THE GIBSON REPORT — 10-19-20 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Helping ICE’s Unlawful Activities Costs LA County $14 Mil — Immigrants Create Net Gain In American Jobs!

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

 

COVID-19

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

 

EOIR Status Overview & EOIR Court Status Map/List: Hearings in non-detained cases at courts without an announced date are postponed through, and including, November 6, 2020. [Note: Despite the standing order about practices upon reopening, an opening date has not been announced for NYC non-detained at this time.]

 

TOP NEWS

 

Justices take up border-wall, “remain in Mexico” cases

SCOTUSblog: The Supreme Court announced on Monday morning that it would take up two cases arising out of the Trump administration’s effort to stem immigration through the United States’ border with Mexico. The justices granted review to weigh in on the long-running dispute over the funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall, as well as the legality of the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to return immigrants seeking asylum to Mexico while they wait for an asylum hearing in U.S. immigration court. See also Endless Waits At An Immigrant Camp On The Mexico Border Are Pushing Desperate People To Make Tough Choices.

 

ICE campaign targeting ‘sanctuary cities’ yields 170 arrests, and amplifies Trump campaign theme

WaPo: ICE officers made the arrests in Denver, Seattle, New York, Baltimore, Washington and in Philadelphia, where authorities chose to announce the results and where officials said 26 immigrants were taken into custody. The agency has averaged about 40,000 “at-large” arrests per year, so the numbers announced Friday did not appear to be a significant increase in enforcement activity. See also Mayor de Blasio calls on ICE agents to stop suggesting they are NYPD.

 

Boston Immigration Court Set To Resume Large-Scale Hearings With Little Guidance From Feds

WBUR: On Tuesday, the Boston immigration court will resume what are known as “master calendar hearings.” Even though the court has remained open throughout the pandemic, these proceedings, which bring large crowds of people to court, have been on hold — until now.

 

Los Angeles County votes to pay $14 million to former immigrant detainees

WaPo: The five-member Board of ­Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize the payment, mostly to undocumented immigrants arrested on criminal charges and then held after a judge ordered them released so that federal agents could attempt to deport them. The settlement still must be approved by the judge overseeing the case, lawyers for the plaintiffs said.

 

Immigrant rights’ coalition seeks to quash broad search warrant on Facebook page

WaPo: After someone painted a slogan on the sidewalk outside the home of Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring during a September protest, Leesburg police launched a criminal investigation into the immigrant rights coalition that organized it, court records state…Authorities asked for virtually all of the Facebook page’s content over a five-day period, a move the group says would give law enforcement access to sensitive information about undocumented immigrants and their families, confidential health reports, and complaints by name about specific law enforcement and immigration officers.

 

Refugees Who Assisted the U.S. Military Find the Door to America Slammed Shut

NYT: President Trump has reduced the flow of refugees into the country to a trickle, and even Iraqis and Afghans who risked their lives for American service members have been cut off.

 

As jobs vanished, immigrants left California. The question is how many

LA Times: California’s immigrant population of 10.3 million in 2019 fell by 642,200, or 6.2%, during the first five months of the pandemic, the analysis found. That figure eclipses both the number of residents in Sacramento and the combined decrease in the nation’s other states, which saw immigrant populations decline by 531,000, or 1.5%, during the same March-through-July period.

 

Despite public outcry, many Cameroonians and Congolese deported on a flight

SD Union Trib: Not all of the more than 200 Cameroonians and Congolese that detainees said were transferred to a detention facility in Texas to be deported were on the flight. Some of the group remained at Prairieland Detention Center, according to Rebekah Entralgo of Freedom For Immigrants, and a few were pulled from the flight due to individual legal actions taken on their behalf. See also Cameroonian asylum seekers pulled off deportation plane amid allegations of ICE abuse.

 

Immigrants to the U.S. Create More Jobs than They Take

Kellogg: A new study finds that immigrants are far more likely to found companies—both large and small—than native-born Americans.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

DOJ and DHS Release Report on Incarceration and Immigration Status

DHS and DOJ released the FY2019 Alien Incarceration Report, providing data on the immigration status of known or suspected immigrants incarcerated under the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service, and in state prisons and local detention centers throughout the U.S. AILA Doc. No. 20101607

 

CBP Provides Data on Migrant Protection Protocols

CBP provided data on Migrant Protection Protocols from 2020, including southwest border enrollments, cases referred to USCIS, data from EOIR related to the outcome of MPP cases, and individuals apprehended entering the U.S. without inspection subsequent to being returned to Mexico through MPP. AILA Doc. No. 20081231

 

CBP Provides Custody and Transfer Statistics

CBP provided custody and transfer statistics from 2020, including data on in-custody information by location, dispositions for apprehended individuals and those considered inadmissible, and transfer destinations for individuals leaving CBP custody. AILA Doc. No. 20081232

 

Announcements of ICE Enforcement Actions

DHS and ICE announced the arrests of more than 170 individuals from 10/3 to 10/9 as part of an immigration enforcement action in sanctuary jurisdictions, including Seattle, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

 

Notice of CDC Order Suspending the Introduction of Certain Persons Through Canada and Mexico

Notice of a CDC order suspending the introduction of certain persons traveling from Canada and Mexico through land ports of entry and Border Patrol stations due to COVID-19. This order is substantially the same as the order issued on 3/20/20. AILA Doc. No. 20101402

 

AAO Sustains Form I-212 Appeal After Finding Positive Equities Warranted Favorable Exercise of Discretion

In a nonprecedent decision, the AAO sustained an appeal of a Form I-212, finding that the denial did not fully consider evidence of significant positive equities in the record, including that the applicant had lived in the U.S. for 30 years. Courtesy of Alan Lee. In Re: 9072079 (AAO 9/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20101330

 

RESOURCES

 

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

ImmProf

 

Monday, October 19, 2020

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Friday, October 16, 2020

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Monday, October 12, 2020

 

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Wow, talk about fraud, waste, and abuse! Not only do DHS’s illegal, misdirected, politically-motivated “enforcement” efforts cost taxpayers big bucks, their racism-driven suppression of legal immigration actually reduces job opportunities for Americans!

While the particular illegal detentions on behalf of ICE resulting in the $14 million payout by LA County occurred under the Obama Administration, it’s no secret that Trump’s ICE has “doubled down” on efforts to coerce localities into complying with such “illegal detainers” NOT issued by “neutral and detached magistrates.” Obviously, an independent Article I Immigration Court with “neutral and detached” judges could be authorized to issue detainers where legally appropriate and justified, thus solving the problems in a way that actually complies with the Constitution and common sense.

DHS, a morass of seedy political corruption and gross mismanagement, is now engaged in a full-bore effort to aid Trump’s re-election in derogation of law and of real duties that might protect us all. In particular, they have done a poor job of messaging on the coronavirus threat. They have also separated families and endangered the lives of non-criminal “prisoners” unnecessarily jailed in unsafe conditions in their “New American Gulag.”

It’s a “rogue agency” that needs to be “reorganized, reformed, and repurposed” by a future Administration. In it’s current form, DHS is actually a threat to our national security and welfare, as it continues, under “illegal leadership” to operate as essentially “Trump’s Internal Security Police.”

Here’s an article by Maria Sacchetti from today’s Post that highlights the misdirection of DHS under Wolf’s illegal, and often immoral and unethical “leadership.” 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/dhs-coronavirus-outbreak-less-visible/2020/10/20/768fa0c4-12fe-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html

PWS

10-21-20