Category: New York Legal Assistance Group

⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — 08-01-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney — NIJC — Unpublished 2d Cir. Indigenous Woman Asylum Remand Is A “Dive” Into Why EOIR Is A Dangerous & Unacceptable Drag On Our Justice System! ☠️

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

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Weekly Briefing

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.    

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • NEWS
  • LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • RESOURCES
  • EVENTS

PRACTICE UPDATES

USCIS Extends COVID-19-related Flexibilities

USCIS: This extends certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through Oct. 23, 2022, to assist applicants, petitioners, and requestors. The reproduced signature flexibility announced in March, 2020, will become permanent policy on July 25, 2022. But DHS To End COVID-19 Temporary Policy for Expired List B Identity Documents.

OPLA Updates Its Prosecutorial Discretion Website

Parolees Can Now File Form I-765 Online

NEWS

DHS Fails to File Paperwork Leading to Large Numbers of Dismissals

TRAC: One out of every six new cases DHS initiates in Immigration Court are now being dismissed because CBP officials are not filing the actual “Notice to Appear” (NTA) with the Court. The latest case-by-case Court records obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University through a series of Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests show a dramatic increase in these cases.

Fewer Immigrants Face Deportation Based on Criminal-Related Charges in Immigration Court

TRAC:  Over the past decade, the number of criminal-related charges listed on Notices to Appear as the basis for deportation has declined dramatically. In 2010, across all Notices to Appear (NTAs) received by the immigration courts that year, ICE listed a total of 57,199 criminal-related grounds for deportation. See also ICE Currently Holds 22,886 Immigrants in Detention, Alternatives to Detention Growth Increases to nearly 300,000.

It Will Now Be Harder For Unaccompanied Immigrant Children To Languish In Government Custody

Buzzfeed: The US reached a settlement Thursday that establishes fingerprinting deadlines for parents and sponsors trying to get unaccompanied immigrant children out of government custody. Under the settlement, which expires in two years, the government has seven days to schedule fingerprinting appointments and 10 days to finish processing them.

ICE is developing new ID card for migrants amid growing arrivals at the border

CNN: The Biden administration is developing a new identification card for migrants to serve as a one-stop shop to access immigration files and, eventually, be accepted by the Transportation Security Administration for travel, according to two Homeland Security officials.

Republican states’ lawsuits derail Biden’s major immigration policy changes

CBS: Officials in Arizona, Missouri, Texas and other GOP-controlled states have convinced federal judges, all but one of whom was appointed by former President Donald Trump, to block or set aside seven major immigration policies enacted or supported by Mr. Biden over the past year.

Climate migration growing but not fully recognized by world

AP: Over the next 30 years, 143 million people are likely to be uprooted by rising seas, drought, searing temperatures and other climate catastrophes, according to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published this year.

Washington mayor requests troops to aid with migrant arrivals from Texas and Arizona

Reuters: Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has requested the deployment of military troops to assist with migrants arriving on buses sent by the Texas and Arizona state governments, according to letters sent by her office to U.S. military and White House officials. See also Migrants Being Sent to NYC From Texas — to the Wrong Places, With No Help, Sources Say.

Immigrant Arrest Targets Left to Officers With Biden Memo Nixed

Bloomberg: Former enforcement officials think most officers will take a measured approach, but some concede the absence of a central policy will cause problems. See also ICE Has Resumed Deporting Unsuspecting Immigrants at Routine Check-Ins.

ICE Suddenly Transfers Dozens of Immigrants Detained in Orange County

Documented: Advocates estimate that ICE moved dozens of individuals at the Orange County Jail in New York on Monday, and sent them to detention centers in Mississippi and elsewhere in New York, without prior notification to families or attorneys about the transfers.

Mexico deports 126 Venezuelan migrants

Reuters: An estimated 6 million Venezuelans have fled economic collapse and insecurity in their home country in recent years, according to United Nations figures. Many have settled in other South American countries but some have traveled north.

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

Matter of Ortega-Quezada, 28 I&N Dec. 598 (BIA 2022)

BIA: The respondent’s conviction for unlawfully selling or otherwise disposing of a firearm or ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(d) (2018) does not render him removable as charged under section 237(a)(2)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(C) (2018), because § 922(d) is categorically overbroad and indivisible relative to the definition of a firearms offense.

CA2 Panel Says BIA Had No Basis Denying Guatemalans’ Asylum

Law360: The Second Circuit ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to revisit an indigenous Guatemalan mother and son’s bids for asylum and deportation relief, saying the agency failed to provide a sufficient premise for affirming an immigration judge’s denial of relief.

CA9, En Banc: First Amendment Trumps INA Sec. 274(a)(1)(A)(vi): U.S. v. Hansen (Alien Smuggling)

LexisNexis: An active judge requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. The matter failed to receive a majority of votes of the non-recused active judges in favor of en banc consideration.

9th Circ. Says Ignorance Of Law Doesn’t Toll Asylum Deadline

Law360: Not knowing the law isn’t enough to excuse a Guatemalan union worker from missing the deadline to apply for asylum by three years, the Ninth Circuit said when it refused to overturn an immigration panel’s decision that the man’s circumstances weren’t “extraordinary.”

9th Circ. Hands Mexican Woman’s Asylum Bid Back To BIA

Law360: A panel of Ninth Circuit judges granted a petition to review an order rejecting a Mexican woman’s asylum bid Wednesday, saying in an unpublished opinion that the agency was wrong to determine that inconsistencies or omissions in her testimony undercut her credibility as a witness.

DC Circ. Won’t Impose Deadline For Afghan, Iraqi Visas

Law360: The D.C. Circuit has rejected requests from Afghan and Iraqi translators to alter a lower court’s order that granted the federal government an indefinite deadline extension to draft a plan for faster green card processing, ruling that reversing the order wasn’t necessary.

Advance Copy: DHS Notice of Extension and Redesignation of Syria for TPS

AILA: Advance Copy: DHS notice extending the designation of Syria for TPS for 18 months, from 10/1/22 through 3/31/24, and redesignating Syria for TPS for 18 months, effective 10/1/22 through 3/31/24. The notice will be published in the Federal Register on 8/1/22.

USCIS Provides Information on Form I-589 Intake and Processing Delays

AILA: USCIS is experiencing delays in issuing receipts for Form I-589. For purposes of the asylum one-year filing deadline, affirmative asylum interview scheduling priorities, and EAD eligibility, the filing date will still be the date USCIS received the I-589 and not the date it was processed.

Information on Form I-589 Intake and Processing Delays

USCIS: USCIS is currently experiencing delays in issuing receipts for Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal. Due to these delays, you may not receive a receipt notice in a timely manner after you properly file your Form I-589.

RESOURCES

EVENTS

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.  

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

*********************

RE: Elizabeth’s “Item #2” under “Litigation” — EOIR, & Garland’s Inexplicable Failure To Fix It, Is What’s Wrong With American Justice!

More than five years ago, an indigenous woman from Guatemala and her disabled son filed “slam dunk” asylum claims. Undoubtedly, “indigenous women in Guatemala” are a “particular social group” — being immutable, particularized, and clearly socially visible within Guatemalan society and beyond. See, e.g., https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca6-18-03500/pdf/USCOURTS-ca6-18-03500-0.pdf; https://indianlaw.org/swsn/violations-indigenous-women’s-rights-brazil-guatemala-and-united-states.

The foregoing sources also clearly illustrate that, with or without past persecution, such indigenous women would have a “reasonable fear” of persecution on account of their status under the generous standards for asylum adjudication articulated by the Supremes more than three decades ago in Cardoza-Fonseca and, shortly thereafter, reaffirmed and supposedly implemented by the BIA in Matter of Mogharrabi (a fear can be “objectively reasonable” even if persecution is significant unlikely to occur). Problem is: Both of these binding precedents favoring many, many more asylum grants are widely ignored by policy makers, USCIS, EOIR, and some Article III Courts — with no meaningful consequences!

Additionally, the respondents appear to have had grantable “racial persecution” claims based on indigenous ethnicity. The son, in addition to being a “derivative” on his mother’s application, also had an apparently grantable case based on disability.

In a functioning system, this case would have been quickly granted, the respondents would be integrating into and contributing to our nation with green cards, and they would be well on their way to U.S. citizenship. Indeed, there would be instructive BIA precedents that would prevent DHS from re-litigating what are essentially frivolous oppositions! 

But, instead, after more than five years and proceedings at three levels of our justice system, the case remains unresolved. Because of egregious, unforced EOIR errors it is still “bouncing around” the 1.8+ million EOIR backlog, following this remand from the Second Circuit. 

Exceptionally poor BIA legal performance, enabling and supporting a debilitating “anti-immigrant/anti-asylum/racially derogatory culture of denial” at EOIR, has led to far, far too many improper asylum denials at the Immigration Judge level and to a dysfunctional system that just keeps on building backlog and producing grotesquely inconsistent, “Refugee Roulette” results! Go to TRAC Immigration and check out the shocking number of sitting IJs with absurd 90% or more “asylum denial rates.” 

It also fuels the continuing GOP nativist blather that denies the truth about what is happening at our Southern Border. We are wrongfully denying legal protection and status to many, many qualified refugees — often without any process at all (let alone due process) and with a deeply flawed, biased, and fatally defective process for those who are able to “get into the system.” (Itself, an arbitrary and capricious decision made by lower level enforcement agents rather than experts in asylum adjudication).

The “unpublished” nature of this particular Second Circuit decision might lead one to conclude that the Article IIIs have lost interest in solving the problem, preferring to sweep it under the carpet as this pathetic attempt at a “below the radar screen” unpublished remand does. But, such timid “head in the sand” actions will not restore fairness and order to a system that now conspicuously lacks both! This dangerous, defective, unfair, and unprofessional abuse of our justice system needs to be “publicly called out!”

You can read the full Second Circuit unpublished remand here. https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/2a5d8920-2ab9-4544-9be6-882ac830fdeb/11/doc/20-212_so.pdf

And, lest you believe this is an “aberration,” here’s yet another “unpublished” example of the BIA’s shoddy and unprofessional work on life or death cases, forwarded to me by “Sir Jeffrey” Chase yesterday! https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/94e3eaee-b8da-446a-908a-a2f3b5b13ee7/1/doc/20-1319_so.pdf#xml=https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/94e3eaee-b8da-446a-908a-a2f3b5b13ee7/1/hilite/

“The agency failed to evaluate any of the country conditions evidence relevant to Oliva-Oliva’s CAT claim.” So how is this acceptable professional performance by the BIA? And why is it being “swept under the carpet” by the Second Circuit rather than “trumpeted” as part of a demand that Garland fix his dysfunctional due-process-denying system, NOW? 

Contrary to all the fictional “open borders nonsense” being pushed by the nativist right, the key to restoring order at the borders is generous, timely, efficient, professional granting of refuge to those who qualify, either by the Asylum Office or the Refugee Program. This, in turn, absolutely requires supervision, guidance, and review where necessary by an “different” EOIR functioning as a true “expert tribunal.” 

That would finally tell us who belongs in the legal protection system and who doesn’t while screening and providing accurate profiles of both groups. The latter essential data is totally lacking under the absurdist, racially motivated, “rejection not protection” program of Trump, much of which has been retained by Biden or forced upon him by unqualified righty Federal Judges. But, we’ll never get there without meaningful, progressive, due-process focused EOIR reform!

There will be no justice at the Southern Border or in America as a whole without radical, long overdue, due process reforms at EOIR!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

08-03-22

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️JUDICIAL REVIEW — C.A. 2 — Brace Of Bad BIA Bobbles On Basics Brings “Culture Of Denial” Into Focus — Justice Will Continue To Be Illusive @ EOIR 👎🏽 Until Garland Steps Up & Replaces His Fatally Flawed BIA With Real Judges Who Are Progressive Practical Scholars In Immigration, Due Process, Human Rights, With A Firm Commitment To Bringing Racial & Gender Equity To Now-Disgraced Immigration Courts!🤮
  2. 🏴‍☠️BIA’S MISOGYNISTIC, ANTI-ASYLUM, IGNORE THE EXPERTS & THE EVIDENCE APPROACH 🤮 REBUKED AGAIN — 9th Cir. Slams BIA Big Time In Rodriguez Tornes v. Garland! — “Concurring, Judge Paez wrote that in addition to ignoring evidence that Rodriguez was targeted on account of her feminist political opinion, the Board also ignored extensive record evidence from a leading authority on domestic violence that directly rejected the Board’s premise that domestic violence is presumed to be motivated by nothing more than the private dynamics of a ‘personal relationship.’”
  3. HOW “AMERICA’S KILLER COURTS” PROMOTE “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY” — HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: TRUMP & HIS WHITE NATIONALIST SYCOPHANTS & TOADIES TOUT LAWLESS POLICIES THAT VIOLATE LEGAL OBLIGATIONS & HELP KILL, RAPE, TORTURE THOSE RETURNED TO EL SALVADOR — Supremes & Article III Judiciary Complicit In Gross Human Rights Violations! 
  4. ‘SIR JEFFREY” CHASE: Garland’s “First Steps” To Eradicate Misogyny & Anti-Asylum Bias @ EOIR Are Totally Insufficient Without Progressive Personnel Changes — Regulations Will Only Be Effective If Drafted By Progressive Human Rights Experts Of Which There Currently Are NONE @ DOJ Save For Some Immigration Judges In The Field Whose Expertise, Intellectual Integrity, & Moral Courage Has Been Ignored By Team Garland! — There Will Be No Gender, Racial, Or Immigrant Justice @ Justice As Long As Garland Mindlessly Lets “Miller’s Club Denial” Operate @ BIA! — Progressives Must Turn Up The Heat On Garland To Reform & Remake EOIR With Qualified Expert Judges & Dynamic, Independent, Progressive Leaders!

THE GIBSON REPORT — 07-25-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — HEADLINERS: Supreme Irresponsibility Leaves ICE Enforcement In Shambles; Righty Judges, Fascist GOP AGs, & Cruel But Ineffective Immigration Enforcement Help Create Billion Dollar Industry For Smugglers & Cartels; Racism, Brutality In ICE Detention!

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

PRACTICE UPDATES

 

New Form I-485

USCIS: Starting Sept. 21, 2022, we will only accept the 07/15/22 edition. Until then, you can also use the 03/29/21 and 03/10/21 editions. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions.

 

NEWS

 

U.S. Supreme Court declines to allow Biden’s shift on immigration enforcement

Reuters: The justices on a 5-4 vote denied the Biden administration’s request to block a federal judge’s ruling that had prevented immigration officials from carrying out the enforcement guidelines while litigation over the legality of the policy continues. But the court said in a brief order that it would fast-track the Biden administration appeal and hear oral arguments in December.

 

Immigration judge union seeks recognition as top judge quits

AP: The National Association of Immigration Judges on Thursday asked the federal government to restore its union recognition after the Trump administration stripped its official status and the system’s chief judge resigned after two years on the job.

 

Governors Keep Busing Migrants to Washington

VOA: Three months into the program, local officials said more than 3,400 people have reached Washington by bus. Aid groups say they are overwhelmed. See also Mayors ask Biden to help with influx of asylum-seekers; Adams Blames Migrants for Shelter Woes. Critics Say That’s Too Simple.

 

‘They don’t have any humanity’: Black immigrants in Ice custody report abuse and neglect

Guardian: In the last month alone, FFI has received more than 2,100 complaints nationwide. The most common abuse-related ones are anti-Black discriminatory actions, ranging from forced strip-searches and unprovoked pepper-spraying to prolonged solitary confinement and critical medical treatment negligence.

 

Homeland Security records show ‘shocking’ use of phone data, ACLU says

Politico: The data, harvested from apps on hundreds of millions of phones, allowed the Department of Homeland Security to obtain data on e points across North America, the documents show. Those data points may reference only a small portion of the information that CBP has obtained.

 

Smuggling Migrants at the Border Now a Billion-Dollar Business

NYT: While migrants have long faced kidnappings and extortion in Mexican border cities, such incidents have been on the rise on the U.S. side, according to federal authorities. More than 5,046 people were arrested and charged with human smuggling last year, up from 2,762 in 2014.

 

A Timeline Of Migrant Family Separations

VOA: Five years later, court documents show, more than 5,000 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border under a practice known as the zero tolerance policy for unauthorized border crossers. However, it was also used on migrants who presented themselves legally at ports of entry. Parents of 180 children have not yet been found by advocates working with families.

 

Documents detail the secret strategy behind Trump’s census citizenship question push

NPR: Former President Donald Trump’s administration spent years trying to add a census citizenship question as part of a secret strategy for altering the population numbers used to divide up seats in Congress and the Electoral College, internal documents released Wednesday by the House Oversight and Reform Committee confirm.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

High Court Won’t Reinstate Biden’s ICE Guidelines, For Now

Law360: The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to reinstate President Joe Biden’s attempt to narrow immigration arrests and deportations to national security threats and other “priority” targets while his administration fights a court order that vacated the policy.

 

Ndudzi, CA5 Revised Decision on Credibility

CA5: In  sum,  the  BIA  and  IJ’s  adverse  credibility  determination  rests  largely on “inconsistencies” in the record that are not actually inconsistent.

 

5th Circ. Revives Angolan Asylum Bid Over Credibility Error

Law360: The Fifth Circuit has revived asylum claims from a woman who said she suffered a brutal home invasion by Angolan police over her political activities, rebuking an immigration judge for deeming her untruthful despite “largely consistent” testimony.

 

Unpub. CA5 “Exceptional Circumstances” Remand: Perez-Vasquez v. Garland

LexisNexis: Perez-Vasquez is correct that the BIA erred by failing to address key evidence…His case is REMANDED to the BIA for the limited purpose of considering—in light of the totality of the circumstances of his individual case—whether exceptional circumstances prevented his appearance at his removal hearing.

 

9th Circ. Tells BIA Past Torture Isn’t A Must For Removal Relief

Law360: The Ninth Circuit ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider a Guatemalan citizen’s bid for removal relief, saying that past torture, though relevant, was not required in determining whether he’d likely face future torture in Guatemala.

 

‘Miscarriage Of Justice’ Can’t Exempt Removal, 9th Circ. Says

Law360: Immigration judges and the Board of Immigration don’t have the authority to reopen reinstated orders deporting immigrants and corresponding proceedings after a deported individual has reentered the country, even if those orders result in a “gross miscarriage of justice,” the Ninth Circuit held Monday.

 

Migrant’s Criminal Past Backs Indictment, Split 9th Circ. Rules

Law360: A divided Ninth Circuit panel on Monday affirmed a district court’s order refusing to dismiss an indictment against a Mexican national charged with illegal reentry, finding that his drunk-driving and shoplifting convictions make it tough to show that he would have plausibly been granted voluntary departure relief.

 

11th Circ. Splits With 9th Circ. In Deportation Notice Case

Law360: An immigrant who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2003 cannot challenge removal proceedings launched when he didn’t appear for a hearing, despite a defect in the notice he received, because a subsequent notice had complete information, the Eleventh Circuit has ruled in a split with the Ninth Circuit.

 

DC Circ. Says Agencies Must Allow Comments Before Rule Ax

Law360: A divided D.C. Circuit panel on Friday ruled agencies cannot simply withdraw a new rule, even if it has not yet been published in the Federal Register, once that rule has been subject to public inspection.

 

Detainees Call Fla. ICE Detention Center A ‘Living Hell’

Law360: Immigrants detained at the Baker County Detention Center in northern Florida filed a federal civil rights complaint Thursday asking for the immediate closure of the facility because of inhumane treatment and abuse.

 

USCIS Updates Guidance for Afghans and Iraqis Seeking Special Immigrant Classification

USCIS: USCIS is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding Afghan and Iraqi nationals seeking special immigrant classification. See also Legislative Changes and Transition Affecting Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant Visas.

 

RESOURCES

 

NIJC

 

Other

 

EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

 

 

 

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

PRACTICE UPDATES

 

New Form I-485

USCIS: Starting Sept. 21, 2022, we will only accept the 07/15/22 edition. Until then, you can also use the 03/29/21 and 03/10/21 editions. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions.

 

NEWS

 

U.S. Supreme Court declines to allow Biden’s shift on immigration enforcement

Reuters: The justices on a 5-4 vote denied the Biden administration’s request to block a federal judge’s ruling that had prevented immigration officials from carrying out the enforcement guidelines while litigation over the legality of the policy continues. But the court said in a brief order that it would fast-track the Biden administration appeal and hear oral arguments in December.

 

Immigration judge union seeks recognition as top judge quits

AP: The National Association of Immigration Judges on Thursday asked the federal government to restore its union recognition after the Trump administration stripped its official status and the system’s chief judge resigned after two years on the job.

 

Governors Keep Busing Migrants to Washington

VOA: Three months into the program, local officials said more than 3,400 people have reached Washington by bus. Aid groups say they are overwhelmed. See also Mayors ask Biden to help with influx of asylum-seekers; Adams Blames Migrants for Shelter Woes. Critics Say That’s Too Simple.

 

‘They don’t have any humanity’: Black immigrants in Ice custody report abuse and neglect

Guardian: In the last month alone, FFI has received more than 2,100 complaints nationwide. The most common abuse-related ones are anti-Black discriminatory actions, ranging from forced strip-searches and unprovoked pepper-spraying to prolonged solitary confinement and critical medical treatment negligence.

 

Homeland Security records show ‘shocking’ use of phone data, ACLU says

Politico: The data, harvested from apps on hundreds of millions of phones, allowed the Department of Homeland Security to obtain data on more than 336,000 location data points across North America, the documents show. Those data points may reference only a small portion of the information that CBP has obtained.

 

Smuggling Migrants at the Border Now a Billion-Dollar Business

NYT: While migrants have long faced kidnappings and extortion in Mexican border cities, such incidents have been on the rise on the U.S. side, according to federal authorities. More than 5,046 people were arrested and charged with human smuggling last year, up from 2,762 in 2014.

 

A Timeline Of Migrant Family Separations

VOA: Five years later, court documents show, more than 5,000 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border under a practice known as the zero tolerance policy for unauthorized border crossers. However, it was also used on migrants who presented themselves legally at ports of entry. Parents of 180 children have not yet been found by advocates working with families.

 

Documents detail the secret strategy behind Trump’s census citizenship question push

NPR: Former President Donald Trump’s administration spent years trying to add a census citizenship question as part of a secret strategy for altering the population numbers used to divide up seats in Congress and the Electoral College, internal documents released Wednesday by the House Oversight and Reform Committee confirm.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

High Court Won’t Reinstate Biden’s ICE Guidelines, For Now

Law360: The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to reinstate President Joe Biden’s attempt to narrow immigration arrests and deportations to national security threats and other “priority” targets while his administration fights a court order that vacated the policy.

 

Ndudzi, CA5 Revised Decision on Credibility

CA5: In  sum,  the  BIA  and  IJ’s  adverse  credibility  determination  rests  largely on “inconsistencies” in the record that are not actually inconsistent.

 

5th Circ. Revives Angolan Asylum Bid Over Credibility Error

Law360: The Fifth Circuit has revived asylum claims from a woman who said she suffered a brutal home invasion by Angolan police over her political activities, rebuking an immigration judge for deeming her untruthful despite “largely consistent” testimony.

 

Unpub. CA5 “Exceptional Circumstances” Remand: Perez-Vasquez v. Garland

LexisNexis: Perez-Vasquez is correct that the BIA erred by failing to address key evidence…His case is REMANDED to the BIA for the limited purpose of considering—in light of the totality of the circumstances of his individual case—whether exceptional circumstances prevented his appearance at his removal hearing.

 

9th Circ. Tells BIA Past Torture Isn’t A Must For Removal Relief

Law360: The Ninth Circuit ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider a Guatemalan citizen’s bid for removal relief, saying that past torture, though relevant, was not required in determining whether he’d likely face future torture in Guatemala.

 

‘Miscarriage Of Justice’ Can’t Exempt Removal, 9th Circ. Says

Law360: Immigration judges and the Board of Immigration don’t have the authority to reopen reinstated orders deporting immigrants and corresponding proceedings after a deported individual has reentered the country, even if those orders result in a “gross miscarriage of justice,” the Ninth Circuit held Monday.

 

Migrant’s Criminal Past Backs Indictment, Split 9th Circ. Rules

Law360: A divided Ninth Circuit panel on Monday affirmed a district court’s order refusing to dismiss an indictment against a Mexican national charged with illegal reentry, finding that his drunk-driving and shoplifting convictions make it tough to show that he would have plausibly been granted voluntary departure relief.

 

11th Circ. Splits With 9th Circ. In Deportation Notice Case

Law360: An immigrant who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2003 cannot challenge removal proceedings launched when he didn’t appear for a hearing, despite a defect in the notice he received, because a subsequent notice had complete information, the Eleventh Circuit has ruled in a split with the Ninth Circuit.

 

DC Circ. Says Agencies Must Allow Comments Before Rule Ax

Law360: A divided D.C. Circuit panel on Friday ruled agencies cannot simply withdraw a new rule, even if it has not yet been published in the Federal Register, once that rule has been subject to public inspection.

 

Detainees Call Fla. ICE Detention Center A ‘Living Hell’

Law360: Immigrants detained at the Baker County Detention Center in northern Florida filed a federal civil rights complaint Thursday asking for the immediate closure of the facility because of inhumane treatment and abuse.

 

USCIS Updates Guidance for Afghans and Iraqis Seeking Special Immigrant Classification

USCIS: USCIS is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding Afghan and Iraqi nationals seeking special immigrant classification. See also Legislative Changes and Transition Affecting Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant Visas.

 

RESOURCES

 

NIJC

 

Other

 

EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

****************

Failed “deterrence” gimmicks and righty Federal Judges who enable them by not standing up against anti-immigrant racism thinly disguised as security or health measures are a bad combination.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

07-26-22

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC: Stephen Miller Was Even More Of A Disreputable Scofflaw! — 9th Halts BIA’s “Rote Formula” For Improperly Denying CAT W/O Meaningful Analysis — EOIR In Louisiana Continues To Be “Death Valley” ☠️⚰️  For Asylum Seekers:  “‘I feel that the big problem we face today is that there is a real dehumanization of the entire process,’ said Mich Gonzalez, Associate Director of Advocacy at the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
  2. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 07-11-22 —  Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — Glimpses Of Some Failing Righty Federal Judges & An Administration That Lacks A Bold Plan For Improving Immigration, Human Rights, & Racial Justice, Particularly @ EOIR!
  3. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚖️🗽🇺🇸FORMER DEPUTY AG DON AYER, JUDGE MIMI TSANKOV AMONG “HEADLINERS” AT TIMELY UPCOMING NY CITY BAR ASSN. EVENT: “Rule of Law Forum – Preserving the Rule of Law in an Age of Disruption” — Register Now, Right Here!
  4. THE TRUTH IS OUT, THANKS TO MICHELLE MENDEZ @ CLINIC: Practice Pointers on Matter of Castillo-Perez & “Takeaways” From FOIA Trove On In Absentias!

THE GIBSON REPORT — 07-18-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney — NIJC — HEADLINERS: Backlogs, Backlogs, Everywhere; Irresponsible GOP White Nationalist Fed Judges & State AGs Leave ICE Enforcement In Shambles; OIL Issues Court Remand  Guidelines; NIJC On Fighting Misuse Of Police Reports By EOIR; 10th Finds Crime Of “Encouraging” Unconstitutional; Senate Near Immigration Deal That Could Ease Inflation?

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

NEWS

 

U.S. ban on ‘encouraging’ illegal immigration unconstitutional, court rules

Reuters: The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision said the law, which is part of a broader statute barring human smuggling, criminalizes “vast amounts of protected speech” such as urging family members to remain in the U.S. after their visas expire or informing non-citizens about available social services.

 

ICE issues policy to protect parental rights of immigrant detainees

CBS: The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has directed agents to take several steps to protect the parental rights of immigrant detainees with underage or incapacitated children, according to an agency memo published Thursday.

 

Immigration agency backlog weighs on congressional offices

Roll Call: One House office said their USCIS-related casework in 2021 was more than triple what it was in 2020, while another reported receiving more than a dozen USCIS-related requests each day from constituents.

 

Pace of Immigration Court Processing Increases While Backlog Continues to Climb

TRAC: The latest case-by-case records show that the Immigration Court backlog reached 1,821,440 at the end of June 2022. This is up 25 percent from the backlog just at the beginning of this fiscal year.

 

Government Inaction on Immigration Paperwork Leads to Record High Lawsuits

TRAC: The federal government is facing a flurry of lawsuits for failing to take action on a variety of immigration-related applications. In May 2022, the federal civil courts recorded 647 immigration-related lawsuits for writs of mandamus (a type of lawsuit that seeks to compel the government to take a lawful action) and other immigration actions, the vast majority of which were linked to procedural delays or decisions by the Department of Homeland Security.

 

Migrants from multiple countries overwhelm US-Mexico border, adding to Biden administration’s challenges

CNN: According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 6 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants have fled the country. See also Asylum wait lists at US border frustrate, confuse migrants.

 

The Senate is nearing a deal on immigration that could also lower food prices

NPR: It would do this by allowing more farmers — like dairy and pork producers — to hire temporary workers year-round. Currently, year-round employers cannot use that worker visa program, known as the H-2A temporary agricultural program used by seasonal employers. It would also satisfy some goals for labor rights advocates by providing a pathway to legalization for workers who show a dedicated history of farm work.

 

U.S. simplifies application process for Afghan special immigrant visa

Reuters: The United States will simplify the application process for Afghan special immigrant visas with applicants only needing to file one form, according to a statement issued on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

 

Deportation Guidelines Back in Limbo After Two Opposing Court Rulings

Truth Out: While the Court unexpectedly decided to allow Biden to end the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy, it is still unclear what the Supreme Court will decide regarding deportations. In the interim, the fate of immigrants attempting to migrate to the country will be in the hands of local Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers’ own determinations.

 

Mexico agrees to invest $1.5B in ‘smart’ border technology

AP: A series of agreements the two countries hammered out as their leaders spoke called for several other concrete moves, including expanding the number of work visas the U.S. issues, creating a bilateral working group on labor migration pathways and worker protections and welcoming more refugees. Both also pledged to continue joint patrols for Mexico and Guatemala to hunt human smugglers along their shared border.

 

200+ Immigrant Rights Organizations Urge U.S. House Leadership to Block Efforts to Extend Title 42 Mass Expulsions

ReliefWeb: The amendments passed out of the House Appropriations Committee are particularly harmful because they make Title 42’s rescission contingent on termination of the COVID-19 emergency declaration, a decision with widespread public health and safety ramifications.

 

USCIS Announces New Citizenship Ambassador Initiative

USCIS: To help demystify the naturalization process and share the life-changing impact of U.S. citizenship, USCIS selected eight community leaders across the United States to connect with aspiring citizens. Newly selected citizenship ambassadors will connect eligible populations with the USCIS mission by: Sharing their own experiences with the naturalization process;

Highlighting available information and resources; Emphasizing the advantages of U.S. citizenship; Addressing myths and misconceptions; and Providing inspiration for others pursuing citizenship.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Red States Pan Immigration Enforcement Memo At High Court

Law360: Texas, Louisiana and 19 other Republican-led states have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to continue blocking the Biden administration from focusing removal efforts only on certain groups of migrants, arguing that not only they but the whole U.S. will suffer from the strategy’s alleged ill effects if it is allowed to go into effect.

 

5th Circ. Says No Address, No Right To Deportation Notice

Law360: The Fifth Circuit said a Guatemalan immigrant couldn’t use a faulty notice to appear in immigration court to contest a 17-year-old removal order, saying he wasn’t entitled to proper notice as he hadn’t given immigration officers his home address.

 

Full 9th Circ. Says Faulty Removal Notice Doesn’t Ruin Case

Law360: The full Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled that the government can prosecute an immigrant for reentering the U.S. after being ordered removed, upholding the validity of the initial deportation order despite defects in the government’s notice for the immigrant to appear in immigration court.

 

10th Circ. Strikes Down Immigration Law As Unconstitutional

Law360: The Tenth Circuit struck down as unconstitutional a federal immigration law that made it a crime to encourage noncitizens to enter or live in the United States, saying the law violated free speech protections under the First Amendment.

 

Four women are accusing a nurse at an ICE detention center of sexual assault

CNN: A nurse at the privately run Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, according to the complaint, took advantage of his position to coerce the women “into giving him access to private parts of their body without medical justification or need.”

 

Lawsuit over covid outbreak at Farmville immigrant detention center settled

WaPo: An immigrant detention center in Virginia’s Farmville community that saw more than 300 inmates infected by the coronavirus in 2020, one of whom died, will be limited to a quarter of its capacity under a federal court settlement.

 

ICE Directive: Interests of Noncitizen Parents and Legal Guardians of Minor Children or Incapacitated Adults

ICE: It is the policy of ICE to ensure that the agency’s civil immigration enforcement activities do not unnecessarily disrupt or infringe upon the parental or guardianship rights of noncitizen parents or legal guardians of minor children or incapacitated adults, consistent with all legal obligations and applicable court orders.

 

Time Frame Extended for Uniting for Ukraine Parolees to Comply with Medical Screening and Attestation After Arrival to the United States

USCIS: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended the time beneficiaries paroled into the United States under Uniting for Ukraine have to attest to their compliance with the medical screening for tuberculosis and additional vaccinations, if required.

 

USCIS 30-Day Notice of Comment Period for Form I-765

AILA: USCIS notice of additional period for comment on revision of Form I-765. Comments will be accepted until 8/8/22. (87 FR 40855, 7/8/22)

 

CIS Ombudsman Provides Tips for Form I-130 to Avoid Delays and Extra Fees

AILA: The CIS Ombudsman’s Office provides a reminder that USCIS updated the special instructions on its Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative page to help filers ensure that USCIS sends their form to the correct location after it is approved.

 

OIL Policy on Remanding PFRs

OIL: In addition to the foregoing reasons, OIL will consider remanding cases in order to facilitate exercises of prosecutorial discretion by DHS, or in other circumstances in which DHS believes that reopening of the case before the Board of Immigration Appeals is appropriate (e.g., cases in which a petitioner may have recently become eligible for adjustment of status or presents other equities such that DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not oppose reopening by the Board).

 

RESOURCES

 

NIJC

 

Other

 

EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

******************

The OIL Guidelines are welcome. Whether they will be uniformly and effectively applied remains to be seen. 

The “real answer,” of course, is better judges and leadership at EOIR and elevation of quality and due process over expediency and the “haste makes waste, anti-immigrant” culture that still permeates far too much of EOIR.

Police reports are an ubiquitous feature of Immigration Court. The NIJC report on why they are “inherently unreliable” and how to contest them should be mandatory reading for all immigration litigators and Federal Judges who hear or review immigration cases.

Finally, on a positive note, the article about the Senate negotiations on agricultural workers reaffirms the inevitability of human migration, its benefit both to the U.S. and to migrants, and the pressing need for additional and more realistic legal avenues for legal immigration. Nolan Rappaport over at The Hill has pointed out on a number of occasions the other areas of potential compromise if the two parties could just get beyond “posturing.”   See, e.g., https://wp.me/p8eeJm-7y4.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

07-19-22

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 07-11-22 —  Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — Glimpses Of Some Failing Righty Federal Judges & An Administration That Lacks A Bold Plan For Improving Immigration, Human Rights, & Racial Justice, Particularly @ EOIR!
  2. THE GIBSON REPORT— 01-02-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Garland’s Aimless Docket Reshuffling (“ADR”) Squeezes Refugees On Both Ends Of His Ludicrous Backlog, As Those Patiently Waiting Given Court Dates Nearly A Decade In The Future, While Recent Arrivals Mindlessly Rocketed To The “Front Of The Line” Struggle To Find Lawyers & Prepare Cases — Plus Other New Year News From The Dystopian World Of U.S. Immigration!
  3. ⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC: Stephen Miller Was Even More Of A Disreputable Scofflaw! — 9th Halts BIA’s “Rote Formula” For Improperly Denying CAT W/O Meaningful Analysis — EOIR In Louisiana Continues To Be “Death Valley” ☠️⚰️  For Asylum Seekers:  “‘I feel that the big problem we face today is that there is a real dehumanization of the entire process,’ said Mich Gonzalez, Associate Director of Advocacy at the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
  4. THE GIBSON REPORT:  05-09-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — HEADLINERS: 2d Cir. Reverses BIA On CIMT; Texas AG Targets Legal Assistance To Migrants; EOIR “Friend of Court” Memo; Lack Of Immigrants Hurting U.S. Economy — PLUS BONUS COVERAGE:  New Legal Aid Alliance Aims to Build a Model for Universal Representation for Detained Immigrants!

⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 07-11-22 —  Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — Glimpses Of Some Failing Righty Federal Judges & An Administration That Lacks A Bold Plan For Improving Immigration, Human Rights, & Racial Justice, Particularly @ EOIR!

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

See More from Elizabeth Gibson

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

PRACTICE UPDATES

 

Federal Office Mask Requirements Fluctuate Day-to-Day

USCIS: Where community levels are high, all federal employees and contractors—as well as visitors two years old or older—must wear a mask inside USCIS offices and physically distance regardless of vaccination status. Chicago is no longer listed as High. NYC is now listed as High. Check CDC Level for Your Region.

 

DHS Announces Extension of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela

DHS: The 18-month extension of TPS for Venezuela will be effective from September 10, 2022, through March 10, 2024. Only beneficiaries under Venezuela’s existing designation, and who were already residing in the United States as of March 8, 2021, are eligible to re-register for TPS under this extension.

 

NEWS

 

Abbott tests feds by urging Texas troopers to return migrants to border

WaPo: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state National Guard soldiers and law enforcement officers Thursday to apprehend and return migrants suspected of crossing illegally back to the U.S.-Mexico border, testing how far his state can go in trying to enforce immigration law — a federal responsibility.

 

Children separated from relatives at the border could be reunited under new Biden program

LATimes: The new effort, called the Trusted Adult Relative Program, is being tested at a Border Patrol station in Texas, according to three sources who were not authorized to speak publicly. A Department of Homeland Security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a few dozen children have been reunified with family members since the program began in May. Agency officials said the program utilizes existing procedures to unify families in an efficient way.

 

Detention Transfers Separate Immigrants from Legal Representation

Documented: ICE is moving New Jersey immigrants like Hercules Aleman – who face charges in criminal or family court – to out-of-state immigration detention facilities. But the agency is usually not notifying the group of immigration legal providers funded by the state to represent these detained immigrants.

 

Biden administration asks Supreme Court to stay court order blocking it from setting immigration enforcement priorities

CNN: The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to stay a court order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from implementing immigration enforcement priorities — potentially setting up Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s first vote since joining the court.

 

Patrol agents on horseback did not whip migrants, but used force and inappropriate language, investigators say

Politico: The nine-month investigation, which culminated in a 511-page report by the department, found no evidence that agents used horse reins to strike people during an “unprecedented surge in migration” of about 15,000 Haitians near the international bridge. However, agents acted in unprofessional and dangerous ways, including an instance in which an agent “maneuvered his horse unsafely near a child,” investigators wrote.

 

ICE Currently Holds 23,156 Immigrants in Detention, Alternatives to Detention Growth Slows

TRAC: According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency held 23,156 immigrants in detention on July 5, 2022. Of these, 17,116 were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while 6,040 were arrested by ICE agents. Detention numbers have increased slightly from about 20,000 in early 2022 to now hovering around 24,000, but have not otherwise seen significant growth that would lead to the large numbers of immigrants that were detained prior to the pandemic when the detained population topped out at more than 60,000.

 

Criminal Immigration Referrals Up from the Border Patrol

TRAC: The number of criminal referrals sent by the Border Patrol and other Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have recently begun to rise. Detailed case-by-case government records obtained by TRAC after successful litigation show that during April 2022, CBP referred 2,015 individuals for criminal prosecution to federal prosecutors. This is the first time referrals topped the 2,000 mark since the pandemic began slightly more than two years ago. Levels in April 2022 were up 31 percent from one year earlier when in April 2021 there were a total of 1,537 criminal referrals from CBP.

 

He Had a Dark Secret. It Changed His Best Friend’s Life.

NYT: Extensive details of their years together were also left behind in grainy snapshots, police reports, immigration forms, nonprofit records, court transcripts and old emails. See also The Story of 2 Homeless Men and the Meaning of Friendship.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

5th Circ. Won’t Reinstate Biden’s Bid To Narrow ICE Ops

Law360: The Fifth Circuit refused to reinstate the Biden administration’s attempt to narrow the number of immigrants prioritized for removal, splitting sharply from the Sixth Circuit to find that the effort likely violated federal immigration law.

 

Unpub. CA2 CAT Remand (El Salvador)

LexisNexis: [T]he agency failed to consider and explain the impact of evidence that the Salvadoran government’s efforts in the “war on the gangs” had not been successful, such that gang members operate with impunity and security forces commit extrajudicial killings of suspected gang members, both of which pose threats to Giron.

 

CA9, En Banc: Bastide-Hernandez II (Immigration Court Subject Matter Jurisdiction)

LexisNexis: Consistent with our own precedent and that of every other circuit to consider this issue, we hold that the failure of an NTA to include time and date information does not deprive the immigration court of subject matter jurisdiction, and thus Bastide-Hernandez’s removal was not “void ab initio,” as the district court determined.

 

9th Circ. Says Man’s Residency Bid Nixed By Retroactive Law

Law360: The Ninth Circuit on Friday declined to review a Mexican man’s bid to vacate a deportation order, saying he should have applied for a green card before a law preventing inadmissible individuals from becoming lawful permanent residents took effect.

 

CA9 on Credibility: Barseghyan v. Garland

LexisNexis: The BIA affirmed based upon the IJ’s adverse credibility determination. We grant Barseghyan’s petition for review because three out of four inconsistencies relied upon by the BIA are not supported by the record.

 

Unpub. BIA AgFel/COV Victory: TX Penal Code

LexisNexis: [W]e find that the respondent’s conviction for injury to a child in violation of Texas Penal Code § 22.04(a)(3), does not require “physical force” as defined in 18 U.S.C. § l6(a), and interpreted in Johnson and Stokeling. Thus, the respondent has not been convicted of a crime of violence aggravated felony and is not barred from establishing her eligibility for cancellation of removal.

 

ICE Agrees To Stop Use Of Contractors In California Arrests

Law360: Private contractors will no longer be used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make immigration arrests at California jails and prisons, as part of a settlement ICE reached with a detainee represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

 

ICE Agent Charged In Scheme To Harass China’s Critics

Law360: A 15-year U.S. Department of Homeland Security veteran and an agent who retired from the agency gave secret information to Chinese spies engaged in a harassment and repression campaign against U.S.-based critics of the Chinese government, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.

 

USCIS 30-Day Notice of Comment Period for Form I-765

AILA: USCIS notice of additional period for comment on revision of Form I-765. Comments will be accepted until 8/8/22.

 

CIS Ombudsman Provides Tips for Form I-130 to Avoid Delays and Extra Fees

AILA: The CIS Ombudsman’s Office provides a reminder that USCIS updated the special instructions on its Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative page to help filers ensure that USCIS sends their form to the correct location after it is approved.

 

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

****************************

Federal Courts at all levels continue to lose credibility because of their adherence to a biased far-right agenda that is bad for American democracy. 

Let’s see, the BIA manufactures inconsistencies to reach a bogus “adverse credibility” ruling in an asylum case (9th Cir.). They also ignore clear evidence of the complicity/total ineptitude of the Salvadoran Government in a CAT case (2d Cir.).

Folks, these aren’t contract cases, property disputes, commercial squabbles, or minor misdemeanors. They are life or death matters — persecution and/or torture can result in extreme pain, suffering, permanent damage, and death. Serious matters require serious judging by qualified exert judges!

Meanwhile, a righty panel of poorly qualified 5th Circuit  judges drives over established law on Executive prosecutorial discretion to uphold Trump toady Judge Drew Tipton’s clearly wrong-headed attempt to wrest control of ICE enforcement away from the Biden Administration. This gross judicial malpractice is nothing short of a national disgrace that impugns the integrity of the entire Article III Judiciary.

There are still far too many examples of how Garland is contributing to the problem by failing to root out the deadwood (and worse) at EOIR. He should be bringing in new judicial talent committed to due process, scholarship, and best practices. 

A “Better EOIR” would not only begin fixing many of the legal and practical problems plaguing our immigration, human rights, and racial justice systems in America, but also could “model” a better American judiciary for the future. It would be a training ground for future, better qualified, Article III judicial appointments: Folks who actually understand and respect delivering justice at the “retail level” and are committed to serving humanity, not kowtowing to party bosses or wooden, perverse, retrograde ideologies.

It is possible for good judges to solve problems rather than creating them or making them infinitely worse. But, you sure wouldn’t say that is happening with today’s out of touch, ivory tower, and poorly performing Federal Judiciary. A better EOIR could keep cases out of the Circuits, thereby eliminating the opportunity for right-wing ideologues to screw up immigration and human rights laws in their White nationalist restrictionist crusade!

This is a judiciary now dominated by far too many right wing judges who got their jobs by demonstrating a commitment to far righty ideology and furthering the GOP’s political agenda rather than by distinguished legal careers that exemplified courage and improving humanity by insuring fair and reasonable applications and interpretations of the law.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

07-13-22

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC: Stephen Miller Was Even More Of A Disreputable Scofflaw! — 9th Halts BIA’s “Rote Formula” For Improperly Denying CAT W/O Meaningful Analysis — EOIR In Louisiana Continues To Be “Death Valley” ☠️⚰️  For Asylum Seekers:  “‘I feel that the big problem we face today is that there is a real dehumanization of the entire process,’ said Mich Gonzalez, Associate Director of Advocacy at the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
  2. HOW “AMERICA’S KILLER COURTS” PROMOTE “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY” — HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: TRUMP & HIS WHITE NATIONALIST SYCOPHANTS & TOADIES TOUT LAWLESS POLICIES THAT VIOLATE LEGAL OBLIGATIONS & HELP KILL, RAPE, TORTURE THOSE RETURNED TO EL SALVADOR — Supremes & Article III Judiciary Complicit In Gross Human Rights Violations! 
  3. 🧑🏽‍⚖️⚖️🗽🇺🇸WHO’S JUDGE IS IT ANYWAY? — The Crisis Of Independence In Our Immigration Courts! — Coming April 7, 2021! — Sponsored By The HNBA! — Don’t Miss It!
  4. ⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️JUDICIAL REVIEW — C.A. 2 — Brace Of Bad BIA Bobbles On Basics Brings “Culture Of Denial” Into Focus — Justice Will Continue To Be Illusive @ EOIR 👎🏽 Until Garland Steps Up & Replaces His Fatally Flawed BIA With Real Judges Who Are Progressive Practical Scholars In Immigration, Due Process, Human Rights, With A Firm Commitment To Bringing Racial & Gender Equity To Now-Disgraced Immigration Courts!🤮

⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 07-05-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

NEWS

 

‘Remain in Mexico’ policy will continue for several weeks, Mayorkas says

Politico: “We need to wait until the Supreme Court’s decision is actually communicated to the lower court, to the federal District Court and the Northern District of Texas, and, once that occurs, the District Court should lift its injunction that is preventing us from ending the program,” Mayorkas told ABC’s Martha Raddatz.

 

4 people have been charged in the Texas semitruck smuggling operation that left 53 migrants dead

CNN: Four people have been arrested and charged after 53 migrants died in what one Homeland Security Investigations agent called the deadliest human smuggling incident in US history. The migrants were found in sweltering conditions inside a semitruck in San Antonio on Monday after an employee at a nearby building heard cries for help. See also Deadly Migrant Smuggling Case in Texas Raises Border Policy Concerns.

 

Ending a Decade-Long Decline, More Mexicans Are Migrating to U.S.

NYT: After declining for more than a decade, the number of Mexicans seeking to migrate to the United States is surging. Since 2020, a combination of growing violence across Mexico and a worsening economy has led to the first jump in Mexican migration in a decade.

 

Growing Numbers of Children Try To Enter the U.S.

TRAC: New data obtained by TRAC from U.S. Border Patrol (BP) reveals a detailed portrait of the enormous growth in children encountered by BP officers at the US-Mexico border over the past fifteen years. Since FY 2008 there has been a seventeen-fold rise in the numbers of BP apprehensions who are unaccompanied children. See also “No Place for A Child”: In cells built for adults, one-third are child migrants.

 

White House Reviewing Immigration Fee Changes

Law360: The White House is reviewing upcoming changes to the fees U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services charges immigrants seeking citizenship and other immigration benefits, with an eye to releasing the proposal in September for public feedback.

 

Biden’s pick for ICE director withdraws nomination

Politico: The nomination of Ed Gonzalez, the sheriff of Harris County, Texas, has long been doomed, as multiple Democrats remained undecided.

 

Immigration judge hired during Trump era accuses Biden admin of ousting conservative appointees

Fox: Matthew O’Brien, who was appointed in 2020 as an immigration judge, is a former research director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group that calls for lower levels of immigration overall and stricter border policies.

 

Ellis Island immigrants weren’t special — today’s newcomers succeed just as quickly

WaPo: Armed with the genealogists’ data, Boustan and Abramitzky have methodically dismantled the myths that have grown up around past generations and revealed some surprising truths. On the whole, immigrants struggle, fail, succeed and assimilate at similar rates. And the ones who assimilate fastest and whose children improve their lot the most are often the ones who faced the most contempt upon arrival.

 

California first to cover health care for all immigrants

AP: California on Thursday became the first state to guarantee free health care for all low-income immigrants living in the country illegally, a move that will provide coverage for an additional 764,000 people at an eventual cost of about $2.7 billion a year.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Biden v. Texas on MPP

SCOTUSblog: The government’s rescission of Migrant Protection Protocols did not violate Section 1225 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the then-Secretary of Homeland Security’s Oct. 29 memoranda constituted valid final agency action.

 

Rescission of Matter of Z-R-Z-C- as an Adopted Decision; agency interpretation of authorized travel by TPS beneficiaries

USCIS: TPS beneficiaries whom DHS has inspected and admitted into TPS under MTINA, subsequent to that inspection and admission, will have been “inspected and admitted” and are “present in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission,” including for purposes of adjustment of status under INA 245. This is true even if the TPS beneficiary was present without admission or parole when initially granted TPS.

 

Matter of E-F-N-, Impeachment Evidence

BIA: An  Immigration  Judge  may  rely  on  impeachment  evidence  as  part  of  a  credibility  determination  where  the  evidence  is  probative  and  its  admission  is  not  fundamentally  unfair,  and  the  witness  is  given  an  opportunity  to  respond  to  that  evidence  during  the  proceedings.

 

2nd Circ. Reverses BIA On Dual Citizen Refugee Question

Law360: The Second Circuit held on Tuesday that a dual national asylum-seeker can qualify as a refugee by showing persecution in just one of their countries of nationality, reversing a lower tribunal’s decision.

 

CA3 on Expedited Removal

CA3: For the reasons that follow, we hold that we have jurisdiction to review Barradas-Jacome’s legal argument in the first instance because DHS’s expedited removal procedures do not allow aliens to challenge the legal basis for their removal. We  also  hold  that  Barradas-Jacome’s  state  conviction [for receiving stolen property]  is  an  aggravated felony under the Immigration and Nationality Act(INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(G). So we will deny his petition for review.

 

CA4 on Venue: Herrera-Alcala v. Garland

LexisNexis: During the video conference hearing, Herrera-Alcala was in the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana) and the Immigration Judge was in the Fourth Circuit (Virginia). … Venue under § 1252(b)(2) depends on the location of the Immigration Judge. And the Immigration Judge was in Falls Church, Virginia, making venue proper in the Fourth Circuit.”

 

Unpub. CA5 Niz-Chavez VacRem: Tamayo-Lara v. Garland

LexisNexis: We have recently concluded, however, that the BIA’s reading of Section 1229(a) in Matter of Pena-Mejia is “directly contrary to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of § 1229(a) in Niz-Chavez [v. Garland, 141 S. Ct. 1474 (2021),] which made clear that subsequent notices may not cure defects in an initial notice to appeal.” Rodriguez, 15 F.4th at 355. Thus, we conclude the NTA served on Tamayo-Lara failed to meet the notice requirements of Section 1229(a), and the BIA abused its discretion by failing to reopen Tamayo-Lara’s proceedings. We GRANT Tamayo-Lara’s petition, VACATE the BIA’s decision, and REMAND for further proceedings.”

 

CA6 on Stay of Removal: Rondon Antonio v. Garland

LexisNexis: Whether these issues satisfy the standard to grant Rondon Antonio’s petition is a question that goes to the ultimate merits which we do not address at this juncture. But his claim is far from frivolous and, in light of his strong showing of irreparable harm, his arguments present a sufficient likelihood of success to weigh in favor of granting a stay pending an appeal on the merits.

 

9th Circ. Says TPS Isn’t ‘Admission’ To US For Removal Relief

Law360: The Ninth Circuit ruled that an ex-temporary protected status holder does not qualify for deportation relief available to long-term residents, saying his receipt of the protected status wasn’t an “admission” to the U.S. that allowed him to begin accruing residency.

 

9th Circ. Says Salvadoran Ineligible For 2nd Deportation Relief

Law360: The Ninth Circuit affirmed a Board of Immigration Appeals decision rejecting a Salvadoran man’s second request for deportation relief, saying he was granted a cancellation of a removal order that rendered him ineligible for a second grant under another law.

 

Documents Relating to Flores v. Reno Settlement Agreement on Minors in Immigration Custody

AILA: The parties reached a settlement to resolve plaintiffs’ motion to enforce, agreeing on standards for medical and physical care as well as legal and educational services the government must provide children held in emergency intake sites (EISs). (Flores, et al. v. Garland, et al., 6/22/22)

 

Judge says NYC can’t let noncitizens vote in city elections

AP: Immigrant rights advocates decried the ruling and were looking ahead to a potential appeal…More than a dozen communities across the United States allow noncitizens to cast ballots in local elections, including 11 towns in Maryland and two in Vermont. In San Francisco, noncitizens can vote in school board races; New York City allowed the same for three decades, until its school board was disbanded in 2002. Meanwhile, Alabama, Colorado and Florida have in recent years adopted rules that would preempt any attempts to pass laws like the one in New York City. Arizona and North Dakota already had prohibitions on the books.

 

White House Releases Memo Extending and Expanding Eligibility for DED for Liberians

AILA: The White House announced the grant of DED and employment authorization through 6/30/24 for Liberian DED beneficiaries as of 6/30/22, and Liberian nationals who have been continuously present in the U.S. since 5/20/17. (87 FR 38871, 6/29/22)

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

 

 

**************

Thanks, Elizabeth!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

07-07-22

Related posts:

  1. THE GIBSON REPORT:  05-09-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — HEADLINERS: 2d Cir. Reverses BIA On CIMT; Texas AG Targets Legal Assistance To Migrants; EOIR “Friend of Court” Memo; Lack Of Immigrants Hurting U.S. Economy — PLUS BONUS COVERAGE:  New Legal Aid Alliance Aims to Build a Model for Universal Representation for Detained Immigrants!
  2. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 05-23-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — Contrary To Myth, Vast Majority of Released Migrants Appear For Hearings; Trump Judges Continue Cruel, Illegal, Racially Motivated Programs!
  3. ⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC: Stephen Miller Was Even More Of A Disreputable Scofflaw! — 9th Halts BIA’s “Rote Formula” For Improperly Denying CAT W/O Meaningful Analysis — EOIR In Louisiana Continues To Be “Death Valley” ☠️⚰️  For Asylum Seekers:  “‘I feel that the big problem we face today is that there is a real dehumanization of the entire process,’ said Mich Gonzalez, Associate Director of Advocacy at the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
  4. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 03-15-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Keep Up To Date On The Biden Administration’s Immigration Plans & Actions!

⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC: Stephen Miller Was Even More Of A Disreputable Scofflaw! — 9th Halts BIA’s “Rote Formula” For Improperly Denying CAT W/O Meaningful Analysis — EOIR In Louisiana Continues To Be “Death Valley” ☠️⚰️  For Asylum Seekers:  “‘I feel that the big problem we face today is that there is a real dehumanization of the entire process,’ said Mich Gonzalez, Associate Director of Advocacy at the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

PRACTICE UPDATES

 

Reminder: Mayorkas Enforcement Priorities Memo No Longer in Effect as of 6/24/22

The 6/10/22 order in Texas v. United States vacating the memo went into effect 6/24/22 and has not been stayed at this time. Regardless of the memo, it is important to continue arguing that prosecutorial discretion is a longstanding executive power and DHS retains the ability to join motions, stipulate to relief, etc. See Practice Alert: Judge Tipton Issues Decision Vacating Mayorkas Enforcement Priorities Memo.

 

Some USCIS Field Office Return to Requiring Masks

USCIS: Where community levels are high, all federal employees and contractors—as well as visitors two years old or older—must wear a mask inside USCIS offices and physically distance regardless of vaccination status. Check CDC Level for Your Field Office.

 

NEWS

 

ICE Detains About 23,400 at End of June While Agency’s Electronic Monitoring Program Grows to 280,000

TRAC: After hovering around 20,000 for several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detained population reached 23,390 on June 19, 2022—down slightly from the start of the month but still higher than in previous months. About three-quarters (74 percent) of people in detention were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The number of immigrants arrested by ICE saw a modest but steady increase up to a total of 5,979. See also GAO: Alternatives to Detention: ICE Needs to Better Assess Program Performance and Improve Contract Oversight; Meet SmartLINK, the App Tracking Nearly a Quarter Million Immigrants.

 

Detained Immigrant Women Are Facing A Grueling Abortion Struggle

Bustle: At a base level, the abortion restrictions detained women face are similar to the ones that low-income women face across the country because of the Hyde Amendment. For more than 40 years, the Hyde Amendment has prevented women on Medicaid from using federally funded insurance to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life. The same type of language exists in appropriations bills and healthcare regulations for all facets of the federal government, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

(This article is from 2017, but for an update, compare this list of detention centers with this map of abortion laws.)

 

Border Patrol paroles migrants to avoid massive overcrowding

AP: The Border Patrol paroled more than 207,000 migrants who crossed from Mexico from August through May, including 51,132 in May, a 28% increase from April, according to court records. In the previous seven months, it paroled only 11 migrants.

 

US on course to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing war this summer

Guardian: At least 71,000 Ukrainians have entered the US since March, with Joe Biden’s pledge to welcome 100,000 people fleeing the Russian invasion on track to be met over the summer.

 

Decades’ Worth of Unused Immigrant Visas Salvaged in House Bill

Bloomberg: The amendment, which faces a long path to the finish line in the appropriations process, would allow DHS to recapture family and employment-based visas that went unused due to bureaucratic snags, processing delays, and other disruptions since 1992.

 

State Department Denies Substantial Percentage of Employer-Sponsored Immigrant Visas

AIC: Data analyzed by the Cato Institute shows that since Fiscal Year 2008, USCIS denied about 8% of employer-sponsored immigrants while the average denial rate by consular officers was 63%.

 

White House To Release Final DACA Rule In August

Law360: The Biden administration announced plans to issue a final Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals rule by August and continue its efforts to undo multiple Trump-era regulations. Here are the main immigration highlights from the administration’s regulatory agenda for spring 2022.

 

Virginia budget to move funding from DACA students to state’s HBCUs

WaPo: Critics of the measure say it perpetuates a false scarcity problem at a time when Virginia has a budget surplus, and it demands that lawmakers sacrifice one needy group of students for another.

 

Revelations Show Trump Immigration Policy Was Supposed To Be Harsher

Forbes: In a new book describing her years during the Trump administration, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos revealed a plan by Stephen Miller to identify children at school for deportation under the pretext of checking for gang members.

 

Feds Agree To Improve Emergency Shelters For Migrant Kids

Law360: The Biden administration has agreed to impose new living and sanitary standards on temporary emergency facilities housing hundreds of migrant children to resolve advocates’ claims that it was holding minors in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

 

Louisiana immigration judges denied 88% of the asylum cases between 2016 and 2021: here’s why

The Advocate: Immigration judges in Louisiana have denied asylum claims at a higher rate than almost any other courts in the nation over the past five years, according to federal data. However, a new federal rule might downsize their role in asylum proceedings.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

The 4 remaining Supreme Court cases of this blockbuster term

CNN: The justices are considering whether the Biden administration can terminate a Trump-era border policy known as “Remain in Mexico.” Lower courts have so far blocked Biden from ending the policy.

 

SCOTUS sends B-Z-R- Mental Health PSC Case back to CA10

SCOTUS: The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted.  The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit for further consideration in light of Matter of B-Z-R-, 28 I&N Dec. 563  (A.G. 2022).

 

Matter of Nchifor, 28 I&N Dec. 585 (BIA 2022)

BIA: A respondent who raises an objection to missing time or place information in a notice to appear for the first time in a motion to reopen has forfeited that objection.

 

3rd Circ. Rejects Immigration Ruling Over Pa. Eluding Law

Law360: A Dominican man got a new chance to fight his deportation on Tuesday when the Third Circuit ruled that his felony conviction under Pennsylvania’s fleeing and eluding law didn’t necessarily amount to a crime of moral turpitude.

 

CA5 on Statutory Birthright Citizenship: Garza-Flores v. Mayorkas

LexisNexis: For years, Petitioner Javier Garza-Flores did not believe he had a valid claim to U.S. citizenship. But now he thinks that he does. And he has presented documentary evidence sufficient to demonstrate, at a minimum, a genuine issue of material fact concerning his claim of U.S. citizenship. That is enough to warrant a factual proceeding before a federal district court to determine his citizenship.

 

CA7 Menghistab v. Garland

CA7: The Board’s main quibble was with the relevance of that evidence to an Ethiopian citizen, which it assumed Menghistab to be. But that assumption was not warranted on the record that was before the Board. Denying the motion to reopen without a full hearing addressing Menghistab’s citizenship and its materiality to his risk of torture was therefore an abuse of discretion.

 

9th Circ. Says BIA Erred In Not Considering All Torture Risks

Law360: The Ninth Circuit on Friday granted a Salvadoran’s request to have the Board of Immigration Appeals review claims that he would be tortured if sent back to the Central American country, saying the board originally failed to consider all possible risk sources.

 

CBP Settles FOIA Suit Over Foreign Pot Workers Policy

Law360: U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP have settled a Freedom of Information Act suit the firm filed over reports the agency decided Canadian cannabis workers weren’t eligible to enter the U.S., which led to an overturned internal document contradicting officials.

 

Construction Worker Reported To ICE Wins $650K At Trial

Law360: A Boston federal jury has found a construction company and its owner liable for retaliating against an employee by reporting him to immigration authorities after his on-the-job injury triggered a workplace investigation, awarding $650,000 in damages.

 

INA 212(a)(9)(B) Policy Manual Guidance

USCIS: A noncitizen who again seeks admission more than 3 or 10 years after the relevant departure or removal, is not inadmissible under INA 212(a)(9)(B) even if the noncitizen returned to the United States, with or without authorization, during the statutory 3-year or 10-year period

 

Biden administration halts limits on ICE arrests following court ruling

CBS: While the suspension of ICE’s arrest prioritization scheme is unlikely to place the country’s estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants in immediate danger of being arrested, the absence of national standards could lead to inconsistent enforcement actions across the U.S., including arrests of immigrants whom agents were previously instructed not to detain, legal experts said.

 

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Requirements

ICE: Deletion: The new facility status determination framework replaces the language limiting population capacity to 75%.

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

 

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

 

 

********************

Stephen Miller Monster
Attribution: Stephen Miller Monster by Peter Kuper, PoliticalCartoons.com
  • According to a new book from former Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos:

“Over the din of patrons slurping lattes and crunching salads, Miller’s men described a plan to put U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into schools under the pretext of identifying MS-13 gang members. The plan was, when agents checked students’ citizenship status for the alleged purpose of identifying gang ties, they could identify undocumented students and deport them. Not only was the prospect of this chilling, but it was also patently illegal. Nate and Ebony turned them down cold. But that didn’t stop Stephen Miller from subsequently calling me to get my thoughts on the idea. 

  • For years, the BIA has had standard practice of giving short shrift to potentially valid claims for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Without meaningful analysis they simply cite John Ashcroft’s infamous “no CAT precedent” in Matter of J-F-F-,  23 I&N Dec. 912 (A.G. 2006), requiring that “each link in the chain of torture be proved to be probable.” 

Since there is almost always some allegedly “weak link in the chain” that’s an “easy handle” for denial.  Also, The IJ and the BIA can “lengthen the chain” or ignore the evidence as necessary to “get to no.” In the process, compelling evidence of likelihood of torture from qualified expert witnesses is either ignored or minimized — again, without much analysis. That’s how the “denial factory” in Falls Church can keep churning out CAT rejections even to countries where torture is rampant and either furthered or willfully ignored by the repressive governments.

At least in the 9th Circuit, the BIA will now have to go “back to the drawing board” for denying CAT and returning  individuals to countries where torture with government participation or acquiescence is likely. The 9th Circuit case rejecting the BIA’s “formula for denial” is Velasquez-Samayoa v. Garland. Here’s a link in addition to the one provided by Elizabeth.  https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca9-on-cat-velasquez-samayoa-v-garland

  • Louisiana has long been one of a number of EOIR “courts” — these are actually “prison courts” — where “asylum cases go to die.” The deadly combination of bad Immigration Judges, lack of skilled immigration attorneys able to take these cases pro bono, coercive use of detention in out of the way places in substandard conditions, a “denial oriented” BIA stacked by the Trump DOJ and not “unstacked by Garland,” and an indolent, often virulently anti-asylum 5th Circuit add up to potential death sentences for individuals who could gain protection under a system where due process and fundamental fairness were respected and followed.

As the report in The Advocate referenced by Elizabeth shows, Garland has failed to reform and improve this blot on American justice. And, there is little chance that assigning the cases to USCIS Asylum Office in the first instance under new regulations in this intentionally toxic environment is going to promote justice or efficiency. 

One might view the wide discrepancy between “positive credible fear findings” and asylum grants in Immigration Court as a sign of a sick and dying EOIR, not lack of merit for the claims. With less detention, more representation, better Immigration Judges, and a new BIA of true asylum experts willing to grant protection rather than “engineer rejection,” I’ll bet that many, perhaps a majority, of the outcomes would be more favorable to applicants. 

As noted by Mitch Gonzalez of the SPLC in the article, “dehumanization,” “de-personification,” and “Dred Scottification,” along with cruelty are the objects of what’s going on at EOIR in Louisiana. The “fit” with the Trump/Miller White Nationalist anti-immigrant program is obvious. What’s less obvious is why Garland and the Biden Administration haven’t intervened to make the necessary changes to restore EOIR in Louisiana and elsewhere to at least some semblance of a fair and impartial “court system.” 

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-28-22

Related posts:

  1. REGIME’S NEWEST SCHEME TO SCREW ASYLUM SEEKERS: BOGUS REGS THAT WOULD ILLEGALLY & UNNECESSARILY EXTEND THE GROUNDS OF “MANDATORY DENIAL,” DECREASE ADJUDICATOR DISCRETION, & SHAFT REFUGEE FAMILIES — Regime’s Outlandish “Efficiency Rationale” Fails to Mask Their Cruelty, Racism, Fraud, Waste, & Abuse – Julia Edwards Ainsley (NBC News) & Dean Kevin R. Johnson (ImmigrationProf Blog) Report
  2. HOW “AMERICA’S KILLER COURTS” PROMOTE “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY” — HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: TRUMP & HIS WHITE NATIONALIST SYCOPHANTS & TOADIES TOUT LAWLESS POLICIES THAT VIOLATE LEGAL OBLIGATIONS & HELP KILL, RAPE, TORTURE THOSE RETURNED TO EL SALVADOR — Supremes & Article III Judiciary Complicit In Gross Human Rights Violations! 
  3. GROSS NATIONAL DISGRACE: “A Fucking Disaster That Is Designed to Fail”: How Trump Wrecked America’s Immigration Courts — Fernanda Echavarri Reports For Mother Jones On How Our Failed Justice System Daily Abuses The Most Vulnerable While Feckless Legislators &   Smugly Complicit Article III Judges Look On & Ignore The Human Carnage They Are Enabling — “ Two days after US immigration officials sent her to Tijuana, she was raped.”
  4. 🧑🏽‍⚖️⚖️🗽🇺🇸WHO’S JUDGE IS IT ANYWAY? — The Crisis Of Independence In Our Immigration Courts! — Coming April 7, 2021! — Sponsored By The HNBA! — Don’t Miss It!

🤮 THE GIBSON REPORT — 06-21-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — US “CELEBRATES” ☠️ WORLD REFUGEE DAY BY DUMPING ON REFUGEES — “The U.S. is on track to resettle only 18,962 refugees in fiscal 2022 — a fraction of the 125,000 ceiling set by President Joe Biden.”

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

PRACTICE UPDATES

 

EOIR Issues Guidance on Pre-hearing Conferences in Immigration Proceedings

AILA: EOIR issued a memo on pre-hearing conferences, stating that, “immigration judges should therefore actively and routinely encourage parties to engage in pre-hearing communications, both for the efficiency of the court and for the efficacy of the pro bono representation.”

 

Juneteenth Interviews Cancelled

USCIS: USCIS offices were closed on June 18, 2021 in observance of the Juneteenth federal holiday. All in-person appointments, including interviews and oath ceremonies (administrative and judicial), will automatically be rescheduled.

 

Updated OPLA Chicago Joint Motion to Reopen Cover Sheet (attached)

AILA: OPLA Chicago will not prioritize review of joint motion to reopen requests, unless there is an urgent reason for review identified on the JMTR Coversheet. The 30-day timeframe for review of PD requests for cases with active immigration proceedings does not apply to requests for joint motions to reopen.

 

NEWS

 

A Decade After DACA, the Rise of a New Generation of Undocumented Students

NYT: For the first time, a majority of the undocumented immigrants graduating from high schools across the United States have none of the protections offered over the past 10 years under an Obama-era program that shielded most of the so-called Dreamers from deportation and offered them access to jobs and help with college tuition… During the decade since DACA took effect in June 2012, some 800,000 young people have registered. But a long-term political solution never materialized. See also As DACA immigrant program turns 10, legal challenges persist; Republican donors to GOP leaders: Bipartisan immigration reform would ease inflation; Stories from Immigrants Who Have Grown up in the Decade of DACA.

 

U.S. Supreme Court spurns Republican bid to defend Trump immigration rule

Reuters: The unsigned one-sentence ruling “dismissed as improvidently granted” an appeal by 13 Republican state attorneys general led by Arizona’s Mark Brnovich seeking to defend the rule in court after Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration refused to do so and rescinded it. The rule widened the scope of immigrants deemed likely to become a “public charge” mainly dependent on the government for subsistence.

 

The U.S. marks World Refugee Day, even as it accepts fewer refugees

Philly Inq: The latest admissions figures are paltry, with 1,898 people admitted in May. That means the U.S. is on track to resettle only 18,962 refugees in fiscal 2022 — a fraction of the 125,000 ceiling set by President Joe Biden.

 

U.S. is rejecting over 90% of Afghans seeking to enter the country on humanitarian grounds

CBS: Since July 2021, USCIS has received over 46,000 applications from Afghans hoping to come to the U.S. through the parole process. But most parole applications from Afghans remain unresolved — and over 90% of fewer than 5,000 fully adjudicated requests have been denied, USCIS statistics shared with CBS News show. See also Biden administration eases terrorism-related restrictions for Afghan evacuees.

 

5,000 Asylum-Seekers Added to the Migrant Protection Protocols 2.0, Few Are Granted Asylum

TRAC: Cases in MPP are generally being completed within the 180-day time frame set by the administration, but the problem with low rates of access to attorneys and unusually low rates of asylum success that plagued the first implementation of MPP continue this year.

 

Immigrant Detention Numbers on Their Way Back Up After Pandemic Slump?

TRAC: After hovering around 20,000 for several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detained population reached 24,591 at the start of June. Most of the people in detention (76 percent or 18,796) were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But immigrants arrested by ICE—a total of 5,795—were at the highest number since March 2021.

 

‘No Place for a Child’: 1 in 3 Migrants Held in Border Patrol Facilities Is a Minor

Politico: Since early 2017, one of every three people held in a Border Patrol facility was a minor, a far bigger share than has been reported before now, according to an analysis by The Marshall Project of previously unpublished official records. Out of almost 2 million people detained by the Border Patrol from February 2017 through June 2021, more than 650,000 were under 18, the analysis showed. More than 220,000 of those children, about one-third, were held for longer than 72 hours, the period established by federal court rulings and an anti-trafficking statute as a limit for border detention of children.

 

Border Patrol Brutalizing Haitian Migrants Is Now a Commemorative Coin

Vice: U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it is investigating, will take “appropriate action” if it finds CBP officers were involved in the making or distribution of the coins, and will send cease-and-desist letters to any sellers, a spokesperson told the Herald. See also I was a border patrol agent. The experience was horrifying.

 

New York’s historic Stonewall Monument holds U.S. naturalization ceremony

Reuters: A naturalization ceremony was held for 12 new citizens at the historic Stonewall Monument in New York on Friday, as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) commemorated Pride Month.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Top Immigration Cases In 2022: Midyear Review

Law360: The federal courts handed down several important immigration rulings this year on issues ranging from border agents’ personal liability for constitutional violations to California’s authority to ban private immigration detention facilities. Here, Law360 takes a look at the most significant immigration decisions from the first half of 2022.

 

Matter of D-L-S-, 28 I&N Dec. 568 (BIA 2022)

BIA: A  respondent  who  is  subject  to  a  deferred  adjudication  that  satisfies  the  elements  of  sections 101(a)(48)(A)(i) and (ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(A)(i) and (ii) (2018), has been “convicted by a final judgment” within the meaning of the particularly serious crime bar under section 241(b)(3)(B)(ii) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(B)(ii) (2018).

 

CA1 on Credibility: Reyes Pujols v. Garland

LexisNexis: [T]he BIA upheld an adverse credibility determination that the IJ reached in part based on an inconsistency in Reyes’s story that simply was not an inconsistency. Nor can we say that absent the adverse credibility finding, Reyes’s CAT claim would necessarily fail. We therefore must vacate the BIA’s ruling affirming the IJ’s denial of that claim.

 

5th Circ. Shoots Down Nonprofit Bid To Crack Open Title 42

Law360: The Fifth Circuit on Thursday rejected a legal service provider’s attempts to open up parts of the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum-seekers by narrowing an injunction order requiring the Biden administration to enforce COVID-19 border restrictions nationwide.

 

Split 6th Circ. Gives Honduran Asylum-Seekers Another Shot

Law360: A split Sixth Circuit panel told the Board of Immigration Appeals to take another look at whether a Honduran woman and her two children can stay in the U.S. as refugees after they claimed they suffered violence and intimidation by the brutal MS-13 gang.

 

CA7 on Categorical Approach: Aguirre-Zuñiga v. Garland

LexisNexis: Because there are optical and positional isomers of methamphetamine, and the Indiana legislature chose not to limit the Indiana Statute to optical isomers at the time of Aguirre-Zuniga’s conviction, “Indiana’s generic use of ‘isomer’ in relation to methamphetamine must be broader than optical isomers.” Section 35-48-4-1.1 was facially overbroad at the time of Aguirre-Zuniga’s conviction; thus, it does not qualify as an aggravated felony under the INA.

 

8th Circ. Tosses 4th Amendment Claim In Atty Shoving Suit

Law360: The Eighth Circuit has overturned a Missouri district court’s denial of qualified immunity to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who allegedly pushed and injured an immigration attorney, saying the push did not qualify as a seizure violating the Fourth Amendment.

 

9th Circ. Denies Asylum Case Review Over Unreliable Identity

Law360: The Ninth Circuit shut down a Jamaican asylum seeker’s second quest to reopen his asylum proceedings, saying that his previous unreliable testimony justified rejecting his new claims of political strife and violence in Jamaica.

 

Deportation Law Doesn’t Block Free Speech, 9th Circ. Says

Law360: A divided Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a Mexican man’s deportation from the United States, ruling that because he encouraged his son to enter the U.S. illegally, federal law prohibits him from overturning his pending removal.

 

Split 9th Circ. Revives Nicaraguan’s Asylum Bid

Law360: A split Ninth Circuit panel gave a Nicaraguan man a new chance at asylum on Monday, faulting an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals for finding the man hadn’t faced persecution despite suffering a beating and death threats for opposing the ruling government.

 

Ohio Says High Court Limits Don’t Apply To ICE Ops Case

Law360: Ohio has rebuked the Biden administration’s attempts to use a recent high court ruling to notch a Sixth Circuit victory in litigation challenging its immigration enforcement priorities, saying the justices’ new limits on courts’ injunctive immigration power warrants, at most, a remand.

 

Texas Justices Revive Family Detention Center Rule Challenge

Law360: The Texas Supreme Court on Friday revived a challenge to a state licensing rule for immigration detention centers that allegedly increased the risk of sexual assault against detained minors, overturning an appeals court’s finding that the challengers lacked standing to sue.

 

Unlawful Presence – Joint Status Report, Velasco de Gomez v. USCIS, May 25, 2022

LexisNexis: USCIS intends to modify its interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1189(a)(9)(B) to no longer require an applicant for adjustment to spend his or her period of inadmissibility outside of the United States and is in the process of finalizing a revised policy, including final approval by the Department of Homeland Security, and issuing new guidance to USCIS adjudicators. USCIS also affirms that it is not currently denying adjustment applications or requiring applicants to file waiver applications on the basis that an applicant returned to the United States within the period of inadmissibility under this section.

 

Advance Copy: DHS and DOS Notice on Exemption from Inadmissibility for Certain Individuals Who Assisted the U.S. in Afghanistan

AILA: Advance copy of DHS and DOS notice exempting certain individuals who assisted the United States in Afghanistan from inadmissibility under INA §212(a)(3)(B).

 

Advance Copy: DHS and DOS Notice on Exemption from Inadmissibility for Insignificant or Limited Material Support

AILA: Advance copy of DHS and DOS notice exempting individuals who provided insignificant or certain limited material support to a designated terrorist organization from inadmissibility under INA §212(a)(3)(B).

 

Advance Copy: DHS and DOS Notice on Exemption from Inadmissibility for Certain Afghan Civil Servants

AILA: Advance copy of DHS and DOS notice exempting certain individuals employed as civil servants in Afghanistan between 9/27/96 and 12/22/01, or after 8/15/21, from inadmissibility under INA §212(a)(3)(B).

 

CBP Launches Heat Mitigation Effort in Tucson, Arizona

AILA: CBP launched a heat mitigation effort in Tucson, whereby new Heat Stress Kits/Go-Bags will be distributed to 500 CBP agents. These are part of a feasibility study on heat stress awareness. Kits are meant to mitigate potential heat stress injuries and illnesses for agents and migrants alike.

 

EOIR Updates Part II of the Policy Manual

AILA: EOIR updated chapters 7.1 and 7.4 of the policy manual, and added chapter 7.6 to update procedures for credible fear screening and consideration of asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection claims by asylum officers.

 

CDC Lifts Requirement that International Air Travelers Have Negative COVID Test

AILA: The CDC issued an order rescinding a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19, effective at 12:01 am (ET) on Sunday, June 12, 2022, saying it is “not currently necessary.” (87 FR 36129, 6/15/22)

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

 

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

**********************

Doubt that the “LA Declaration on Migration” is DOA? Check out these items from Elizabeth’s report:

A Decade After DACA, the Rise of a New Generation of Undocumented Students

NYT: For the first time, a majority of the undocumented immigrants graduating from high schools across the United States have none of the protections offered over the past 10 years under an Obama-era program that shielded most of the so-called Dreamers from deportation and offered them access to jobs and help with college tuition… During the decade since DACA took effect in June 2012, some 800,000 young people have registered. But a long-term political solution never materialized. See also As DACA immigrant program turns 10, legal challenges persist; Republican donors to GOP leaders: Bipartisan immigration reform would ease inflation; Stories from Immigrants Who Have Grown up in the Decade of DACA.

 

The U.S. marks World Refugee Day, even as it accepts fewer refugees

Philly Inq: The latest admissions figures are paltry, with 1,898 people admitted in May. That means the U.S. is on track to resettle only 18,962 refugees in fiscal 2022 — a fraction of the 125,000 ceiling set by President Joe Biden.

 

U.S. is rejecting over 90% of Afghans seeking to enter the country on humanitarian grounds

CBS: Since July 2021, USCIS has received over 46,000 applications from Afghans hoping to come to the U.S. through the parole process. But most parole applications from Afghans remain unresolved — and over 90% of fewer than 5,000 fully adjudicated requests have been denied, USCIS statistics shared with CBS News show. See also Biden administration eases terrorism-related restrictions for Afghan evacuees.

 

5,000 Asylum-Seekers Added to the Migrant Protection Protocols 2.0, Few Are Granted Asylum

TRAC: Cases in MPP are generally being completed within the 180-day time frame set by the administration, but the problem with low rates of access to attorneys and unusually low rates of asylum success that plagued the first implementation of MPP continue this year.

 

Immigrant Detention Numbers on Their Way Back Up After Pandemic Slump?

TRAC: After hovering around 20,000 for several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detained population reached 24,591 at the start of June. Most of the people in detention (76 percent or 18,796) were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But immigrants arrested by ICE—a total of 5,795—were at the highest number since March 2021.

 

‘No Place for a Child’: 1 in 3 Migrants Held in Border Patrol Facilities Is a Minor

Politico: Since early 2017, one of every three people held in a Border Patrol facility was a minor, a far bigger share than has been reported before now, according to an analysis by The Marshall Project of previously unpublished official records. Out of almost 2 million people detained by the Border Patrol from February 2017 through June 2021, more than 650,000 were under 18, the analysis showed. More than 220,000 of those children, about one-third, were held for longer than 72 hours, the period established by federal court rulings and an anti-trafficking statute as a limit for border detention of children.

 

Border Patrol Brutalizing Haitian Migrants Is Now a Commemorative Coin

Vice: U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it is investigating, will take “appropriate action” if it finds CBP officers were involved in the making or distribution of the coins, and will send cease-and-desist letters to any sellers, a spokesperson told the Herald. See also I was a border patrol agent. The experience was horrifying.

Split 6th Circ. Gives Honduran Asylum-Seekers Another Shot

Law360: A split Sixth Circuit panel told the Board of Immigration Appeals to take another look at whether a Honduran woman and her two children can stay in the U.S. as refugees after they claimed they suffered violence and intimidation by the brutal MS-13 gang.

Incorrectly trying to send women and children back to Honduras? That’s an example of our commitment to “protecting the safety, dignity, human rights, and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced and stateless persons regardless of their migratory status?” Duh — not even close!

Not much doubt that a competent Immigration Judge, expert in both asylum and real country conditions in Honduras (which has one of the world’s highest femicide rates), would have been able to grant this at the trial level. Instead, amateurish and biased attempts to incorrectly deny asylum to refugees continue to clutter our courts at all levels! No wonder EOIR can’t stop building “artificial backlog!”

I recently highlighted two other “case-related examples,” of the “yawning gap” between the humane promises of the LA Declaration and the lousy actual performance of EOIR on what should be easily grantable asylum cases! See, e.g.,

https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/06/16/%f0%9f%8f%b4%e2%98%a0%ef%b8%8fany-reason-to-deny-asylum-bia-hits-rough-sledding-from-coast-to-coast-1st-cir-bogus-adverse-credibility-9th-cir-ludicrous/.

Outrageously, EOIR is still predominantly a rogue “any reason to deny” pseudo-court where the “culture” encourages judges to contrive results, misinterpret facts, and misapply the law to wrongfully “hold down the number of grants” to Brown and Black refugees who need and deserve protection under our law and international  agreements. Indeed large portions of our domestic and international legal refugee and asylum systems remain illegally suspended or functionally inoperative!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-22-22

 

 

Related posts:

  1. 🧑🏽‍⚖️⚖️🗽🇺🇸WHO’S JUDGE IS IT ANYWAY? — The Crisis Of Independence In Our Immigration Courts! — Coming April 7, 2021! — Sponsored By The HNBA! — Don’t Miss It!
  2. 🇺🇸😎⚖️🗽👍🏼LAW YOU CAN USE:  Michelle Mendez and CLINIC Publish A New Practice Advisory on Opening & Closing Statements in Immigration Court
  3. 🛡⚔️⚖️ROUND TABLE (WITH LOTS OF HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS @ AKIN GUMP) CONTINUES TO AID NDPA ⚖️🗽🦸🏽‍♂️🦸‍♀️IN TAKING IT TO THE EOIR CLOWN SHOW🤡🧟! —  The Forces Of Bigotry, White Nationalism, “Dred Scottification,” & Malicious Incompetence Will Be Driven From The Field & Removed From  The Power They Have So Grossly & Disgracefully Abused! — Read Our Latest Amicus Brief ⚖️🗽👍👨🏽‍⚖️🤵🏻‍♀️👩‍⚖️ In Pangea II Here!
  4. THE GIBSON REPORT — 03-01-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — FEATURING: Under The EOIR Big Top 🎪 Robed TV Carnival Barkers Hand Out Death Sentences ☠️ With Ignorance, Indolence, Indifference, & Insult To Injury!

⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 06-13-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — Biden Administration’s Increase In Haitian Deportations Undermines “Los Angeles Declaration” From The Git Go — “Do As I Say, Not As I Do,” Still Administration’s “Message” On Immigration, Racial Justice, Human Rights!

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • ◦NEWS
  • ◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • ◦RESOURCES
  • ◦EVENTS

 

NEWS

 

Some immigrants can be detained at least six months without bond hearing, Supreme Court rules

CNN: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the federal government can continue to detain certain immigrants in removal proceedings without giving them a bond hearing after six months, in case where the Biden administration has prevailed over the immigration activists who opposed the government in the case.

 

Federal judge in Texas throws out Biden administration immigration enforcement guidelines

CNN: A federal judge in Texas vacated guidelines set by the Biden administration over who is to be prioritized for immigration enforcement, according to a Friday ruling.

 

The Supreme Court gives lawsuit immunity to Border Patrol agents who violate the Constitution

Vox: Justice Clarence Thomas’s majority opinion in Egbert v. Boule, moreover, has implications that stretch far beyond the border. Egbert guts a seminal Supreme Court precedent, Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents (1971), which established that federal law enforcement officers who violate the Constitution may be individually sued — and potentially be required to compensate their victims for their illegal actions.

 

Biden and Latin American Leaders Announce Migration Deal

NYT: The agreement, called the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, commits the United States to taking 20,000 refugees from Latin America during the next two years, a threefold increase, according to White House officials. Mr. Biden also pledged to increase the number of seasonal worker visas from Central America and Haiti by 11,500.

 

U.S. Accelerated Expulsions of Haitian Migrants in May

NYT: The Biden administration expelled nearly 4,000 Haitians on 36 deportation flights in May — a significant increase over the previous three months — after renegotiating agreements with the island nation, which has been crippled by gang violence and an expanding humanitarian crisis.

 

ICE searched LexisNexis Database over 1 million times in just seven months

Intercept_: Immigration and Customs Enforcement searched a massive database of personal information provided by LexisNexis over 1.2 million times in just a seven-month period in 2021, according to documents reviewed by The Intercept. Critics say the staggering search volume confirms fears that the data broker is enabling the mass surveillance and deportation of immigrants.

 

Lawyers for migrants say U.S. officials slowed family reunifications

WaPo: Weeks into the Trump administration’s family-separation policy, immigration officials fired off emails saying something was awry. The children were being reunited too quickly with their parents, an official wrote on a Friday night in late May 2018.

 

ICE limits migrants’ legal rights, raising deportation risk, ACLU report says

USA Today: Immigrants detained in civil cases face “monumental barriers in finding and communicating with attorneys,” which renders their right to legal representation “essentially meaningless,” according to the report released Thursday.

 

ICE To Consider Military Service In Deportation Decisions

Law360: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take into account whether noncitizens have served in the U.S. military when making decisions about whether to try to deport them, the agency announced Tuesday.

 

Big Tech calls for Biden administration to let foreign workers’ adult kids stay in the US

CNN: Without intervention, as many as 200,000 children in the United States risk “aging out” of their parents’ immigration status and face having to enter the immigration system as adults themselves, the companies wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

 

Mexico issues nearly 7,000 temporary documents and transit visas to migrants

NPR: In its statement, the Mexican migration agency did not specify what kind of documents were issued but most of the migrants showed papers that gave them a period of one month or more to leave the country or begin regularization procedures in Mexico. Most want to use the documents to reach the U.S. border.

 

Venezuelans big presence in caravan after visa requirement

AP: Before that change, Venezuelans had flown to Mexico City or Cancun as tourists and then made their way comfortably to the border. Many made it from home to the U.S. border in as little as four days.

 

U.S. loosens restrictions on Cuba travel, remittances amid summit blowback

Reuters: The United States on Wednesday moved to lift some Trump-era restrictions on remittances and travel to Cuba even as it fended off criticism for blocking the Communist-run island and long-time foe from attending a regional summit this week.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Justices Deny Right To Bond Hearing For Migrants

Law360: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that immigrants do not have a right to bond hearings when the government can show they are a flight risk, and that district courts lack the authority to order the government to provide such hearings on a class-wide basis.

 

Justices Refuse To Broaden Border Agents’ Personal Liability

Law360: Border agents can’t be sued in federal court for damages over alleged constitutional violations, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, citing concerns that broadening the legal liability of agents could negatively impact national security.

 

Fake SSN Card Is Grounds For Deportation, 9th Circ. Says

Law360: The Ninth Circuit denied a Honduran man’s bid to stay in the U.S., finding that his conviction in California for possessing a forged social security card with a counterfeit government seal is grounds for deportation as a crime involving moral turpitude.

 

CA9 On Particularly Serious Crime: Mendoza-Garcia V. Garland

LexisNexis[The BIA] applied a “presumption” that Petitioner’s conviction was a particularly serious crime and required him to “rebut” this presumption…The BIA committed an error of law, and abused its discretion, in failing to apply the correct legal standards in assessing whether Petitioner’s offense was a “particularly serious crime.”

 

IJ Distinguishes Jaco, Grants Asylum (PSG = Honduran Women)

LexisNexis: The particular social group of “Honduran women” was not at issue in Jaco, however, and the Fifth Circuit’s comment related to this group was incidental to the disposition of the case. Therefore, the Fifth Circuit’s comment regarding “Honduran women” as a particular social group is dicta and is not binding on this Court’s decision.

 

Texas Judge Axes Biden’s ICE Enforcement Policy Nationwide

Law360: A Texas federal judge on Friday threw out the Biden administration’s policy for prioritizing immigration enforcement, saying the guidance ran counter to a legal requirement to detain certain categories of immigrants.

 

Biden’s ICE Curbs Can’t Moot Immigrant Activists’ Speech Suit

Law360: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement couldn’t shake off claims that it targeted its critics for removal, as a Washington federal judge ruled on Thursday that the Biden administration’s curbs on immigration enforcement operations didn’t moot the retaliation suit.

 

Immigrants’ Negligence Claim Axed In $6M Suit Against Gov’t

Law360: A Washington federal judge tossed a negligence claim against the federal government from a father and son seeking $6 million after being forcibly separated at the southern border, saying the pair did not allege the government owed a duty of care.

 

Indiana Challenges Biden’s Immigrant Parole-Granting Policy

Law360: The Biden administration is facing yet another lawsuit over its immigration policies at the Southern border, this time from the state of Indiana, alleging that the administration is unlawfully granting parole to migrants and burdening state taxpayers as a result.

 

Asylum-Seekers Accuse USCIS Of Preventing Work Eligibility

Law360: A group of asylum-seekers have hit U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with a proposed class action, saying its policies and practices unlawfully prevent them and other asylum applicants from obtaining work authorization pending decisions on their asylum claims.

 

4th Circ. Revives Immigration Judges’ Free Speech Suit

Law360: The Fourth Circuit has revived a challenge by federal immigration judges to a Trump-era policy barring them from speaking up about the immigration courts, after a labor official formally dissolved their union.

 

DC Circ. Urged To Nix Order Busting Immigration Judge Union

Law360: The National Association of Immigration Judges asked the D.C. Circuit in a petition late Wednesday to overturn the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s 2020 decision that immigration judges cannot unionize, arguing that the FLRA’s order violated its members’ due process rights and protected liberty interest in joining a labor union.

 

DHS Notice of Designation of Cameroon for TPS

AILA: DHS notice of the designation of Cameroon for TPS for 18 months, effective 6/7/22 through 12/7/23. (87 FR 34706, 6/7/22)

 

USCIS Issues Policy Alert on SIJ Classification and Adjustment of Status

AILA: USCIS updated policy guidance to incorporate changes from the Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) Final Rule, including updated citations, new definitions, and clarifications. The updates apply to SIJ petitions and AOS applications filed or pending on or after 4/7/22.

 

CBP Announces Spanish Option for I-94 Features in the CBP One Mobile App

AILA: CBP announced that users of the CPB One mobile application will be able to select a Spanish-language version of the features that allow them to file applications for or receive electronic versions of I-94s. More information about Form I-94 is available.

 

CDC Lifts Requirement that International Air Travelers Have Negative COVID Test

AILA: The CDC issued an order rescinding a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19, effective at 12:01 am (ET) on Sunday, June 11, 2022, saying it is “not currently necessary.”

 

USCIS to Issue Corrected Form I-765 Receipt Notices

AILA: From May 4, 2022, to June 2, 2022, USCIS issued certain I-765 receipt notices with incorrect information. Corrected notices with language confirming the 540-day automatic extension should reach affected applicants by the third week of June.

 

DOS Announces Expansion of Immigrant Visa Processing in Havana to Include All Immediate Relative Categories

AILA: DOS announced that the U.S. Embassy Havana will schedule all immediate relative immigrant visa appointments to include spouses and children under 21 of U.S. citizens (IR/CR-1 and IR/CR-2), with interviews beginning in July 2022. More information in notice.

 

ICE to Consider Military Service When Determining Civil Immigration Enforcement

AILA: ICE announced a policy directive to consider U.S. military service when making discretionary determinations with regard to civil immigration enforcement actions against noncitizens.

 

State Dept. Looks For Refugee Resettlement Project Ideas

Law360: The U.S. State Department said it is seeking project ideas from nonprofits and other institutions on how to strengthen its refugee resettlement program in areas such as housing, community engagement and program participation.

 

RESOURCES

 

GENERAL RESOURCES

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

 

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

Note: CLINIC has cancelled and will be rescheduling two previously listed COIL courses.

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

*****************************

As I said, there are good reasons to be skeptical that the “Los Angeles Declaration” is anything other than meaningless rhetoric meant to deflect attention from the Biden Administration’s actual dismal performance on human rights, racial justice, and immigration.  https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/06/12/%f0%9f%8c%8ethe-americas-the-l-a-declaration-on-migration-protection-blueprint-for-action-or-more-empty-rhetoric/

It would be hard to imagine an action more out of line with the “LAD” than ramping up deportations of Black migrants to the dangerous, chaotic, failed state of Haiti. As the article from the NYT highlighted by Elizabeth above says:

The situation in Haiti has worsened over the past year. The International Organization for Migration, the largest nongovernmental aid group there, said that there were more than 200 kidnappings in May. Poverty is everywhere, and nearly half the country does not have adequate access to affordable and healthy food, according to the United Nations.

. . . .

In September, the Biden administration gave the organization $13.1 million intended to help Haitians getting off expulsion flights, providing cash and other assistance to help them to reintegrate. Many had been living in other countries in South America for years before making the journey to the United States.

The situation in Haiti has worsened over the past year. The International Organization for Migration, the largest nongovernmental aid group there, said that there were more than 200 kidnappings in May. Poverty is everywhere, and nearly half the country does not have adequate access to affordable and healthy food, according to the United Nations.

. . . .

The systemic issues that drive migration out of Haiti are expected to come up during the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles this week. Haiti’s interim prime minister, Ariel Henry, is in attendance.

President Biden ran for office promising to bring compassion to U.S. immigration policies, particularly those involving asylum. But rolling out new policies amid a sharp increase in migration and during a pandemic has proved difficult. Some Trump-era policies remain in place.

So, why is the Administration squandering  money, resources, and, incredibly, the goodwill of folks who actually voted for Biden/Harris to “ramp up” deportations and exclusions of migrants of color, many of them asylum applicants subject to a biased and unfair system, when we could actually use their skills in our economy, as this quote from an article by Dany Bahar at Brookings points out:

At the same time, 2021 resulted in the highest number of migrants entering or attempting to enter through the southern border to the United States. There is no reason to think this won’t continue in 2022. These migrants, mostly from the Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), are desperate to join the U.S. labor force, as they flee poor economic conditions—particularly after the economic slowdown caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic—as well as violence and instability in general. In response to this flow, the Biden-Harris administration has focused on significantly

increasing investment toward Central America, including Mexico, while at the same time telling immigrants in Guatemala “

do not come.”

pastedGraphic_1.png

Dany Bahar

Nonresident Senior Fellow – Global Economy and Development

Twitter dany_bahar

The irony is clear; if there was any time in the modern history of the United States to promote a flexibilization of its migration policies, it is now. It is the most efficient and easiest way to offer a smart solution to the unprecedented tightness in U.S. labor markets. It is a no-brainer for several reasons.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2022/02/24/president-biden-tear-down-those-walls-and-let-immigrants-take-jobs-in-high-demand/

It might be a “no brainer,” as Dany says, but it appears to be “above the pay grade” of Biden’s inept immigration policy team. They seem to be mostly “Stephen Miller fellow travelers.” Why? 

I suppose the only “silver lining” is that I can always count on inept policy officials in the Biden Administration to prove my points about what a horrible job they are doing for immigrants, for racial justice, for Due Process of law, for America, and for humanity!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-14-22

Related posts:

  1. TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION POLICY: “MALICIOUS INCOMPETENCE!” — Also, ICE Intentionally Falsifies Court Hearing Dates — Where Is The Accountability?
  2. Michael Paarlberg @ THE GUARDIAN: HOW WACKO & COUNTERPRODUCTIVE IS TRUMP/SESSIONS “GONZO” IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT? — Who Screws Their Friends & Productive Residents While Empowering Multinational Gangs? — “[MS-13] can’t really be described accurately as a single gang but is rather a network of gangs with little centralized authority and a franchised name, whose street value only increases with each press conference by Trump and Sessions. . . . There aren’t many beneficiaries of Trump’s immigration policy, but there’s at least one: MS-13 couldn’t have asked for a better president than Trump.”
  3. INCONVENIENT TRUTH: HALEY SWEETLAND EDWARDS @ TIME TELLS WHAT TRUMP, MILLER, COTTON, SESSIONS, & THEIR WHITE NATIONALIST GANG DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW: Human Migration Is A Powerful Force As Old As Human History; It’s A Plus For Receiving Nations; It Won’t Be Stopped By Walls, Jails, Racist Laws, Or Any Other Restrictionist Nonsense; But, It Can Be Intelligently Controlled, Channeled, Harnessed, & Used For The Benefit Of The U.S. & The Good Of The Migrants! — “But to maximize that future good, governments must act rationally to establish humane policies and adequately fund an immigration system equipped to handle an influx of newcomers.”
  4. 🏴‍☠️☠️🤮⚰️👎🏻KAKISTOCRACY HAS CONSEQUENCES: CLIMATE MIGRATION IS ONE OF THEM! — Trump’s Stupidity & Cruelty On Immigration Climate Science, & Disease Control Promises Horrible Global Human Disaster For Future Generations — Empowering & Enabling A Moron Is Always A Very Bad Idea!  — No Idiotic Wall Or “Drill Baby Drill” Insanity Is Going To Prevent This Human Catastrophe We Are Inflicting On Those Who Follow!

THE GIBSON REPORT — 05-31-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — More Restrictionist Myths Exposed, Graduating Dreamers, U.S. Employers Left “Twisting in the Wind”🤮 & Other Developments In The World Of Human Rights!

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • NEWS
  • LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • RESOURCES
  • EVENTS

 

NEWS

 

Around 100,000 ‘Dreamers’ to graduate without shot at work permits

Hill: DACA was put in place as a temporary stopgap in 2012, giving the right to work and study, and deferral from potential deportation, to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as minors before 2007… Only a quarter of 2022 undocumented graduates would be eligible for DACA, making it the first graduating class since the policy’s been in place to have a majority of post-DACA undocumented graduates.

 

Senate Votes Down Resolution To Ax Biden Asylum Rule

Law360: The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted down a resolution under the Congressional Review Act that could have overturned President Joe Biden’s policy vesting asylum officers with greater power over asylum. See also Biden prepares asylum overhaul at border, but court challenges loom.

 

ICE Agents Probably Won’t Arrest People Affected by the Texas Shooting

Vice: Federal officials declared Uvalde to be a “protected area” and said immigration agents would avoid enforcement “to the fullest extent possible.”

 

Legislators call for investigation into Boston asylum office over low rate of approvals

WGBH: In a letter sent Thursday to the Office of the Inspector General, the delegation wrote they’re concerned over a report that only 15.5% of asylum applicants reviewed by the Boston asylum office between 2015 to 2020 were approved, which is roughly half of the national average of 28%. This is the second-lowest in the nation after the New York asylum office.

 

Immigrant Bail Bond Industry Is ‘Wild West,’ State Lawmakers Say

The City: With only days left in the legislative session, Albany lawmakers are pushing to put regulations for a largely unregulated immigration bail bond industry, notorious for literally shackling clients with crippling debt and bulky ankle monitors.

 

Detention Ombudsman Reports 52% Of Complaints Were About Living Conditions

AIC: While the data is a small sample size, it paints a clear picture of why detention is so harmful, counter-productive, and arbitrary. For example, 52% were complaints about quality of life/living conditions. The next top complaints were about medical issues. The third category were about abuse & assault (legal access issues came in fourth).

 

Amazon Urged To End Support For DHS Biometric Program

Law360: A coalition of immigration and technology advocacy groups urged Amazon on Tuesday not to provide web hosting services for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s biometric information database, citing concerns about the project’s implications for civil liberties and privacy rights.

 

Illegal Immigration Is Down, Changing the Face of California Farms

NYT: The new demographic reality has sent farmers scrambling to bring in more highly paid foreign workers on temporary guest-worker visas, experiment with automation wherever they can and even replace crops with less labor-intensive alternatives. See also A human-trafficking case exposed farmworker abuses. The government is promising change.

 

Immigration, Upward Mobility, and the U.S. Economy

Harvard Business Review: Ran Abramitzky, a professor at Stanford University, and Leah Boustan, a professor at Princeton, looked at decades of data to understand the real impact that immigrants and their descendants have on America today. Their findings dispel several modern-day myths and suggest that not just political but also corporate leaders need to push for more rational rhetoric and policies.

 

A wave of Afghan teens arrived suddenly — and changed everything at a Chicago high school

WBEZ: These challenges are not isolated to the walls of Sullivan. With a record 100 million people displaced around the world, including 3 million Afghans, and the war in Ukraine adding to that tally every day, the Rogers Park school stands as an example of the kinds of challenges and transformations unfolding in schools and communities across the globe.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

What To Expect As 5th Circ. Prepares To Hear DACA Clash

Law360: The Fifth Circuit is poised to consider the legality of a deportation relief program for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. As oral arguments come up, Law360 takes a look at what’s happened thus far and what could happen in and outside the courts.

 

Child Endangerment Plea Sinks 3rd Circ. Deportation Fight

Law360: A Third Circuit panel ruled 2-1 in a precedential decision Thursday that a Dominican man convicted of endangering the welfare of a child could be deported because that crime qualifies as child abuse.

 

Unpub. BIA on nexus, PSG

Courtside: Judge Ellen Liebowitz’s compact, cogent, powerful opinion is a terrific “mini-primer” on how PSG and “one central reason” nexus cases properly should be decided.

 

Roe v. Mayorkas on Afghan Parole

ACLU: Nine months after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, USCIS’s abandonment of the humanitarian parole process of Afghans has left the plaintiffs stranded and in danger. After months of waiting, they have received either denials or no responses to their applications. One plaintiff applied for six family members, but tragically lost three of them while awaiting decisions on their applications for humanitarian parole.

 

Feds Ask Court To Nix Deadlines For Allies’ Green Card Apps

Law360: The Biden administration asked a D.C. federal court on Tuesday to undo an order to speedily process green card applications for thousands of Afghan and Iraqi translators, saying the plan is no longer feasible due to chaos abroad and bureaucratic dysfunction at home.

 

Mexico’s Supreme Court Declares Immigration Checkpoints Unconstitutional

AIC: The case before Mexico’s Supreme Court involved three indigenous Mexican citizens. Immigration officials detained the three siblings due to their appearance and limited proficiency in Spanish. They were held for eight days where the 18-year-old brother was tortured until he signed a document indicating he was from Guatemala, even though he could not read Spanish.

 

USCIS To Adjust Its Interpretation Of Three And 10-Year Bars Of Inadmissibility

Chugh: As a result of a lawsuit, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) intends to no longer force certain adjustment of status applicants to leave the United States during their period of inadmissibility. Additionally, USCIS will not reject adjustment of status applications if an applicant was in the United States during the period of inadmissibility without a waiver. The new policy interpretation is still being finalized by the Department of Homeland Security and new USCIS guidance is expected soon.

 

Amazon Urged To End Support For DHS Biometric Program

Law360: A coalition of immigration and technology advocacy groups urged Amazon on Tuesday not to provide web hosting services for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s biometric information database, citing concerns about the project’s implications for civil liberties and privacy rights.

 

Immigration Help Available to Those Affected by Special Situations, Including the Shooting in Uvalde, Texas

USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reminds the public that we offer immigration services that may help people affected by unforeseen circumstances, including the shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

 

USCIS Announces Availability of New EAD Automatic Extension Calculator

AILA: Following the USCIS temporary final rule increasing the automatic extension period for EADs, USCIS created the EAD Automatic Extension Calculator to assist employers and employees with determining the EAD expiration date for eligible employees.

 

DHS Notice Regarding New Assessment of Customer Experience and Service Delivery Subcommittee

AILA: DHS notice stating that the Secretary directed the Homeland Security Advisory Council to establish a subcommittee which will provide findings and recommendations on how DHS can improve its customer experience and service delivery.

 

U.S. Residents Sue USCIS and NARA for Delays in U.S. Citizenship Applications

AIC: Thirteen people waiting to become U.S. citizens filed a lawsuit challenging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ unreasonable delays and failure to process U.S. naturalization applications filed in 2020.

 

CBP “Manifesting Fear of Expulsion Under Title 42” Documents (May 21, 2022)

LexisNexis: Here are links to two May 21, 2022 CBP Title 42 guidance documents stemming from the Huisha Huisha v. Mayorkas (27 F.4th 718, CADC 2022) litigation.  They went into effect at 12:01 a.m. (EDT) on May 23, 2022.

 

RESOURCES

 

NIJC RESOURCES

 

GENERAL RESOURCES

 

 

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

 

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

*********************

Leah Pratt Boustan
Professor Leah Pratt Boustan
Economist
Princeton University
PHOTO: Princeton Website

LEAH BOUSTAN: I think that we’re seeing some of the same anti-immigrant rhetoric today than we’ve seen in the past US history. So we were interested in comparing immigrants that are coming to the U.S. today from all around the world to what we think of as the Ellis Island generation a century ago that faced a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment at the time. But now when we look back with hindsight on that generation, we have a very different view, a nostalgic view that sees those immigrants as contributing to society, building the economy. So we wanted to know are the immigrants that the U.S. is welcoming today on the same path and on the same trajectory as the past?

Honestly, what we find here really surprised both of us because we’ve heard all of the worries and concerns that people all across the aisle, I think, are expressing about immigrants today. That they come from poor countries. That it takes them a while to move up the ladder. So we were really surprised to see this really commonality between the Ellis Island generation and immigrants today. We end up seeing in the data that immigrants from Europe 100 years ago, and immigrants from Asia and Latin America today look like they’re on such a similar trajectory. Despite so many differences between the past and present, we see really a common immigrant story.

Check out the article from Harvard Business Review highlighted by Elizabeth above!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-02-22

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. THE GIBSON REPORT:  05-09-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — HEADLINERS: 2d Cir. Reverses BIA On CIMT; Texas AG Targets Legal Assistance To Migrants; EOIR “Friend of Court” Memo; Lack Of Immigrants Hurting U.S. Economy — PLUS BONUS COVERAGE:  New Legal Aid Alliance Aims to Build a Model for Universal Representation for Detained Immigrants!
  2. THE GIBSON REPORT FOR 12-18-17 – RECOGNIZING: The Absolutely Amazing ELIZABETH GIBSON Of The NY Legal Assistance Group and ALL She Does For Fairness, Justice, & Due Process! — MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OUR MOST VULNERABLE!
  3. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚖️🗽🇺🇸FORMER DEPUTY AG DON AYER, JUDGE MIMI TSANKOV AMONG “HEADLINERS” AT TIMELY UPCOMING NY CITY BAR ASSN. EVENT: “Rule of Law Forum – Preserving the Rule of Law in an Age of Disruption” — Register Now, Right Here!
  4. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 03-22-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Georgetown Law Journal Makes History, Of The Best Kind! — My Invitation To Current Georgetown Law Students To Get Involved!

⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 05-23-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — Contrary To Myth, Vast Majority of Released Migrants Appear For Hearings; Trump Judges Continue Cruel, Illegal, Racially Motivated Programs!

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • NEWS
  • LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • RESOURCES
  • EVENTS

 

NEWS

 

Judge Orders Government to Continue Migrant Expulsions on Border

NYT: A federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration from lifting a pandemic-related health order whose scheduled expiration on Monday would have thrown open the doors of the United States to asylum seekers at the border for the first time in more than two years.

 

LA judge considers Border Patrol’s agreement to settle migrant children case

Spectrum: In the proposed settlement, filed over the weekend in Los Angeles federal court, the border patrol agrees to protocols requiring that detained minors be held in safe and sanitary conditions, not be separated from relatives, and have access to medical evaluations and prompt medical treatment when needed.

 

Court ruling extends uneven treatment for asylum-seekers

WaPo: The U.S. government has expelled migrants more than 1.9 million times under Title 42, denying them a chance to seek asylum as permitted under U.S. law and international treaty for purposes of preventing the spread of COVID-19. But Title 42 is not applied evenly across nationalities. See also Title 42 has no bearing on decision to cross border, Venezuelan asylum-seeker says; DHS hasn’t seen a ‘significant decrease’ of migrants at the US-Mexico border amid ongoing efforts, Mayorkas tells CNN.

 

12,212 migrant children reentered U.S. border custody alone in 2021 after being expelled

CBS: Over a 12-month span beginning in October 2020, U.S. Border Patrol agents processed 12,212 unaccompanied migrant minors who had been previously expelled under Title 42, according to internal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

 

Most people released by immigration authorities do attend their court hearings

Politifact: The in absentia rate for fiscal year 2021 was 10%; for the first quarter of 2022, October to December 2021, it was 18%.

 

Push For Gov’t-Funded Deportation Defense Gains Steam

Law360: Programs that provide government-funded attorneys to noncitizens facing deportation are becoming more common in cities and states across the country, and immigration advocates hope to harness that momentum to scale up those initiatives to the federal level.

 

ICE chief defends proposed cut in immigration detention beds

RollCall: The administration asked Congress to provide funding for just 25,000 detention beds — down from the current level of 34,000 — and requested an $87 million increase in funding for programs allowing for alternatives to detention.

 

DHS watchdog: Migrants weren’t tested for COVID before transport on domestic commercial flights

CBS: The watchdog noted that “without clear COVID-19 testing policies and controls in place to enforce these policies, ERO may transport COVID-19–positive migrants on domestic commercial flights.” The report said the failed policy “risk[ed] exposing other migrants, ERO staff, and the general public to COVID-19.”

 

Texas educators fear Abbott’s effort to kick undocumented children out of school

Yahoo: According to Higher Ed Immigration Portal, there are 1,644,000 students enrolled in public schools in the state of Texas, 58,255 of them undocumented. The United States as a whole is home to more than 427,000 undocumented students.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

La. Judge Slams Brakes On Biden’s Title 42 Repeal Effort

Law360: A Louisiana federal judge ordered President Joe Biden to keep intact a Trump-era order allowing for the swift expulsion of migrants amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ruling Friday that two dozen states would likely prove they weren’t provided enough notice when the administration announced plans to end the policy.

 

Flores Settlement News

LexisNexis: A court filing on Saturday May 21, 2022, seeks U.S. Judge Dolly M. Gee’s preliminary approval of the settlement. The border patrol has agreed to a wide range of protocols requiring that detained minors are held in safe and sanitary conditions, not be separated from relatives, and have access to medical evaluations and prompt medical treatment when needed.

 

If You Say You’re Filing A BIA Brief, File It, 3rd Circ. Says

Law360: Petitioners before the Board of Immigration Appeals don’t have to file a brief supporting their appeal, but if they say they will and do not, the board can dismiss the case, the Third Circuit ruled Friday in affirming the dismissal of a Salvadoran man’s asylum request.

 

5th Circ. Raps Judge’s Credibility Ruling, Revives Asylum Bid

Law360: The Fifth Circuit revived claims that an asylum-seeker feared police brutality in Cameroon, saying that an immigration judge wrongly deemed him untruthful based on government reports that had never been “identified, referenced or discussed” during his court hearing.

 

7th Circ. Wary Of Reviving Ill. Counties’ Immigration Law Fight

Law360: A Seventh Circuit panel seemed unconvinced Wednesday by two Illinois counties’ argument that they should be able to pursue a constitutional challenge to a law Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed last year, which blocks immigration detention contracts with the federal government.

 

ICE, GEO Group Sued Over Suicide Of Man Detained In Calif.

Law360: The daughter of a man who died by suicide in an immigration detention facility is suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, GEO Group Inc., which runs the facility, and the city of McFarland, California, saying they ignored the man’s mental illness and tortured him by putting him in solitary confinement, leading to his death.

 

Legal advocates sue US over Iranian-born scholar’s treatment

AP: The civil rights complaint alleges that Customs and Border Protection officers denied Shamloo and her husband entry to the U.S. based on their Iranian birth and violated procedures by demanding DNA samples. They and their two children are Canadian citizens.

 

DOS Announces Reinstatement of the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program

AILA: DOS announced plans to reinstate the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP) and increase capacity for consular services in Cuba. Limited immigrant visa processing will resume in Havana, but most immigrant visa cases will still be processed at the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana.

 

DHS Notice of Designation of Afghanistan for TPS

AILA: DHS notice of the designation of Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, effective 5/20/22 through 11/20/23. (87 FR 30976, 5/20/22)

 

DHS Notice of Special Student Relief for Afghanistan

AILA: DHS notice suspending certain regulatory requirements for F-1 nonimmigrant students whose country of citizenship is Afghanistan and who are experiencing severe economic hardship as a result of the situation in Afghanistan. (87 FR 30971, 5/20/22)

 

DOS Provides Guidance for Ukraine Nationals

AILA: DOS provided updated guidance for nationals of Ukraine seeking to enter or entering the United States. The guidance clarifies information on the Uniting for Ukraine program, nonimmigrant visas, immigrant visas, humanitarian parole, refugee status, and more.

 

DHS/ALL/PIA-094 Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) Case Request System

DHS: The MPP Case Request System provides an avenue for individuals to initiate a review of their enrollment in MPP if they believe they should not be included in the program.

 

Social Security Administration Notice of New Matching Program with DHS

AILA: Social Security Administration (SSA) notice of a new matching program with DHS that sets forth the terms, conditions, and safeguards under which DHS will disclose information to SSA to identify noncitizens who leave the U.S. voluntarily and noncitizens who are removed. (87 FR 30321, 5/18/22)

 

DOS Announces Suspension of National Visa Center Public Inquiry Telephone Line

AILA: The National Visa Center has suspended its public inquiry telephone line, effective May 23, 2022. Contact information and information on common NIV and IV inquiries are available.

 

 

RESOURCES

 

NIJC RESOURCES

 

GENERAL RESOURCES

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

 

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

 

 

*********************

Thanks, Elizabeth.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

O5-24-22

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-04-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — HEADLINERS: New “Doyle Memo” On PD 🙂 — GOP White Nationalist AGs Seek Extension Of Illegal, Immoral Title 42 Charade🤮🏴‍☠️!
  2. 🏴‍☠️SCOFFLAW NATION! — TRUMP US JUDGE, GOP NATIVIST AGs CONTINUE TO DUMP ON ASYLUM SEEKERS, ☠️ HANDING HUMAN SMUGGLERS A HUGE VICTORY!🤮
  3. 🧑🏽‍⚖️⚖️🗽🇺🇸WHO’S JUDGE IS IT ANYWAY? — The Crisis Of Independence In Our Immigration Courts! — Coming April 7, 2021! — Sponsored By The HNBA! — Don’t Miss It!
  4. 🤮🏴‍☠️GARLAND DOJ “POLISHES” OTHERWISE LACKLUSTER LITIGATION RECORD WITH BIG WIN FOR STEPHEN MILLER & HIS NEO-NAZI ANTI-ASYLUM POLICY! — “ There was no science involved, only anti-immigrant and anti-asylum animus.”

THE GIBSON REPORT — 05-15-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, National Immigrant Justice Center (“NIJC”) — Racially Motivated Immigration Policies, Decisions, Take Center Stage In Light of Buffalo/California Killings! 

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • PRACTICE ALERTS
  • NEWS
  • LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • RESOURCES
  • EVENTS

 

PRACTICE ALERTS

 

ICE announces updated phased return to social visitation at detention facilities

 

NEWS

 

Supreme Court limits review of factual disputes in immigration cases

CNN: The ruling made it more difficult for non-citizens who are in removal proceedings to get a federal court to review factual determinations that were made by an immigration court concerning relief from deportation. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the decision for 5-4 court. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the dissent for himself with the three liberal justices.

 

Buffalo shooting pushes ‘great replacement theory’ into national spotlight

The Hill: A mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store that left 10 people dead has placed a national spotlight on a far-right conspiracy theory espoused by the suspected shooter. The so-called “great replacement theory” asserts that there is an intentional effort to replace white Americans with people of color by encouraging immigration.

 

Republicans Wrongly Tie Biden Immigration Policies to Baby Formula Shortage

NYT: Republican lawmakers have misleadingly suggested that the Biden administration is sending baby formula to undocumented immigrants at the expense of American families amid a national shortage.

 

Migrant disappearances quadruple in Mexico in 2021, says report

Reuters: The number of missing foreigners grew by 292% to 349 from 89 cases, said the report presented by the Jesuits’ Missing Migrant Search Program (SJM), a human rights organization.

 

“This Is America Motherfucker”: Witnesses Describe Border Patrol Killing Of Mexican Migrant

Intercept: Men traveling with Carmelo Cruz Marcos told authorities that Border Patrol agents tampered with evidence and sought to concoct a cover story. See also Border Patrol disbands units accused of covering up abuse.

 

Cubans are arriving to the US in record numbers. Smugglers are profiting from their exodus

CNN: As Cuba confronts the worst shortages of food and medicine in decades and runaway inflation, a new exodus of the island’s citizens is underway.

 

Cook County program providing legal help for immigrants starts taking cases

Chicago Sun-Times: In Chicago, there are more than 110,000 pending cases in immigration court, including more than 56,000 cases where people aren’t represented by an attorney, according to a data analysis from Syracuse University. The Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance is providing legal help to anyone who is in deportation proceedings in the immigration court in Chicago, even if the person lives in a different state.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Patel v. Garland

SCOTUSblog: Holding: Federal courts lack jurisdiction to review facts found as part of any judgment relating to the granting of discretionary relief in immigration proceedings enumerated under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2).

 

Matter of B-Z-R-, 28 I&N Dec. 563 (A.G. 2022)

AG: (1) Matter of G-G-S-, 26 I&N Dec. 339 (BIA 2014), is overruled. (2)  Immigration adjudicators may consider  a  respondent’s  mental  health  in  determining  whether  an  individual,  “having  been  convicted  by  a  final  judgment  of  a  particularly  serious crime, constitutes a danger to the community of the United States.”  8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(2)(A)(ii); see id § 1231(b)(3)(B)(ii).

 

DOJ Lets Immigration Judges Consider Mental Health History

Law360: Immigration courts can once again consider whether a noncitizen’s mental health history lightens the immigration consequences of a conviction, according to a Monday decision from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that overturns a 2014 Board of Immigration Appeals ruling.

 

BIA Erred On Money Laundering Deportation, 2nd Circ. Says

Law360: The Second Circuit has found the Board of Immigration Appeals erred in denying a South Korean citizen’s bid to stay in the country, deciding Monday the woman’s second-degree money laundering conviction is not enough to warrant deportation.

 

4th Circ. Erases Order Granting Detainees New Bond Hearings

Law360: The Fourth Circuit erased a lower court injunction requiring the Baltimore Immigration Court to conduct new bond hearings for detainees who say their first hearings were flawed, ruling Thursday that federal judges are barred from entering classwide injunctions over immigration bond hearings.

 

9th Circ. Orders BIA Review Of Nepalese Man’s Asylum Denial

Law360: The Ninth Circuit revived a Nepalese man’s bid for asylum and withholding of removal after finding the Board of Immigration Appeals discounted reports of the Nepali government’s lack of interest in stopping violence inflicted by a major political party.

 

CA9 on FOIA: Transgender Law Center v. ICE

LexisNexis: Yet here the advocates’ FOIA requests met first with silence and then with stonewalling; only after the advocates filed suit did the government begin to comply with its statutory obligations. Our task is to discern whether the government’s belated disclosure was “adequate” under FOIA. We conclude that it was not.

 

11th Circ. Says No Counsel Needed Before Immigration Judge

Law360: A split Eleventh Circuit panel on Wednesday denied a Haitian asylum seeker’s request to review a removal order, saying the man was not entitled to counsel when he appeared before the immigration judge who reviewed his asylum request.

 

Separated Migrant Families Can Continue Quest For Damages

Law360: Three Bay Area migrant families who were separated under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy may continue to seek compensation for resulting harms they suffered after a California federal judge denied the government’s bid to move or toss the case.

 

Texas AG “Investigating” Texas Bar Foundation is an Attempt to Shift Attention and Undermine the Rule of Law

AIC: The Council and AILA stand in support of the Texas State Bar Foundation in response to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s investigation of the Foundation for supporting organizations that provide legal representation, citizenship classes, and other legal needs to the immigrant community in Texas.

 

Foreign Pot Workers Not Barred From US, CBP Memo Says

Law360: A 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection document recently disclosed amid a lawsuit filed by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP indicates that foreign nationals working in legal cannabis industries aren’t inadmissible to the U.S., despite statements to the contrary from CBP officials.

 

USCIS Correction to South Sudan TPS Notice Regarding Expiration Date of Current EADs

AILA: USCIS correction to a typographical error in the 3/3/22 South Sudan TPS notice. USCIS is correcting the date from 9/17/21 to 5/2/22 as the expiration date that should be showing on South Sudan TPS-based EADs to receive an automatic 180-day EAD extension through 11/1/22.

 

House Panel Votes Yes On Independent Immigration Courts

Law360: The House Judiciary Committee voted 24-12 to advance a bill that would remove immigration courts from the U.S. Department of Justice and make them independent of the executive branch.

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

 

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

 

 

******************

The deterioration of the immigration dialogue, overt racism, poorly qualified judges at all levels making bad decisions, GOP White Supremacy, and failure of courage in the Biden Administration and on the part of some so-called Democrats have led to a deadly situation that threatens Americans and our democracy!

Immigrants’ rights are human rights! Ironically, the GOP with its aggressive “dehumanization campaign” recognizes this, even if some Dems don’t.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-18-22

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-04-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — HEADLINERS: New “Doyle Memo” On PD 🙂 — GOP White Nationalist AGs Seek Extension Of Illegal, Immoral Title 42 Charade🤮🏴‍☠️!
  2. 🧑🏽‍⚖️⚖️🗽🇺🇸WHO’S JUDGE IS IT ANYWAY? — The Crisis Of Independence In Our Immigration Courts! — Coming April 7, 2021! — Sponsored By The HNBA! — Don’t Miss It!
  3. THE GIBSON REPORT — 02-14-21💝 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Mandatory E-Filing @ EOIR Starts & Lots Of Other “Interesting Stuff!”  — CMS Study Shows How Garland Is Ignoring the “Low Hanging Fruit” On His Out of Control EOIR Backlog! ☹️
  4. THE GIBSON REPORT — 06-22-20 – Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group – WORLD REFUGEE DAY WAS JUNE 20 – AMERICA’S TRUMP REGIME CELEBRATED BY ADVANCING A DISINGENUOUS RACIST ATTACK ON WORK AUTHORIZATION FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS – Just A Few Days After 8 Justices of Supremes Claimed Cluelessness About Trump’s Racist Immigration Agenda! (See, Item #2 Under “Top News”)

THE GIBSON REPORT:  05-09-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — HEADLINERS: 2d Cir. Reverses BIA On CIMT; Texas AG Targets Legal Assistance To Migrants; EOIR “Friend of Court” Memo; Lack Of Immigrants Hurting U.S. Economy — PLUS BONUS COVERAGE:  New Legal Aid Alliance Aims to Build a Model for Universal Representation for Detained Immigrants!

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

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Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • PRACTICE ALERTS
  • NEWS
  • LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • RESOURCES
  • EVENTS

 

PRACTICE ALERTS

New EOIR Friend of the Court Memo

EAD Automatic Extension Time Period—Temporary Increase to up to 540 Days

USCIS Changing Communication of Case Processing Data

 

NEWS

 

Mexico will take back more Cubans and Nicaraguans expelled by U.S.

WaPo: The deal is potentially significant because the Mexican government has more latitude to carry out deportation flights to Cuba and Nicaragua, nations whose frosty relations with Washington severely limit the United States’ ability to return their citizens.

 

New Legal Aid Alliance for Detained Immigrants Facing Deportation in the Chicago Immigration Court

MIDA: The Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance (MIDA) is a partnership between three nonprofit organizations — the National Immigrant Justice Center, The Resurrection Project, and The Immigration Project — and the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender. The groups will lay the groundwork toward ensuring anyone who is detained by ICE and facing removal proceedings before the Chicago Immigration Court has access to legal representation. The program will reach immigrants detained in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kentucky. While ICE no longer detains people in Illinois as the result of a state law enacted earlier this year, the groups will be representing Illinois residents who are being detained in other states.

 

Texas governor says the state may contest a Supreme Court ruling on migrant education

NPR: Abbott first made his remarks about the landmark education decision on Wednesday, in the aftermath of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Abbott said the court’s 1982 ruling had imposed an unfair burden on his state. “I think we will resurrect that case and challenge this issue again, because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different” from when the decision came down, Abbott said in an interview with conservative radio host Joe Pagliarulo.

 

Texas AG Opens Probe Into State Bar’s Immigration Funding

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday that his office had launched an investigation into the charitable arm of the State Bar of Texas over allegations that the organization is providing funding to “entities that encourage, participate in and fund illegal immigration.”

 

DeSantis scrutinizes health care costs for the undocumented

Politico: The DeSantis administration on Thursday asked state hospitals to tally up the cost of providing medical care to undocumented immigrants. It’s part of an executive order Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in September, but just had his Agency for Health Care Administration start implementing.

 

For Second Straight Year, California Sees a Population Decline

NYT: California lost 117,552 residents last year, driven largely by the Covid death toll and a sharp drop in foreign immigration. This followed a slightly bigger decline in 2020, when the state lost 182,083 residents — the first time in more than a century that California got smaller.

 

The Things They Carried: Is the Border Patrol discarding asylum seekers’ documents?

Border Chron: In Arizona and Texas, border residents are noticing more and more personal belongings left behind, including confidential documents, along the U.S. side of the border wall.

 

Biden administration scrambles to deal with Russians trying to reach America

Politico: A senior administration official told POLITICO that the United States is exploring ways to increase Russians’ access to the U.S. refugee program, but the official declined to give details. At the same time, U.S. diplomats are effectively being warned to be extra careful in issuing tourist visas to Russians because they are more likely to overstay them due to the war, according to the April 26 cable obtained by POLITICO.

 

Massachusetts Senate OKs immigrant driver’s license bill

AP: The bill was approved 32-8 in the Democratic-controlled chamber. That’s enough to override a possible veto from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who has expressed opposition to similar efforts in the past.

 

Less immigrant labor in US contributing to price hikes

AP: The U.S. has, by some estimates, 2 million fewer immigrants than it would have if the pace had stayed the same, helping power a desperate scramble for workers in many sectors, from meatpacking to homebuilding, that is also contributing to supply shortages and price increases.

 

U.S. Homelessness Haunts Migrant Families Separated by Trump, Reunited by Biden

Reuters: Of the 200 families the task force has so far reunited, including Hernandez and her daughters, around three-quarters have struggled with housing insecurity, according to previously unreported data collected by two groups that aid them, Together & Free and Seneca Family of Agencies.

 

U.S. labor agency moves to thwart intimidation of immigrant workers

Reuters: The top lawyer at the agency that enforces U.S. labor laws on Monday directed staff to assure foreign workers that they will not face immigration-related consequences for filing complaints against employers or acting as witnesses in cases.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Court orders additional briefing in dispute over “remain in Mexico” policy

Howe: In a short order, the justices asked both sides in the dispute to weigh in on technical – but potentially dispositive – issues relating to the court’s power to hear the case.

 

Matter of German Santos, 28 I&N Dec. 552 (BIA 2022)

BIA: Any  fact  that  establishes  or  increases  the  permissible  range  of  punishment  for  a criminal offense is an “element” for purposes of the categorical approach, even if the term “element” is defined differently under State law… Title 35, section 780-113(a)(30) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, which punishes possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, is divisible with respect to the identity of the controlled substance possessed.

 

BIA Remand Relating To Matter Of A-B-

LexisNexis (quoting Geoffrey Hoffman):  This is a great decision as it affirms that A-B- (III) changed the law back to A-R-C-G- and warrants a remand back to the IJ for new proceedings. Importantly the Board notes that the remand is in light of the current case law of the BIA and the Fifth Circuit. Importantly, the Fifth Circuit’s Jaco v. Garland decision was not cited or relied on as impeding remand.

 

CA1 on Somalia, CAT: Ali v. Garland

LexisNexis: The critical question is whether this record compels the conclusion that Ali could not make the requisite showing with regard to the nature of the abuse to which he will be subjected, notwithstanding the IJ’s failure to have addressed evidence bearing on it. …  [W]e conclude that the prudent course is to vacate and remand for the BIA to address the aspects of the record that have not been given their proper consideration.

 

CA2 On CIMT: Jang V. Garland

LexisNexis: The agency found Jang ineligible for cancellation because of her state conviction for attempted second-degree money laundering, see N.Y. Penal L. § 470.15(1)(b)(ii)(A), which it deemed a “crime involving moral turpitude” (“CIMT”) under the Immigration and Nationality Act, see 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2). We agree with Jang that, because her crime of conviction lacks the requisite scienter, it is not a CIMT.

 

4th Circ. Says Tardiness Isn’t A Failure To Appear

Law360: The Fourth Circuit has rebuked the Board of Immigration Appeals for rubber-stamping an asylum-seeker’s in absentia deportation order without addressing claims that a medical issue made him late to his immigration hearing, saying tardiness isn’t the same as not showing up.

 

Defective NTA Remand at CA5: Urbina-Urbina v. Garland

LexisNexis: Accordingly, we VACATE the three BIA decisions and REMAND the three cases for reconsideration in light of Rodriguez v. Garland, 15 F.4th 351 (5th Cir. 2021).

6th Circ. Affirms Cuban Man’s Meth Possession Guilty Plea

Law360: The Sixth Circuit affirmed Monday the guilty plea of a Cuban man who was arrested for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and sentenced to 16 years in prison, rejecting his argument that the district court made a crucial mistake by failing to warn him that the plea made him deportable.

 

9th Circ. Says BIA Must Rethink Gay Nigerian’s Torture Claim

Law360: The Board of Immigration Appeals must reconsider its denial of a Nigerian man’s request for protection against torture after the Ninth Circuit ruled that the man had presented enough evidence to show he faced persecution for being gay.

 

Military Can Help On Immigration Enforcement, 9th Circ. Says

Law360: The Ninth Circuit said on Wednesday that the U.S. military can assist Border Patrol agents in capturing those suspected of entering the country illegally, rejecting an appeal by a Mexican national who was apprehended with the help of a Marine Corps surveillance unit.

 

Indian Citizen Sues After Losing Work Due To USCIS Delays

Law360: An Indian citizen has asked a D.C. federal court to compel the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to resolve her employment authorization renewal application, saying its unlawful delay caused her to lose her job where she was working on a multimillion-dollar project.

 

County Called ICE On Immigrant For Traffic Issue, Suit Says

Law360: A Salvadoran immigrant has brought a $5 million lawsuit against a Maryland county, saying it illegally detained and transferred him to federal immigration enforcement over a minor traffic violation, exposing him to federal surveillance and the threat of deportation.

 

Judge Won’t Ax Florida Challenge To Biden Border Policy

Law360: A federal judge refused to toss Florida’s legal attack on the Biden administration’s border detention policies, saying Wednesday the courts could “unquestionably” review the federal government’s detention policies in a harsh rebuke to the administration’s claims of discretionary immigration authority.

 

USCIS Temporary Final Rule Increasing Automatic Extension Period for EADs

AILA: USCIS temporary final rule providing that the automatic extension period applicable to expiring EADs for certain renewal applicants who have filed Form I-765 will be increased from up to 180 days to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on their EADs. (87 FR 26614, 5/4/22)

 

HHS Supplementary Request for Comment on Forms Related to Release of Unaccompanied Children

AILA: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supplementary request for public comment on revised versions of several forms related to the release of unaccompanied children from the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Comments are due 6/6/22. (87 FR 27159, 5/6/22)

 

RESOURCES

NIJC Resources

General Resources

 

EVENTS

NIJC EVENTS

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

*************************

Elizabeth writes:

Hi Judge Schmidt,

 

I just wanted to share the exciting news of the official launch of the Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance (MIDA)! With the end of Immigration detention in Illinois, ICE is sending Illinois residents to remote detention centers where there is little access to counsel. MIDA will ensure these immigrants are not left behind. MIDA is a partnership between three nonprofit organizations — the National Immigrant Justice Center, The Resurrection Project, and The Immigration Project — and the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, one of the largest public defender’s offices in the country.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Tara Tidwell Cullen, NIJC, (312) 833-2967, ttidwellcullen@heartlandalliance.org

 

New Legal Aid Alliance Aims to Build a Model for Universal Representation for Detained Immigrants Facing Deportation in the Chicago Immigration Court

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CHICAGO (May 9, 2022) — A group of Illinois immigration legal aid organizations today announced a new collaboration to expand access to legal representation for people in deportation proceedings who are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance (MIDA) is a partnership between three nonprofit organizations — the National Immigrant Justice Center, The Resurrection Project, and The Immigration Project — and the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender. Through a one-year pilot project, the groups will lay the groundwork toward ensuring anyone who is detained by ICE and facing removal proceedings before the Chicago Immigration Court has access to legal representation. The program will reach immigrants detained in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kentucky. While ICE no longer detains people in Illinois as the result of a state law enacted earlier this year, the groups will be representing Illinois residents who are being detained in other states.

“The National Immigrant Justice Center has represented detained people facing deportation for more than 30 years and we are thrilled for this opportunity to collaborate with organizations who have been longtime partners in defending justice to build a model that will ensure our community members have access to legal counsel when in the throes of the punitive immigration system,” said Ruben Loyo, associate director, Detention Project, at the National Immigrant Justice Center. “We see this as the natural next step in our state to support immigrant families, and an opportunity for Illinois to join the ranks of other states like New York and California whose universal representation programs have demonstrated how ensuring access to affordable legal counsel both upholds justice and helps keep families and communities strong and intact.”

“Too often immigrants from rural and urban communities in central and southern Illinois feel isolated and marginalized while they are facing the highest possible stakes — separation from their families and, often, possible persecution in a country they may have not seen in decades,” said Charlotte Alvarez, executive director of The Immigration Project. “MIDA is a natural expansion of our current advocacy and legal representation work and will allow us to ensure that individuals who were ripped from our downstate communities are able to obtain legal counsel to pursue every possible avenue available to them under the law in order to return to their family.”

During the pilot, one day each week, any detained and unrepresented individual who has an initial hearing before the Chicago Immigration Court and cannot afford private counsel will have the opportunity to consult with one of the collaborating organizations and receive free legal representation while they are detained — and potentially longer if they reside in Illinois. The collaborative also will provide training and mentorship programs to welcome new legal practitioners into the immigration field, an effort to increase capacity for nonprofit organizations to provide affordable immigration defense services in the Midwest. Vera Institute of Justice, a nongovernmental research group, will track the case outcomes from the pilot project to evaluate its impact on ensuring justice for people facing removal proceedings in Chicago.

“Everyone has the right to due process, including immigrants, and immigrants should also have the right to an attorney if they can’t afford one — especially those in detention that face many more barriers to a successful case outcome,” said Eréndira Rendón, vice president of immigrant justice at The Resurrection Project (TRP). “MIDA will increase capacity of community-based legal service providers like TRP to ensure detained immigrants have free, high-quality, and accessible legal services. The more organizations trained and available to support with these complex cases, the closer we are to securing universal representation for all.”

“The launch of MIDA proves that the national movement for universal representation is only getting stronger as people across the country continue to demand that no one should face deportation without a lawyer,” said Annie Chen, director of the Advancing Universal Representation initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice. “People facing deportation are our neighbors, friends, and loved ones. They deserve to fight their cases freely in their communities and with a lawyer by their side. As Illinois becomes the latest state to support a right to counsel for all, we are honored to work with MIDA to help them evaluate their program’s impact and are confident it can serve as a model for the state’s anticipated task force.”

Removal proceedings can have dire consequences for many immigrants, including permanent separation from U.S. citizen children, spouses, and parents, as well as the loss of integral community members. In some cases, deportation may result in someone being sent to a country where they face persecution or death. Yet individuals in these proceedings do not have access to government-appointed legal counsel like defendants in other parts of the U.S. legal system. A 2016 study found that detained immigrants are twice as likely to obtain relief than detained immigrants without counsel. In recent years, approximately 60 percent of detained individuals have been unrepresented in the Chicago court.

The partnership between nonprofit legal aid organizations and the Immigration Unit Pilot of the Cook County Public Defender, one of the largest public defender’s offices in the country, is in part intended to chip away at racial disparities that permeate the U.S. immigration system. Black, Indigenous, and other immigrants of color are disproportionately targeted for criminal arrest, which significantly affects an immigrant’s ability to remain in the United States. Working together, public defenders and immigration counsel have the best chance of ensuring immigrants’ rights are upheld throughout the course of their legal proceedings. Advocates also believe that universal representation models advance racial equity by mitigating biases during the initial triage of cases, when service providers usually must decide who is most deserving of services.

MIDA’s launch comes just weeks after the Illinois General Assembly passed the Right to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings Act (SB 3144), which will create a task force to provide recommendations for how the state can move toward providing legal representation for all Illinoisans facing deportation. The legislation was the latest in a series of state laws championed by Illinois communities and supported by the General Assembly and Governor J.B. Pritzker in recent years to defend immigrant Illinoisans against unjust deportation. After years of advocacy to close immigrant detention centers in Illinois, in January the Illinois Way Forward Act took effect to prevent ICE from detaining immigrants within the state. MIDA seeks to ensure Illinois residents continue to have access to counsel even as ICE increasingly detains immigrants in remote detention centers that often lack local legal resources.

###

Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) ensures human rights protections for low-income immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, with the goal of promoting access to justice, family integrity, and community safety. With offices in Chicago, Indiana, Washington, D.C., and San Diego, NIJC provides direct legal services to and advocates for these populations through impact litigation, public education, and policy reform. NIJC’s immigration legal services are organized into distinct projects, including a Detention Project that for years has served detained immigrants in the Midwest. Visit immigrantjustice.org and follow @NIJC on Twitter.

The Immigration Project (TIP) has secured access to justice alongside immigrant communities in downstate Illinois for over 25 years. With offices in the Bloomington-Normal and Champaign-Urbana areas, TIP maintains an extensive network of staff, partner organizations,  and specially trained community member volunteers to provide legal and social services to immigrant families residing in the 86 counties that comprise its service area. TIP works with and for immigrant communities in mutuality and interdependence to build a more just future for all. Visit www.immigrationproject.org.

The Resurrection Project (TRP) builds relationships and challenges individuals to act on their faith, values, and ideals to create healthier communities. Since its founding in 1990, TRP has increased the availability of services and expanded opportunities for Chicago’s low- and moderate-income Latinos. TRP is a trusted provider of culturally and linguistically inclusive services and helps enable families to fully participate and become invested in their communities. TRP serves families from all over the Chicago metropolitan region, though it has a deeply rooted presence in the predominantly Latino and immigrant communities of Pilsen, Little Village, and Back of the Yards.

Through the work of the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender (CCPD) Immigration Unit Pilot, Cook County is the largest county in the nation to provide public defenders to serve the immigrant communities that do not have access to attorneys. In early 2022, Governor JB Pritzker signed Public Act 102-0410 into law and the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution in support of this initiative. This authorized the defender’s office to begin representing noncitizens in removal proceedings.

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Congrats to all the fantastic NDPA members involved in the MIDA! 

As readers of “Courtside” know and see illustrated here every week, the difference between life-saving and legally correct grants of asylum and other relief in Immigration Court and “arbitrary, capricious, railroaded” denials that are all too common at EOIR is often in the expert representation.

Despite “throwing an occasional bone” to the pro bono and “low bono” bars, it’s disturbingly clear that, like its predecessors, the Biden Administration has chosen to fashion, operate, and staff the Immigration Court system on the assumption that the majority of individuals can be rotely “moved” through the system and rejected without effectively asserting their full rights to due process and fundamental fairness. 

Effective representation does make a difference! An Administration and a Congress actually concerned about making the immigration justice system work would concentrate on moving toward universal representation rather than the plethora of money and time wasting “enforcement only/deterrence” gimmicks that have failed over the years and continue to do so every day! 

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

05-11-22

 

Related posts:

  1. THE GIBSON REPORT— 01-02-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Garland’s Aimless Docket Reshuffling (“ADR”) Squeezes Refugees On Both Ends Of His Ludicrous Backlog, As Those Patiently Waiting Given Court Dates Nearly A Decade In The Future, While Recent Arrivals Mindlessly Rocketed To The “Front Of The Line” Struggle To Find Lawyers & Prepare Cases — Plus Other New Year News From The Dystopian World Of U.S. Immigration!
  2. THE TRUTH IS OUT, THANKS TO MICHELLE MENDEZ @ CLINIC: Practice Pointers on Matter of Castillo-Perez & “Takeaways” From FOIA Trove On In Absentias!
  3. ⚖️🗽MORE TRUTH ABOUT THE SOUTHERN BORDER FROM ONE OF AMERICA’S 🇺🇸 LEADING HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS: “Real Needs, Not Fictitious Crises Account For The Situation at US-Mexico Border,” By Donald Kerwin Center For Migration Studies
  4. THE GIBSON REPORT — 02-14-21💝 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Mandatory E-Filing @ EOIR Starts & Lots Of Other “Interesting Stuff!”  — CMS Study Shows How Garland Is Ignoring the “Low Hanging Fruit” On His Out of Control EOIR Backlog! ☹️

⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — 05-02-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center:  Will GOP Supremes Stop Biden From Governing, Abbott’s Racist “Invasion Hoax,” More “Migrant Kills” Anticipated, GOP’s Fabricated Voter Fraud Threat, Mayorkas Mindlessly Tells Refugees “Don’t Come” While Providing No Viable Alternatives!

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

PRACTICE ALERTS

NEWS

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

RESOURCES

EVENTS

 

PRACTICE ALERTS

 

ICE Posted Additional Guidance on Prosecutorial Discretion

 

USCIS Stops Applying Certain EAD Provisions for Asylum Applicants (Updated)

 

NEWS

 

Remain in Mexico case in front of SCOTUS is also about whether Biden will be allowed to govern

Daily Kos: This case matters, not only because real lives are at stake, but because justices will be deciding whether an incumbent president has the power to legitimately end a predecessor’s flawed policy. See also ‘Remain In Mexico’ Case May Curb Courts’ Injunctive Power.

 

Abbott Threatens to Declare an ‘Invasion’ as Migrant Numbers Climb

NYT: Abbott is weighing whether to invoke actual war powers to seize much broader state authority on the border. He could do so, advocates inside and outside his administration argue, by officially declaring an “invasion” to comply with a clause in the U.S. Constitution that says states cannot engage in war except when “actually invaded.”

 

Biden admin struggles to calm the Democratic storm over immigration

Politico: Memo to the Biden administration: The written plan to handle a summertime migration surge at the border isn’t satisfying purple-state Democrats who were pointedly asking for one. See also Comprehensive Immigration Reform Has ‘Zero’ Chance This Year, Key Senate Democrat Reportedly Says; Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas testifies on Title 42 in Senate hearing.

 

G.O.P. Concocts Fake Threat: Voter Fraud by Undocumented Immigrants

NYT: Far from the U.S.-Mexico border, Ohio’s Senate primary shows how the Republican obsession with the fiction of a stolen election has spawned a new cause for fear of illegal immigration.

 

Thomson Reuters to review contracts, including for database used to track immigrants

WaPo: A Canadian trade union said it had scored a surprising victory Friday in its three-year tech battle with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the United States, successfully persuading the media conglomerate Thomson Reuters to reevaluate its work selling personal data that the agency had used to investigate immigrants.

 

Huge border influx brings fears of grim summer for migrant deaths

WaPo: A sharp increase in the number of people crossing into the United States through remote desert areas along the U.S.-Mexico border has officials and rights advocates worried that this summer will be especially lethal, with the potential for a spike in migrant deaths. See also DHS chief doubles down on request to migrants at southern border: ‘Do not come’; U.S.-Mexico migration talks ‘constructive,’ not ‘threatening’ -White House; Risking it all: migrants brave Darién Gap in pursuit of the American dream.

 

People continue to camp outside of Orlando immigration office, hoping to be seen on Monday

ABC: People in search of appointments with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Orlando have been waiting in line for days now and some have been coming back to this spot for more than a month.

 

House Members Urge Funding for Legal Representation to Indigent Adults in Removal Proceedings

AILA: Forty-seven members of the House of Representatives, led by Congresswoman Norma Torres (D-CA), sent a letter calling for funding for the Department of Justice to expand federally funded legal representation for indigent adults facing immigration court removal proceedings.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Matter of DANG, 28 I&N Dec. 541 (BIA 2022)

BIA: Because misdemeanor domestic abuse battery with child endangerment under section 14:35.3(I) of the Louisiana Statutes extends to mere offensive touching, it is overbroad with respect to § 16(a) and therefore is not categorically a crime of domestic violence under section 237(a)(2)(E)(i) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i).

 

2nd Circ. Turns Down Convention Against Torture Relief Claim

Law360: The Second Circuit on Wednesday ruled that it lacked the jurisdiction to review an Indian man’s deportation, saying a recent immigration judge’s denial of his application for relief, under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, was not a “final order” that triggers the 30 days available for appellate court review.

 

En Banc 9th Circ. To Reconsider Calif. Private Prison Ban

Law360: The Ninth Circuit vacated on Tuesday a split panel’s decision that a California law banning private immigration detention facilities and other private prisons does not pass legal muster because it would impede the federal government’s immigration enforcement, saying it will hold an en banc hearing.

 

Federal Court Rules that Government Actions Under Remain in Mexico are Subject to Orantes Injunction

NILC: On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that plaintiffs raised significant questions regarding the federal government’s compliance with a permanent injunction in the Orantes case and ordered the government to produce more information to determine whether Remain in Mexico violated the injunction’s terms.

 

La. Judge Orders Biden To Keep Enforcing Title 42

Law360: A Louisiana federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from prematurely unwinding the Title 42 order used to quickly expel migrants arriving at the border, saying lifting the order ahead of schedule could force states to shoulder the financial burden of more migrants.

 

Arizona v. CDC Restraining Order

AILA: The judge in Arizona v. CDC granted the temporary restraining order. For the next 14 days, DHS is enjoined and restrained from implementing the termination order, “including increases (over pre-Termination Order levels) in processing of migrants from Northern Triangle countries through Title 8 proceedings rather than under the Title 42 Orders, and are further enjoined and restrained from reducing processing of migrants pursuant to Title 42.” DHS may still practice case-by-case discretion and engage in targeted expedited removal to detain and remove individuals who have crossed multiple times.

 

New NIJC litigation challenges a sham accountability process, misuse of funds, and egregiously neglectful conditions

NIJC: The litigation exposes how local officials in Indiana unlawfully misappropriate federal dollars meant for the care of immigrants detained in their jail to pad their own budgets. The lawsuit also sheds light on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s deeply flawed oversight that allows private companies and local jails like Clay County to misuse federal taxpayer dollars while non-citizens suffer in egregiously poor conditions.

 

Migrant Advocates Push For Cert. In Juvenile Work Permit Suit

Law360: Immigrant advocates have urged a California federal court to certify two classes of vulnerable juveniles waiting for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to process their visa applications, saying new agency guidance for child abuse survivors doesn’t address their allegations.

 

Kariye v. Mayorkas, No. 2:22-CV-01916 (C.D. Cal., filed Mar. 24, 2022)

HoldCBPAccountable: On March 24, 2022, the ACLU, ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and ACLU of Minnesota filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Muslim Americans, Abdirahman Aden Kariye, Mohamad Mouslli, and Hameem Shah, who have all been subjected to intrusive questioning from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officials about their religious beliefs, practices, and associations in violation of their First and Fifth Amendment rights.

 

Systemic Deficiencies at the Houston Asylum Office in Assessments of Credible and Reasonable Fear Cause Harm and Irreversible Damage to Asylum Seekers

NIPNLG: While many of the issues we raise have occurred in numerous asylum offices, the Houston Asylum Office has a particularly egregious record of conducting these screenings and we therefore ask that you investigate the Houston Asylum Office’s conduct.

 

Republican AGs Cry Foul Over Biden Asylum Policy

Law360: Over a dozen state attorneys general cried foul over President Joe Biden’s policy vesting asylum officers with greater power over asylum, filing lawsuits Thursday to block the rule, which they claim would force states to bear the cost of more migrants.

 

Texas Files Lawsuit Challenging Rule on Asylum Processing for Individuals Subject to Expedited Removal

AILA: On 4/28/22, the state of Texas filed a lawsuit challenging a DHS and DOJ interim final rule, issued on 3/29/22, and scheduled to take effect on 5/31/22. Texas argues the rule, which would change how individuals subject to expedited removal are processed for asylum, is unlawful.

 

DHS Notice of Implementation of Uniting for Ukraine Process

AILA: DHS notice of the implementation of the Uniting for Ukraine parole process, beginning 4/25/22. (87 FR 25040, 4/27/22)

 

DHS Plan for Southwest Border Security and Preparedness

DHS: Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas transmitted a memorandum to interested parties to provide additional details on the Biden-Harris Administration’s comprehensive plan to manage increased encounters of noncitizens at our Southwest Border.

 

RESOURCES

 

ACLU National Prison Project: Litigating Immigration Detention Conditions: An Introductory Guide (attached)

AIC: Survey on EOIR Mitigation for Access to Counsel Obstacles

AILA: Client Flyer: Rescheduling Biometrics Appointments

AILA: 75th Edition of the AILA Law Journal

ASISTA COVID-19 Practice Pointer: COVID Testing & Vaccination Requirements for Travel to the United States (Updated April 2022)

CRS: U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog

DHS OIG: Violations of ICE Detention Standards at South Texas ICE Processing Center

DHS Coloring Book

DOS: Information for Nationals of Ukraine

NIJC/DWN: State and Local Records Request Resources & Template

NILA: Template EOIR Motions to Stay Removal for Individuals Seeking to Reopen Removal Proceedings

NILA: The Basics of Motions to Reopen EOIR-Issued Removal Orders

NILA: Arriving Noncitizens and Adjustment of Status

NIPNLG OPLA Memo Explainer

NIPNLG: Survey Re OPLA Motions to Dismiss Where the Respondent Does Not Want Dismissal

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

5/7/22 Ukrainian Immigration Options Workshop

5/10/22 Justice & Java: What It Will Take To Save Our Asylum System

5/18/22 Pro Bono Training: Representing Immigrant Survivors Eligible For U Visas

6/28/22 Pro Bono Training: Asylum Pride Part 1

6/30/22 Pro Bono Training: Asylum Pride Part 2

 

GENERAL EVENTS

5/3/22 The Family Visa Petition

5/3/22 Inaugural “Vicarious Trauma Check-in” for Immigration Attorneys & Legal Staff: Reflecting on Lawyering Under 4 Years of Trump + 1 Year of Biden and Looking Forward

5/4/22 California Pardons and Post-Conviction Relief

5/5/22 Stories from the Trenches: Tools for Dealing with Depression, Burnout, and Substance Abuse

5/5/22 Preventing & Mitigating Vicarious Trauma Among Immigration Legal Staff As An Immigration Attorney Supervisor or Manager

5/6/22 Preventing & Mitigating Vicarious Trauma Amidst Zealous Immigration Detention Lawyering & Organizing

5/6/22-5/13/22 NITA-NIPNLG “Advocacy in Immigration Matters” Training

5/10/22 Asylum Claims for Young People

5/10/22 2022 Consular Processing Updates: Strategies and Alternatives for NIV and IV Cases

5/11/22 EOIR/ICE Liaison Update: The Most Recent Information on the State of Prosecutorial Discretion

5/12/22 Advanced DACA Issues: What You Need to Know in 2022

5/12/22-5/13/22 T-Visa Conference

5/13/22 FBA Immigration Law Conference

5/17/22 Advocating for Prosecutorial Discretion for Clients in Removal Proceedings

5/18/22 Pro Bono Training: Representing Immigrant Survivors Eligible For U Visas

5/18/22 U Visa Webinar Series: Adjustment of Status

5/19/22 USCIS to Host Webinar on Filing Form I-821D For Individuals Who Previously Received DACA

5/19/22 Fighting Interpol Red Notices with guest speaker, Sara Grossman

5/19/22 Waivers in Removal Proceedings: Beyond the Basics

5/19/22 Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: Your Client’s I-360 Is Approved, Now What?

5/20/22 AILA Chicago 2022 Spring Ethics Conference

5/21/22 Spring Ethics Conference Agenda

5/24/22 Current Issues in Afghan Asylum Claims

5/24/22 Obstacles to TPS Eligibility

5/24/22 Advanced FOIA Techniques

6/7/22 Asylum and Employment Authorization

6/8/22 ASISTA: Immigration Practice & Policy for Survivors: What’s New & What’s Next

6/8/22 Naturalization for People with Disabilities

6/14/22-6/15/22 NIPNLG 2022 Annual Pre-AILA Crimes & Immigration Seminar

6/22/22 Introduction to Immigrant Visa Consular Processing

7/5/22 Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law (COIL)

7/13/22 CGRS Using Universal Expert Declaration in Immigration Court

8/31/22 What to Do When You Get a Decision from the Ninth Circuit

9/26/22 Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law (COIL)

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

 

*******************

Corrupt GOP nativist politicos grandstanding, inept Administration officials, experts ignored, human rights, Constitution, humanity trampled, killing migrants, empowering smugglers, lack of vision, disdain for the rule of law, moral cowardice. 

The ugliness and futility of misguided, counterproductive, cruel, inhumane U.S. “enforcement only/deterrence” policies at border is in full display in this week’s report from Elizabeth!

Casey keeps asking the same question. Unhappily, nobody (except some members of the NDPA who are ignored except when creaming Garland in court) has “stepped up” with the answer!

Casey Stengel
“Can’t anybody here play this game?” — Casey Stengel 
PHOTO: Rudi Reit
Creative Commons

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

O5-05-22

Related posts:

  1. THE GIBSON REPORT— 01-02-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Garland’s Aimless Docket Reshuffling (“ADR”) Squeezes Refugees On Both Ends Of His Ludicrous Backlog, As Those Patiently Waiting Given Court Dates Nearly A Decade In The Future, While Recent Arrivals Mindlessly Rocketed To The “Front Of The Line” Struggle To Find Lawyers & Prepare Cases — Plus Other New Year News From The Dystopian World Of U.S. Immigration!
  2. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-04-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — HEADLINERS: New “Doyle Memo” On PD 🙂 — GOP White Nationalist AGs Seek Extension Of Illegal, Immoral Title 42 Charade🤮🏴‍☠️!
  3. WOW, HERE’S A SURPRISE: MANY KIDS FLEEING VIOLENCE IN THE NORTHERN TRIANGLE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BIDEN BORDER POLICIES — They Are Just Trying To Save Their Lives!
  4. 🧑🏽‍⚖️⚖️🗽🇺🇸WHO’S JUDGE IS IT ANYWAY? — The Crisis Of Independence In Our Immigration Courts! — Coming April 7, 2021! — Sponsored By The HNBA! — Don’t Miss It!

⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-25-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

 

PRACTICE ALERTS

ICE PD Memo (Doyle Memo) Goes into Effect Today

Nationwide Immigration Court Legal Assistant Directory

 

NEWS

 

US to welcome Ukraine refugees but no longer through Mexico

AP: Under a program announced Thursday, the U.S. will streamline refugee applications for Ukrainians and others fleeing the fighting, but will no longer routinely grant entry to those who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum. See also Biden administration taking heat for new Ukrainian settlement program.

 

Swing-state Democrats turn on Biden over Title 42 border decision

CNN: The Democratic rebellion against President Joe Biden’s plans to lift pandemic-era border restrictions is growing, as candidates in marquee races from Nevada to New Hampshire break with the administration and Republicans turn immigration into a centerpiece of their midterm election messaging. See also Two border mayors come out in support of ending Title 42.

 

Anti-immigration activists are dominating YouTube

Politico: The report, which includes research in key swing states, shows that YouTube has proved to be a critical space for shaping opinion on immigration — and even influencing voting patterns. It also looks at how immigration advocates and opponents have used starkly different messaging strategies, with opponents largely being more effective by investing in digital media and tailoring their messages to undecided voters.

 

US immigration agency explores data loophole to obtain information on deportation targets

Guardian: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has contracted with private data brokers to get around some areas’ sanctuary laws, documents show

Cuba-U.S. talks in Washington ‘focused on migration’ -State Dept

Reuters: U.S. and Cuban officials met in Washington for talks about migration on Thursday as the United States seeks to quell rising numbers of people attempting to cross its southern border, including increasing numbers of Cubans.

 

As COVID restrictions ended, a busy winter for asylum-seekers at the Canada border

Reuters: In December, Royal Canadian Mounted Police intercepted 2,811 asylum-seekers crossing the border outside formal land ports of entry, the vast majority crossing into Quebec. In January and February they intercepted 2,382 and 2,164, respectively – compared to 888 and 808 in January and February of 2019.

 

Watchdog Reports Feds Are Undercounting Border Deaths

Law360: U.S. Border Patrol has been undercounting migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border, compromising the data provided to lawmakers overseeing the agency’s efforts to reduce migrant deaths in the area, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

 

Indianapolis to get new immigration court next year: Justice

AP: A new immigration court will open in Indianapolis next year, taking over the state’s cases from a court in Chicago, the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. See also EOIR to Stop Holding Hearings in Pittsburgh on Sidney Street.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

Supreme Court weighs policy for migrants to wait in Mexico

AP: Arrested after the encounter with U.S. agents, Úbeda learned two days later that he could not pursue asylum in the United States while living with a cousin in Miami. Instead, he would have to wait in the Mexican border city of Tijuana for hearings in U.S. immigration court under a Trump-era policy that will be argued Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

Matter Of Dingus, 28 I&N Dec. 529 (BIA 2022)

BIA:   If  a  State  court’s  nunc  pro  tunc  order  modifies  or  amends  the  subject  matter  of  a  conviction  based  on  a  procedural  or  substantive  defect  in  the  underlying  criminal  proceedings,  the  original  conviction  is  invalid  for  immigration  purposes  and  we  will  give full effect to the modified conviction; however, if the modification or amendment is  entered  for  reasons  unrelated  to  the  merits  of  the  underlying  proceedings,  the  modification  will  not  be  given  any  effect  and  the  original  conviction  remains  valid.

 

4th Circ. Says Bad Advice Can’t Stop Ex-Citizen’s Deportation

Law360: The Fourth Circuit upheld a Virginia federal court’s decision to deport a Mexican native whose U.S. citizenship was revoked, saying his reliance on poor advice from his former attorney did not prevent him from knowing his risk for deportation.

 

Full 5th Circ. Won’t Redo Order Upending In Absentia Removal

Law360: The full Fifth Circuit kept intact a panel ruling that a multipart notice to appear tainted an immigrant’s in absentia removal order, but sparked a judge’s scathing dissent that the court wrongly blew wide open the deportation cases of thousands.

 

Feds Use 6th Circ. Ruling In Bid For 5th Circ. DACA Revival

Law360: The Biden administration is relying on a week-old Sixth Circuit ruling reinstating its policy prioritizing certain migrants for removal, as it presses the Fifth Circuit to crack open a judge’s permanent block on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

 

Feds Claim Immunity Over Alleged Wrongful ICE Detention

Law360: The U.S. government is claiming sovereign immunity to shake off the majority of a Washington district court lawsuit from a man accusing immigration officials of wrongfully imprisoning him, falsely affiliating him with gangs and stripping him of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals benefits.

 

Biden Administration to Streamline Humanitarian Parole Process for Ukrainians and Expand Refugee and Visa Processing for Ukrainians

AILA: “Uniting for Ukraine” will create a streamlined process to consider Ukrainians for humanitarian parole and work authorization in the U.S. DOS will expand refugee processing and NIV appointments for Ukrainians. Ukrainians presenting at land POEs without visas or preauthorization will be denied entry.

 

DHS Notice of Designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status

AILA: DHS notice of designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, effective 4/19/22 through 10/19/23. (87 FR 23211, 4/19/22)

 

DHS Notice of Designation of Sudan for Temporary Protected Status

AILA: DHS notice of designation of Sudan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, effective 4/19/22 through 10/19/23. (87 FR 23202, 4/19/22)

 

Biden Administration to Streamline Humanitarian Parole Process for Ukrainians and Expand Refugee and Visa Processing for Ukrainians

AILA: “Uniting for Ukraine” will create a streamlined process to consider Ukrainians for humanitarian parole and work authorization in the U.S. DOS will expand refugee processing and NIV appointments for Ukrainians. Ukrainians presenting at land POEs without visas or preauthorization will be denied entry.

 

EOIR Rescinds Policy Memoranda 19-05, 21-06, and 21-13

AILA: EOIR rescinded PM 19-05, Guidance Regarding the Adjudication of Asylum Applications Consistent with INA § 208(d)(5)(A)(iii); PM 21-06, Asylum Processing; and PM 21-13, Continuances.

 

DHS 5-Day Notice and Request for Comments on New MPP Disenrollment Request System

AILA: DHS 5-day notice and request for comments on a new public-facing Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) Disenrollment Request website. Comments are due 4/26/22. (87 FR 23879, 4/21/22)

 

CBP Request for Public Input

AILA: CBP request for public input on CBP processes, programs, regulations, collections of information, and policies for the agency to consider modifying, streamlining, expanding, or repealing in light of recent executive orders. Comments will be accepted through 6/21/22.

 

DHS Extends COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Non-U.S. Travelers Entering at the Canadian and Mexican Borders

AILA: DHS announced it will extend Title 19 requirements and require non-U.S. travelers entering the United States via land ports of entry and ferry terminals at the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide proof of vaccination upon request.

 

RESOURCES

 

EVENTS

NIJC EVENTS

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

*********************************

Thanks, Elizabeth!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-26-22

 

 

Related posts:

  1. GIBSON REPORT — 08-02-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group
  2. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-04-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — HEADLINERS: New “Doyle Memo” On PD 🙂 — GOP White Nationalist AGs Seek Extension Of Illegal, Immoral Title 42 Charade🤮🏴‍☠️!
  3. THE GIBSON REPORT — 03-01-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — FEATURING: Under The EOIR Big Top 🎪 Robed TV Carnival Barkers Hand Out Death Sentences ☠️ With Ignorance, Indolence, Indifference, & Insult To Injury!
  4. THE GIBSON REPORT— 01-02-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Garland’s Aimless Docket Reshuffling (“ADR”) Squeezes Refugees On Both Ends Of His Ludicrous Backlog, As Those Patiently Waiting Given Court Dates Nearly A Decade In The Future, While Recent Arrivals Mindlessly Rocketed To The “Front Of The Line” Struggle To Find Lawyers & Prepare Cases — Plus Other New Year News From The Dystopian World Of U.S. Immigration!

⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-18-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — 2021 DOS Country Reports, TPS For Cameroon and Ukraine, Harris Co. (TX) Legal Services Fund, Among The “Headliners!”

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

pastedGraphic.png

 

Weekly Briefing

 

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

 

CONTENTS (jump to section)

  • PRACTICE ALERTS
  • NEWS
  • LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
  • RESOURCES
  • EVENTS

 

PRACTICE ALERTS

 

TPS For Ukraine Scheduled to Be Published tomorrow, 4/19/22

 

Secretary Mayorkas Designates Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status for 18 Months

 

2021 DOS Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

 

USCIS Announces Online Filing for DACA Renewal Forms

 

ICE announces new policies strengthening protections for detained noncitizens with mental disorders

 

NEWS

 

State Department Unveils US 2021 Human Rights Report

VOA: A U.S. State Department annual report highlighted concerns about continuing human rights abuses in Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Egypt and other authoritarian nations, as well as the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on rights practices around the world.

 

U.S. arrests 210,000 migrants at Mexico border in March, rivaling record highs

Reuters: The 210,000 migrants arrested in March, a figure made public in a court filing on Friday night, is the highest monthly total on record since February 2000, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics dating back to 2000.

 

Launch of Program for Legal Representation of Detained Immigrants

RAICES: On Monday, April 18th, 2022, immigrant legal services providers, advocates and community members will hold a press conference to announce the launch of the Harris County Immigrant Legal Services Fund (ILSF), which will provide free legal representation for immigrant members of the county who are detained and facing the threat of deportation. As of February 2022, Harris County had the most residents with pending immigration court cases in the country.

 

Democrats intensify fight against Biden immigration policy

CNN: While immigration advocates celebrated the decision to reverse Title 42, many moderate Democrats have sounded the alarm warning that lifting the policy without an adequate plan in place will lead to a rapid influx of migrants at the Southern border, something that Republicans will be quick to seize on the campaign trail.

 

First busload of migrants from Texas arrives in D.C.

WaPo: They were also thankful that Abbott had given them a free ride and trips to McDonald’s, even after being told the governor is calling for them to be expelled from the United States…“The truth is, they helped us. They gave us a hand so that we could arrive here and honestly, we are very grateful.” See also Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock; Examining Nearly Two Decades of Taxpayer-Funded Border Operations.

 

Kansas gov signs bill to ban local ‘sanctuaries’ for immigrants

AP: The bill was filed after Wyandotte County passed a “sanctuary” ordinance in February that would provide local identification cards for immigrants and other residents and would prevent local law enforcement from helping the federal government enforce immigration laws unless public safety is threatened. Lawrence and Roeland Park have similar ordinances.

 

Watchdog Pans ICE For Sole-Sourcing $87M Hotel Deal

Law360: A federal watchdog rebuked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for an $87 million no-bid contract to house migrant families in hotels, saying the agency hadn’t justified directly awarding the deal to a nonprofit inexperienced in emergency family residential services.

 

Cuba has stopped accepting deportations of its nationals from the US, ICE says

Denver Gazette: The Cuban government has not been accepting deportations of Cuban nationals from the U.S. for more than six months, at a time when tens of thousands are leaving the island to reach the U.S. in the largest exodus since the 1980s Mariel boatlift.

 

Illinois budget expands tax breaks and healthcare for immigrants

WTTW: An expanded class of low-income workers will permanently get a larger tax break via the Earned Income Tax Credit, and that benefit will be extended to those who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), something that Rep. Aaron Ortiz, D-Chicago, said is important to many immigrants who play an important role in the state’s economy. Illinois is allocating $70 million for healthcare for undocumented immigrants. See also Illinois launches health care coverage for older immigrant adults aged 55 to 64.

 

Ukrainians Face New Hurdle at U.S. Border: No Dogs

NYT: Federal health guidelines limit the entry of pets from countries like Ukraine with a high incidence of rabies. For some refugees, the rule has been devastating. See also Poland builds a border wall, even as it welcomes Ukrainian refugees.

 

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

 

4th Circ. Won’t Grant Immigrant Fees, Despite Feds’ Loss

Law360: The Fourth Circuit refused to award attorney fees to a man who convinced the full appeals court that the federal government had arbitrarily rejected him for special immigrant juvenile status, saying the U.S. was justified in fighting the suit.

 

7th Circ. Leery Of Letting States Step Into Public Charge Fight

Law360: The Seventh Circuit seemed unconvinced Wednesday that it should unsettle the dust in a dispute over a Trump-era public charge rule that the Biden administration has already begun redrafting by letting a group of Republican-led states enter the fray.

 

USCIS To Give Veterans Citizenship After Failing To Ax Suits

Law360: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will grant naturalization requests made by two immigrant veterans after federal courts refused to toss the soldiers’ lawsuits alleging the agency unfairly disqualified them from expedited processing of their citizenship bids.

 

DHS Can’t Block Probe Of Detained Migrants’ Counsel Access

Law360: A D.C. federal court has denied the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s bid to block inspections of detention facilities that immigration advocates say are denying inmates access to counsel, but the government did get its choice of monitor for the probe.

 

18 Additional States Join Suit To Keep Pandemic Border Block

Law360: Eighteen additional states on Thursday signed on to a lawsuit started by Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri to challenge the Biden administration’s decision to wind down a pandemic-related order known as Title 42 that allows the quick expulsion of migrants arriving at U.S. land borders.

 

Immigrant groups sue ICE for information on alternative detention programs

Hill: A coalition of immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking information from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about the agency’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), a so- called alternative to detention program that has ballooned during the Biden administration.

 

Immigration warning not needed in police questioning of undocumented suspects, court rules

NJ Monitor: Police do not have to — and should not — advise crime suspects that their cooperation could impact their immigration status, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Friday.

 

Secretary Mayorkas Designates Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status for 18 Months

USCIS: Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the designation of Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. Only individuals who are already residing in the United States as of April 14, 2022, will be eligible for TPS.

 

DHS Equity Action Plan

DHS: The key program areas include: Applying for naturalization; Accessing humanitarian protection during immigration processing

Bidding on DHS contracts; Countering all forms of terrorism and targeted violence; Filing complaints and seeking redress in DHS programs and activities; Airport screening; Accessing Trusted Traveler Programs.

 

USCIS Releases New Webpage for Lockbox Filing Location Updates

AILA: USCIS announced that its website will now feature a Lockbox Filing Location Updates page, where customers can track when lockbox form filing locations are updated. Updates will also be emailed and announced on social media.

 

EOIR Announces Appointment of Mary Cheng as Deputy Director

EOIR: Since April 2021, Judge Cheng has served as the Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge for the Eastern Region at EOIR. She previously served as a Deputy Chief Immigration Judge from 2017 to 2021, and she was the Acting Principal Deputy Chief Immigration Judge from August 2020 to February 2021. Judge Cheng has also served in the New York Immigration Court both as an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge from 2015 to 2017, and as an Immigration Judge from 2009 to 2015. Before joining EOIR, she served as Assistant Chief Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from 2002 to 2009; and before that, she practiced immigration law in New York from 2000 to 2002.

 

EOIR Announces New Appellate Judge

AILA: EOIR announced the appointment of Beth Liebmann as a member of BIA by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. Biographical information for Liebmann has been provided.

 

AMICUS INVITATION (Texas Burglary – Crime of Violence)

BIA: Whether, in light of U.S. v. Herrold, 941 F.3d 173 (5th Cir. 2019) (en banc), and regardless of the specific mens rea of an underlying crime, the commission or attempted commission of a felony, theft, or an assault under Texas Penal Code § 30.02(a)(3) necessarily supersedes or implicitly contains generic burglary’s intent element, which requires an “intent to commit a crime” upon entry into a building or habitation. Due Date: May 3, 2022

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

NIJC EVENTS

 

GENERAL EVENTS

 

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit:  https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

 

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

 

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

*******************

Thanks Elizabeth. 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-19-22

 

 

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-04-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, NIJC — HEADLINERS: New “Doyle Memo” On PD 🙂 — GOP White Nationalist AGs Seek Extension Of Illegal, Immoral Title 42 Charade🤮🏴‍☠️!
  2. THE GIBSON REPORT— 01-02-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Garland’s Aimless Docket Reshuffling (“ADR”) Squeezes Refugees On Both Ends Of His Ludicrous Backlog, As Those Patiently Waiting Given Court Dates Nearly A Decade In The Future, While Recent Arrivals Mindlessly Rocketed To The “Front Of The Line” Struggle To Find Lawyers & Prepare Cases — Plus Other New Year News From The Dystopian World Of U.S. Immigration!
  3. 🗽⚖️🇺🇸 JOIN MY FRIEND & NDPA SUPERHERO 🦸🏻 HEIDI ALTMAN OF NIJC IN OPPOSING INHUMANE HAITIAN DEPORTATIONS!
  4. THE GIBSON REPORT — 02-14-21💝 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Mandatory E-Filing @ EOIR Starts & Lots Of Other “Interesting Stuff!”  — CMS Study Shows How Garland Is Ignoring the “Low Hanging Fruit” On His Out of Control EOIR Backlog! ☹️