Immigration Law

Recent Posts

USCIS Policy Memo: Representation and Appearances and Interview Techniques
Posted on 29 May 2012 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"This policy memorandum (PM) provides guidance regarding representation and appearances and interview techniques in certain application and petition proceedings before USCIS." - USCIS, May 23, 2012 . Read More

EOIR Proposed Rule: Separate Representation for Custody and Bond Proceedings
Posted on 17 Sep 2014 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"This document proposes to amend the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) regulations relating to the representation of aliens in custody and bond proceedings. Specifically, this rulemaking proposes to allow a representative before EOIR... Read More

EOIR Publishes Representation Rules
Posted on 1 Oct 2015 by Daniel M. Kowalski

1. Separate Representation for Custody and Bond Proceedings - "This final rule adopts, without change, the proposed rule ‘‘Separate Representation for Custody and Bond Proceedings’’ as published in the Federal Register on... Read More

California to Provide $3M in Legal Services for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children
Posted on 2 Oct 2014 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"A bill signed on Saturday by California Gov. Jerry Brown will provide $3 million to qualifying nonprofits to offer free legal assistance for child migrants . Nonprofit legal service providers handling the cases of recently-arrived child migrants... Read More

NYC to Provide Lawyers for All Detained Respondents in Removal Proceedings
Posted on 26 Jun 2014 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"With $4.9 million dollars of funding from the New York City Council included in the FY 2015 budget for the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), New York City will become the first jurisdiction in the nation to provide universal representation... Read More

Mentally ill immigrants deported without representation
Posted on 20 Feb 2012 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"The government holds, on average, more than 30,000 immigrants with unresolved status in detention on any given day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials do not know how many are mentally disabled, but class-action attorneys estimate... Read More

N.Y. State Bar Report: Crisis in Immigrant Legal Representation
Posted on 4 Jul 2012 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"The New York State Bar Association today issued a report that spotlights a crisis in the quality and availability of legal representation of immigrants in New York and makes recommendations for improvement, including written standards for immigration... Read More

Immigrants in Detention Centers Are Often Hundreds of Miles From Legal Help
Posted on 17 May 2017 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Patrick G. Lee, ProPublica, May 16, 2017 - "One morning in February, lawyer Marty Rosenbluth set off from his Hillsborough, North Carolina, home to represent two anxious clients in court. He drove about eight hours southwest, spent the night in a... Read More

The crisis in the immigration courts
Posted on 15 Nov 2011 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"While there are many challenges facing the immigration courts, the main challenges are overwhelming caseloads, a lack of resources, a lack of lawyers representing foreign nationals, and a lack of independence for immigration judges."... Read More

Representation is Key in Immigration Proceedings Involving Women with Children: TRAC
Posted on 18 Feb 2015 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"New data tracking the processing of "women with children" cases by the Immigration Court's new priority docketing system provide details on how these cases are proceeding. As of the end of January 2015, a total of 26,342 removal proceedings... Read More

Deportation Without Representation: The Access-to-Justice Crisis Facing New Jersey's Immigrant Families
Posted on 26 Jul 2016 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Lori A. Nessel & Farrin R. Anello, June 1, 2016 - "New Jersey presents unique immigration circumstances. The American Immigration Council reports that 21% of New Jersey’s residents are immigrants, whereas immigrants comprise only 12.9%... Read More

Legal Representation Saves Lives - Study
Posted on 4 Jan 2016 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"Detainees represented by the surveyed nonprofits won their deportation cases 83% of the time. This success rate stands in stark contrast to the results of the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) study, in which detained individuals without... Read More

With few lawyers, child migrants fight alone in court to stay in the U.S.
Posted on 9 Nov 2015 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Ivette Feliciano, PBS Newshour, Nov. 8, 2015 - "Unlike criminal court, in immigration court, the federal government is not required to provide lawyers to defendants who cannot afford them — not even unaccompanied minors like Jessica. But whether... Read More

What's the Difference Between a Refugee and a Deportee? A Lawyer
Posted on 15 Feb 2016 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Julianne Hing, Feb. 13, 2016 - "Two years after tens of thousands of children and families began fleeing rampant violence in Central America for the United States, a year and a half after the ensuing media panic over their arrival triggered a militarized... Read More

In Two out of Three Pending Cases, Unaccompanied Children Have No Representation in Immigration Court: TRAC
Posted on 25 Nov 2014 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"Unaccompanied children are represented by an attorney in only about one-third (32%) of 63,721 cases pending in Immigration Court as of October 31, 2014, according to the latest data obtained and analyzed by Syracuse University's Transactional... Read More