international visa holders in the United States. Recognizing this, President Biden has directed various agencies to consider policy changes aimed at improving processes and conditions for legal foreign workers, students, researchers, and scholars through...

November 09, 2023

Green Card Backlog Costs Economy Trillions in Gains, Report Says

Andrew Kreighbaum, Bloomberg Law, Nov. 8, 2023 "The US is missing out on trillions in economic gains thanks to worsening green card backlogs, according to projections from the Bipartisan Policy Center. Roughly 7.6 million people are stuck in queues for lawful permanent residency—the majority of them new potential immigrants to the US who are stuck outside the country. Reducing green card barriers for those...

November 08, 2023

Detained Migrants Sue ICE Over Sham Inspection

ACLU New Mexico, Nov. 8, 2023 "A group of immigrants detained in inhumane conditions at New Mexico’s Torrance County Detention Facility (TCDF) is suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for certifying a sham inspection in 2022 that allowed ICE to evade federal law and continue detaining immigrants at the facility, despite known ongoing violations of federal detention standards. “The conditions...

November 07, 2023

Aquilino Gonell: Immigrant of the Day

Bill Lueders, Nov. 7, 2023 "AQUILINO GONELL HELD HIS TONGUE as long as he could. He had been among the more than 400 Capitol Police officers on duty on January 6, 2021, as a mob instigated by President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol. He saw his fellow officers being “brazenly beaten with pipes, sticks, and rocks by rioters chanting ‘Fight for Trump’ and ‘USA! USA!’” He...

November 07, 2023

Biden's Stealth Border Wall in Texas

Melissa del Bosque, Nov. 7, 2023 "Despite his promises to not build “one more foot of wall,” President Joe Biden is now speeding ahead with a contract for 17 miles of new wall in rural Starr County, Texas. Border residents say they were stunned by the stealth $229 million contract issued to Sullivan Land Services Company (SLSCO), a Galveston-based firm. The deal was never publicly announced and was...

November 07, 2023

Credible Fear Interview Outcomes Improve With Assistance: Report

Susan Dunlap, NM Political Report, Nov. 7, 2023 "An immigrant advocacy center found that when their staff were able to provide legal representation or help to immigrants facing credible fear interviews, the immigrant outcomes improved considerably. Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, a nonprofit based in El Paso, released a report last week detailing challenges the organization’s staff found and recommendations...

November 06, 2023

Are the Immigration Provisions in Biden's AI Executive Order Meaningful?

Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box, Nov. 6, 2023 "On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The stated purpose of the order is to ensure that the “development and use of AI” is governed “safely and responsibly”. The executive order further lays out eight “guiding principles and...

November 06, 2023

ICE Fails to Post Detention Data in Over a Month—Again

Austin Kocher, Ph.D., Nov. 6, 2023 "ICE’s immigrant detention numbers have been growing in recent weeks, raising concerns about the treatment of migrants under the Biden administration and the impacts on government spending. Yet the agency refuses to follow Congress’s order to release data on a regular cycle. It has been 38 days since the public has seen ICE detention data. The agency needs to get back...

November 06, 2023

Expert: Asylum Seekers Face Multiple Challenges

Ethan Stark-Miller, AM New York, Nov. 5, 2023 "A migrant’s current legal status in large part depends on how the individual entered the country. According to immigration lawyer Stephen Yale-Loehr , there are several ways that new arrivals typically enter the U.S. ... The main difference is that migrants granted parole are able to immediately apply for a work permit, he said, whereas those without the designation...

November 04, 2023

DHS to Supplement H-2B Cap with Nearly 65,000 Additional Visas for FY 2024

DHS, Nov. 3, 2023 "Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), announced that it expects to make an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, on top of the congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year. These additional H-2B visas represent the maximum permitted under...

November 03, 2023

Audio Event - Immigration Reform: A Path Forward (Nov. 9, 2023)

Open to all! Immigration Reform: A Path Forward Ithaca, NY - As Congress considers border security issues in upcoming appropriations debates, four immigration scholars at Cornell Law School suggest opportunities for constructive, achievable, and sustainable immigration reforms. In a recent white paper they offer three sets of interlocking proposals structured to maximize bipartisan support: (1) strengthening border...

November 03, 2023

Expert: Lawmakers Must Recognize the "New Normal" at the Border

Chris Matthews, MarketWatch, Nov. 3, 2023 "Top Biden officials are pushing Democrats to accept a deal on immigration. President Joe Biden wants Congress to approve more than $75 billion in new spending to bolster Israel and Ukraine's war efforts, and the price some lawmakers want for their support is significant changes to immigration laws they say could stem the record surge of migrants crossing the southern...

November 03, 2023

Free Videos: 20th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

MPI Click here for five videos from the The 20th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, organized by MPI, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center.

November 03, 2023

Free Webinar: SIJS Backlog Report Launch, Dec. 4, 2023

The End SIJS Backlog Coalition (a project of the National Immigration Project) and Tulane Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic "Date & Time: Dec 4, 2023 11:00 AM in Mountain Time (US and Canada) Description: The End SIJS Backlog Coalition (a project of the National Immigration Project) and Tulane Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic will release a new report, False Hopes: Over 100,000 Immigrant...

November 02, 2023

Motivated by Love

Brian Elmore, M.D., reflects on his ER patients suffering injuries caused by border barriers: "The harsh and sterile policies of deterrence also fail to recognize these pilgrims’ most important motivation: love. This family’s love for each other is the potent force that overcame deterrence. Love for their children, a desire to give them the safe life that they deserve, was ultimately what drove this family...