December 17, 2020

Migratory Notes 193 (Dec. 17, 2020)

Migratory Notes 193, Dec. 17, 2020 - Sin city’s immigrants under pressure; Prosecute Trump for family separation? Deporting Cameroonians and supporting the regime...and much, much more!

December 17, 2020

Expert: Texas DACA Challenge Could Drag On

Dianne Solis, Dallas Morning News, Dec. 11, 2020 "DACA still faces a huge challenge: On Dec. 22, a federal judge is scheduled to hold a hearing on its legality in a case brought by the state of Texas. The hearing before U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston comes after court victories for Dreamers whose attorneys said the Trump administration erred in the ways it tried to end DACA. The Texas case is more...

December 17, 2020

Uninstalling Stephen Miller

SAM PEAK, JONATHAN HAGGERTY, DECEMBER 17, 2020 "Stephen Miller didn’t simply leave a mess for America to clean up—he installed his ideology within a system now accustomed to buckling to his will. Uninstalling Stephen Miller will be an endeavor that takes several years, at minimum. Despite—or perhaps because—of Trump and Miller’s efforts, American support for immigration has soared to historic highs. Miller’s agenda...

December 16, 2020

New NY Law Keeps ICE Out of Courts

NY Gov. Cuomo, Dec. 15, 2020 "Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed the Protect Our Courts Act (S00425A/A2176A) to ensure New Yorkers can freely access the justice system without fear of being targeted by federal immigration authorities. The legislation addresses longstanding concerns that federal immigration enforcement was deterring immigrants from appearing in New York State courts and impeding the fair administration...

December 15, 2020

Why Millions of Americans Still Can't Get Coronavirus Relief Funds

Julia Preston, The Marshall Project, Dec. 15, 2020 "At first it seemed like an infuriating bureaucratic error, the message that kept repeating when Roy Wright called a hotline to find out when he would receive his coronavirus stimulus funds.  “Not available,” it said. Wright said he had paid all his taxes. He manages a car wash in Baltimore, working steadily for the same company for the past 25 years. By April...

December 15, 2020

EOIR's New Math

Jeffrey S. Chase, Dec. 12, 2020 "I’m going to use a baseball analogy here (with apologies to non-fans):  DJ LeMahieu finished this past season as the American League batting champion.  Imagine if he were to walk in to negotiate a new contract with the New York Yankees, only to be offered the minimum permissible contract because of his disappointing performance.  When a shocked LeMahieu would respond “but I hit...

December 15, 2020

A Wish List for 2021

Jeffrey S. Chase, Dec. 14, 2020 "To use another sports analogy, we have entered the preseason of the Biden Administration.  As any sports fan knows, preseason (which generally starts five or six weeks before the real season begins) is a time for dreaming.  During preseason, every team is undefeated, and every fan is permitted to believe that this will finally be the year in which their suffering and loyalty are...

December 15, 2020

COVID-19 and Courts: NYSBA Ethics Opinions

Cyrus D. Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Dec. 14, 2020 "In an earlier  blog , we discussed ethics for immigration lawyers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another ethical dilemma, addressed by two recent ethics opinions from the New York City Bar and the New York State Bar, arises when a lawyer is required to make an in-person court appearance, but is reluctant to go to court for fear of contracting COVID-19 or out of fear of...

December 10, 2020

New Regulation Spells Death for the Asylum System: AILA

AILA, Dec. 10, 2020 "The Trump administration has finalized a regulation that will devastate the  United States asylum system  by making it nearly impossible for most applicants to successfully claim humanitarian protection in the United States. The rule is set to go into effect on January 11, just nine days before President-Elect Biden takes office. The regulation guts the U.S. asylum system, making protection...

December 10, 2020

Migratory Notes 192 (Dec. 10, 2020)

Migratory Notes 192, Dec. 10, 2020 - DACA back for good? More kids risking it at border; Ghana Go Bag fashion...and so much more!

December 10, 2020

ICE Detention Contributed 245K COVID-19 Cases

Detention Watch Network, Dec. 2020 "Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) failed pandemic response substantially increased the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to  Hotbeds of Infection: How ICE Detention Contributed to the Spread of COVID-19 in the United States , a report released by Detention Watch Network. Between May and August of 2020, ICE detention facilities were responsible not only...

December 09, 2020

Crime in Texas: Citizens v. Immigrants (Facts are Stubborn Things)

Chris Barncard, Univ. of Wisc.-Madison, Dec. 7, 2020 "Crime rates among undocumented immigrants are just a fraction of those of their U.S.-born neighbors, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis of Texas arrest and conviction records.   Compared to undocumented immigrants, U.S. citizens were twice as likely to be arrested for violent felonies in Texas from 2012 to 2018, two-and-a-half times more likely to be...

December 09, 2020

Rep. Pressley Demands Answers on Immigration Court Scheduling Orders Targeting Immigrant Children and Unaccompanied Minors

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Dec. 8, 2020 "“It seems the Immigration Court could be ordering children removed from the United States for failure to comply with orders that are unjustifiable and, in many cases, inapplicable to the child’s case.” Letter (PDF) WASHINGTON  – Today,  Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)  sent a letter to James McHenry, Director of the Executive Office for Immigration...

December 09, 2020

Rep. Pressley Demands Answers on Immigration Court Scheduling Orders Targeting Immigrant Children and Unaccompanied Minors

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Dec. 8, 2020 "“It seems the Immigration Court could be ordering children removed from the United States for failure to comply with orders that are unjustifiable and, in many cases, inapplicable to the child’s case.” Letter (PDF) WASHINGTON  – Today,  Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)  sent a letter to James McHenry, Director of the Executive Office for Immigration...

December 08, 2020

Expert: ICE Actions Frustrate Sanctuary Jurisdictions

Katie Mettler and Rachel Chason, Washington Post, Dec. 7, 2020 "A Maryland immigrant hoped to delay his deportation until Biden took office. It didn’t work. ... “Edgar has been in this county 20 years, has three American-born children, who now don’t know where their father is,” said Bradford Brown, a family friend who has helped draw attention to Diaz-Palma’s story. “I know this is tearing these kids apart. For...

December 07, 2020

Expert: EOIR Memos Speed Immigration Court Docket

Gabrielle Banks, Houston Chronicle, Dec. 4, 2020 "Eighteen youths, including an 11-year-old, are facing expedited removal proceedings in which Houston-area immigration judges ordered them to hand over complicated documentation on short notice Friday.  Most of these local unaccompanied minors from Central America received new scheduling orders in mid-November and suddenly had to deliver documentation about trauma...

December 07, 2020

DOJ Complaint Against Facebook Chills Ability to Sponsor Workers for Green Cards: Cyrus Mehta

Cyrus Mehta, Dec. 7, 2020 "The Department of Justice’s  complaint  claiming that Facebook discriminated against US workers even when it followed DOL regulations for sponsoring foreign national workers is troubling. It renders every employer  vulnerable to charges of discrimination  each time it files a labor certification on behalf of a foreign national worker. When an employer wishes to sponsor a foreign national...

December 07, 2020

Expert: DACA Will Survive

Miriam Jordan, Michael D. Shear, New York Times, Dec. 6, 2020 " Michael A. Olivas, a DACA scholar , said he believed the program would survive, at least for several more years. “The Texas challenge is lurking, but the program is safe,” said Mr. Olivas, an emeritus professor of immigration law at the University of Houston. “Having already gone to the Supreme Court, it is continuing. It would take several years to...

December 07, 2020

DACA Restored!

Prof. Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Dec. 6, 2020 "DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is a policy announced in 2012 and over the last eight   years has enabled more than 800,000 people who entered the United States before the age of 16, are in school or graduated, and meet other requirements to receive a type of prosecutorial discretion called “deferred action” and work authorization. The Trump administration...

December 04, 2020

Former BIA Chair Hon. Paul W. Schmidt to Ohio AILA

PWS, Dec. 4, 2020 " Friends, you know, and I know, what is the biggest crisis facing the American justice system today. One that undermines and threatens racial justice, social justice, equality before the law, voting rights, American values, and indeed the very foundations of our democratic institutions and our justice system. It’s imperative that our incoming Administration and its leaders fully recognize...

December 04, 2020

Expert: Court Strikes Down "Wealth Test" for Immigrants

Daniel Gonzalez, Arizona Republic, Dec. 2, 2020 "The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled against the Trump administration's "Public Charge" rule, which critics say imposes a wealth test on immigrants seeking green cards. ... Stephen Yale-Loehr, a Cornell University Law School professor , applauded the decision. “Today a federal appeals court in California struck down a Trump administration...

December 04, 2020

Does the New Citizenship Test Lean Right?

Simon Romero, Miriam Jordan, New York Times, Dec. 3, 2020 "The Trump administration is rolling out sweeping changes to the test immigrants must take to become United States citizens, injecting hints of conservative philosophy and making the test harder for many learners of the English language. ... Singled out for a new question is the 10th Amendment, which reserves to the states all powers not specifically granted...

December 04, 2020

A Wyoming Town Splits Over a Proposed ICE Jail

Sarah Tory, High Country News, Dec. 1, 2020 "When a private prison company came to Evanston, Wyoming, local officials believed an economic revival was at hand. Instead, it unleashed a bitter debate."

December 03, 2020

Pompeo Tightens Visa Rules for Chinese Communist Party Members

Jennifer Hansler and Nicole Gaouette, CNN, December 3, 2020 "The State Department is imposing new restrictions on travel visas to the United States for members of the Chinese Communist Party, a State Department spokesperson confirmed Thursday.  Under the new rules, the travel visas of CCP members and their immediate family members will change from 10 years to one month and will be single entry."

December 02, 2020

Jeffrey S. Chase on Pangea v. DHS: The Power of Comments

Jeffrey S. Chase, Dec. 2, 2020 "The constant stream of proposed regulations relating to our immigration laws has led to a continuous call to the public to submit comments to those rules.  Individuals and organizations have responded in large numbers, in spite of the short 30 day comment windows this administrative has generally afforded.  For those who have questioned the purpose of submitting comments or have...