Immigration Law

Recent Posts

American Dragnet
Posted on 10 May 2022 by Daniel M. Kowalski

AMERICAN DRAGNET: DATA-DRIVEN DEPORTATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY Georgetown Center of Privacy and Technology, May 10, 2022 "When you think about government surveillance in the United States, you likely think of the National Security Agency or the... Read More

Tags: Privacy , ICE , database

Preliminary Injunction Blocks Use of Faulty ICE Detainer Database
Posted on 30 Sep 2019 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Gonzalez v. ICE, Sept. 27, 2019 "For the foregoing reasons, concurrently with adopting the above findings of facts and conclusions of law, the Court shall issue a permanent injunction enjoining ICE from issuing detainers to state and local law... Read More

Immigration Officials Use Secretive Gang Databases to Deny Migrant Asylum Claims
Posted on 9 Jul 2019 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Melissa del Bosque, ProPublica, July 8, 2019 "With scant public notice, federal immigration officials are relying on databases run by foreign police and militaries to check whether migrants crossing the United States border have gang affiliations... Read More

Feds Target Lawyers, Journalists Covering Southern Border
Posted on 8 Mar 2019 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Tom Jones, Mari Payton and Bill Feather, NBC San Diego, Mar, 6, 2019 "Documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates show the U.S. government created a secret database of activists, journalists, and social media influencers tied to the migrant caravan... Read More

How ICE Uses Secret Police Databases to Arrest Immigrants
Posted on 28 Aug 2017 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Christie Thompson, Marshall Project, Aug. 28, 2017 - "In 2011, then 19-year-old Luis Vicente Pedrote-Salinas was leaving a relative’s house and getting into his car when he was stopped by Chicago police. Officers found an unopened can of beer... Read More

Narrow FOIA Victory Against DOS in D.C.
Posted on 25 Feb 2013 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"Section 1202(f) cannot be extended to cover materials unrelated to a visa issuance or denial simply because those documents are contained in a database among other documents that may pertain to visa issuances and denials. ... Here, the Department... Read More

Tags: dos , FOIA , visa , database

USCIS Claims it Does Not Rely Exclusively on EDGE Database for Educational Opinions; We Disagree
Posted on 21 Dec 2014 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"In a March 13, 2014 letter to Joseph Crowley, Member, US House of Representatives, recently obtained by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, USCIS Chief James W. McCament claims that, “USCIS does not endorse or encourage the use of... Read More

DOLETA OFLC Data Updated, 3-31-16
Posted on 11 Apr 2016 by Daniel M. Kowalski

DOL, April 8, 2016 - "The Office of Foreign Labor Certification has posted updated program factsheets containing the Quarter 2 FY 2016 selected statistics for the Permanent Labor Certification Program , Prevailing Wage Determination Program , H-1B... Read More

Tags: oflc , database

Babies and Children Listed in DHS "Criminal Alien" Database
Posted on 27 Apr 2017 by Daniel M. Kowalski

Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times, Apr. 27, 2017 - "A database the Trump administration said would help victims of crimes track the custody of suspected criminal immigrants mistakenly listed babies and other children. The public database included... Read More

Big Data, Bad Data: Resolving the Tyranny of the Database (William Stock)
Posted on 11 Feb 2015 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"This term, the Supreme Court is considering a case [ Kerry v. Din ] that implicates the doctrine of “consular non-reviewability”–the legal principle that generally, courts in the United States will not review the discretionary... Read More

164 Anti-Immigration Laws Passed Since 2010? A MoJo Analysis
Posted on 3 May 2012 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"We crunched the data behind the self-deportation crowd's spate of state laws, the private-prison industry's campaign spending, and more." Mother Jones Magazine, Mar/Apr 2012 . Want more data? Check out our one-of-a-kind... Read More

Software Crash Halts U.S. Passport, Visa Operations
Posted on 24 Jul 2014 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"The State Department’s global database for issuing travel documents has crashed, resulting in major delays for potentially millions of people around the world waiting for U.S. passports and visas, officials said Wednesday. Unspecified glitches... Read More

SAVE won't save Alabama, or any other state
Posted on 17 Dec 2011 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"SAVE is an electronic, fee-based system used to verify that a person has the immigration status his documents indicate or that the immigration information he has provided is accurate for government benefits and licensing agencies or other... Read More

Tags: Alabama , database , save

CMS Releases Database Featuring Estimates and Characteristics of US Unauthorized Immigrants
Posted on 3 Mar 2015 by Daniel M. Kowalski

"The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) announces the release of an innovative database that provides detailed information about US unauthorized residents at the national, state, and sub-state levels." - CMS, Mar. 3, 2015 . Read More