August 30, 2024

Podcast - Author of Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands, Sarah Towle

"Sarah Towle joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about her book "Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands" where she writes about how unwelcoming our government is to people fleeing danger and seeking refuge at our border with Mexico."

August 29, 2024

Beyond the “Black Jobs” Controversy: Immigrants and U.S.-Born Black Workers Share a Growing Jobs Pie

Valerie Lacarte, Ph.D., Aug. 2024 "The charge that immigrants are taking jobs from U.S.-born Black workers has made its way from conspiracy circles to the broader public conversation this election season. Several economists have refuted this : they say that despite persistent discrimination and systemic issues, Black Americans are facing one of the best job markets in recent times as a result of historically low...

August 29, 2024

Editor's Corner: A Word About the Border

I have some thoughts for the Harris/Walz team, the Supreme Court, Congress, DHS, DOL, and DOJ regarding the border. Please consider subscribing to my free Substack . Comments welcome via Substack, Threads, X or LinkedIn. Thank you. Register! Vote!

August 27, 2024

From Visa Overstay to American Citizen (and Acclaimed Restaurateur)

Eric Asimov, New York Times, Aug. 27, 2024 (gift article) "Arjav Ezekiel rose through the restaurant ranks becoming a sommelier and opening Birdie’s in Austin, Texas. Few knew of his past as an undocumented immigrant."

August 26, 2024

New Report Exposes Rampant Abuse in Louisiana ICE Immigration Jails

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the ACLU, the ACLU of Louisiana, Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy, National Immigration Project, Aug. 26. 2024 "A coalition of immigrants’ rights groups including Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights , the ACLU , the ACLU of Louisiana , Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy , and the National Immigration Project today released a new report documenting widespread abuse...

August 26, 2024

Parole in Place – A Means to an End or An End in Itself?

Cyrus D. Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Aug. 26, 2024 "On June 18, 2024, President Biden announced new measures aimed at ensuring that “U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together”. One of these measures provides a discretionary grant of parole in place (“PIP”) to individuals who: are present in the United States without admission or parole; have been continuously...

August 26, 2024

Experts: Challenge to Biden's "Keeping Families Together" (Parole in Place) Program May Fail on Standing

Andrew Kreighbaum, Bloomberg, Aug. 23, 2024 "About half a million immigrants married to American citizens are expected to qualify for the program—dubbed Keeping Families Together by the Biden administration—launched Aug. 19, along with another 50,000 immigrant stepchildren. ... The states bringing the lawsuit argued that they would suffer “considerable financial injuries on education, health care...

August 23, 2024

Expert: Legal Challenges to Biden's Asylum Block May Take Time

Robert Brodsky, Newsday, Aug. 23, 2024 "The number of new court cases involving immigrants lacking permanent legal status has plummeted on Long Island and around the country since President Joe Biden's June order restricting entry into the country for most asylum-seekers, according to a new federal data analysis. Biden's presidential proclamation , issued amid a record increase of illegal border crossings...

August 23, 2024

States Challenge Keeping Families Together (Parole in Place) Program

On Aug. 19, 2024 DHS "announced a Federal Register notice to implement Keeping Families Together, a process for certain noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens. This is part of an effort to promote the unity and stability of families, increase the economic prosperity of American communities, strengthen diplomatic relationships with partner countries in the region, reduce strain on limited U.S. government...

August 22, 2024

The Truth About Immigration and Crime

LAW-ABIDING IMMIGRANTS: THE INCARCERATION GAP BETWEEN IMMIGRANTS AND THE US-BORN, 1870–2020 "We provide the first nationally representative long-run series (1870–2020) of incarceration rates for immigrants and the US-born. As a group, immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than the US-born for 150 years." © 2023 by Ran Abramitzky, Leah Platt Boustan, Elisa Jácome, Santiago...

August 21, 2024

LGBTQ+ asylum seekers detail harsh conditions and abuse in ICE custody

Kate Sosin, The 19th, Aug. 21, 2024 "[A] new report, “ No Human Being Should Be Held Here ,” claims that nearly a third of *** detainees interviewed (18 out of 41) were sexually assaulted while in the custody of federal immigration authorities. Almost all of those interviewed (35 out of the 41) reported being harassed for being LGBTQ+ or an immigrant in custody."

August 21, 2024

Judges Order Approvals of Credit Union-DACA Class Action Lawsuit Settlements

Peter Strozniak, Credit Union News, Apr. 17, 2024 "Federal judges approved the settlements of class action lawsuits against two credit unions for allegedly violating state and federal discrimination laws when they denied loans to Dreamers – persons brought to the U.S. as minors who are not lawful permanent citizens. A California judge ordered the preliminary approval of a class action lawsuit last week involving...

August 21, 2024

ICE Fails to Monitor Kids, Count Prisoners

DHS OIG, Aug. 19, 2024 - Management Alert - ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Custody GAO, July 23, 2024 - Arrests, Removals, and Detentions Varied Over Time and ICE Should Strengthen Data Reporting

August 20, 2024

The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

AIC, Aug. 14, 2024 "Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, the federal government has spent an estimated $409 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement, and tens of billions more on border barriers and other immigration enforcement-related infrastructure projects. As Congress continues to increase enforcement-related funding to new record highs, it is important...

August 20, 2024

Immigration Reform in 2025: What Is Possible? - Free Webinar

Cornell Law School Wednesday, November 20, 2024, 1pm EST "Immigration will be a key issue in 2025. Everyone agrees that we have a broken immigration system, but people disagree on the solutions. Congress is paralyzed. Presidents try executive actions but are sued. Federal courts seem to be the final arbiters of immigration policy these days. In the meantime, employers face labor shortages. The demographics of...

August 20, 2024

A Visionary in the Borderlands

Melissa del Bosque, The Border Chronicle, Aug. 20, 2024 "While he lived, Eduardo "Eddie" Canales saved countless lives in the remote South Texas ranchlands. A statewide center in Texas to identify missing migrants would be a fitting legacy." Eduardo “Eddie” Canales next to a water station he maintained in Brooks County, Texas in 2016. He worked to save lives for over a decade in the...

August 19, 2024

Keeping Families Together (Parole in Place) Implementation - Advance Copy

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 08/20/2024 "This notice announces the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) implementation of the Keeping Families Together process for certain noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens who are present in the United States without admission or parole to request parole in place under existing statutory authority. Granting...

August 16, 2024

Expert: Chicago Not Expecting Migrants Ahead of DNC

Nell Salzman, Chicago Tribune, Aug. 15, 2024 "Chicago’s top migrant official is walking back a prediction from city leaders last month that tens of thousands of migrants would arrive by bus ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention, saying that there is no “credible intel” that the feared surge will occur. ... “There just aren’t that many people to send,” said...

August 16, 2024

USCIS Publishes Filing Guide for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren

USCIS, Aug. 16, 2024 "On Aug. 19, USCIS will begin accepting requests for, using a new electronic form, Form I-131F, Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens. Form I-131F will not be available on uscis.gov until Aug. 19. USCIS is not accepting any other form for Keeping Families Together. Do not file a request for parole in place under this process before...

August 15, 2024

We the Immigration Lawyers - ABA Journal

ABA Journal, Aug. 1, 2024 "Immigrants coming to the U.S. face legal uncertainties along with difficult living conditions and the pain of family separations. Yet a hope that opportunities will outweigh the travails is strong with many new arrivals. That's something lawyers who help immigrants understand well—including those who are immigrants themselves. Some of them came to the United States with scant...

August 14, 2024

There Is No Line for Many Immigrants Who Want to Come Here Legally. We’ve Got to Fix Our System.

Jorge Loweree, Aug. 14, 2024 (free link) "[T]he reality that is all too clear to immigrants navigating our byzantine system, and the lawyers and advocates who try to help them, is that there is no line to get into for a vast majority of people who wish to come to the United States. If the government is serious about securing the border, we have to make it easier for people to come through legal channels."

August 12, 2024

Cornell Law Immigration Lawyer Job Opening: Path2Papers

Cornell Law "Cornell Law School is seeking to hire a staff attorney to collaborate with and contribute to Path2Papers , a new deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) project at Cornell Law School. The selected candidate will consult with DACA beneficiaries about their visa options with a focus on employment-based options. They will also advise employers and law firms on employment visa options for DACA beneficiaries...

August 12, 2024

The ‘Unsettling,’ Nearly Normalized Surveillance Tech Monitoring the U.S.-Mexico Border

Monique O. Madan, The Markup, Aug. 10, 2024 "The thing that can be unsettling is that there are so many ways that you are probably being watched. You’re aware that you’re being watched, but you can’t see it with your eyes. But you have no idea what they’re actually able to see and what they know about you. And so the forms in which you don’t know how you’re being watched, or...

August 10, 2024

DHS OIG Report: Results of January 2024 Unannounced Inspections of CBP Holding Facilities in the Del Rio Area

DHS OIG, Aug. 8, 2024 "In January 2024, we conducted onsite, unannounced inspections at four U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the Del Rio area, specifically three U.S. Border Patrol (Border Patrol) facilities and one Office of Field Operations (OFO) port of entry (POE). At the time of our onsite inspection, Border Patrol held 354 detainees in custody in the Eagle Pass Soft-Sided Processing...

August 10, 2024

Dickerson on Migration

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Caitlin Dickerson has these two pieces (free links) in The Atlantic: Seventy Miles in the Darién Gap - "I went to the Darién Gap in December with the photographer Lynsey Addario because I wanted to see for myself what people were willing to risk to get to the United States." There's No Such Thing as a Border Czar - "Trying to stop migration at the border...