Expert: High-Profile Immigration Litigation Skyrockets (Law360)

Suzanne Monyak, Law360, Dec. 19, 2019

"This year saw a number of key federal court rulings on the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, with some judges giving the president's restrictionist policies the green light and others halting the measures in their tracks.  “There’s been more high-profile immigration litigation than I can ever remember in my 35 years practicing and teaching immigration law,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University Law School. ... [Including litigation over a] Trump administration policy that would have made it harder for low-income immigrants to qualify for green cards came to a screeching halt in October after five federal district judges found the rule was likely illegal.  Three of those judges blocked it nationwide, while two handed down more limited injunctions. The administration has appealed all of the rulings, and the Fourth and Ninth circuits agreed to pause the Maryland, California and Washington injunctions in December while those appeals continue.  In a particularly biting opinion, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels of New York, whose nationwide injunction remains in effect, called the public charge policy “repugnant to the American Dream.”  Immigration attorneys have predicted the issue will go up to the Supreme Court. But if the Second Circuit decides to stay the last remaining nationwide block, the “public charge” rule could take effect.  Yale-Loehr said that if the Second Circuit lifts its injunction, “it could be a year or more before the Supreme Court takes up the issue to decide the matter once and for all. In the meantime, many people will be denied green cards.” "