September 21, 2021

US/Mexico/Canada Border Restrictions Extended Again

" This document announces the decision of the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) to continue to temporarily limit the travel of individuals from Mexico into the United States at land ports of entry along the United States-Mexico border. Such travel will be limited to “essential travel,” as further defined in this document. DATES: These restrictions go into effect at 12 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on...

September 20, 2021

Biden Proposes Raising Refugee Cap to 125K in FY2022

State Department, Sept. 20, 2021 "Today, the State Department is reaffirming our commitment to refugee resettlement in line with our long tradition of providing a safe haven and opportunity to individuals fleeing persecution.  With the world facing unprecedented global displacement and humanitarian needs, the United States is committed to leading efforts to provide protection and promote durable solutions to humanitarian...

September 20, 2021

Advocates Protest Biden/Mayorkas/Garland Defense of Title 42

71 organizations, Sept. 17, 2021 "Dear President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and Attorney General Garland: In the wake of multiple federal court decisions holding that your administration’s policies are likely unlawful, we, the 71 undersigned organizations, are appalled that you have chosen to file a notice of appeal in the Huisha-Huisha litigation, resisting an order to process the protection claims of families...

September 17, 2021

Hispanic Federation Launches ‘Caminos De Esperanza’ Initiative To Help Tackle Immigration Case Backlog

Matthew Peddie, WMFE, Sept. 17, 2021 "The  Hispanic Federation  says it will help fund organizations across the country which are working on a backlog of immigration cases. Eleven organizations will each receive a $100,000 grant through the federation’s  Caminos de Esperanza  initiative: "Hispanic Federation’s new Caminos de Esperanza Initiative supports direct legal representation to the most vulnerable...

September 17, 2021

Report: ICE Kicks Mentally Ill Prisoners to Street With No Notice to Counsel, Families

Erica Bryant, VERA, Sept. 2021 "[A]ttorneys report this pattern: people who have been declared mentally incompetent due to cognitive disabilities or mental illnesses are ejected from immigration detention facilities without any notice to their attorneys, families, or caregivers and are left to fend for themselves in places like parking lots and bus stations, with only the clothes they had when they were arrested...

September 17, 2021

Will Humanitarian Parole Rescue These Afghan Lawyers?

Diana Jones, Reuters, Sept. 16, 2021 "The International Academy of Trial Lawyers will sponsor a move to bring four Afghan attorneys and their families, who face danger from the Taliban due to their work, to the United States under a program that could grant them temporary entry and the opportunity to apply for asylum.  The names of the Afghan attorneys, who are facing threats from the Taliban due to their work...

September 16, 2021

Notre Dame Law Student Helps Win Asylum for Salvadoran Mother and Child

Amanda Gray, Notre Dame Law News, Sept. 15, 2021 "A young mother and child from El Salvador were granted asylum in the United States last week, thanks to the legal advocacy of Notre Dame Law School student Sophia Aguilar. Aguilar, a third-year law student, worked with her client through the Law School’s  National Immigrant Justice Center externship . Her client fled gender violence in El Salvador and came to...

September 16, 2021

Cook County PDs to Provide Representation in Immigration Court

Mauricio Peña, Block Club Chicago, Sept. 15, 2021 "The Cook County Public Defender’s Office soon can represent non-citizens in court regardless of immigration status, a victory for advocates who have fought for more legal representation in deportation proceedings.  Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle joined other officials and immigrant rights organizers Tuesday to celebrate the signing of the Defenders For...

September 16, 2021

Free Webcast: Migration in the Media - Telling the Stories (Sept. 22, 2021)

eCornell Keynotes - MIGRATION IN THE MEDIA - Telling the Stories - Wednesday, September 22, 2021, 12pm EDT "In this moment of hyper-politicized border and migration issues, questions of representation are crucial. This roundtable of scholars, journalists, and practitioners will address the needs and challenges of producing stories about complex border issues along with the potential for different stories to effect...

September 14, 2021

CLINIC on the Family Reunification Task Force

Michelle Mendez, CLINIC, Sept. 13, 2021 - "The  Family Reunification Task Force , established in February 2021 pursuant to  Executive Order 14011  seeks to bring families separated pursuant to the Trump administration’s family separation policy back together and provide all formerly separated families with support.  The Task Force, led by Michelle Brané, has  identified  1,841 children who have not been reunified...

September 14, 2021

Expert: Threading "Thick" Immigration Reform Package Through Reconciliation's "Very Small Legislative Needle"

Haris Alic, Washington Times, Sept. 14, 2021 "Even if Democrats win [Senate Parliamentarian] Ms.  MacDonough ‘s approval for the procedural questions, they’ll still have a hard time maintaining unity in their ranks over the policy, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law professor and immigration scholar at Cornell University .  “In sum, to succeed, Democrats must thread a very thick immigration string through a very small...

September 13, 2021

Dreamers And Legal Immigration Changes Highlight New House Bill

Stuart Anderson, Forbes, Sept. 13, 2021 "A new House bill could provide green card relief for thousands of individuals and families waiting years in backlogs and grant legal status to millions of immigrants living in the United States without legal status. Although the bill does not contain permanent structural changes to the legal immigration system, it would likely allow more individuals to gain permanent residence...

September 13, 2021

Immigration Courts Struggle to Manage Expanding Family Asylum Dedicated Docket: TRAC

TRAC, Sept. 13, 2021 "During the month of August, the Biden administration stepped up the assignment of asylum-seeking families arriving at the border to the Immigration Court's new "Dedicated Docket" program. As of August 31, 2021, Immigration Court records indicate that a total of 16,713 individuals comprising approximately 6,000 families are now assigned to this program. But alongside the growing...

September 13, 2021

Threading the MPP ("Remain in Mexico") Needle: Not Rocket Science, But Tricky for Biden

Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, Sept. 12, 2021 "A string of recent court decisions has put  President Biden  in a predicament: Re-implement his predecessor's Remain in Mexico policy in good faith or turn to Trump-era tactics to dismantle the divisive immigration rule. ... [T]he government does not have to restart MPP overnight and that it has the discretion to allow some migrants to enter the country to pursue asylum...

September 13, 2021

Groups Launch Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights

Cornell Law, Sept. 13, 2021 "A first-of-its-kind Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights comprised of more than two dozen refugee rights groups was launched today with leadership and support from Cornell Law School’s Migration and Human Rights Program and Professor Ian M. Kysel.  [Read the Concept Note here.] Until now, there has been no single group dedicated to developing strategic litigation...

September 11, 2021

Two Immigration Lawyers Reflect on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11

Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box, Sept. 11, 2021 "It is hard to believe that 20 years have gone by since planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in DC  and into a field in Pennsylvania instead of Capitol Hill killing just under 3000 people. These cataclysmic events on September 11, 2001 forever changed the role of immigration lawyers. For the past 20 years, our mission...

September 11, 2021

Expert: 9/11 Derailed Bush's Intended Immigration Reforms

Jorge Cancino, Univision, Sept. 10, 2021 "In 2001 President George Bush seemed ready to push for comprehensive immigration reform in Congress. The 9/11 terrorist attacks changed all that," says Stephen Yale-Loehr, professor of immigration practice at Cornell Law School .  "Suddenly, instead of thinking of immigrants in a positive light, Americans perceived them as threats to national security. For that...

September 11, 2021

States Welcome Afghan Refugees

LexisNexis State Net Capitol Journal, Sept. 10, 2021 "Thirty-five state governors from both parties say they will welcome Afghan refugees forced to flee their country because of the Taliban takeover. “We’re a state of refuge,”  said  Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as he welcomed Afghan refugees to California. Across the country, on her second day in office, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D)  issued a statement  saying that “as...

September 08, 2021

Immigrant 9/11 Cleanup Crews Seek Justice

Claudia Torrens, Associated Press, Sept. 8, 2021 "Immigrant workers who helped clean up buildings in lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks have long asked for years to obtain legal status as a way to compensate for the work and subsequent health problems they suffered..."

September 08, 2021

Afghan Evacuees Face Complex Immigration Road in US

Aline Barros, VOA, Sept. 6, 2021 "The tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who made it to the United States as part of a historic humanitarian evacuation are entering an extraordinary system with very different benefits. Some with Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) are being embraced by the government and granted assistance ranging from help with housing, food and clothing to lining up employment and qualifying for...

September 03, 2021

The Courts Restore the 'Remain in Mexico' Program: An End to Judicial Deference?

Prof. Peter Margulies, Sept. 3, 2021 "The Supreme Court on Aug. 24 declined to stay an injunction by Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against the Biden administration’s termination of the “Remain in Mexico” program, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had earlier also declined to stay the...

September 03, 2021

Afghan Parolee Support Program

Aug. 24, 2021, exact source unknown "Agencies submitting proposals for the FY 2021- FY 2022 Afghan Parolee Support (APS) Program should consider the following guidance as they plan for and prepare to serve Afghan parolees under the APS program. The guidelines below are intended to clarify the program operations in advance of issuing the full APS Cooperative Agreement, and also serve as a response to recent questions...

September 03, 2021

More Resources for Assisting Afghans

Cornell Law School Professor of Immigration Law Practice, Steve Yale-Loehr, and law student Evan O'Neill, have compiled this list of resources.

September 03, 2021

Private Bill Filed for Colorado Woman Living in Sanctuary

Jim Mimiaga, Durango Herald, Aug. 24, 2021 "A private immigration bill introduced in the U.S. Congress this month by Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Boulder, would provide legal U.S. residency for Rosa Sabido, a Mexican national from Cortez who has been living in sanctuary at the Mancos United Methodist Church for more than four years.  House Resolution 4936 , introduced in the House of Representatives on Aug. 3, would allow...

September 02, 2021

DOJ Continues to Insist Immigration Judges Union is ‘Defunct,’ Despite Moving to Nullify Decertification Decision

Erich Wagner, Government Executive, Sept. 1, 2021 "Officials at a union representing the nation’s corps of immigration judges said Wednesday that they are baffled by the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s recent legal actions, in which the office pushed to undo a controversial decision to decertify the union but continues to insist that the union is effectively defunct. ... Since President Biden entered...