March 24, 2024

Ohio, We Have A Problem

AIC, ABLE, Mar. 19, 2024 "BORDER PATROL AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT’S PATTERNS AND TACTICS OF ABUSE IN OHIO’S IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT"

March 23, 2024

The Future of Border Patrol: AI Is Always Watching

Monique O. Madan, The Markup, Mar. 22, 2024 "Human rights advocates warn of algorithmic bias, legal violations, and other dire consequences of relying on AI to monitor the border."

March 23, 2024

DHS OIG Gives CBP Mixed Review

DHS OIG, Mar. 15, 2024 "In July 2023, we conducted on-site, unannounced inspections of six U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the Rio Grande Valley area, specifically three U.S. Border Patrol facilities and three Office of Field Operations ports of entry. At the time of our on-site inspection, Border Patrol held 2,020 detainees in custody in the Donna and Ursula Centralized Processing Centers...

March 22, 2024

Expert: Executive Order Does Not Give Vote to Noncitizens

Kelly Jones, Verify, Mar. 21, 2024 "Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, immigration and voting rights have been hot-button issues across the country. Recently, those topics were the subject of a letter that Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter expressed concern that a 2021 executive order signed by President Joe Biden “creates numerous...

March 21, 2024

Are Immigrants the Secret to America’s Economic Success? (Answer: Yes!)

Paul Krugman, New York Times, Mar. 19, 2024 "[There is] growing evidence that immigration is helping the U.S. economy — indeed, that it may be a major reason for our surprising economic success. ... But are immigrants taking jobs away from native-born Americans? No. ... Still, doesn’t immigration put downward pressure on wages? That sounds as if it could be true — in particular, you might think...

March 21, 2024

Lawsuit Filed To Block New USCIS Fee Rule

Stuart Anderson, Forbes, Mar. 20, 2024 "A new lawsuit challenges a government fee rule that would raise immigration filing costs for many employers. If successful, the litigation could save companies significant sums compared to the projected costs under a final rule published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on January 31, 2024 . The fees in the rule become effective April 1, 2024."

March 20, 2024

30 Hours of SB4 Whiplash: Prof. Steve Vladeck

Prof. Steve Vladeck, Mar. 20, 2024 "[I]t’s been a truly chaotic day-and-a-half here in Texas with regard to legal developments concerning the state’s controversial new immigration law— SB4 . And I thought it would be helpful to try to put into one (hopefully accessible) narrative exactly what’s happened—and why. I. How We Got Here: SB4 and the First Two Suits Challenging It I’ve...

March 19, 2024

Courts Signal Potential for Immigration Reform Via Executive Action

Cyrus A. Mehta, Mar. 18, 2024 "On March 8, 2024, Judge Tipton in Texas v. DHS dismissed a lawsuit brought by Texas and 20 other states challenging President Biden’s humanitarian parole program. Judge Tipton, who was appointed by Trump, has otherwise been receptive to challenges to Biden’s immigration policies but not this time. Texas filed the lawsuit in his court thinking that Judge Tipton would again...

March 16, 2024

A View from the Border: Exploring Challenges & Solutions for Immigration Policy with Advocates

CILP, Mar. 13, 2024 "Please join the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of Law for a conversation about challenges at the border and real solutions grounded in welcoming new migration. This program will feature CILP Faculty Co-Director Hiroshi Motomura and Senior Staff Attorney Monika Y. Langarica in dialogue with California and Texas-based advocates at the forefront of this work, including...

March 15, 2024

Groups Sue for Information on Open-Air Immigration Jails

CGRS, Mar. 15, 2024 "Al Otro Lado and the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to compel the government to release information on its policies and practices at open air detention sites. Since at least May 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has forced thousands of migrants to await processing for asylum or other relief in dangerous and...

March 15, 2024

Touro Law Immigration Clinic Victory!

Touro Law, March 2024 "PHOTO CAPTION: Touro Law students Pierre Piazza (left) and Laraib Sarwar (right) pose with their client in the Immigration Rights Advocacy Clinic at Touro Law Center. Touro Law’s Immigration Clinic Secures Hard-Earned Victory Touro Law students Pierre Piazza and Laraib Sarwar won a difficult victory for a Guatemalan woman facing persecution in her home country. US Immigration...

March 14, 2024

Trapped on Wisconsin Farms: The Hidden Plight of Trafficked Workers

Ruth Conniff, Wisconsin Examiner, Mar. 14, 2024 "In Wisconsin, and around the country, immigrant rights advocates and law enforcement agencies have been stepping up efforts to bring labor trafficking cases to light, forcing the issue into public consciousness. A year ago, a coalition of Wisconsin advocates and state law enforcement officials announced a joint effort to investigate and prosecute these cases, in...

March 13, 2024

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

Jeanne Batalova, MPI, Mar. 13, 2024 "This Spotlight offers information about the approximately 46.2 million immigrants in the United States as of 2022, more than three-quarters of whom are in the country legally. Drawing from the most authoritative and current data available, this article offers an overview of historic immigration trends in the United States, sociodemographic information about who is immigrating...

March 12, 2024

EXCLUSIVE: Hon. Dana Leigh Marks on EOIR Gag Order

Hon. Dana Leigh Marks, Mar. 12, 2024 How Low Will They Go? - An Outraged Retired IJ Speaks (Because She Can) "Earlier this month, bucking over 50 years of precedent, immigration court management advised the officers of National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) that they must get advance permission to speak to the public, to members of the press or to Congress. Having served 35 years as an Immigration...

March 12, 2024

MALDEF Settles DACA Credit Union Lawsuit

MALDEF, Mar. 11, 2024 "A federal judge has granted final approval to a class-action settlement between a class of credit applicants represented by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) and a California credit union that denied a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient a loan because of her immigration status. The agreement with Valley First Credit Union in Modesto, Calif...

March 11, 2024

The Potential Impact of SEC v. Jarkesy on Immigration Law and EB-5 Lawyers

Cyrus D. Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Mar. 11, 2024 "On November 29, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy , a case that involves several key questions: whether the statues allowing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to bring administrative enforcement proceedings that impose civil penalties violate the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial, whether the...

March 08, 2024

No Evidence to Support Immigrant Crime Narrative

Chris Walker, Truthout, Mar. 4, 2024 "As Republicans — including likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump — continue to push the racist belief that immigrants are bringing crime to the United States, a new analysis has shown that such claims are outright false. ... [N]umerous studies showcase that undocumented immigrants are actually less likely to engage in crime, including violent crimes, than...

March 08, 2024

Border Patrol Marksman Kills Mexican on U.S. Soil

CBP, Mar. 7, 2024 "On March 3, 2024, U.S. Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) Border Patrol agents were conducting operations in the Puebla Tree area of the Otay Mountains, approximately five miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. BORTAC was actively monitoring this area – where there is a paved road winding through the mountains – because of recent reports of armed robberies and assaults targeting...

March 08, 2024

Judge to Review Prince Harry's Immigration Papers

Daniel Bates, Daily Mail, March 8, 2024 "A judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to hand over sensitive material about Prince Harry’s immigration papers for him to review while he decides whether to make them public. Judge Carl Nichols told DHS that its arguments so far were ‘insufficiently detailed’ for him to make a decision. He asked the agency, which oversees immigration, to...

March 07, 2024

Garland Gags NAIJ Leadership

Jamie Horwitz, IFPTE, Mar. 5, 2024 "Immigration and border issues are leading the news, the overburdened immigration courts have a backlog of 3.3 million cases, but don’t expect to see quotes from the union representing federal immigration judges in upcoming stories. In an attempt to silence the judges’ union, the two immigration judges who currently serve as president and executive vice president of...

March 07, 2024

The System Works as Designed: Immigration Law, Courts and Consequences

Lynn Tramonte, Lauren Hamlett, Isabel Coyle, March 2024 "The U.S. immigration courts have flown under the radar screen for decades. But decisions made by immigration judges have life-altering outcomes. Both the structure of the courts themselves, and the laws they are charged with implementing, were fashioned on a foundation of racism, power imbalance, and coercive control. “The System Works As Designed:...

March 07, 2024

Expert: President Cannot "Just Shut the Border"

Megan Loe, Verify, Mar. 6, 2024 "THE QUESTION: Can a president completely shut down the border with an executive order? ... THE ANSWER: No, a president cannot completely shut down the border with an executive order. A full border closure would violate federal laws granting people the right to seek asylum. ... [F]ederal law does give the president broad powers to suspend the entry of certain noncitizens who are...

March 05, 2024

EOIR Leadership Muzzles Immigration Judges

Elliot Spagat, Associated Press, Mar. 4, 2024 "A 53-year-old union of immigration judges has been ordered to get supervisor approval to speak publicly to anyone outside the Justice Department, potentially quieting a frequent critic of heavily backlogged immigration courts in an election year. The National Association of Immigration Judges has spoken regularly at public forums, in interviews with reporters and with...

March 04, 2024

CBP Sending Chinese Graduate Students Home

Jeffrey Mervis, Science, Mar. 1, 2024 "More than a dozen Chinese graduate students holding valid U.S. visas are the latest pawns amid the rising political tensions between the two countries. In the past 3 months, students in Ph.D. science programs at Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and other major U.S. research universities have been denied re-entry after visiting family in China—and immediately...

March 02, 2024

Expert: Biden's Immigration Powers Are Limited

Eric Cortellessa, Time Magazine, Feb. 29, 2024 "Legal experts say that Biden can’t unilaterally override immigration law without legislation. The current federal statute requires the U.S. government to grant asylum to persons who have been forcibly displaced or who reasonably fear persecution in their home country. “Presidents do have a lot of authority when it comes to immigration, because immigration...