THE GIBSON REPORT 05-27-19 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

THE GIBSON REPORT05-27-19 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

TOP UPDATES

 

SOLITARY VOICES: Thousands of Immigrants Suffer in Solitary Confinement in ICE Detention

ICIJ: ICE’s own directives say that isolating detainees — who under federal law aren’t considered prisoners and aren’t held for punitive reasons — is “a serious step that requires careful consideration of alternatives.” An investigation by The Intercept and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found that ICE uses isolation as a go-to tool, rather than a last resort, to manage and punish even the most vulnerable detainees for weeks and months at a time.

 

White House Issues Memo Ordering Strict Enforcement of Sponsor-Reimbursement Laws

AILA: The White House issued a memo directing relevant agencies to update/issue procedures, guidance, and regulations, as needed, to strictly enforce existing income-deeming and reimbursement laws when sponsored immigrants seek certain means-tested public benefits, such as SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF. See also One in Seven Adults in Immigrant Families Reported Avoiding Public Benefit Programs in 2018.

 

Burgeoning Immigration Judge Workloads

TRAC: The hiring pace for new judges continues to be insufficient to keep up with the Immigration Court’s workload. As a result, the court’s backlog continues to climb. While 47 new judges were hired during the first six months of FY 2019, others retired or left the bench. Thus, hiring resulted in a net gain of only 29 additional judges. As of the end of March, EOIR reports judge ranks had only climbed to a total of 424. And this total includes an unspecified number serving in administrative roles. See also Presiding Under Pressure and Judge Denise Slavin on the Immigration Courts, the National Association of Immigration Judges, Article I, and the Leadership at EOIR.

 

Trump to place Ken Cuccinelli at the head of the country’s legal immigration system

WaPo: President Trump plans to install Ken Cuccinelli II as the new director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, placing the conservative activist and former Virginia attorney general at the head of the agency that runs the country’s legal immigration system, administration officials said Friday. L. Francis Cissna, the agency’s current director, has told his staff that he will leave his post June 1. The move extends the purge of senior leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, replacing Cissna, a Senate-confirmed agency head with deep expertise on immigration law, with Cuccinelli, a conservative firebrand disliked by senior GOP figures, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

 

Critically Ill Man Deported Without Adequate Medication, Access to Care

WNYC: An undocumented immigrant from Brooklyn was deported to his home country in the Caribbean on Wednesday without advance notice, despite serious cardiovascular issues that led him to fall ill on the flight and could soon lead to death without adequate care, according to his attorneys and a cardiologist who reviewed his case.

 

Migrant child dies after detention by US border agents

AP: A 16-year-old Guatemala migrant who died Monday in U.S. custody had been held by immigration authorities for six days — twice as long as federal law generally permits — then transferred him to another holding facility even after he was diagnosed with the flu.

 

They Were Told 45 Days. Now Asylum-Seekers Are Being Forced To Wait Up To A Year In Mexico.

Buzzfeed: “I don’t know how we’re going to be able to afford to stay in Juárez for that long,” a father of three said. “It’s dangerous here for migrants.”

 

Mexico Studies Building New Immigration Facilities

AP: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has insisted that his main strategy to deal with migration is to improve conditions in migrants’ countries of origin so they don’t feel compelled to leave. However, detentions and deportations in Mexico are up 150% so far this year. Mexico’s efforts did not appear to immediately appease President Donald Trump, who unleashed a broadside on Twitter on Tuesday. Trump wrote that he was “very disappointed that Mexico is doing virtually nothing to stop illegal immigrants from coming to our Southern Border” and added that “Mexico is wrong and I will soon be giving a response!”

 

More Than 52,000 People Are Now Being Detained By ICE, An Apparent All-Time High

Buzzfeed: As of Monday, ICE was holding 52,398 migrants, of which 998 are family units, an agency official told BuzzFeed News. The number represents a significant population spike from just two weeks ago when ICE was holding more than 49,000 migrants.

 

These doctors risked their careers to expose the dangers children face in immigrant family detention

CNN: Allen and McPherson say they documented their concerns numerous times in reports filed with the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, and felt like the people in power were listening. But they say two things prompted them to speak more publicly about the matter after Trump took office: the spike in family separations at the border and moves to increase family detention rather than scale it back.

 

US starts process to ban work permits for spouses

Econ Times: The Trump administration has begun the process to ban work permits for spouses of H-1B visa holders, a move that would affect the families of thousands of Indian hi-tech workers in the US.

 

New rules limit ICE activity in New Jersey state courthouses

NorthJersey: New rules will require that court personnel ask federal immigration agents to present a warrant before they arrest anyone in courthouses on civil immigration offenses.

 

Both Parents Are American. The U.S. Says Their Baby Isn’t.

NYT: James Derek Mize, left, and his husband, Jonathan Gregg, are both American citizens. Under a State Department policy, their daughter, who was born abroad, did not qualify for citizenship.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

The ACLU Has Filed A $100 Million Claim Against The US Over The Fatal Border Patrol Shooting Of A Guatemalan Woman

Buzzfeed: The claim, which is typically a precursor to a lawsuit, is for personal injury and wrongful death and accuses the federal government of battery, negligence, and reckless conduct in the Border Patrol shooting of Claudia Patricia Gómez González, an indigenous Mayan woman.

 

Worsening Detention Conditions in Border Patrol Custody Highlighted in New Complaint

AIC: The deaths show that before giving huge new sums to increase detention capability, the agency must face significant oversight and accountability towards the deplorable conditions it holds migrants in.

 

Matter of MIRANDA-CORDIERO, 27 I&N Dec. 551 (BIA 2019)

Pursuant to section 240(b)(5)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(5)(B) (2012), neither rescission of an in absentia order of removal nor termination of the proceedings is required where an alien who was served with a notice to appear that did not specify the time and place of the initial removal hearing failed to provide an address where a notice of hearing could be sent. Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018), distinguished.

 

Matter of PENA-MEJIA, 27 I&N Dec. 546 (BIA 2019)

Neither rescission of an in absentia order of removal nor termination of the proceedings is required where an alien did not appear at a scheduled hearing after being served with a notice to appear that did not specify the time and place of the initial removal hearing, so long as a subsequent notice of hearing specifying that information was properly sent to the alien.  Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018), distinguished.

 

USCIS Announces Certain Nonimmigrants Can Now File Form I-539 Online

USCIS announced that individuals can file certain Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, online in certain circumstances. AILA Doc. No. 19052241

 

DHS Final Rule Adjusting Student and Exchange Visitor Program Fees

DHS final rule adjusting fees for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). The rule is effective 6/24/19. (84 FR 23930, 5/23/19) AILA Doc. No. 19052300

 

USCIS Correction to Notice on Continuation of Documentation for Beneficiaries of TPS Designations for Nepal and Honduras

USCIS correction to the notice published at 84 FR 20647 on 5/10/19 on continuation of documentation for beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status from Nepal and Honduras. The notice corrects the CIS Number, the DHS Docket Number, and the RIN. (84 FR 23578, 5/22/19) AILA Doc. No. 19052231

 

USCIS Accelerates Transition to Digital Immigration Processing

USCIS: As a first step, certain visitors for business, visitors for pleasure, and vocational students can now apply online to extend their stay in the United States. Additional classifications are coming soon.

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

ImmProf

 

Monday, May 27, 2019

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Friday, May 24, 2019

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Monday, May 20, 2019

As usual, lots of “good stuff” (or “bad stuff” depending on how you look at it) in Elizabeth’s report. Here’s one of my “favorites” — a report that ties into what I have been saying about this White Nationalist misogynist Administration’s cowardly and concerted attack on women and girls who are victims of abuse and trafficking: https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2019/05/report-report-abused-blamed-and-refused-protection-denied-to-women-and-children-trafficked-over-the-.html

Here’s my recent speech on how the racist misogynistic attack on female refugees from Central America has been carried over into Immigration Courts: https://immigrationcourtside.com/2019/05/20/report-from-fba-austin-read-my-speech-justice-betrayed-the-intentional-mistreatment-of-central-american-asylum-applicants-by-the-executive-office-for-immigration-review/

Why are we harming and demeaning those whom we should be welcoming and protecting?

PWS

05-30-19

 

 

Related posts:

  1. 9TH CIRCUIT JUDGES COMPLICIT IN HUMAN RIGHTS & LEGAL VIOLATIONS INFLICTED ON TERRIFIED TEEN ASYLUM APPLICANTS: Reuters Study Exposes How Disingenuous Article III Judges Are Letting Trump Administration “Get Away With Potential Murder” Under Clearly Illegal, Unconstitutional, & Incompetently Administered “Remain In Mexico” Abomination!
  2. AMEN: A PRAYER IN THE TIME OF KAKISTOCRACY!
  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. COMPLICITY HAS COSTS:  Article III Judges’ Association Apparently Worries That Trump, Barr, GOP Toadies Starting To “Treat Them Like Immigration Judges” — Do They Fear Descent To Status Of Mere Refugees, Immigrants, “Dreamers,” Unaccompanied Children, Or Others Treated As “Less Than Persons” By Trump, 5th Cir., 11th Cir., 9th Cir., & The Supremes’ “J.R. Five?”