March 30, 2021

One Man's Quest to Unseal John Tanton's Papers

Isabela Dias, Mother Jones, Mar. 30, 2021 "Ahmad first filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the University of Michigan on December 14, 2016, in order to gain access to the Tanton papers. ...  On May 8, 2017, the University of Michigan  denied  Ahmed’s request to unseal Tanton’s papers. Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, the school argued, the sealed papers weren’t “utilized, possessed or...

March 30, 2021

A Guide to Title 42 Expulsions at the Border

AIC, Mar. 29, 2021 "The United States has long guaranteed the right to seek asylum to individuals who arrive at our southern border and ask for protection. But since March 20, 2020, that fundamental right has been largely suspended. Since that date, both migrants seeking a better life in the United States and those seeking to apply for asylum have been turned away and “expelled” back to Mexico or their home countries...

March 29, 2021

The Real Story at the U.S.-Mexico Border

HIAS, Mar. 26, 2021 "What is the status of human rights at the border? Who is able to seek safety in our country, and who is being turned away from seeking asylum? What do the statistics at the border look like in context? HIAS' border experts go beyond the headlines to explain what is really happening at the U.S.-Mexico border. We separate facts from misinformation and learn how we can all advocate for a just...

March 25, 2021

Migratory Notes 205, Mar. 25, 2021

Migratory Notes 205, Mar. 25, 2021 - Border Crisis? VP Harris leads on immigration; Asian American divide...and much, much more!

March 25, 2021

The Invisible Wall: Title 42 and Haitian Migrants

Nicole Phillips, Tom Ricker, Mar. 25, 2021 "Today, one year after the “Title 42” policy was enacted, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, Quixote Center and UndocuBlack release the report,  The Invisible Wall: Title 42 and its Impacts on Haitian Migrants , and call on the Biden-Harris Administration to immediately revoke Title 42 and end expulsions to Haiti. According to  Guerline Jozef , Executive Director of Haitan Bridge...

March 23, 2021

Southern Border Facts

Tired of media spin, sensationalism and outright lying about the border?  Here are three reputable sources: 1.  A March 23, 2021 Fact Sheet from the American Immigration Council. 2.  A link to the audio from a March 23, 2021 expert roundtable from the Council on National Security and Immigration. 3.  A link to sign up for a March 25, 2021 webinar by HIAS.

March 22, 2021

American Schools, International Students On Edge

Karin Fischer, Mar. 22, 2021 "Consular closures, visa backlogs, and travel restrictions could make it difficult for international students to get to the U.S.  And is internationalization fading as a priority for American colleges?"

March 19, 2021

Expert: UC Berkeley Should Settle OPT Lawsuit

Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, Mar. 19, 2021 "A former international student at the University of California, Berkeley,  is suing  the institution for misinforming him of a deadline for applying for authorization to work in the U.S. and costing him his “dream job” in New York. The student alleges the university's admitted error triggered a chain of events that led to him being arrested by U.S. immigration...

March 18, 2021

Migratory Notes 204, Mar. 18, 2021

Migratory Notes 204, Mar. 18, 2021 - Is it a border crisis? Asian Americans speak up; Boise’s refugee secret sauce...and so much more!

March 18, 2021

The Real Crisis is Not at the Border

Real Needs, Not Fictitious Crises Account for the Situation at US-Mexico Border - Donald Kerwin, Center for Migration Studies, Mar. 17, 2021 "The number of unaccompanied children and asylum-seekers crossing the US-Mexico border in search of protection has increased in recent weeks. The former president, his acolytes, and both extremist and mainstream media have characterized this situation as a “ border crisis...

March 18, 2021

The Border News is Not New

Veteran border journalist Marc Cooper lays out the truth here .  And here , from 2006.  (My own 2006 observations are here .  Still fresh as a daisy.)

March 16, 2021

When is a Grammy Not a Grammy? Ask USCIS!

Joe Adams, Mar. 15, 2021 "British music producer Austen Jux-Chandler had been living and working in Los Angeles for several years on a temporary working visa called an “O-1.” Austen has worked with Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Lady Gaga, Paul Weller, A$AP Rocky, Plan B, John Legend, and The Weeknd. In 2016 Austen won the “Album of the Year” Grammy Award for producing Adele’s “25.” ... As the pandemic hit...

March 16, 2021

Court Blocks ICE, NARA From Destroying Records

Amy Lieu, American Independent, Mar. 15, 2021 "A federal judge ruled on Friday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the National Archives and Records Administration must preserve sexual assault and death files on detained immigrants. Three watchdog groups — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the American Historical Association, and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations...

March 16, 2021

These Recruits Were Promised Citizenship in Exchange for Military Service...Has the US Forgotten Them?

Richard Sisk, Military.com, Mar. 13, 2021 "For a small group of young immigrants who were pitched a dream of gaining U.S. citizenship through military service, even a call home can jeopardize their status and flag them to the FBI. That's life for more than 100 would-be Americans who enlisted under the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest program. Started as a way to woo talented youths from other...

March 16, 2021

Life's Fragility Under TPS

Dara Lind, ProPublica, Mar. 16, 2021 "President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are working to rescue immigrants who’ve been living in the U.S. for decades under a “temporary” legal status. But the Biden administration is simultaneously extending that same status to hundreds of thousands more immigrants — putting them at risk of getting caught in a similar limbo. ... This threatens...

March 15, 2021

Administration Ends Requirement That Information on Migrant Children, Sponsors Be Shared with ICE

Austin Landis, Spectrum News, Mar. 12, 2021 "On Friday, the Biden administration  officially ended an information sharing agreement  between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the agencies caring for unaccompanied children who cross the border, according to administration officials who said the agreement delayed finding family sponsors for the kids. The Trump-era  agreement  required information sharing...

March 12, 2021

Will Biden/Garland Recertify the IJ Union?

Marcia Brown, American Prospect, Mar. 12, 2021 "The Trump administration’s manipulation of the immigration system went deeper than aggressive border policies and cruel detention practices. It also relentlessly pushed to rig the immigration court system to carry out Trump’s priorities. Immigration courts, housed in the Department of Justice, are uniquely vulnerable to political interference. President George W...

March 12, 2021

HHS, DHS Ink New Memo re Unaccompanied Minors

DHS, Mar. 12, 2021 "Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the termination of a 2018 agreement that undermined the interests of children and had a chilling effect on potential sponsors (usually a parent or close relative) from stepping up to sponsor an unaccompanied child placed in the care of HHS. In its place, DHS and HHS signed...

March 12, 2021

Removing Barriers to Family Unity for Holders of Temporary Protected Status: An Opportunity for Biden Administration

Prof. David A. Martin, Mar. 11, 2021 "Currently before the Supreme Court is a little-noticed immigration case with profound significance. Sanchez v. Mayorkas offers the Biden administration an opportunity to make major progress, without waiting for legislative action, on one of its central humanitarian goals – providing durable status to long-resident noncitizens. A straightforward change in the government’s...

March 12, 2021

Expert: Pending Supreme Court Immigration Cases Stem from Obama Administration

John Fritze, USA Today, Mar. 12, 2021 "Less than two months after President Donald Trump left office immigration has fizzled as an issue at the Supreme Court, with major disputes that became conservative rallying cries largely vanishing from the court's docket. After four years in which Trump placed immigration at the center of his domestic agenda, prompting dozens of legal battles, the cases now pending at...

March 11, 2021

Migratory Notes 203, Mar. 11, 2021

Migratory Notes 203, Mar. 11, 2021 - Who are the kids at the border? Why $$ to Central America falls short; Indians moving to Canada instead of US...and much, much more!

March 10, 2021

DOS Restarts CAM

State Department, Mar. 10, 2021 "As another concrete step in implementing our comprehensive regional migration management strategy, we are expanding legal pathways to enter the United States by reopening the Central American Minors (CAM) program.  As directed by President Biden, the Departments of State and Homeland Security (DHS) have initiated the first phase of reinstituting and improving the CAM program to...

March 10, 2021

Prof. Karen Musalo on The Wrong Answer to the Right Question: How to Address the Failure of Protection for Gender-Based Claims?

Prof. Karen Musalo, Mar. 9, 2021 "In 1996 I was honored to litigate the first case at the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA),  Matter of Kasinga , [1]  that opened the door to protection for women fleeing gender-based harms.  To qualify for recognition as a refugee under U.S. law, an individual must establish “persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution” on account of one of five grounds – “race, religion...

March 09, 2021

How Trump Left His Mark on Immigration Courts, BIA

Reade Levinson, Kristina Cooke, Mica Rosenberg, Reuters, Mar. 8, 2021 "As U.S. President Joe Biden works to undo many of the restrictive immigration policies enacted by former President Donald Trump, he will confront one of his predecessor’s indelible legacies: the legion of immigration judges Trump’s administration hired. The administration filled two-thirds of the immigration courts’ 520 lifetime positions with...

March 09, 2021

Biden Must Reject Trump Era H-1B Lottery Rule and Work Visa Travel Ban

Cyrus D. Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Mar. 6, 2021 "On March 3, 2021, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Charles Grassley submitted a  letter  to new DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the DHS to implement the Trump administration’s H-1B lottery final  rule  entitled “Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking to File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions”, which was published in the Federal Register...