May 17, 2023

8.3 Million Relatives of U.S. Citizens & Legal Residents Awaited Green Cards in 2022

David J. Bier, May 17, 2023 "The United States hit a new record of about 8.3 million immigrants at various stages in its family‐​sponsored permanent residence process in 2022—an increase of nearly 1 million since 2019. The staggering number of pending cases is primarily the result of outdated caps on green cards, but processing delays are also affecting a substantial number of applicants. The U.S. immigration...

May 17, 2023

Expert: More Visas Needed to Manage Migration

Elizabeth Ruiz, 10News, May 15, 2023 "Now that Title 42 will no longer be in place, the Biden administration has come up with a new asylum policy. Immigration expert Stephen Yale-Loehr says it's an attempt to control the surge in migration at the border. "If you do enter the United States illegally, you will be presumed ineligible for asylum with certain limited exceptions," Yale-Loehr said. "They...

May 16, 2023

Immigration Processing Delays Prompt Record Number of Mandamus Lawsuits in Federal Court

TRAC, May 15, 2023 "The federal government is facing a flurry of immigration-related civil lawsuits in court. In February 2023 alone, the federal civil courts recorded 943 immigration-related lawsuits, the highest immigration-related lawsuits for any single month on record. So far in FY 2023, from October to February, the courts recorded 4,175 total civil immigration filings. At this rate, the total number of filings...

May 12, 2023

Groups Sue Biden Over Asylum Rule

ACLU, May 11, 2023 "The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Northern California, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and National Immigrant Justice Center filed a legal challenge today to the Biden administration’s new asylum ban. The challenge was filed swiftly after the new policy’s unveiling. The ban largely mimics two Trump-era policies — known as the “entry” and “transit” bans — which were blocked...

May 12, 2023

Immigration Court Docket Growth Crushes Pro Bono Representation Efforts: TRAC

TRAC, May 12, 2023 "The availability of pro bono legal representation has grown for noncitizens with cases before the Immigration Court. It is, in part, a remarkable story of the increase of volunteer efforts across this country given the importance of legal representation to immigration outcomes. But despite this growth, volunteer efforts have not been able to meet the needs of immigrants as the number and pace...

May 11, 2023

Groups Decry Biden Asylum Rule

AILA, May 10, 2023 -  Biden Administration’s Asylum Transit Ban Will Undermine U.S. Humanitarian Law and Harm Vulnerable Asylum Seekers "The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) renews its opposition to the Biden Administration’s harmful “Circumventing Lawful Pathways” regulation which functionally bans access to asylum for many vulnerable people. AILA President Jeremy McKinney stated: “Given the complex...

May 11, 2023

Expert: More Work Visas Needed to Stem Border Chaos

Doug Cunningham, UPI, May 11, 2023 "Cornell University Professor and immigration expert Stephen W. Yale-Loehr told UPI that the sharply divided Congress is unlikely to pass legislation on comprehensive immigration reform in time to prevent "chaos at the border" in the short term. "Too many people will want to enter, and there won't be enough Border Patrol agents to prevent a surge of illegal...

May 10, 2023

DHS/DOS Border Transition Fact Sheet (May 10, 2023)

DHS, May 10, 2023 "The Department of Homeland Security and Department of State are focused on solutions and have a robust plan to humanely manage the border through deterrence, enforcement, and diplomacy. With the support of the Department of Defense and multiple countries across the Western Hemisphere, DHS and State are implementing that plan within the constraints of a broken immigration system that Congress...

May 09, 2023

The Right Way To Reduce Illegal Immigration

Stuart Anderson, Forbes, May 8, 2023 "Whenever migration increases at the Southwest border, many members of Congress follow conventional wisdom and call for new enforcement measures. When those actions fail to reduce illegal migration, elected officials complain the policies weren’t harsh enough. However, it turns out the politicians have been mistaken. While enforcement can play a role, history shows ratcheting...

May 09, 2023

Experts: Biden Puts Future of Asylum in Peril

Jacob Hamburger, Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, Slate, May 9, 2023 "In March 2020, the Trump administration invoked its authority under Title 42 of the U.S. Code, a public health law, to close the southwest border to virtually anyone crossing in from Mexico. Since then, border officials deported or denied entry to would-be migrants more than  3 million times . The Title 42 border restrictions are arguably the most significant...

May 08, 2023

Expert: Biden's Proposed Asylum Rules Would Limit Protection "In Major Ways"

Sam Ribakoff, CNS, May 5, 2023 "The notice of proposed rulemaking are the Biden administration, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Justice’s proposals for immigration and asylum regulations that will replace Title 42. The proposed, but not yet finalized, rules include setting up processing centers in countries where people are migrating to the U.S. from, say Columbia or Guatemala, to prescreen asylum...

May 03, 2023

Beyond A Border Solution: How to Build a Humanitarian Protection System That Won’t Break

AIC, May 3, 2023 "For generations, the United States has been a place of safe haven for people seeking freedom and safety. In 1980, Congress passed the Refugee Act, codifying basic refugee protections into law and enshrining a global commitment to asylum which emerged from the tragedy of the Holocaust. In the decades since then, hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylees have been granted status, strengthening...

May 03, 2023

"Un-Deported" After 20 Years: The Lorenzo Charles Story

WNYC, May 2, 2023 " Matt Katz , WNYC Public Safety correspondent, is joined by  Lindsay Nash , associate professor of law and co-director of the Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo Law School, to talk about the extraordinary case of Lorenzo Charles who was deported in 2003, but was able to successfully fight to undo the deportation and return to Brooklyn -- how he did it and whether others could, too.  Mr. Charles...

May 01, 2023

Chevron On The Chopping Block!

Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog, May 1, 2023 "Nearly 40 years ago, in  Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council , the Supreme Court ruled that courts should defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute as long as that interpretation is reasonable. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to reconsider its ruling in  Chevron ." [Whatever the result, it is likely to affect immigration law cases....

April 28, 2023

Expert: DACA Litigation May Reach Supreme Court, Again...In 2024

Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, Apr. 28, 2023 "The Biden administration on Thursday asked a federal judge in Texas to stop short of ordering the full termination of the  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals  (DACA) immigration policy if he finds it unlawful, a last-minute attempt to limit a looming ruling that could dictate the fate of nearly 600,000 "Dreamers." The Justice Department's filing...

April 28, 2023

Judge: Nunes Family Farm "Knowingly" Hired Unauthorized Workers

Matt Naham, Law & Crime, Apr. 26, 2023 "The defamation lawsuit filed by Republican congressman-turned-Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes and his family against journalist Ryan Lizza and Hearst Magazines over a 2018 Esquire article fell flat this week, as a judge found it “substantially, objectively true” that the family’s farm in Iowa “knowingly” employed undocumented immigrants. ... In a  101-page opinion  issued...

April 28, 2023

GAO Faults EOIR on Multiple Fronts

GAO, Apr. 26, 2023 "Immigration judges at the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review hold hearings to decide whether foreign nationals may be removed from the U.S. Despite our 2017 recommendation to develop a strategic workforce plan to address current and future staffing needs, EOIR hasn't done so—even though it had a significant and growing backlog of 1.8 million pending cases at...

April 27, 2023

With ‘Migrations,’ Cornell Scholars Navigate a World in Motion

Lindsay Lennon, Cornellians "We have more migration across the world today than we ever have in the past, and it’s going to continue,” says Professor Stephen Yale-Loehr ’77, JD ’81, an expert on immigration law who served on the task force. “We need to understand how all these different kinds of migration affect and relate to each other—that’s why it’s so important to study this from an interdisciplinary and interspecies...

April 27, 2023

With ‘Migrations,’ Cornell Scholars Navigate a World in Motion

Lindsay Lennon, Cornellians "We have more migration across the world today than we ever have in the past, and it’s going to continue,” says Professor Stephen Yale-Loehr ’77, JD ’81, an expert on immigration law who served on the task force. “We need to understand how all these different kinds of migration affect and relate to each other—that’s why it’s so important to study this from an interdisciplinary and interspecies...

April 27, 2023

Alan Tafapolsky: In Memoriam

A. James Vazquez-Azpiri and Ron Wada write: "Our dear friend, colleague and fellow BIB  editorial board member, Alan Tafapolsky , died suddenly on April 11, 2023, of cardiac issues at the age of 61.  Alan was the co-founder and managing partner of Tafapolsky & Smith LLP .  As we remember, cherish and celebrate Alan’s life, it is fitting to recall the many qualities, both personal and professional, that made...

April 24, 2023

Afghan People Seeking Asylum File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Government Adjudication Delays

NIJC, Apr. 20, 2023 " Kirkland & Ellis LLP and NIJC represent class action of people facing prolonged waits for permanent immigration protection following 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan Afghan people seeking asylum are suing the U.S. government over delays in processing their asylum applications, nearly two years after they first arrived in the United States as part of a U.S. operation to evacuate allies...

April 24, 2023

2023 NIP Recipient of the Elisabeth S. “Lisa” Brodyaga Award: Sui Chung!

NIP Each year the National Immigration Project honors one of its members doing outstanding work for immigrant rights. This year, we are thrilled to honor Sui Chung as the recipient of the 2023 Elisabeth S. "Lisa" Brodyaga Award. Sui's deep crim-imm expertise, prolonged/indefinite detention case work, pro bono service, mentorship, and more, are a shining example within our movement and reflect the spirit...

April 21, 2023

Meet The Immigrant Rights Attorney Turned Federal Judge (Law360)

Jack Karp, Law360, Apr. 20, 2023 "The second Latina to be confirmed to the Northern District of California bench and one of the few immigrant rights attorneys to become a federal judge will be a thoughtful, compassionate jurist who understands firsthand how the law impacts real people, lawyers who know her say. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín was confirmed by the  U.S. Senate  in a 48-48 vote in February...

April 20, 2023

DACA, public health, and immigrant restrictions on healthcare in the United States

Jin K. Park, Stephen Yale-Loehr, Gunisha Kaur, The Lancet, May 2023 "The DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program is the result of an executive action by President Barack Obama in 2012 to serve as a temporary stopgap measure for a small subset of the undocumented population in the United States. The DACA program does not provide formal immigration status, but rather is a form of prosecutorial discretion...

April 20, 2023

The Impact of Immigration Attorneys on the Big Screen: "Las Abogadas"

Careen Shannon, Apr. 19, 2023 " AILA is pleased to welcome this blog post from long-time AILA member Careen Shannon, Senior Counsel (formerly Partner) at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP, and the Executive Producer of an important new documentary, “Las Abogadas: Attorneys on the Front Lines of the Migrant Crisis.” AILA members in town for the Spring Conference have a chance to see “Las Abogadas” at the...