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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...

March 01, 2024

Think Immigration: Magic Mushrooms and Psychedelics are Still a Bad Trip for U.S. Immigration Purposes

W. Scott Railton, Think Immigration, Feb. 29, 2024 "Magic mushrooms are having a moment, maybe more, but it bears saying, they are very bad news for U.S. immigration purposes. ... Magic mushrooms and psychedelics are moving to the mainstream in some places, but the immigration laws are unlikely to catch up any time soon. ... So, fair warning: noncitizens would do well to avoid magic mushrooms and other psychedelics...

February 28, 2024

Standoff at Eagle Pass: A High-Stakes U.S. Border Enforcement Showdown Comes to a Small Texas Park

Muzaffar Chishti, Julia Gelatt, MPI, Feb. 28, 2024 "This article reviews the recent escalation in federal-state tensions over immigration enforcement and the dispute around Shelby Park."

February 28, 2024

Think Immigration: Add that to the Tab – Rising Costs to Tour the United States

Anthony Pawelski, Think Immigration, Feb. 27, 2024 "Touring as a musical artist in the United States and making a profit (or breaking even) is that much harder post-pandemic. Artists’ profits are drastically shrinking due to larger financial cuts from record labels, the venue, promoter, etc. For example, some venues now request a cut of merchandise sales or do not share alcohol sales. Depending on ticketing...

February 26, 2024

Nicaraguan Journalist Avoids Deportation from the USA

Elmer Rivas, Confidencial, Feb. 25, 2024 "Journalist Joselin Montes, originally from Chinandega, was released on Friday, February 23 in the United States after an immigration judge rejected the authorities’ request to deport her and send her back to Nicaragua. It was demonstrated the “reasonable fear” that, upon her return to the country, she would be subjected to unjust imprisonment, isolation...

February 24, 2024

Experts: NY Must Address Urgent Need For Immigration Legal Aid

Marielena Hincapié, Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, Feb. 23, 2024 "The number of newly arriving immigrants who have come to New York to establish new homes in our communities and flee life-threatening danger in their countries of birth has captured the nation's attention. While New York has historically been a destination for millions of immigrants, the current situation has exposed an urgent problem in our...

February 23, 2024

ABA Report Criticizes Widespread Electronic Monitoring of Migrants

ABA, Feb. 23, 2024 "A new report from the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration criticizes the federal government’s widespread electronic monitoring of migrants and recommends that the program be curtailed. The report, “ Electronic Monitoring of Migrants: Punitive not Prudent ,” was released today and is available online here . The report was written for the commission by three students...

February 22, 2024

Expert: Biden's Immigration Powers Broad, But Not Unlimited

Priscilla Alvarez, MJ Lee, CNN, Feb. 21, 2024 "The White House is considering executive action to restrict migrants’ ability to seek asylum at the US-Mexico border if they crossed illegally – a maneuver reminiscent of controversial action from the Donald Trump era and is sure to invite fierce backlash from immigration advocates and progressives. ... “President Biden has broad powers under the...

February 22, 2024

Humane Solutions That Work: 10 Ways The Biden Administration Should Reshape Immigration Policy

Heidi Altman, NIJC, Feb. 21, 2024 "For too long, extremist lawmakers and commentators have shaped the immigration debate through misinformation and rhetoric that demonizes people seeking safety and a better life. The result is a punitive, enforcement-oriented approach to immigration policy that has caused great harm and worsened humanitarian and operational challenges in the midst of a global increase in forced...