July 03, 2021

DHS, VA Announce Initiative to Support Noncitizen Service Members, Veterans, and Immediate Family Members

DHS, June 2, 2021 "Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis R. McDonough announced a new initiative to support our Nation’s noncitizen service members, veterans, and the immediate family members of service members.  “The Department of Homeland Security recognizes the profound commitment and sacrifice that service members and their families have made to...

July 02, 2021

USCIS Releases Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization

USCIS, July 2, 2021 "Today the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released the  Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization  (PDF, 3.77 MB) , a whole-of-government approach to breaking down barriers to U.S. citizenship and promoting naturalization to all who are eligible, as outlined in  President Biden’s Executive Order 14012 .  “Becoming a United States citizen...

July 01, 2021

Expert: Lapse of EB-5 Regional Center Program Will Hurt "Tens of Thousands" of Investors

July 1, 2021 - Due to obstruction by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), a bipartisan bill to keep the Regional Center portion of the USCIS EB-5 Investor Visa program failed.  More here and here .  Cornell Law School professor and EB-5 expert Stephen W. Yale-Loehr said: "The EB-5 regional center program allows immigrant investors to get a green card if they invest a significant amount of money in a U.S. project that creates...

June 30, 2021

H-1B Hopefuls Sue Over Cap Registration Rules: Liu v. Mayorkas

Liu v. Mayorkas, Amended Complaint, June 29, 2021 "The cap registration rules and regulations codified at 8 C.F.R, § 214.2(h)(8)(iii) (“cap registration rules”) are unlawful. First, DHS was rulemaking outside of its authority when it promulgated the cap registration rules because the rules prioritize H-1B lottery registrations and ignore the INA’s mandate to allocate H-1B visas by “alien.” See 8 U.S.C. § 1184(g...

June 29, 2021

How Many Pending Removal Cases are There in Your State? TRAC's Updated Mapping Tool Has the Answer

TRAC, June 28, 2021 "According to Immigration Court data obtained by TRAC,  the total immigration court backlog is currently 1,337,372 pending cases.  However, those cases are not distributed evenly across the country and representation rates — one of the most important factors in case outcomes — varies widely. For the first time since February 2019, TRAC has been able to update its  interactive map of immigration...

June 28, 2021

Cyrus Mehta: Giuliani, Trump and Arizona's "Illegal Alien" Voters

Cyrus Mehta, June 26, 2021 "The   temporary suspension  of Rudolph Giuliani’s bar license by a New York appellate court for making false statements on behalf of Donald Trump’s election is thought provoking for lawyers, especially those who have opposed Trump and continue to oppose him. The court wrote that “these false statements were made to improperly bolster respondent’s narrative that due to widespread voter...

June 24, 2021

Migratory Notes 218 (June 24, 2021)

Migratory Notes 218, June 24, 2021 - Asylum soars in Mexico; Harris & Trump to the border; Expulsions ease.......and scene. " This photo of protests at LAX accompanied the first Migratory Notes “ Introducing a pop-up immigration coverage newsletter ,” sent out in January of 2017. This newsletter, #218, will be our last. Photo by Konrad Fielder/ AFP"

June 24, 2021

Senate Testimony: Honoring Veterans and Military Families: An Examination of Immigration and Citizenship Policies for US Military Service Member, Veterans, and their Families

Statement of Margaret D. Stock Attorney, Cascadia Cross Border Law Group; Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), Military Police Corps, US Army Reserve On “Honoring Veterans and Military Families: An Examination of Immigration and Citizenship Policies for US Military Service Member, Veterans, and their Families” Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety June...

June 23, 2021

Behind Closed Doors: Abuse & Retaliation Against Hunger Strikers in U.S. Immigration Detention

ACLU, PHR, June 23, 2021 " Behind Closed Doors: Abuse & Retaliation Against Hunger Strikers in U.S. Immigration Detention , a new research report from ACLU and PHR (Physicians for Human Rights), provides an in-depth, nationwide examination of what happens to people who engage in hunger strikes while detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Findings are based on an assessment of over 10,000...

June 21, 2021

Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase: First Steps

Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase, June 21, 2021 "On June 16, Attorney General Merrick Garland finally, mercifully vacated three decisions that formed a key part of the Trump administration’s unrelenting attack on the law of asylum.1  Matter of A-B- ,  issued by Jeff Sessions in June 2018, took aim in particular at victims of domestic violence.2  Matter of L-E-A- , issued the following year by William Barr, sought to undermine...

June 21, 2021

Biden Eyes Ending Trump's Illegal Title 42 Blockade

Stef W. Kight, Axios, June 20, 2021 "The White House is considering ending — as early as July 31 — the use of a Trump-era public health order that's let U.S. border officials quickly turn back migrant families to Mexico, Axios has learned. ... President Biden has been briefed on a plan for stopping family expulsions by the end of July, as well as the option of letting a court end it, Axios has learned.  The...

June 18, 2021

DOS FAQ on CAM

State Department, undated - Central American Minors (CAM) Program: Frequently Asked Questions

June 18, 2021

Expert: Urgent Leadership Needed to Rescue Afghan Interpreters

Margaret Stock says the White House, the Defense Department, the State Department and DHS need to coordinate and execute a plan to rescue Afghan interpreters and their families without delay.  ( Watch beginning at minute 30:30 .) "Without quick action, interpreters and their families will face a catastrophe, says Stock. "We are about to see a repeat of the bloodbath at the end of the Vietnam War, where people...

June 18, 2021

Expert: Feds Will Challenge Abbott's Border Plans

Jorge Cancino, Patricia Clarembaux, Univision, June 17, 2021 "The announcement made last week by the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, that he will implement an immigration plan on the southern border that includes continuing with the construction of the wall begun during the Donald Trump administration and arresting foreigners without legal permanent status, has generated questions, for some of which there is an...

June 18, 2021

Migratory Notes 217, June 17, 2021

Migratory Notes 217, June 17- 2021 - Ghosts of family separation, dismantling Trump policies, legislation heats up...and so much more! “ Jennifer Rocha wanted to hear the rustle of her black graduation gown against the bell pepper bushes in the California farm fields ,” Vanessa Romo reports for NPR of the University of California, San Diego graduate who chose to take the photos where her parents labored, and where...

June 18, 2021

ICE DISCUSSED PUNISHING IMMIGRANT ADVOCATES FOR PEACEFUL PROTESTS

José Olivares, John Washington, The Intercept, June 17 2021 "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement monitored immigrant advocacy organizations engaged in First Amendment-protected activity around a highly contentious immigration detention center in Georgia, according to documents obtained by the advocacy groups and shared with The Intercept. The public records show that ICE kept track of the groups’ nonviolent...

June 16, 2021

Will There Be Justice For Zee?

Randy Evans, June 16, 2021 "Zalmay Niazy, now in his 30s, is not just another of the countless foreign-born people who dream of living, working and raising families in the United States. He is a native of Afghanistan and served our nation during wartime, just as surely as did the hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force personnel who were deployed there over the past 20 years as...

June 15, 2021

Biden to Expand Central American Minors Program

Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2021 "The Biden administration is expected to announce the major expansion of a program to allow Central American youths into the United States legally, part of its stated goal to increase “legal pathways” for immigration to the U.S. The expansion, which administration officials told The Times would be announced later Tuesday, could increase the number of Salvadoran...

June 14, 2021

Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants Would Boost U.S. Economic Growth: Report

Center for American Progress, June 14, 2021 "Putting undocumented immigrants on a pathway to citizenship would increase U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by up to $1.7 trillion over the next decade, raise wages for all Americans, and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, advancing the country’s economic recovery."

June 12, 2021

FEDS SUED OVER INTENTIONAL CRUELTY AT GEORGIA IMMIGRATION JAIL

MALDEF, June 11, 2021 "A transgender immigrant held in solitary confinement for approximately seven months at a Georgia immigration detention center that is under investigation for abuse is suing the federal government. MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) and the law firm Eshman Begnaud filed the suit on behalf of an immigrant from Mexico who was held at the Irwin County Detention Center...

June 12, 2021

Expert: Abbott's Border Wall "Beyond the Pale"

Paul J. Weber, Associated Press, June 11, 2021 "Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has offered no details on his plans to construct new barriers along the border with Mexico while also launching an aggressive campaign to arrest migrants — moves that set up another clash with the Biden administration over immigration. ... Legal experts said the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that the power to enforce immigration...

June 11, 2021

American Citizen Sues ICE for Unlawful Detention

NWIRP, June 11, 2021 "Today, Carlos Rios, a citizen of the United States since 2000, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking compensation for his unlawful imprisonment. ICE officers unlawfully arrested and imprisoned him at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, while they investigated whether they...

June 11, 2021

Members of Congress to Garland: Dump the Private Prison Lawsuit

Letter to DOJ on AB32, June 10, 2021 "As Members of Congress, we write to express our serious concerns regarding the United States Department of Justice’s continued pursuit of its legal challenge in GEO Group Inc. v. Newsom (Case No. 20-56172) against the state of California regarding AB 32 (People not Profit), which aims to ban privately operated prisons and detention centers. Continuing the Trump Administration's...

June 11, 2021

Migratory Notes 216 (June 10, 2021)

Migratory Notes 216, June 10, 2021 - “Do not come” and a Dem divide on immigration; “Chinatown Pretty”; tasering an asylum seeking kid...and much, much more!

June 10, 2021

Expert: Business Visa Categories Outmoded

Hannah Miao, CNBC, June 10, 2021 “We have not revamped our legal immigration categories, including business immigration, since 1990. Some of those categories are out of alignment with our needs in the United States today,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell Law School , who was not involved with the NAE study.  “The pandemic has exacerbated those inconsistencies because people who are desperately...