July 25, 2022

The Border's Toll

The Border’s Toll: Reuter's, July 25, 2022 "From the highways of San Antonio, Texas, where 53 migrants died last month after being packed into a sweltering tractor-trailer, to the currents of the Rio Grande, the unrelenting heat of the desert in Arizona and the wall that former President Donald Trump touted as “just about unclimbable,” there have been more than 1,000 fatalities on the U.S.-Mexico border since...

July 25, 2022

Lawsuit to Discover if Trump Lied to SCOTUS about the Muslim Ban

David J. Bier, July 14, 2022 "A  new lawsuit  by the Cato Institute could answer the question of whether the Supreme Court was wrong to accept assertions from former President Trump that his 2017 travel ban was based on security concerns, not animus against Muslims. Despite rescinding the ban, President Biden has still refused to disclose documents that Trump told the Court were the basis of his decision to ban...

July 25, 2022

Border/Lines on US v. Texas

Border/Lines, July 25, 2022 "In a short writ of certiorari agreeing to hear the  United States v. Texas  case next term, which involves the Biden administration’s immigration priorities, the Supreme Court declined to stay a lower court injunction that had blocked these priorities. (Yes, we know there are confusingly like five active cases in which Texas is suing the Biden administration over its immigration policies...

July 25, 2022

On Choosing the Next Chief Immigration Judge: Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase

Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase, July 25, 2022 "On July 21, we were treated to the news that our nation’s immigration courts will no longer be run by a chief judge specifically installed by the prior administration as part of its plan to undermine those courts’ independence and fairness.  The fact that this development took a year and a half to occur, evoked surprise, and was met with  accusations of wrongdoing and threats...

July 22, 2022

Expert: Courts Driving Immigration Policy

Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, July 22, 2022 " Steve Yale-Loehr, a professor at Cornell University who studies U.S. immigration law, said federal policy-making on immigration is now primarily dictated by federal courts, not Congress or the executive branch. "I think every major policy initiative by Biden that they plan to roll out in the next year is going to be certainly challenged in the courts, and the...

July 22, 2022

EOIR Chief Immigration Judge Tracy Short Resigns

Here is the opinion of the Hon. Paul W. Schmidt, former BIA Chairman.

July 21, 2022

CHARTING RECENT VICTORIES IN THE MOVEMENT TO END IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN THE UNITED STATES

Elena Hodges, June 2022 "The movement to abolish immigration detention in the United States has secured immense victories in recent years. Directly impacted communities around the country are demanding an end to the inhumane and violent practice of immigration detention, and a recognition of the harm it causes to individuals, families, and entire communities. Detention does not keep us safe, and it is not necessary...

July 21, 2022

ICAP Letter: Texas Law Prohibits Private Militia Immigration Patrols

ICAP, May 18, 2022 "Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP)['s] mission is to defend American constitutional rights and values in and out of court. Over the past several years, as a result of successful litigation ICAP brought against private paramilitary organizations that participated in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017...

July 21, 2022

The Beyoncé of Asylum Law

Brett Milano, Harvard Law Today, July 20, 2022 "As Harvard Law School Clinical Professor Deborah Anker LL.M. ’84 moves to emerita status, she and her many students and colleagues can reflect on her formidable record of achievement — as a pioneer in the study of refugee and asylum law, the author of the seminal text on the subject, and a tireless advocate for the rights of refugees, particularly women and children...

July 19, 2022

Does DHS Have Your Cellphone Data?

Julia Ainsley, NBC News, July 18, 2022 "The Department of Homeland Security has paid millions of dollars since 2017 to purchase, without warrants, cellphone location data from two companies to track the movements of both Americans and foreigners inside the U.S., at  U.S. borders  and abroad,  according to a new report  released by the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday. The report published a large collection...

July 19, 2022

Visa Interview Wait Times Reach New Highs: 247 Days for Visitors/​Business Travelers

David J. Bier, July 19, 2022 "As the State Department finally reopens U.S. consulates for non‐​emergency visa interviews, wait times have grown significantly. Interviews for both immigrant and nonimmigrant (i.e. temporary) applicants are extraordinarily delayed. The latest data from U.S. consulates abroad show that some visa interviews can routinely take over a year, and a majority of consulates now take over six...

July 19, 2022

200K Young People Will "Age Out" and Be Forced to Leave USA

Stuart Anderson, Forbes "Many Americans are unaware that a person can enter the United States legally, live here their whole life and still be forced to leave America. To understand the problem facing many young people who came to this country with their parents but “age out” of the U.S. immigration system, I interviewed  Dip Patel , founder of  Improve The Dream . ..."

July 18, 2022

ICE Detainees Making $1 a Day Sue Over Alleged Wage Theft

Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED, July 16, 2022 "A multi-billion dollar private prison company has allegedly maximized profits by coercing immigrant detainees locked up at two of its facilities in California to work for $1 a day, according to a class action lawsuit filed July 13 in federal court in Fresno. The  legal challenge  accuses the GEO Group, a long-time contractor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

July 16, 2022

Immigration Court Case Backlog Nears Two Million!

TRAC, July 15, 2022 "Pace of Immigration Court Processing Increases While Backlog Continues to Climb (15 Jul 2022) The latest case-by-case records show that the Immigration Court backlog reached 1,821,440 at the end of June 2022. This is up 25 percent from the backlog just at the beginning of this fiscal year. These figures are based on the analysis of the latest court records obtained through Freedom of Information...

July 14, 2022

More Immigration Lowers Inflation: Study

The Link Between Consumer Prices, Labor Costs, and Immigration in the U.S. Sean Maddan, Texas A&M International University, Claudia San Miguel, Texas A&M International University, Marcus A. Ynalvez, Texas A&M International University, July 11, 2022 "Key Findings 1. More migrant and more H-2A workers are related with lower inflation 2. More migrant and more H-2A workers are associated with higher...

July 14, 2022

Expert: Immigration Benefits Can Help Employers Attract, Retain Talent

Elizabeth Ruiz, KSBY, July 13, 2022 " Stephen Yale-Loehr  teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School. "This is a new trend because of the tight labor market and employers need to figure out how to both attract and retain workers," Yale-Loehr said. "And with foreign workers being a growing part of the employment base, benefits to foreign-born workers is increasingly one way that they can entice...

July 14, 2022

Expert: Immigration Benefits Can Help Employers Attract, Retain Talent

Elizabeth Ruiz, KSBY, July 13, 2022 " Stephen Yale-Loehr  teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School. "This is a new trend because of the tight labor market and employers need to figure out how to both attract and retain workers," Yale-Loehr said. "And with foreign workers being a growing part of the employment base, benefits to foreign-born workers is increasingly one way that they can entice...

July 13, 2022

Groups Announce Settlement in Federal Lawsuit over Illegal Immigration Arrests

ACLU, July 7, 2022 "Today, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California announced a settlement agreement that will prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from illegally using a third-party contractor, G4S Secure Solutions, Inc., to arrest people at jails and prisons to funnel them into the deportation pipeline. To avoid continued litigation...

July 12, 2022

Immigration Law: An Open Casebook (Free!)

Kit Johnson , Professor of Law and Thomas P. Hester Presidential Professor, University of Oklahoma College of Law, writes: " Immigration Law: An Open Casebook is the first open-source/open-access casebook on U.S. immigration law. It is designed to serve as the principal text for a broad-based immigration law course as well as a specialty course on crimmigration. The book provides explanations and primary source...

July 11, 2022

DHS Announces Extension of TPS for Venezuela

Stakeholder email, July 11, 2022 - " Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas is extending the designation of Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. “As one of my first actions as Secretary, I designated Venezuela for TPS,” said Secretary Mayorkas. “After careful consideration, and in consultation with the Secretary of State, today I am extending that designation...

July 08, 2022

I Was Not Prepared...

...for Jenn Budd's book, Against The Wall: My Journey from Border Patrol Agent to Immigrant Rights Activist (Heliotrope Books, 2022).  I thought I knew the border.  I thought I knew human nature.  But Jenn Budd's compassionate, fearless honesty floored me.  I could NOT read it in one sitting, because I had to put it down and gather my wits several times.  Buy it today!  More: "Jenn Budd, the only former...

July 07, 2022

DOJ Investigating Texas’ Operation Lone Star for Alleged Civil Rights Violations

Perla Trevizo, ProPublica, Texas Tribune, July 6, 2022 "Emails obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune confirm that federal authorities are probing discrimination claims involving Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border initiative."

July 07, 2022

Supreme Court Eases Biden’s Way to Ending “Remain in Mexico” Program, but Termination Is Not a Done Deal

Prof. Peter Margulies, Lawfare, July 7, 2022 "In a 5-4 decision on June 30, the Supreme Court cleared away a major obstacle to the Biden administration ending the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program (officially called Migrant Protection Protocols or MPP). Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, in an opinion that Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor joined. Justice Brett...

July 02, 2022

Expert: Supreme Court Ruling May Not Deter Anti-Immigrant Zealots

Jessica Gresko, Elliot Spagat, Associated Press, July 1, 2022 "The Supreme Court said Thursday the Biden administration can scrap a Trump-era immigration policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration courts, a victory for a White House that still must address the growing number of people seeking refuge at America’s southern border. The ruling will have little immediate impact because...

June 30, 2022

CISOMB Issues 2022 Report to Congress

CISOMB, June 30, 2022 "By statute, the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) submits an Annual Report to Congress by June 30 of each year. Our Annual Report must provide a summary of the most pervasive and serious problems encountered by individuals and employers applying for immigration benefits with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The [2022] Annual Report...