December 09, 2023

Senator Calls For Closure of NM CoreCivic Immigration Jail

Austin Fisher, Source NM, Dec. 8, 2023 "When human waste flooded part of a U.S. immigration prison in central New Mexico last month, guards ordered incarcerated people to clean it up with their bare hands and put them in solitary confinement when they protested, according to a letter from Sen. Martin Heinrich to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. On Wednesday the senator from New Mexico again asked U.S....

December 08, 2023

Private Prison Firms Set To Cash In On Immigrant Surveillance Boom

The Lever, Dec. 8, 2023 "As the country’s immigration agency ponders a significant expansion of its vast, troubled immigrant surveillance regime, private prison companies are telling investors that the proposal could bring significant profits — and are deploying lobbyists to fight to fund it. In separate calls with investors last month, executives with two of the world’s largest private prison...

December 07, 2023

Asylum Does Not Apply At Sea

Seth Freed Wessler, New York Times, Dec. 6, 2023 "People intercepted at sea, even in U.S. waters, have fewer rights than those who come by land. “Asylum does not apply at sea,” a Coast Guard spokesman told me. Even people who are fleeing violence, rape and death, who on land would be likely to pass an initial asylum screening, are routinely sent back to the countries they’ve fled. ... The treatment...

December 06, 2023

False Hopes: Over 100,000 Immigrant Youth Trapped in the SIJS Backlog

Alina Hernandez, Tulane University, Dec. 5, 2023 "A new report co-authored by Tulane Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic shows that more than 100,000 abused or abandoned immigrant youths are in limbo as a backlog in cases for youth hoping to apply for green cards has more than doubled in the last two years. End the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Backlog Coalition (a project of the National Immigration...

December 06, 2023

Four Distinguished Scholars on a Path Forward for Immigration Reform: Podcast

Bipartisan Policy Center, Dec. 5, 2023 "In this week’s episode, BPC host Jack Malde chats with four distinguished immigration scholars at Cornell Law School on their new white paper “Immigration Reform: A Path Forward”. Stephen Yale-Loehr, Randel Keith Johnson, Charles Kamasaki, and Theresa Cardinal Brown take us through important reforms to border management and asylum policy, worker programs...

December 06, 2023

FREE Border Security Webinar TODAY, Wed. Dec. 6, 2023, 2PM EST

ABA "Immigration Enforcement Mechanisms at the U.S. Southwest Border: The Only Constant is Change 2 PM EST ... Register HERE This webinar is designed to offer up-to-date information on enforcement mechanisms at the southwest border including the implementation of the new, abbreviated removal process dubbed Circumvention of Lawful Pathways. Immigration enforcement at the U.S. southwest border has been an ongoing...

December 05, 2023

Research: Immigration Essential to Growth, Vitality

William H. Frey, Nov. 29, 2023 "Immigration has become one of the nation’s most contentious political issues. Yet there has been less public attention paid to broader immigration policy than to sensational characterizations of open borders, illegal immigrants, and negative stereotypes about immigrants’ country of origin, race, or ethnicity. Beyond these political rants, there is little discussion about...

December 05, 2023

Where's Harry When You Need Him?

The current federal Immigration and Nationality Act is based on a bill passed by Congress in 1952. But did you know that President Harry Truman vetoed the bill? Congress overrode his veto. Here is his veto message ...long, but worth the read. For those in a hurry, here is the nutshell: "In no other realm of our national life are we so hampered and stultified by the dead hand of the past, as we are in this field...

December 05, 2023

ABA Opposes Funding Proposals That Restrict Asylum, Parole

ABA, Dec. 4, 2023 "American Bar Association President Mary Smith wrote to the U.S. Senate to urge senators to continue working towards bipartisan solutions to the difficult challenges presented at the U.S. southern border. However, the ABA would oppose including provisions in the federal funding proposal that abrogate our nation’s moral and legal responsibility to protect asylum seekers — obligations...

December 04, 2023

CA5 (2-1) - Texas Must Cease Work on Floating Rio Grande Barriers: USA v. Abbott

USA v. Abbott "In July 2023, Texas, at the direction of Governor Greg Abbott, installed a floating barrier in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas. The United States filed a civil enforcement action against Texas, alleging that installment of the barrier violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899 (“RHA”). The United States moved for a preliminary injunction, which the district court...

December 01, 2023

Judge rejects Texas bid to stop agents cutting border razor wire

Sareen Habeshian, Axios, Dec. 1, 2023 "Texas lawmakers' effort to block the Biden administration from removing razor wire fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border was blocked by a federal judge on Thursday. The big picture: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has been battling with the administration over keeping razor wires and buoy barriers with blades along the Southern border as the state reports a surge in the number...

November 28, 2023

Braving La Bestia

Jordan Vonderhaar, Texas Observer, Nov. 21, 2023 "Forty miles south of Ciudad Juárez, protected from the glaring desert sun by a blanket tied to a ladder, a mother nurses her nine-month-old son as the sun rises on their fifth day aboard the train known as la bestia —the beast. The mom has stuffed cotton balls in her ears for protection from the thunderous sound of the wheels along the track, but the...

November 28, 2023

Experts: New Conditions Challenge Old Asylum Law

Miriam Jordan, New York Times, Nov. 28, 2023 "The story of the Miskito who have left their ancestral home to come 2,500 miles to the U.S.-Mexico border is in many ways familiar. Like others coming from Central and South America, they are fleeing failed states and street violence. But their lawyers also hope to test a novel idea: Extreme weather wrought by climate change can be grounds for asylum, a protection established...

November 27, 2023

Free Border Enforcement Webinar Dec. 6, 2023

ABA "Four national immigration experts will discuss the changing landscape of border law and policies at a free Dec. 6 webinar sponsored by the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration . The program will also introduce an updated ABA primer on border enforcement. The webinar will offer information on current enforcement methods, including the new, abbreviated removal process dubbed Circumvention of...

November 25, 2023

An American-Born Doctor, Now Stateless?

Theresa Vargas, Washington Post, Nov. 25, 2023 "The Northern Virginia doctor was born in D.C. and given a U.S. birth certificate. At 61, he learned his citizenship was granted by mistake."

November 25, 2023

How Prosecutorial Discretion Saved Our Client

Cyrus Mehta and Jessica Paszko, Nov. 24, 2023 " This is the story of our client Nadia Habib who was in immigration proceedings from 18 months till 31 years until an Immigration Judge granted her adjustment of status on November 21, 2023! Nadia Habib came to the US in 1993 from Bangladesh when she was less than 2 years old with her mother Nazmin Habib. They were paroled into the US at JFK airport. Some years later...

November 22, 2023

Groups Protest Lack of Access to Counsel for Detained Migrants

Letter to ICE, Nov. 21, 2023 - Continued Barriers to Attorney Access in Immigration Detention Facilities

November 21, 2023

SpaceX and Labor Certification: What Next?

Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box, Nov. 21, 2023 "On November 9, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a dispute with Apple concerning allegations that Apple’s recruitment practices under the Department of Labor’s (DOL) foreign labor certification program – known as Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) – had discriminated against certain U.S. workers. Specifically, the DOJ alleged...

November 18, 2023

Expert: TX Gov. Abbott Set to Make "Political Statement" by Signing SB4

Ava Sasani, The Guardian, Nov. 17, 2023 "Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, is expected to sign two rightwing immigration bills, setting off a likely constitutional battle over a new law that allows state and local police to arrest anyone suspected of crossing the Texas-Mexico border without documentation. SB4, one of the harshest anti-immigration laws in US history, makes it a state crime to cross into Texas from...

November 17, 2023

Authoritative Stats on the Unauthorized Immigrant Population

Pew Research Center, Nov. 16, 2023 "The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States reached 10.5 million in 2021, according to new Pew Research Center estimates. That was a modest increase over 2019 but nearly identical to 2017. The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2021 remained below its peak of 12.2 million in 2007. It was about the same size as in 2004 and lower than every year...

November 16, 2023

Detained Immigrant Population Grows to Nearly 40,000, the Highest Point in Nearly Four Years

TRAC, Nov. 16, 2023 "According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a total of 39,748 immigrants were held in detention as of November 5, 2023. The last time detention numbers reached 40,000 was in January 2020. Immigrant detention numbers previously grew from around 20,000 at the beginning of the year to around 30,000 at the beginning of June, but then remained steady for most...

November 15, 2023

Experts: Texas Immigration Bill "Plainly Unlawful and Plainly Unconstitutional"

Aarón Torres and Alfredo Corchado, The Dallas Morning News, Nov. 14, 2023 "A sweeping border security bill prioritized by Gov. Greg Abbott would allow for Texas to order undocumented migrants to return to Mexico, but experts, including former federal immigration judges, question whether the legislation would be constitutional. ... In a statement, a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security said...

November 15, 2023

Former IJs and BIA Members Push Back Against Texas Bill

Statement of Former Immigration Judges and Appellate Immigration Judges regarding H.B. 4/S.B. 4, Nov. 10, 2023 "We are former Immigration Judges with decades of experience as experts in Immigration Law. We were appointed by and served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Our personal politics may vary, but we dedicated our careers to the equal and fair administration of federal immigration law...

November 15, 2023

Staffing Agency Pays $900K to Settle Hiring Discrimination Case

DOJ, Nov. 15, 2023 "The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a settlement agreement with Kforce Inc. (Kforce), a staffing agency with 36 offices across the United States. The agreement resolves the department’s determination that Kforce violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against non-U.S. citizens with permission to work in the United States and excluding...

November 14, 2023

Chicago Law Firm Provides Pro Bono Counsel to Migrants

Kasey Chronis, Nov. 13, 2023 "After trekking thousands of miles prior to arriving in the United States – at times in dangerous conditions – the journey for migrants doesn’t end when they get to America. Instead, a complicated legal process awaits. That's why one Chicago law firm is working to ease the burden. On top of a language barrier, some migrants have reportedly been assigned immigration...