Attorney, NY Legal Assistance Group
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”
TOP UPDATES
Trump administration to begin collecting DNA from detained immigrants
The Verge: The United States government will begin collecting the DNA of detained immigrants through pilot programs this week, according to a privacy impact assessment that was published today by the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration Judges Asylum Grants & Denials in FY 2018-2019
A&J: Of note is the asylum grants and denials for the 6 Immigration Judges who AG William Barr hand-picked for the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2019: 2 of the 6 new BIA members–Hunsucker and Cassidy–denied all their asylum cases in FY 2019.
10 US immigration issues to watch in 2020
PRI: Last year, the Trump administration rolled out several policies that restricted access to asylum, as well as employment-based and family-based immigration pathways. With a presidential election on the horizon, 2020 could bring even more restrictions. Here’s what we’re watching.
U.S. implements plan to send Mexican asylum seekers to Guatemala
Reuters: Mexicans seeking asylum in the United States could be sent to Guatemala under a bilateral agreement signed by the Central American nation last year, according to documents sent to U.S. asylum officers in recent days and seen by Reuters.
US starts sending asylum seekers across Arizona border
AP: Authorities are expanding a program known as Remain in Mexico that requires tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait out their immigration court hearings in Mexico. Until this week, the government was driving some asylum seekers from Nogales, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas, so they could be returned to Juarez. Now, asylum-seekers will have to find their own way through dangerous Mexican border roads.
U.S. Stops Dozens of Iranian-Americans Returning From Canada
NYT: More than 60 people were held for additional questioning in Washington State, according to advocacy groups and accounts from travelers.
To Produce Citizenship Data, Homeland Security To Share Records With Census
NPR: DHS quietly announced the data-sharing agreement in a regulatory document posted on its website on Dec. 27. It marks the latest development in the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to carry out the executive order President Trump issued in July after courts blocked the administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Net Migration between the U.S. and Abroad Added 595,000 to National Population Between 2018 and 2019
Census: Net international migration added 595,000 to the U.S. population between 2018 and 2019, the lowest level this decade. This is a notable drop from this decade’s high of 1,047,000 between 2015 and 2016.
Think unauthorized immigrants don’t pay taxes? Here are four ways they do
DMN: Nowrasteh said that upwards of 75% of unauthorized immigrants file taxes with the federal government.
Trump’s Tent Cities Are on the Verge of Killing Immigrant Children
Slate: The camp facility where people are sort of constrained physically has somewhere between 2,600 and 3,000 people in it at any given day, and it’s growing. But the total number of people who’ve been returned to Mexico under MPP is closer to 68,000. So only a small fraction of the people who need legal services are even visible at this point.
DHS reviews how DMV laws affect immigration enforcement
AP: The acting secretary of Homeland Security is taking aim at new laws in New York and New Jersey that allow immigrants to get driver’s licenses without proof they are in the U.S. legally, and restrict data sharing with federal authorities.
How the White House Is Trying—and Failing—to Keep States from Resettling Refugees
New Yorker: So far, not a single state or locale has said it would end refugee resettlement. Of the thirty-one consent letters that have been signed by governors, a third have come from red states such as Utah, Arizona, Iowa, and Indiana.
After Cabinet opposed Mexican cartel policy, Trump forged ahead
Reuters: The recommendations, which some of the sources described as unanimous, have not been reported previously. They were driven in part by concerns that such designations could harm U.S.-Mexico ties, potentially jeopardizing Mexico’s cooperation with Trump’s efforts to halt illegal immigration and drug trafficking across the border, said two sources, including a senior administration official.
LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS
Pencil-ONLY on I-589 Passport-Size Photos
Listservs: While EAD instructions allow felt-tip pens for writing on the back of photos, asylum instructions currently require pencil ONLY. People are receiving rejection notices for I-589s with writing on the photos in anything other than pencil.
Matter of SALAD, 27 I&N Dec. 733 (BIA 2020)
The offense of making terroristic threats in violation of section 609.713, subdivision 1, of the Minnesota Statutes is categorically a crime involving moral turpitude.
USCIS and EOIR Joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Bars to Asylum Eligibility
Posted 1/2/2020
USCIS and EOIR joint notice of proposed rulemaking that would add seven additional mandatory bars to eligibility for asylum. Comments are due 1/21/20. (84 FR 69640, 12/19/19)
AILA Doc. No. 19121901
EOIR Suspends Operations at the Louisville Immigration Court Due to Building Conditions
Posted 1/6/2020
EOIR announced that there is no projected reopening date for the Louisville Immigration Court and cases have been cancelled through March 31, 2020.
AILA Doc. No. 19081631
ACTIONS
- Call for Examples: USCIS Rejection of Forms I-589 Due to Claimed Incompleteness
- DHS Proposed Rule on Employment Authorization for Asylum ApplicantsComments are due 1/13/20.
- USCIS and EOIR Joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Bars to Asylum EligibilityComments are due 1/21/20.
RESOURCES
- ILRC: A New Remedy for Liberians: The Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (LRIF)
- Know Your Rights: What to Do If You Are Detained at a Port of Entry (LPR)
- From withholding money to precluding women from working, financial abuse is an insidious manifestation of domestic violence and equally as dangerous.
- The Need for Transparency
EVENTS
- 1/7/20 2nd Circuit Hearing on DHS Public Charge Rule
- 1/15/20 NY Counts 2020 State Convening
- 1/16/20 Taxes and Immigration, a Complex Combination
- 1/16/20 Resilience 2.0: Next Steps Lawyers Can Take to Make Bouncing Back Part of the Culture
- 1/23/20 Event and Report on Statelessness in the United States
- 1/23/20 Debrief on Mississippi Raid: Lessons Learned and Improving Responses
- 2/6/20 Basic Immigration Law 2020: Business, Family, Naturalization and Related Areas
- 2/7/20 Asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Crime Victim, and Other Forms of Immigration Relief 2020
- 2/28/20 5th Annual New York Asylum and Immigration Law Conference
- 7/23/20 Defending Immigration Removal Proceedings 2020
ImmProf
Monday, January 6, 2020
- Multicultural Golden Globe News
- Trump Administration Clamping Down on Iranians Seeking to Return to the US?
Sunday, January 5, 2020
- Teaching About Border Militias: A Follow Up
- Legal challenge to EO burdening state refugee resettlement
Saturday, January 4, 2020
- DHS to share administrative records on citizenship with census bureau
- Your Playlist: Gaby Moreno and Van Dyke Parks (with Jackson Browne)
- 10 US immigration issues to watch in 2020
Friday, January 3, 2020
- Asylum Seekers Must Get Selves from Nogales to Juárez
- Prosecutor, DACA Recipient Awaits Word on DACA’s (and His) Future
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
- Photos of the year
- Film ‘Knives Out’ sparks question of how to tell immigration stories
- Happy New Year! Trump administration seeks review of state DMV laws on immigration enforcement
- US Adoptees from South Korea making heritage journeys
- Happy New Year!
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
- Reminder: Unauthorized immigrants pay taxes. Here are four ways they do
- High Level DHS Official Says Hate Crime Suspect Lacked ‘American Values’ As Dad Was Once Undocumented Immigrant
- US Census Bureau: Net International Migration Projected to Fall to Lowest Levels This Decade
- Mexican Women Fighting Domestic Violence
Monday, December 30, 2019
- AALS: Immigration Programming
- Nolan Rappaport (The Hill): Removal of DACA recipients has begun: It didn’t take a crystal ball to see DACA would not end well
- New Path to Citizenship for Liberians
- Hispanic voters being overlooked in Democratic presidential campaign
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Thanks, Elizabeth!
PWS
01-08-20