THE GIBSON REPORT — 07-20-20 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Attorney, NY Legal Assistance Group
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

COVID-19

Note: Policies are rapidly changing, so please verify the latest policies on the relevant government websites and with colleagues on listservs as best you can.

 

New

 

Closures

 

Guidance:

 

TOP NEWS

 

EOIR Announces 46 New Immigration Judges

Including:

J. Thomas Bartleson, Immigration Judge, New York – Broadway Immigration Court

Andrew M. Calvelli, Immigration Judge, New York – Broadway Immigration Court

Lorianne M. Campanella, Immigration Judge, New York – Federal Plaza Immigration Court

David A. Fraiden, Immigration Judge, New York – Federal Plaza Immigration Court

Robert J. Gundlach, Immigration Judge, New York – Broadway Immigration Court

Andrea Koppenhofer, Immigration Judge, New York – Broadway Immigration Court

Carolyn L. Krasinski, Immigration Judge, New York – Broadway Immigration Court

Michael W. Lloyd, Immigration Judge, New York – Broadway Immigration Court

Dara F. Reid, Immigration Judge, New York –    Varick Immigration Court

Scott E. Thomsen, Immigration Judge, New York – Federal Plaza Immigration Court

 

More Immigration Judges Leaving the Bench

TRAC: The latest judge-by-judge data from the Immigration Courts indicate that more judges are resigning and retiring. Turnover is the highest since records began in FY 1997 over two decades ago.

 

Trump administration drops restrictions on online-only instruction for foreign students

CNN: One person familiar with the matter told CNN the White House has felt the blowback to the proposal and that some inside the West Wing believe it was poorly conceived and executed. See also Foreign students still in danger of losing visas, despite settlement.

 

Trump expected to exclude undocumented migrants from U.S. census

Reuters: President Donald Trump is expected to soon issue an executive order that would ban undocumented immigrants from being included in the 2020 census count of every person living in the United States, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

 

U.S. Weighs Sweeping Travel Ban on Chinese Communist Party Members

NYT: The presidential order under consideration would be based on the same statute in the Immigration and Nationality Act used in a 2017 travel ban on several predominantly Muslim countries.

 

Trump Administration Rejects New DACA Applications

Inside Higher Ed: The Trump administration is refusing to process new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program despite a Supreme Court ruling that required reinstatement of the program, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

 

Trump is considering a loophole, which he found in a conservative magazine article, to bypass Congress to impose new immigration policies

Business Insider: President Donald Trump is interested in a new National Review article arguing that a recent Supreme Court decision enables him to bypass Congress to impose policies, Axios reported.

 

The Border Patrol Was Responsible for an Arrest in Portland

The Nation: For days, federal agents in unmarked cars have reportedly been snatching Portland protesters off the streets…. A memo consisting of internal talking points for the federal agency responsible for the arrest, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and obtained exclusively by The Nation provides some answers—and raises even more questions.

 

Four States Are Sharing Driver’s License Info To Help Find Out Who’s A Citizen

NPR: To help figure out the U.S. citizenship status of every adult living in the country, the Trump administration has made agreements to accumulate driver’s license and state identification card information from states including Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina and South Dakota, NPR has learned.

 

Border agency fires 4 for secret Facebook groups with violent, bigoted posts

LA Times: More than a year after launching an internal investigation into 138 employees for “inappropriate social media activity,” Customs and Border Protection — the parent agency of the Border Patrol — has removed four employees, suspended 38 without pay and disciplined an additional 27 “with reprimands or counseling,” according to data provided to The Times by the agency.

 

Elizabeth Detention Center Property Owner Announces Plans to Cut Ties with For-Profit Detention Company CoreCivic

InsiderNJ: After months of action by immigrant rights organizers, the Elberon Development Group has decided to cut ties with their tenant, CoreCivic and their property, the Elizabeth Detention Center (EDC), a private immigration detention center that has a long history of inhumane conditions.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

USCIS Issues Policy Alert on Applying Discretion in USCIS Adjudications

USCIS is consolidating existing policy guidance in its Policy Manual regarding officers’ application of discretion in adjudications. The new guidance, among other things, provides an overview of the discretionary analysis and provides lists of discretionary factors that officers should consider. AILA Doc. No. 20071531

 

Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Trump Policies Restricting Asylum for Immigrants Fleeing Domestic and Gang Violence

ACLU: The American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Gender & Refugee Studies challenged the policies that sought to speedily send women and children and other asylum seekers back to countries where they faced brutal violence and death. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., today upheld key aspects of a lower court ruling against the administration. The case is Grace v. Barr.

 

Class Action Lawsuit in Minnesota Challenges Matter of Castro-Tum

Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court on behalf of certain individuals in Minnesota who are ineligible to apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver because their removal proceedings are not administratively closed. (Lopez, et al. v. Barr, et al., 7/13/20) AILA Doc. No. 20071790

 

Individuals, Employers, and Organizations Join to File First Lawsuit Challenging Entirety of Trump’s Immigration Ban

AILA, Justice Action Center, and Innovation Law Lab, with pro bono support from Mayer Brown LLP, sued the Trump Administration on behalf of 23 individual and organizational plaintiffs to prevent the devastating effects of President’s Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional immigration ban. AILA Doc. No. 20071701

 

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Orders DHS to Restore DACA

Judge Paul W. Grimm in the Maryland District Court vacated DACA’s rescission and enjoined DHS from implementing or enforcing the rescission and from taking any other action to rescind DACA that is not in compliance with applicable law. (Casa de Maryland, et al., v. DHS, et.al., 7/17/20) AILA Doc. No. 20071741

 

Attorney General Vacates BIA’s Decision in Matter of O-F-A-S-

Clarifying the proper approach for determining “official capacity” for the purpose of deciding CAT protection, the AG vacated the BIA’s decision in Matter of O-F-A-S-, 27 I&N Dec. 709 (BIA 2019), and remanded the case for review. Matter of O-F-A-S-, 28 I&N Dec. 35 (A.G. 2020) AILA Doc. No. 20071433

 

BIA Rules On DHS’s Authority to Return Individuals to a Contiguous Foreign Territory Under MPP

BIA ruled that under INA §235(b)2(c), an individual who is arriving on land from a contiguous foreign territory may be returned by DHS to that country pursuant to MPP, regardless of whether the individual arrives at or between a designated POE. Matter of M-D-C-V-, 28 I&N Dec. 18 (BIA 2020) AILA Doc. No. 20071400

 

CA2 Finds BIA Erred in Denying Petitioner’s Motion to Suppress Evidence of Her Alienage Without an Evidentiary Hearing

Applying the standard set in Cotzojay v. Holder to petitioner’s motion to suppress evidence, the court concluded that the petitioner had submitted sufficient evidence of an egregious Fourth Amendment violation to warrant an evidentiary hearing. (Millan-Hernandez v. Barr, 7/13/20) AILA Doc. No. 20071738

 

CA2 Holds That Changed Circumstances Under INA §208(a)(2)(D) Need Not Arise Prior to the Filing of an Asylum Application

Granting the petition for review, the court held that pursuant to INA §208(a)(2)(D), changed circumstances presenting an exception to the one-year deadline for filing an asylum application need not arise prior to the filing of the application. (Ordonez Azmen v. Barr, 7/13/20) AILA Doc. No. 20071732

 

CA2 Upholds BIA’s Denial of Petitioner’s Motion to Reopen Based on “Intervening” Case Law in Obeya and Mellouli

The court found that “intervening” decisions in Obeya v. Sessions and Mellouli v. Lynch did not compel the conclusion that criminal possession of stolen property was not a crime involving moral turpitude at the time of the petitioner’s conviction. (Ottey v. Barr, 7/7/20) AILA Doc. No. 20071731

 

DHS/DOJ Announce Plan to Restart MPP Hearings “As Expeditiously As Possible”

DHS and DOJ provide the criteria they will use to determine when they will resume MPP hearings. Once the criteria is met, they will provide public notification at least 15 calendar days prior to resumption of hearings with location-specific details AILA Doc. No. 20072000

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

Note: Check with organizers regarding cancellations/changes

 

ImmProf

 

Monday, July 20, 2020

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Friday, July 17, 2020

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Monday, July 13, 2020

 

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Thanks, Elizabeth, for all you do!

PWS

07-21-20

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