February 22, 2022

Why We Need to Talk About ICE's Rapidly-Expanding "Alternatives to Detention" Program

Austin Kocher, Feb. 22, 2022 "We are witnessing a profound shift in the geographic forms of migrant surveillance and control, a shift that is simultaneously about migrants and not about migrants, a shift that is wrapped in the paper of liberal humanitarianism but which has its roots in new theories of social threat, the commodification and brokerage of personal data, and the operationalization of Big Data for controversial...

February 22, 2022

You Might Need an Immigration Lawyer to Get a Driver License in Alaska

Jeff Landfield, Alaska Land Mine, Feb. 21, 2022 "Trey Capers is a United States citizen who moved to Juneau in 1980 after spending two years in the Air Force. He was 19 at the time. He drove a cab for more than twenty years, starting at a time when Alaska was flush with oil money. In 2001, a friend asked him if he was interested in driving a tour bus for Juneau Tours. Trey, who loves to drive, took him up on the...

February 20, 2022

Supreme Court Grants Cert. in Biden v. Texas (MPP)

Amy L. Howe, Feb. 18, 2022 "The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon agreed to decide whether the Biden administration must continue to enforce the Trump-era program known as the “remain in Mexico” policy, which requires asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while they wait for a hearing in U.S. immigration court. The justices fast-tracked the administration’s appeal, setting the case for oral argument in late April –...

February 17, 2022

Groups Ask DOJ to Reject "Insular Cases"

ACLU, Feb. 10, 2022 "Over 100 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of rulings known as the Insular Cases that still prevent millions of people — overwhelmingly, people of color — from accessing certain constitutional rights and protections. These rulings continue to uphold systemic racism today. In the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court spoke to whether, and to what extent, the rights and protections...

February 17, 2022

Crippling USCIS Work Permit Backlog Hurts Everyone

Nicole Narea, Vox, Feb. 16, 2022 "Amid nationwide labor shortages in critical industries, more than a million immigrants are waiting on the US government to issue them work permits. Without these permits, many could lose their jobs, and some already have. Biraj Nepal, a Nepali asylum seeker living in Woodland, California, has been working as a software engineer in the IT department of a bank for the last four years...

February 16, 2022

U.S. Marines Made "Major Money" Smuggling Immigrants Across Border

Emily Green, Vice, Feb. 15, 2022 "Byron Law knew what he was doing was illegal. But the money was too good to pass up. On the morning of July 3, 2019, the 20-year-old and his friend headed out for another run in Law’s black BMW, eager to make some extra cash before the long holiday weekend. With any luck, they’d be finished by lunch. ... Law was one of more than a dozen Marines in the 1st Marine Division at Camp...

February 16, 2022

Groups Push for Dedicated Afghan Parole Program

Letter dated Feb. 15, 2022 to DHS and USCIS -  Request for Creation of the Afghan Parole Program, a Designated Parole Program for At-Risk Afghans "Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Director Jaddou: We write on behalf of the undersigned legal services providers, resettlement agencies, law firms, law school clinics, and non profit organizations serving asylum seekers and refugees to respectfully request the creation of...

February 16, 2022

Expert: Programs to Help Afghan Allies "Overwhelmed" Due to Trump Cuts

Miriam Jordan, New York Times, Feb. 16, 2022 "Thousands of Afghan allies who narrowly missed being evacuated, and who have been living in hiding in Afghanistan or illegally in neighboring countries, have counted on a program known as humanitarian parole to reach the United States. But half a year since the frantic U.S. withdrawal, most remain stranded, either because they have been denied entry or are still awaiting...

February 15, 2022

House Members Demand Repeal of CDC Title 42 Blockade

Congresswoman Judy Chu, Feb. 14, 2022 "In response to the continued use of Title 42 to expel asylum seekers at the border, Reps. Judy Chu (CA-27), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07) led 33 other House Democrats on a letter to Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding answers about the agency’s justification for treating asylum seekers as a unique...

February 15, 2022

House Hearing on Immigrant Physicians (Feb. 15, 2022)

House Judiciary Committee, Immigration & Citizenship Subcommittee Is There a Doctor in the House? The Role of Immigrant Physicians in the U.S. Healthcare System Date:  Tuesday, February 15, 2022 -  02:00pm Eastern Location: Zoom Video Webinar Witnesses Ms. Kristen A. Harris Principal, Harris Immigration Law Harris Statement [ PDF ] Harris Truth in Testimony [ PDF ] Harris Bio [ PDF ]...

February 14, 2022

Deadly Inertia: Needless Delay of “Particular Social Group” Regulations Puts Asylum Seekers at Risk

CGRS, Feb. 10, 2022 "On February 2, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order (“EO”) which directed executive branch agencies to review and then take action on numerous aspects of our shattered asylum system.1 Of particular interest to the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), and many asylum seekers, legal experts, and allies, was a provision ordering the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security...

February 14, 2022

"Celebrity" Deportation?

Have you heard of the Fake German Heiress, Anna Sorokin, a.k.a. Delvey?  I had fun watching the Netflix series, "Inventing Anna."  After she served time for her criminal conviction, she was taken into ICE custody, where she remains today , pending the resolution of her asylum claim.  It appears that her immigration lawyer, Audrey Thomas (not, apparently, an AILA member) might have had some troubles of her own...

February 11, 2022

The Continuing Impact of The Pandemic on Immigration Court Case Completions (TRAC)

TRAC, Feb. 11, 2022 "As of the end of January 2022, the pace of Immigration Court work continues to lag as a result of the pandemic. There have been not only fewer case completions, but the average time required to dispose of each case has doubled since before the pandemic began. Immigration Courts recorded 86,297 case completions so far in FY 2022 covering the period October 2021 – January 2022. However, during...

February 11, 2022

MAVNI 2.0? - A Digital Military Talent Initiative for Noncitizen Technologists

Jordan Sun, James Long, Alex McLeod, Matthew Fitzgerald, February 2022 A Digital Military Talent Initiative for Noncitizen Technologists "Competent and innovative technologists are crucial to the future of U.S. national security. But the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) warns that a digital-talent deficit at the Department of Defense (DOD) represents the greatest impediment to the...

February 10, 2022

Historic FOIA Settlement Levels the Legal Playing Field for Immigrant Advocates: NYLAG v. BIA

NYLAG, Feb. 10, 2022 "A federal district court in New York on Wednesday evening ordered the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals to establish an online library of its unpublished opinions – the result of a settlement between the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) and the U.S. Department of Justice. By giving immigrants and their lawyers full access to the Board’s opinions, the settlement will allow...

February 09, 2022

A New USCIS Mission Statement

Geneva Sands, CNN, Feb. 9, 2022 "US Citizenship and Immigration Services changed its mission statement again , four years after the Trump administration  removed the phrase "nation of immigrants"  from the agency's statement, a move that prompted backlash from immigrant rights groups and others. Under the Biden administration, the agency is taking a different approach, using words like "welcome"...

February 08, 2022

Clinic Students Win Release for Afghan Client in Complex Immigration Court Case

Mary Wood, Feb. 7, 2022 "With help from students in the  Immigration Law Clinic  at the University of Virginia School of Law, an Afghan national who had been imprisoned for three years on a misdemeanor charge was recently freed on bond. Second-year students Layla Khalid and Jordan Woodlief argued their client’s case at the Arlington Immigration Court and won his release in December. “From the start, the case...

February 08, 2022

ICE’s Ability To Detain Immigrants Through Mass Raids And Traffic Stops Significantly Limited By New Court Settlement

NIJC, Feb. 8, 2022 "The use of illegal traffic stops and arrest practices by federal immigration enforcement officials will be curtailed under a settlement resolving a lawsuit brought by Chicago area residents detained in ICE sweeps in 2018. Today, the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved a class action settlement which will require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to end...

February 07, 2022

83,000 Afghans Made It To The US. Now They Need Lawyers

Marco Poggio, Law360, Feb. 6, 2022 "As the frantic withdrawal of American troops and diplomatic personnel unfolded last summer, the U.S. government and allies transported thousands of Afghans fleeing Taliban rule. About 83,000 people have arrived in the U.S. as part of an operation dubbed Allies Welcome, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But the arrival of so many people at the same time has...

February 04, 2022

Groups Blast Biden Over Title 42 Expulsions

Human Rights First, Feb. 2, 2022 "Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris: We, the undersigned organizations committed to the rights of asylum seekers and refugees, write to express our serious concerns over  reports  that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun a new practice of using Title 42 to expel Venezuelan migrants to Colombia. We understand that the first two Venezuelan individuals...

February 04, 2022

"Stochastic Terrorism" by QAnon Trumpers Forces Closure of Border Butterfly Sanctuary

Sneha Dey, Texas Tribune, Feb. 2, 2022 "A South Texas butterfly sanctuary has closed after it was the target of conspiracy theories that escalated into credible threats. The National Butterfly Center, along the U.S.-Mexico border in Mission, has long been the target of QAnon conspiracy theories falsely tying the organization to human trafficking. ... “They tell these lies in a variety of forms through all of their...

February 03, 2022

Visa Shuffle May Benefit U.S. Hospitals, Foreign Nurses

Amy Taxin, Associated Press, Feb. 3, 2022 "With American hospitals facing a dire shortage of nurses amid a slogging pandemic, many are looking abroad for health care workers. And it could be just in time. There’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals, including nurses, who want to move to the United States — twice as many as just a few years ago. That’s because U...

February 03, 2022

Immigration Critics Wrong: Fewer Visas Did Not Help U.S. Workers

Stuart Anderson, Forbes, Feb. 3, 2022 "The number of new foreign-born workers in the United States declined because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but U.S. workers were not better off, according to  new research . That refutes a long-held anti-immigration argument and addresses a concern raised by some labor unions. Worker shortages, partly a result of restrictive immigration policies and made worse by the pandemic...

February 02, 2022

Operation Lone Star: "Zero Task or Purpose"

Davis Winkie, Military Times, James Barragán, Texas Tribune, Feb. 1, 2022 "Deplorable conditions, unclear mission: Texas National Guard troops call Abbott’s rushed border operation a disaster...The governor has sent waves of troops to the border as Guard officials scramble to execute a massive mobilization that would normally take months to plan. Some Guard members say the operation has set back their income, education...

February 01, 2022

Robot Border Patrol Dogs?

DHS, Feb. 1, 2022 (What could possibly go wrong?)