Month: September 2021

🏴‍☠️GARLAND’S FAILED BIA REAMED BY 3RD CIR. ON ANTI-ASYLUM BIAS, LACK OF BASIC COMPETENCE! — “First, the Board’s conclusion ignores overwhelming evidence that Ghanem was persecuted on account of political opinion. Second, it erroneously treated familial relationships as disqualifying and failed to give the proper weight to the substantial record evidence that a protected ground remains one central reason for Ghanem’s persecution.” — Ghanem v. AG

EYORE
“Eyore In Distress”
Once A Symbol of Fairness, Due Process, & Best Practices, Now Gone “Belly Up”

Dan Kowalski reports for LexisNexis Immigration Community:

 https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca3-bia-ignored-overwhelming-evidence-of-persecution-ghanem-v-atty-gen#

CA3: BIA Ignored “Overwhelming Evidence” of Persecution: Ghanem v. Atty. Gen.

Ghanem v. Atty. Gen.

“Adel Ghanem, a former lawful permanent resident of the United States, seeks to avoid removal to Yemen, from which he fled to avoid persecution on account of political opinion. He pursues three forms of relief that were denied by the Immigration Judge (IJ) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA): asylum under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a), withholding of removal under the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3), and withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture, 8 U.S.C. § 1252, 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c). Ghanem was kidnapped and tortured before being convicted and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for political opposition to the Houthi regime. We will therefore grant the petition for review and remand to the BIA. … We begin by reviewing the agency’s determination that Ghanem was ineligible for asylum under the INA because he was not persecuted “on account of” political opinion. We perceive two errors in its analysis: First, the Board’s conclusion ignores overwhelming evidence that Ghanem was persecuted on account of political opinion. Second, it erroneously treated familial relationships as disqualifying and failed to give the proper weight to the substantial record evidence that a protected ground remains one central reason for Ghanem’s persecution. … Illustrating “gross, flagrant [and] mass violations of human rights” that he would be unable to escape, the record evidence not only fails to support but directly contradicts the BIA’s conclusions that Ghanem is not likely to be tortured with the government’s acquiescence, if returned to Yemen. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(3)(iii).8 The denial of relief under CAT therefore cannot withstand even our most deferential review. … For the foregoing reasons, we will grant Ghanem’s petition, vacate the BIA’s order, and remand to the agency for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

[Hats off to pro bono publico appointed counsel Will Weaver, Ian Gershengorn and Sam Kaplan!]

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

How is the BIA’s grotesque misapplication of asylum and CAT law and intentional distortion of the record evidence acceptable adjudication from a Federal Court, even a “quasi-judicial administrative tribunal?” Lives are at stake are here! But, Garland remains indifferent to the deadly ☠️ daily injustices and stunning judicial incompetence and bias he promotes, coddles, defends, and enables at his dysfunctional EOIR! 

And what is his OIL doing defending this garbage before the Circuits? Garland’s DOJ is an ethical cesspool and a slimy mess of legal incompetence! Where’s the long overdue “thorough housecleaning” of this gross abuse of taxpayer dollars and walking talking insult to the Canons of Legal and Judicial Ethics!

These aren’t just “honest legal mistakes!” No way! They are the product of an anti-asylum, anti-immigrant, anti-due process, anti-people of color “culture” which was actually encouraged and promoted at EOIR during the Trump regime and still endures!

It starts, but doesn’t end, with a  BIA “packed” with a number of Trump/Miller appointees who were nationally renowned for their unsuitability to fairly adjudicate ANY asylum case, let alone to be “elevated” to the highest immigration tribunal. But, it’s not like any BIA Appellate Judge has the guts and integrity to stand up and speak out for immigrants’ rights, human rights, and constitutional due process!

It’s outrageous that the BIA as currently comprised is charged with setting precedents, maintaining consistency, and guaranteeing fairness for asylum applicants, particularly women and people of color. Of course this type of misconduct and incompetence will continue to generate huge, uncontrolled backlogs! THIS national, even international, disgusting disgrace will be Garland’s lasting legacy! 

The proposed “asylum reform regulations” and all other immigration and racial justice reforms put forth by Biden will fail without a better, progressive, expert BIA totally committed to due process, fundamental fairness, and racial justice! Why hasn’t Congress demanded an accounting from Garland for his jaw-dropping mismanagement of the Immigration Courts and his failure to make obvious administrative reforms?

Demand better from Garland and the Biden Administration! This disgraceful, dysfunctional, deadly mess at EOIR is NOT OK!🤮👎🏽

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-23-21

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️”MEDLEY OF INJUSTICE” — CIRCUITS CONTINUE TO LOWER HAMMER 🔨 ON BIA: Anti-Asylum Misogyny; Illegal & Incredibly Stupid “Policies;” “Perplexing” Lack Of Legal Knowledge Highlighted In Latest Batch Of Reversals! — “Attempted rape by a gang of men, in broad daylight on a public street, is especially terrorizing because it powerfully demonstrates the perpetrator’s domination, control over the victim and imperviousness to the law. Requiring evidence of additional harms both minimizes the gravity of the sexual assault and demeans the victim.”
  2. ⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️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!🤮
  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. 🆘🤮IS 11TH CIR. GROWING WEARY OF GARLAND’S SCOFFLAW BIA? —Two Trips To The Circuit, & The BIA Still Violates Own Regulations, Ignores Precedent, Spouts Gibberish While OIL’s Defense Of This Nonsense & Malfeasance By EOIR Raises Serious Ethical Questions! — THAMOTAR v. U.S. ATT’Y GEN. — Garland’s Dysfunctional & Systematically Unjust Courts Undermine OUR Democracy☠️ — Demand An IMMEDIATE End To The Scofflaw Nonsense🤡 🧹 At OUR Justice Department! 🏴‍☠️

🗽⚖️ ATTENTION NDPA: FIGHT THE “NEW AMERICAN GULAG” IN RICHMOND, VA. — Legal Aid Justice Center Looking For Bilingual Attorney!

Gulag
Inside the Gulag, Public Realm
Conditions are ugly in the New American Gulag. Legal Aid Justice Center (Virginia) is offering an opportunity in Richmond, VA to free humans from the DHS Gulag and Garland’s embedded Gulag Courts!

https://www.justice4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Bilingual-Immigration-Attorney-Richmond-2.pdf

About the Legal Aid Justice Center

BILINGUAL IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY Legal Aid Justice Center Richmond, VA

The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling the systems that create and perpetuate poverty. Justice means racial justice, economic justice, and social justice. From its offices in Charlottesville, Richmond, Petersburg, and Falls Church, LAJC is a fierce advocate for low-income clients and communities in Virginia.

Founded in 1967, LAJC provides services under four key program areas: Civil Rights & Racial Justice, Economic Justice, Youth Justice, and Immigrant Advocacy. LAJC boldly tackles issues of systemic injustice and aims to raise public and policymaker awareness of some of the most pressing challenges facing low-income Virginia residents. For more information, visit www.justice4all.org.

Legal Aid Justice Center seeks a Bilingual (Spanish-English) Immigration Attorney for our Richmond office, serving Richmond and the surrounding communities. The attorney will represent individual clients, with a focus on creative forms of removal defense. The attorney will partner with a community organizer to meet the needs of the immigrant community, and advocate for pro-immigrant policies at the local and state level, with a special focus on disentangling local and state government and law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement. The attorney will create and supervise a robust pro bono project, and advocate for stakeholders (including local governments) to support immigration legal services. The attorney will provide regular know-your-rights and immigration update clinics, in Spanish and English, to community members and to service providers.

• Strong commitment to social, economic, and racial justice

• Strong commitment to immigrants’ rights

• Experience working directly with immigrant community members

• Prior experience handling immigration cases, whether professionally or through a law

school clinic

• A sufficient level of Spanish fluency to interview and counsel clients in Spanish without

the assistance of an interpreter

• An ability to multi-task and balance a variety of responsibilities

Just in the past year, we permanently

 repealed Virginia’s driver’s license suspension for court debt scheme, secured an injunction slashing the number of immigrants detained by ICE at the largest detention center in the Mid- Atlantic and passed a law giving Virginia oversight authority, won the nation’s first COVID- specific, statewide, and enforceable workplace safety standards, passed legislation enabling communities to set up civilian oversight for law enforcement, and decriminalized school-based disorderly conduct, which was a leading contributor to the school-to-prison pipeline,

 especially for Black girls.

  About the Position

Required Qualifications

123 E. Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219 • (804) 643-1086 237 North Sycamore Street, Petersburg, VA 23803 • (804) 862-2205

6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 520, Falls Church, VA 22041 • (703) 778-3450 1000 Preston Avenue, Suite A, Charlottesville, VA 22903 • (434) 977-0553

Preferred Qualifications

Location Salary Benefits

• Membership in the Virginia bar, confirmed eligibility to waive in, or willingness to sit for the February 2022 Virginia bar (LAJC provides bar study leave and application fees)

This role will be based in our Richmond office. Occasional travel between offices will be required.

Salary range is $55,000 to $70,000 based on years of relevant experience and LAJC’s formal salary scale.

Our mission is compelling, and our team members are passionate about their work, and so we recognize the need to provide generous benefits and encourage rest and a healthy work environment. For example, we provide:

• Generous paid time off every year, including 3 to 6 weeks of vacation, 12 days of health leave, 6 weeks parental leave, and 14 holidays (not including bonus holidays/rest days allocated as needed)

• 100% employer paid health, dental, and vision insurance, plus excellent family insurance with annual max of $2,400 premium contribution to LAJC-sponsored health plan

• 403(b) retirement plan with 4% employer contribution (no required match)

• Strong commitment to professional development

• Full mileage reimbursement at IRS rates

• Law school loan repayment assistance and full reimbursement for VA bar and CLE

expenses

• Relocation package

Email a cover letter, resume, a legal writing sample, and three references to Simon Sandoval- Moshenberg at hiring@justice4all.org. If you’re able, please submit your application as a single PDF titled “[date submitted in yyyy.mm.dd format][last name][first name][position sought].” Please include “Richmond Bilingual Immigration Attorney” in the email subject.

an environment that enables staff and clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe. In reviewing applications, we look for evidence

that applicants have experience and/or thoughtfulness in working with traditionally marginalized populations.

Application Instructions

 The Legal Aid Justice Center is an equal opportunity employer, committed to inclusive hiring and

 dedicated to diversity in our work and staff. We strongly encourage candidates of all identities,

 experiences, and communities to apply. The Legal Aid Justice Center is committed to strengthening the

 voices of our low-income clients, working in collaboration with community partners, and rooting out

 the inequities that keep people in poverty. We strive to take on the issues that have broad impact on

 our client communities and to be responsive to client input. Recognizing the particular impact of

 racism on our clients and staff, we devote special attention to dismantling racial injustice. All

 applicants must be dedicated to working in and sustaining clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe. In reviewing applications, we look for evidence

that applicants have experience and/or thoughtfulness in working with traditionally marginalized populations.

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

The Richmond Adjudication Center for DHS detainees was established by the Trump regime and has been continued by AG Garland over the unanimous and vigorous objections of advocacy groups. The Government uses “civil” immigration detention and “captive courts” embedded in these “civil prisons” to coerce individuals into abandoning claims, restrict access to counsel, and inhibit the proper preparation and documentation of cases. The latter is particularly egregious, given the intentionally hypertechnical and unnecessarily complicated administrative requirements developed by the BIA in an overt effort to restrict asylum access.

One on the “unwritten assumptions” is that detention will make it easier for DHS and DOJ to railroad unrepresented migrants, thereby increasing “productivity” and “weaponizing” the Immigration Courts as a deterrent to individuals’ asserting their legal rights. It also helps create bogus and distorted statistics about the merits of Immigration Court cases.

A great way of combatting this outrageous and abusive Government “strategy” is by vigorously representing individuals in detention. This not only saves lives, but it also thwarts the Government’s coercive and abusive strategy.

Additionally, representation exposes the grossly substandard conditions that prevail in most DHS detention facilities and the fiction that mass detention, without fair and impartial individualized determinations, serves a legitimate governmental purpose.

Positions like this will be in the forefront of re-establishing the rule of law and achieving racial justice for all in the U.S.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever! More “New American Gulag,” never!

PWS

09-22-21

Related posts:

  1. GROUND-BREAKING PROFESSSOR GABRIELA LEON-PEREZ BRINGS THE FULL IMMIGRATION STORY TO UNDERGRADUATES @ VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY (“VCU”) IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – Educating America For a Better Future For Everyone By Understanding The Critical Importance Of Immigrants & Social Justice!
  2. ⚖️🗽SUPREMES HEAR CASE ON UNNECESSARY DETENTION IN GULAG OF THOSE SEEKING LEGAL PROTECTION FROM PERSECUTION AND TORTUE! — Biden Administration Must End Human Rights Abuses 🏴‍☠️☠️In The “New American Gulag!”
  3. DEMS INTRODUCE BIDEN’S COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION BILL — “U.S. CITIZENSHIP ACT OF 2021” — Lots Of Good Ideas, But Likely DOA In Narrowly Divided Congress! — Judge Garland Must Begin Immigration Court Reforms NOW!
  4. 🇺🇸⚖️🗽GARCIA HERNANDEZ, MOSKOWITZ, CHEN, & I RIP GARLAND’S CONTINUATION OF BARR’S HORRIBLE IMMIGRATION JUDGE HIRING PRACTICES  🤮👎🏻 — DOJ’s Lame, Disingenuous Defense Of Garland’s Anti-Diversity, Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Due Process, Expertise-Denying Bogus Judicial Hiring Practices @ EOIR Enrages Progressives, Scholars, Experts, Betrays Biden’s Promises, Threatens To Shatter Dem Coalition! — Report By Rebecca Beitsch @ The Hill!

SCHUMER RIPS BIDEN’S XENOPHOBIC ASYLUM POLICIES, 🤮 ILLEGAL EXPULSIONS OF HAITIANS TO DANGER ZONES!☠️

Border Patrol on Horses
The Biden Administration’s treatment of Black folks trying to apply for asylum has a certain “Jim Crow” appearance!
PHOTO: times of Israel.com

Igor Bobic reports for HuffPost:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/haiti-migrants-biden-chuck-schumer_n_6149f781e4b077b735eb78f3

. . . .

“We cannot continue these hateful and xenophobic Trump policies that disregard our refugee laws,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor. “We must allow asylum-seekers to present their claims at our ports of entry and be afforded due process.”

. . . .

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

Exactly what I’ve been saying at Courtside!

Fact is, nobody appears to know what’s really happening at the border and what policies and criteria are applied. One moment, the Biden Administration brags that Haitians are being rapidly and arbitrarily excluded with no due process. A little later, they claim that many Haitians are being allowed to come into the U.S. for “processing.” https://madison.com/news/national/many-haitian-migrants-released-in-us-trump-sues-niece-ny-times-biden-doubles-vaccine-purchase/article_89244157-a530-500b-9095-ba676e4a2307.html

Who knows what “processing” is? Meat processing? Removal processing? Asylum processing? Who’s making these life or death decisions? What criteria are they using?

I see little evidence that the key decisions are being made by trained Asylum Officers. Rather, the Haitians appear to be at the whim and the mercy of the Border Patrol Agents who encounter them! “Apprehend” seems like a very misleading term for those mostly seeking just to turn themselves in and apply for asylum in the absence of a functioning legal screening system at ports of entry.

One thing we know for sure: Myorkas’s claim that it is “safe” to indiscriminately return individuals to Haiti, a nation every true expert agrees is in total physical and political crisis, is pure BS! The kind of thing that Gauleiter Miller and his toadies would say!

Almost all experts, and Courtside, emphasized the need for the Biden Administration to use the time between the election and the inauguration to “hit the ground running” to have a comprehensive plan ready to deal with asylum cases at ports of entry. This included reopening the ports, getting trained and well-qualified Asylum Officers in place, and fixing the dysfunctional mess at EOIR on at least a temporary basis with real experts on asylum law replacing the BIA and some of the other Immigration Judges unqualified to fairly decide asylum cases.

Instead, they dawdled and did same old old, same old. EOIR remains a dysfunctional mess with a total lack of guidance and a shortage of Immigration Judges skilled in fair adjudication of asylum claims.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09–22-21

Related posts:

  1. NOT ROCKET SCIENCE! 🚀 “Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum . . . .” INA section 208(a). Black Organizations File Complaint About Biden Administration’s Scofflaw Actions Targeting Black Haitians & Other Asylum Seekers Of Color!
  2. 🇺🇸🏴‍☠️RACE IN AMERICA: CARRIE ROSENBAUM “GETS IT,” EVEN AS MAYORKAS, GARLAND, HARRIS & THE OTHER BIDEN HYPOCRITES PRETEND NOT TO:  “Immigration reform, and a more robust application of the Equal Protection doctrine to all those inside the country, and at our borders, is necessary to move towards meaningfully dismantling systemic racism.”
  3. 🇺🇸🗽⚖️GEORGE W. BUSH INSTITUTE REPORT: GENDER VIOLENCE ☠️⚰️DRIVES CONTINUING REFUGEE FLOW TO U.S. — Dishonesty Of Sessions’s Misogynistic Attack In Matter Of A-B- 🤮 Exposed Again! — Yet, Garland Fails To Take Action To End Misogyny, Anti-Asylum Culture @ EOIR, Even As He Also Fails To Insist On The Restoration Of The Rule Of Law @ Our Borders! —  WHY?🤯
  4. 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!

🏈😎 JOY RETURNS TO GREEN BAY — AR Throws Four TDS & Aaron Jones Scores Four Times As Pack Romps Over Lions 35-17 On Monday Night Football @ Lambeau!

🏈😎 JOY RETURNS TO GREEN BAY — AR Throws Four TDS & Aaron Jones Scores Four Times As Pack Romps Over Lions 35-17 On Monday Night Football @ Lambeau!

Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Sports Exclusive

September 21, 2021

Green Bay, WI.  Aaron Rodgers and the Pack chased the memories of last week’s 38-3 prime time debacle against the Saints with a convincing 35-17 win over the Detroit Lions in their home opener at rainy Lambeau Field Monday night. Rodgers threw four TD passes, three of them to running back Aaron Jones and another on a dart to tight end Robert “Bobby” Tonyan. Jones, playing in memory of his father who died of COVID, added a rushing TD to his three scoring receptions.

Some of the Packer faithful among the 77,240 who packed Lambeau for the home opener had been engaged in “pregame warm-ups” on their tailgates since the morning. For the first half, they feared at least a partial repeat of last Sunday’s disaster in Jacksonville.

While the Packer offense finally woke up with their first TD drives of the season, the defense did little to stop the Lions offense behind “LA Rams refugee/transplant” Jared Goff. The visitors scored on their initial drive, and took a 17-14 lead into halftime, much to the shock of the announcers and most of the crowd. 

The Lions’ attack featured former Packer all purpose running back and Green Bay fan favorite Jamaal Williams, although he was held to 37 total yards. Former Wisconsin Badger standout receiver Quentez Cepheus had 63 yards receiving for Detroit, including a TD and a 46 yard reception.

The second half, played largely in the rain and drizzle, was a completely different story. Rodgers and the Pack scored after taking the kickoff to assume the lead and were in charge thereafter. Green Bay shut out the Lions in the second half while scoring three touchdowns en route to their first win of the season, 35-17.

The Lions dropped to 0-2. The Pack evened their record at 1-1, moving into a tie with the Chicago Bears for first place in the NFC North. Next, the Pack travels to San Francisco for a Sunday Night Football date with the 2-0 49ers.

At least for now, things are back to a more even keel here in Green Bay!

PWS

09-21-21

Related posts:

  1. “OLD MAN” A.R. SHOWS HE’S STILL GOT IT WHEN IT COUNTS, AS PACK REACHES NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WITH 28-23 VICTORY OVER SEATTLE!
  2. SPORTS/GOSSIP/THE PACK: It’s Official: AR & Danica Patrick Are “An Item!”
  3. 🏈ON TO THE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: PACK OVERPOWERS RAMS 32-18 @ LAMBEAU!  — “O Line” Shines In Mauling “#1 Defense”
  4. 🦨🤮STINKER IN THE SUN — SANS ATTACK & DEFENSELESS, PACK IS NOT BACK, AS A.R. & FRIENDS FTA FOR OPENER👎🏽 — Winston, Saints Romp 38-3! 

THE GIBSON REPORT — 09-20-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Respondents Win Another @ BIA & Other News!

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

NEWS

 

Democrats Dealt a Blow on Immigration Plans

NYT: The Senate’s parliamentarian ruled that Democrats’ plan to give 8 million immigrants a path to citizenship could not be achieved through the reconciliation process.

 

Fifth Circuit largely halts judge’s order that blocks Biden’s efforts to limit immigration arrests

CNN: The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals found that the provisions do not eliminate immigration officials’ “broad discretion” to decide who should face enforcement action, according to the ruling. The part of the injunction that was not put on hold is already in line with general enforcement protocol.

 

US to fly Haitian migrants back after thousands gather at Texas border

Guardian: The Biden administration on Saturday was working on plans to send many of the thousands of Haitian immigrants who have gathered in a Texas border city back to their homeland, a swift response to the huge influx of people who suddenly crossed from Mexico and congregated under and around a bridge. See also How Hope, Fear and Misinformation Led Thousands of Haitians to the U.S. Border.

 

Immigration Processing Now Takes 6 Times Longer Following Trump Policies

Newsweek: Despite its number of applications consistently hovering around the eight to 10 million range for the past five years, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processing times jumped six-fold between 2015 and 2020. The agency now faces a backlog of millions of petitions from people looking to temporarily stay or live in the country, receive humanitarian relief, obtain work authorization or become U.S. citizens.

 

Will NYC Expand Voting Rights To Some Immigrants? Not With Mayor de Blasio’s Help

Gothamist: On Monday, the City Council will hold a hearing on a proposal that would extend voting rights in local elections to people like John, along with 900,000 legal, permanent residents who have been living in New York City for more than 30 days and are otherwise eligible to vote. While the bill (Intro. 1867) is supported by a majority of the current members of the council and a coalition of community organizations, it faces steep obstacles, starting with Mayor Bill de Blasio.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

Matter of N-V-G-, 28 I&N Dec. 380 (BIA 2021).

BIA: A person who enters the United States as a refugee and later adjusts in the United States to lawful permanent resident status is not precluded from establishing eligibility for a waiver of inadmissibility under section 212(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 ‍U.S.C. § ‍1182(h) (2018), based on a conviction for an aggravated felony, because he or she has not “previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence” under that provision.

 

CA2 Says Matter of Soram’s Holding Applies Retroactively to Render Petitioner Removable

AILA: The court concluded that the holding in the BIA’s 2010 decision in Matter of Soram applied retroactively to the petitioner’s 2006 New York conviction for child endangerment, and thus the petitioner was removable. (Marquez v. Garland, 9/7/21)

 

CA3 Concludes That Petitioner’s Federal Conviction for Aggravated Identity Theft Is a CIMT

AILA: The court held that the petitioner’s conviction for aggravated identity theft in violation of 18 USC §1028A(a)(1) was a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) because it requires fraudulent intent, and thus, he was removable under INA §237(a)(2)(A)(ii). (Sasay v. Att’y Gen., 9/10/21)

 

CA5 Grants Partial Stay on Preliminary Injunction of Biden’s Enforcement Priorities Memos

AILA: The court granted a stay of the preliminary injunction pending appeal to allow DHS/ICE to rely on Biden’s enforcement priorities memos, in all respects, except for detained individuals subject to mandatory detention or ordered removed. (Texas, et al. v. United States, et al., 9/15/21)

 

CA6 Holds That U Visa Applicants May Sue USCIS over Processing Delays Despite New Bona Fide Determination Process

AILA: The court held that USCIS’s new bona fide determination process did not moot the plaintiffs’ case, and that the plaintiffs had sufficiently pleaded that USCIS has unreasonably delayed the principal petitioners’ placement on the U visa waitlist. (Barrios Garcia et al. v. DHS et al., 9/13/21)

 

CA9 Holds That Single Factor Rule Conflicts with REAL ID Act of 2005

AILA: The en banc court overruled prior circuit precedents establishing and applying the single factor rule, which required the court to sustain an adverse credibility determination by the BIA if one of the agency’s identified grounds was supported by substantial evidence. (Alam v. Garland, 9/8/21)

 

CA9 Concludes IJ’s Finding That Petitioner Was Not a Christian Was Unsupported by Substantial Evidence

AILA: The court held that the law-of-the-case doctrine did not require it to accept a prior Ninth Circuit panel’s determination that the petitioner was not a Christian, and found that he was not required to reattach his application for relief to his motion to reopen. (Etemadi v. Garland, 9/9/21)

AILA Doc. No. 21092007

 

CA9 Says IJ Provided Sufficient Safeguards During Removal Proceedings to Accommodate Petitioner’s Mental Illness

AILA: The court held that petitioner, a lawful permanent resident who had been found mentally incompetent, had received adequate safeguards in his removal proceedings, and had failed to exhaust his claim regarding the IJ’s “particularly serious crime” determination. (Benedicto v. Garland, 9/9/21)

 

CA9 Says California Conviction for Child Endangerment Is Not a “Crime of Child Abuse, Child Neglect, or Child Abandonment”

AILA: Granting the petition for review, the court held that felony child endangerment in violation of California Penal Code §273a(a) does not constitute a “crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment” within the meaning of INA §237(a)(2)(E)(i). (Diaz-Rodriguez v. Garland, 9/10/21)

 

9th Circ. Raps BIA Hearing Again After High Court Remand

Law360: The Ninth Circuit once again ruled that the Board of Immigration Appeals unfairly denied a Mexican national’s bid to rebut his ex-girlfriend’s testimony from a domestic incident, three months after the Supreme Court vacated its earlier decision and remanded the case.

 

CA11 Finds Petitioner Failed to Preserve Whether His Defective NTA Violated BIA’s Claim-Processing Rules

AILA: The court held that petitioner had failed to preserve whether his defective Notice to Appear (NTA) violated BIA’s claim-processing rules, and found he was removable for his controlled substance conviction, or alternatively, his second-degree assault conviction. (Farah v. Att’y Gen., 9/8/21)

 

CA11 Holds That Petitioner’s Two Simple Battery Convictions in Georgia Qualified as Aggravated Felonies Under the INA

AILA: The court concluded that each of the petitioner’s two Georgia convictions for simple battery under OCGA Section 16-5-23 was “a crime of violence … for which the term of imprisonment [was] at least one year” within the meaning of INA §101(a)(43)(F). (Talamantes-Enriquez v. Att’y Gen., 9/9/21)

 

District Court Orders Border Officials to Stop Expelling Certain Families under Title 42

AILA: The court granted motions for class certification and preliminary injunction (the PI was stayed for 14 days), to prevent U.S. border officials from using Title 42 to expelling families with young children seeking asylum. (Huisha-Huisha, et al. v. Mayorkas, 9/16/21)

 

Biden Administration Files First MPP Implementation Compliance Report

AILA: The Biden administration filed their first Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) compliance report. Earlier, the district court ordered the administration to submit information on key pieces of data and steps it was taking toward implementation of MPP. (Texas, et al., v. Biden, et al., 9/15/21)

 

USCIS Updates Policy Guidance on Refugee and Asylee Adjustment of Status Interviews

AILA: USCIS released updated policy guidance, effective 9/16/21, revising the criteria that applies when determining whether to refer an asylee or refugee adjustment applicant for an interview. Policy also includes criteria relating to a principal applicant’s underlying asylum claim.

 

Second Extension of Effective Date of USCIS Temporary Final Rule on Interpreters at Asylum Interviews

AILA: USCIS temporary final rule extending the expiration date of the temporary final rule on interpreters at asylum interviews published at 85 FR 59655, which was set to expire on 9/20/21, through 3/16/22. (86 FR 51781, 9/17/21)

 

DOS and DHS Release Statement on CAM Application Approval

AILA: DOS and DHS released a statement announcing that the Central American Minors (CAM) program will begin accepting new applications as of 9/14/21. Statement also included a reminder that eligibility for the program was also expanded.

 

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.

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

   

 

ImmProf

Monday, September 20, 2021

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Friday, September 17, 2021

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Monday, September 13, 2021

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

Thanks, Elizabeth!😎

🇺🇸DPF!

PWS

09-21-21

Related posts:

  1. THE GIBSON REPORT — 02-08-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group
  2. ⚖️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!
  3. THE GIBSON REPORT — 06-21-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group! — Lots Of Interesting Items Under “Top News,” Some Good, Some Not So Much!
  4. THE GIBSON REPORT — 08-16-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group — Garland DOJ Continues To Defend Miller’s White Nationalist Agenda In (Far Too) Many Cases, Private Prisons Continue To Cash In On Biden’s Continuation Of Trump/Miller “New American Gulag!”

🤮☠️👎🏻 BIDEN ADMINISTRATION DOUBLES DOWN ON ONE OF THE UGLIEST AMERICAN RACIST TRADITIONS: SHAFTING BLACK HAITIAN REFUGEES! — But Cruel, Illegal, Deterrence Gimmicks Won’t Stop Haitian Migration!

 

Here’s the “policy:’

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Office of Public Affairs

DHS Outlines Strategy to Address Increase in Migrants in Del Rio

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is immediately implementing a new, comprehensive strategy to address the increase in migrant encounters in the Del Rio sector of South Texas.  It has six key components.

First, within the next 24-48 hours, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will have surged 400 agents and officers to the Del Rio sector to improve control of the area.  If additional staff is needed, more will be sent. The Del Rio Port of Entry has temporarily closed, and traffic is being re-routed from Del Rio to Eagle Pass to more effectively manage resources and ensure uninterrupted flow of trade and travel.

Second, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) is coordinating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard to move individuals from Del Rio to other processing locations, including approximately 2,000 yesterday, in order to ensure that irregular migrants are swiftly taken into custody, processed, and removed from the United States consistent with our laws and policy.

Third, DHS will secure additional transportation to accelerate the pace and increase the capacity of removal flights to Haiti and other destinations in the hemisphere within the next 72 hours.

Fourth, the Administration is working with source and transit countries in the region to accept individuals who previously resided in those countries.

Fifth, DHS is undertaking urgent humanitarian actions with other relevant federal, state, and local partners to reduce crowding and improve conditions for migrants on U.S. soil.  DHS has already taken a number of steps to ensure the safety and security of individuals as they await processing, including having Border Patrol emergency medical technicians on hand and providing water, towels, and portable toilets.

Finally, the White House has directed appropriate U.S. agencies to work with the Haitian and other regional governments to provide assistance and support to returnees.

The majority of migrants continue to be expelled under CDC’s Title 42 authority.  Those who cannot be expelled under Title 42 and do not have a legal basis to remain will be placed in expedited removal proceedings.  DHS is conducting regular expulsion and removal flights to Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador, and Northern Triangle countries.

Beyond the six steps outlined above, the Biden Administration has reiterated that our borders are not open, and people should not make the dangerous journey.  Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, including expulsion.  Irregular migration poses a significant threat to the health and welfare of border communities and to the lives of migrants themselves, and should not be attempted.

# # #

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

Here’s the reality:

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/US-nears-plan-for-widescale-expulsions-of-Haitian-16469378.php

Haitians on Texas border undeterred by US plan to expel them

JUAN A. LOZANO, ERIC GAY and ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press

Updated: Sep. 18, 2021 10 p.m.

48

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48A dust storm moves across the area as Haitian migrants use a dam to cross into and from the United States from Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. The U.S. plans to speed up its efforts to expel Haitian migrants on flights to their Caribbean homeland, officials said Saturday as agents poured into a Texas border city where thousands of Haitians have gathered after suddenly crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.Eric Gay/APShow More

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48Haitian migrants use a dam to cross into and from the United States from Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. The U.S. plans to speed up its efforts to expel Haitian migrants on flights to their Caribbean homeland, officials said Saturday as agents poured into a Texas border city where thousands of Haitians have gathered after suddenly crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.Eric Gay/APShow More

DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — Haitian migrants seeking to escape poverty, hunger and a feeling of hopelessness in their home country said they will not be deterred by U.S. plans to speedily send them back, as thousands of people remained encamped on the Texas border Saturday after crossing from Mexico.

Scores of people waded back and forth across the Rio Grande on Saturday afternoon, re-entering Mexico to purchase water, food and diapers in Ciudad Acuña before returning to the Texas encampment under and near a bridge in the border city of Del Rio.

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Junior Jean, a 32-year-old man from Haiti, watched as people cautiously carried cases of water or bags of food through the knee-high river water. Jean said he lived on the streets in Chile the past four years, resigned to searching for food in garbage cans.

“We are all looking for a better life,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that it moved about 2,000 of the migrants from the camp to other locations Friday for processing and possible removal from the U.S. Its statement also said it would have 400 agents and officers in the area by Monday morning and would send more if necessary.

The announcement marked a swift response to the sudden arrival of Haitians in Del Rio, a Texas city of about 35,000 people roughly 145 miles (230 kilometers) west of San Antonio. It sits on a relatively remote stretch of border that lacks capacity to hold and process such large numbers of people.

. . . .

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

Not surprisingly, Haiti wants no part of the Biden Administration’s scofflaw nonsense:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/world/americas/us-haitian-deportation.html

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

As one of my esteemed colleagues summed up the Biden Administration’s latest attack on the rule of law and humanity: “Not a word about asylum, withholding, CAT, humanitarian parole.…”

The Biden Administration has thrown down the gauntlet! Progressive human rights experts had better get out the big litigation guns! Because Biden has basically ripped up “sign-on letters of outrage and concern” and thrown the pieces to the wind. He has delivered a Washington Monument sized “big middle finger” 🖕 to human rights advocates and Black supporters of Haitian refugees! What, if anything, will they do about it! 

Whatever happened to our first Black Veep, Kamala Harris? Once, she was a strong voice for an end to racism and fair, humane treatment of asylum applicants, regardless of race. Now, she seems to have disappeared from the racial justice playing field!

Vice President Elect Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris — Our first Black Veep has “disappeared” on the issue of human rights for Black Haitian asylum seekers!
Official Senate Photo
Public Realm

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS 

09-20-21

Related posts:

  1. ☠️⚰️🏴‍☠️HAITI IS NOT “SAFE,” & THE PERVASIVE GANG VIOLENCE APPEARS TO BE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED! — “They raped women, burned homes and killed dozens of people, including children, chopping up their bodies with machetes and throwing their remains to pigs. . . . It was organized by senior Haitian officials, who provided weapons and vehicles to gang members to punish people in a poor area protesting government corruption!” — So, Why Are Biden, Harris, Mayorkas, & Garland Illegally Returning Refugees There Without Hearing Their Asylum Claims?  👎🏽🤮
  2. CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH @ DHS: ICE DEPORTS BLACKS TO DANGER & POTENTIAL DEATH, MANY WITH NO DUE PROCESS!🏴‍☠️ — Legislators Call On Biden Administration To End Racist Enforcement Policies!
  3. 🇺🇸🏴‍☠️RACE IN AMERICA: CARRIE ROSENBAUM “GETS IT,” EVEN AS MAYORKAS, GARLAND, HARRIS & THE OTHER BIDEN HYPOCRITES PRETEND NOT TO:  “Immigration reform, and a more robust application of the Equal Protection doctrine to all those inside the country, and at our borders, is necessary to move towards meaningfully dismantling systemic racism.”
  4. 🗽⚖️🇺🇸LEE GELERNT @ ACLU SAYS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION “cannot farm out the asylum system.” Yet, That Appears To Be Largely What They Are Doing Under New, Previously Unpublicized Program!

☹️BREAKING: PARLIAMENTARIAN KILLS DEMS’ HOPES FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM, GUARANTEEING YEARS OF  CONTINUING PAIN, SUFFERING, LOST OPPORTUNITY FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICAN RESIDENTS & OUR NATION!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/immigration-dreamers-senate-parliamentarian_n_61449d33e4b0556e4dd84e27

 Igor Bobic reports for HuffPost:

Democrats’ push to give young undocumented Dreamers a path to citizenship violates Senate rules, according to the Senate’s parliamentarian, who dealt yet another blow on Sunday to long-stalled immigration reform efforts in Congress.

. . . .

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

Predictable! It’s pretty simple. Long overdue and badly needed positive immigration reform, including Dreamer relief, is dead until enough GOP nativists are removed from Congress to save our democracy!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-19-21

Related posts:

  1. 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! ☹️
  2. JAMELLE BOUIE @ SLATE: TRUMP, SESSIONS, MILLER & THE GOP RESTRICTIONISTS HAVE PUT GOOD OL’ 1920S RACISM AT THE FOREFRONT OF THEIR WHITE NATIONALIST IMMIGRATION AGENDA! –“What good does it do to bring in somebody who’s illiterate in their own country, has no skills, and is going to struggle in our country and not be successful? . . . That is not what a good nation should do, and we need to get away from it.” — J. “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions, Attorney General of the United States of America & Unapologetic White Nationalist With A Long History Of Racism!
  3. COLBY KING @ WASHPOST: The “Original Dreamers” Were Disenfranchised African Americans! — “That fight must continue on behalf of today’s dreamers, the disenfranchised, the demeaned and left out, and all freedom-loving people in this nation.“
  4. 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! 

😎👍⚖️🗽 GOOD LAWYERING, GOOD JUDGING, STILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN HUMAN LIVES!

 

“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be alive, but my children will always thank you”

Friends,

Our client A-A, from Venezuela, who won asylum in 2020, is sadly suffering from advanced breast cancer. We are organizing a fundraiser to help this family, including their two young sons, as they go through a difficult time. Please check out our bio to donate.  A personal note: The immigration judge teared up after A-A thanked her.

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?business=LC6VGEVLUSJLE&no_recurring=1&item_name=GW+Law+Immigration+Clinic+Client+Fundraiser&currency_code=USD

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

Alberto Manuel Benitez

Professor of Clinical Law

Director, Immigration Clinic

The George Washington University Law School

650 20th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20052

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

PWS

09-19-21

Related posts:

  1. ANOTHER WIN FOR THE “GOOD GUYS” (A/K/A NDPA) — GW Law Immigration Clinic Scores U Visa Win!
  2. ⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️🗽COURT REFORM: GW IMMIGRATION CLINIC STUDENTS WEIGH IN ON ARTICLE I — Emphasize Critical Due Process Need To Entirely Remove AG From Decision-Making Process!
  3. “DYNAMIC DUO” LEADS “GW IMMIGRATION CLINIC BRIGADE” OF THE NEW DUE PROCESS ARMY (“NDPA”) INTO ACTION – ADVANCING AND DEFENDING DUE PROCESS RIGHTS FOR OUR MOST VULNERABLE RESIDENTS WHILE TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATION OF LAWYERS! — PLUS SPECIAL BONUS: Text of My Presentation To Clinic Entitled “RECLAIMING THE VISION – A PLAN FOR ACTION”
  4. 😎🗽⚖️ OF COURSE, GREAT LAWYERING MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN IMMIGRATION COURT! — Only Nativists & Former Director McHenry Would Bogusly Claim Otherwise! — Another “Real Life Success Story” From Professors Benitez & Vera @ The GW Law Immigration Clinic! — Garland’s DOJ “Goes Molasses In November” On Improving Access To Counsel & Elevating The “Pro Bono Experience!”

👎🏽☠️ 8 MONTHS INTO ADMINISTRATION, MAYORKAS’S & GARLAND’S FAILURE TO RE-ESTABLISH LEGAL ASYLUM SYSTEM AT BORDER CREATES UNNECESSARY HUMANITARIAN TRAUMA & CHAOS FOR HAITIANS & OTHERS SEEKING PROTECTION! — 71 Human Rights NGOs Excoriate Biden Administration’s Callous Trashing Of Human Rights & Campaign Promises! — “[W]e, the 71 undersigned organizations, are appalled that you have chosen to file a notice of appeal in the Huisha-Huisha litigation, resisting an order to process the protection claims of families with children who seek asylum.”

Arelis R. Hernandez
Arelis R. Hernandez
Southern Border Reporter
Washington Post
Nick Miroff
Nick Miroff
Reporter, Washington Post

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/haitian-migrants-mexico-texas-border/2021/09/16/4da1e366-16fe-11ec-ae9a-9c36751cf799_story.html

Arelis R. Hernández and Nick Miroff for WashPost:

DEL RIO, Tex. — Thousands of Haitian migrants who have crossed the Rio Grande in recent days are sleeping outdoors under a border bridge in South Texas, creating a humanitarian emergency and a logistical challenge U.S. agents describe as unprecedented.

Authorities in Del Rio say more than 10,000 migrants have arrived at the impromptu camp, and they are expecting more in the coming days. The sudden influx has presented the Biden administration with a new border emergency at a time when illegal crossings have reached a 20-year high and Department of Homeland Security officials are straining to accommodate and resettle more than 60,000 Afghan evacuees.

The migrants arriving to Del Rio appear to be part of a larger wave of Haitians heading northward, many of whom arrived in Brazil and other South American nations after the 2010 earthquake. They are on the move again, embarking on a grueling, dangerous journey to the United States with smuggling organizations managing the trip, according to border authorities and refugee groups.

. . . .

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

Read the rest of the article at the link.

The arrival of asylum seekers at the Southern Border is predictable. Contrary to GOP right wing nativist BS, asylum seekers don’t present a significant national security threat to the U.S. 

On the other hand, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott and his GOP right wing crazies are a clear and present existential danger to our heath and security as a nation. Don’t let Abbott and his neo-fascist gang shrift the focus away from their lawless, stupid, and immoral behavior — with glaring racial overtones!

The current disorder is the direct result of Mayorkas and Garland not taking the obvious steps to re-establish credible fear screening at ports of entry and the lack of progressive leaders and judges at EOIR who could cut through the self-created backlog and establish and enforce fair precedents and procedures that would enable timely, yet fair and efficient, processing of asylum cases in Immigration Court for those who pass credible fear.

Instead, Garland has gone with inane, backlog-building, aimless-docket-reshuffling encouraging “gimmicks” like “Dedicated Dockets,” and ill-advised proposals to increase use of “expedited removal” and limit the rights of asylum seekers to de novo hearings, without instituting the major EOIR reforms necessary to make such a system credible.

So far, the results have been predictably chaotic and ineffective. By dragging their feet on elimination of the Title 42 farce initiated by Trump & Miller, Garland and Mayorkas now find themselves “between a rock and a hard place” because of District Judge Sullivan’s recent order finding the misuse of Title 42 to “orbit” asylum seekers to doom without any process was likely illegal.

A restored, fair, legal asylum system inevitably would result in the legal admission of more asylees. Again, contrary to the GOP blather, that is something 1) our law requires, and 2) our country needs. Running a viable refugee program for the Americas outside U.S. borders is also something that should already have been in operation and could reduce the necessity for irregular entries.

Restoration of the rule of law and morality at the border would also take the regulation of immigration out of the hands of smugglers and cartels and restore it to the Government. But, that requires both an understanding of the dynamics of human migration and the courage to do the right thing in making the system work — not as a “false deterrent” but as a fair, generous, efficient, and equitable system, led by and composed of progressive human rights experts.

In the wake of the DOJ’s decision to appeal Judge Sullivan’s order and reports that the Biden Administration will begin illegal deportations of Haitians back to danger zones in Haiti without any due process, 71 human rights organizations wrote a letter blasting the Administration’s actions.

Joint Letter to President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, Attorney General Garland on Title 42_09172021

September 17, 2021
Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. President of the United States 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500
Hon. Alejandro N. Mayorkas
Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2707 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20528
Hon. Merrick Garland
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530
Dear President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and Attorney General Garland:
In the wake of multiple federal court decisions holding that your administration’s policies are likely unlawful, we, the 71 undersigned organizations, are appalled that you have chosen to file a notice of appeal in the Huisha-Huisha litigation, resisting an order to process the protection claims of families with children who seek asylum. This decision serves as a particularly disturbing step in what is emerging to be a clear pattern of failure to uphold the refugee laws enacted by Congress. We write to urge you to immediately change course before you further tarnish this administration’s record and inflict even more harm on families, children and adults seeking our country’s protection. We call on the administration to immediately end its embrace, defense, and advancement of illegal and cruel Trump administration policies that harm families and people seeking protection and bolster xenophobic rhetoric by treating people seeking protection as threats. Instead, we urge your administration to restore access to U.S. asylum at ports of entry and also to immediately stop blocking and expelling asylum seekers and migrants to life-threatening dangers.
On September 16, a federal district court held that the government likely does not have authority under U.S. law to implement the Title 42 policy, which subjects people to “real threats of violence and persecution” by returning them to danger in Mexico or the countries they fled, and enjoined the use of the policy against families. Rather than respect human rights and restore asylum in compliance with this ruling, the administration has already filed a notice of appeal in this case. Earlier this month, another federal district court held that the government’s policy of turning back people seeking protection at ports of entry is likely unlawful under the Immigration

and Nationality Act. Your administration must reverse course and accept these court rulings, immediately take steps to restart asylum processing, and permanently end these policies, which were designed to deter and punish people seeking safety in the United States and betray our values and legal obligations towards refugees.
Rather than abiding by campaign promises to uphold the legal right to seek asylum and treat migrants humanely, your administration has embraced and escalated the unlawful Title 42 policy created by the Trump administration to use public health as a pretext to evade U.S. refugee laws. In August 2021, your administration issued a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order extending the policy and relying on much of the same dangerous and false rhetoric that the Trump administration relied on in its CDC orders.
The human toll of the Title 42 policy during your first eight months in office is enormous. Since January 2021, there have been at least 6,356 public and media reports of violent attacks— including rape, kidnapping, trafficking, and assault—against people blocked from requesting asylum protection at the U.S.-Mexico border and/or expelled to Mexico. The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other international bodies have repeatedly condemned the use of Title 42 to return refugees to danger in violation of international law and urged the United States to restore access to asylum. Leading public health experts have warned the administration time and time again that the policy has no scientific basis as a public health measure and urged the use of rational science-based measures to process asylum seekers and migrants to safety. In its ruling enjoining the use of Title 42, the district court also emphasized that the government’s public health arguments were specious.
This month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expelled dozens of Haitian families and adults to danger in Haiti under Title 42, despite ongoing turmoil following the assassination of the country’s president in July and a major earthquake in August, and flew more than 6,000 Guatemalan migrants and asylum seekers directly to the danger they had fled in Guatemala without an opportunity to apply for U.S. asylum. Since August, DHS has also expelled asylum seekers and migrants directly to southern Mexico, where Mexican immigration authorities forced them to cross the border into remote areas of Guatemala. These expulsions to southern Mexico sparked public condemnation from UNHCR, which warned that this practice “increases the risk of chain refoulement—pushbacks by successive countries— of vulnerable people in danger, in contravention of international law and the humanitarian principles of the 1951 Refugee Convention.”
We further call on your administration to take all necessary legal steps to end the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), most importantly by immediately making a public commitment to issue a new policy memo that provides a fuller explanation for the decision to terminate MPP and that resolves any perceived Administrative Procedure Act (APA) issues identified by the district court in its ruling requiring the government to restart this shameful program. The APA
2

was the singular concern cited by the Supreme Court in its decision upholding the district court’s preliminary injunction, and the administration’s failure to date to commit to issuing a new policy memo raises serious concerns over whether you intend to use the legal challenge as cover to backtrack on your commitment to fulfill your campaign promise to end MPP.
During the two years that MPP was in effect, there were over 1,500 publicly reported cases of violent attacks against people returned to Mexico, including asylum seekers who were brutally murdered. In addition to subjecting individuals to life-threatening dangers under MPP, the program violated the due process rights of asylum seekers and migrants by stranding them in Mexico without access to legal counsel, forcing them to risk their lives to attend their court hearings—there have been numerous reports of asylum seekers in MPP being kidnapped while attempting to reach immigration court—and requiring many to prepare their cases while facing unrelenting fear and insecurity. It is clear that there is no way to make MPP lawful, humane, safe, or rights-respecting. The administration should take all lawful and necessary steps to preserve the MPP wind down and continue processing individuals previously subjected to MPP into the United States while taking immediate steps to address the District Court’s concerns to terminate the policy once and for all.
Policies that turn back, block, expel, and force asylum seekers and migrants to wait in danger are unlawful, as now confirmed by multiple federal courts, and we entreat your administration to immediately stop inflicting violence on people seeking safety in our country by permanently ending these policies and restoring asylum in compliance with U.S. and international refugee laws.
Sincerely,
ADL (Anti-Defamation League) African Communities Together Aldea – The People’s Justice Center Alliance San Diego
America’s Voice
American Friends Service Committee
American Immigration Lawyers Association
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP)
Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture
Border Angels
Border Kindness
Border Organizing Project
Bridges Faith Initiative
Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition
CARECEN SF – Central American Resource Center of Northern California
3

Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) Center for Victims of Torture
Church World Service
Detention Watch Network
Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement
First Focus on Children
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project Grassroots Leadership
Haitian Bridge Alliance
HIAS
Hope Border Institute
Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative Human Rights First
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigration Equality
International Mayan League
International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) International Rescue Committee
Japanese American Citizens League
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western MA Justice Action Center
Justice in Motion
Karen Organization of San Diego
Kino Border Initiative
Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Project (NIPNLG)
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Oasis Legal Services
Oxfam America
Physicians for Human Rights
Project Blueprint
Refugees International
4

Safe Harbors Network
San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium
South Bay Peope Power
Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice
Tahirih Justice Center
The Advocates for Human Rights
Transgender Law Center
Unified U.S. Deported Veterans resource Center
Unitarian Universalist Refugee & Immigrant Services & Education VECINA
Vera Institute of Justice
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Witness at the Border
Women’s Refugee Commission
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
5

Obviously, the Biden Administration has little regard for the human rights advocates who helped put them in office. Only time will tell whether disrespecting, antagonizing, and making enemies and adversaries out of a highly talented and motivated group of progressives, who successfully fended off some of the most grotesque human rights violations by the Trump kakistocracy, and who have demonstrated the capacity to consistently “out-litigate” the floundering DOJ, will prove to be a successful strategy!

“Floaters”
“Floaters — How The World’s Richest Country Responds To Asylum Seekers” —  Those who don’t die in the river, the desert, or at the hands of traffickers while trying to seek asylum in an arrogant America that disdains human rights and moral values face arbitrary and illegal removal to potential torture, rape, and death in the countries they fled! Why is the Biden Administration, like the Trump kakistocracy, afraid to make fair and honest determinations of qualifications for asylum? 
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Mart??nez Ram??rez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, June 24, 2019, after they drowned trying to cross the river to Brownsville, Texas. Martinez’ wife, Tania told Mexican authorities she watched her husband and child disappear in the strong current. (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc)

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-19-21

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️🇺🇸👍🏼🗽DEAN KEVIN JOHNSON’S SUCCINCT RESPONSE TO GREG ABBOTT’S PREDICTABLE SOUTHERN BORDER BS IS WORTH A READ! — PLUS: ARELIS HERNANDEZ OF WASHPOST WITH SOME MUCH-NEEDED TRUTH & PERSPECTIVE FROM THOSE ACTUALLY LIVING ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER: “We need more lawyers and judges, not more troops or technology.”
  2. WHY BIDEN’S CRUEL, ILLEGAL, IGNORANT BORDER NON-POLICY OF DETERRENCE WILL CONTINUE TO BE A “KILLER ☠️FAILURE” 🤮 — Telling Folks “Doomed In Place” ⚰️ What They Already Know, That The Potential Life-Saving Trip Is “Dangerous” ⚠️ & That White America Would Rather See Them Die, 💀 Out Of Sight & Out Of Mind, Is As Insulting As It Is Stupid & Ineffective!
  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. ⚖️BINGO! — WASHPOST DUO’S REPORT SHOWS TIMELINESS ⏰ OF RAPPAPORT-PISTONE-SCHMIDT PLAN 😎 FOR INCREASING REPRESENTATION AND IMPROVING MPP PROCESS! — All That’s Missing Is The Government Leadership To Engage & Make It Happen! — “But despite the vastly lower numbers, there is still far more demand for pro bono legal services than nonprofit groups and charities can provide, Castro said.”

⚠️☹️ GARLAND REPORTEDLY WILL DISAPPOINT PROGRESSIVES AGAIN WITH SELECTION FOR EOIR DIRECTOR

⚠️☹️ GARLAND REPORTEDLY WILL DISAPPOINT PROGRESSIVES AGAIN WITH SELECTION FOR EOIR DIRECTOR

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive

September 17, 2021

According to sources inside and outside EOIR, Attorney General Merrick Garland will appoint former BIA Chair and retired EOIR Senior Executive David Neal to the key position of EOIR Director, in charge of the nation’s dysfunctional and hopelessly backlogged Immigration Courts. He certainly will be an improvement over the last permanent Director, Judge James McHenry, who was hand-selected by former Attorney General Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions. 

But, progressives can’t expect the bold reforms and laser focus on due process that experts recommended. That’s simply not David’s “style,” nor is it his history at EOIR. 

Progressives had hoped that the selection would come from among the many exceptionally well-qualified potential candidates in the private sector who spearheaded the effort to oppose the Trump regime and keep due process alive at EOIR. Indeed, many had anticipated, apparently in vain, that Garland would tap one of the many well-qualified minority female “practical scholars” from the NDPA to lead the court reform effort. Since its founding in 1983, EOIR has never had a female Director, and has only had one minority Director, the late Juan Osuna during the Obama Administration. 

Neal will become the sixth White Male to serve as Director. He also would continue the “DOJ tradition” of appointing “insider bureaucrats” to the job rather than dynamic experts from the private sector. The latter might actually take bold actions to turn EOIR into an independent judiciary that would fulfill the now-abandoned vision of “through teamwork and innovation becoming the world’s best administrative tribunals, guaranteeing fairness and due process for all.”

Alas, Garland appears to have just as little interest in restoring that noble vision as his predecessors over the past two decades. That’s likely to not only further alienate the progressive advocacy community, but also to spell doom and suffering for many migrants and their frustrated, often pro bono, lawyers who must seek justice on a daily basis Garland’s regressive and totally dysfunctional “courts.”

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-17-21

 

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️CAMILLE J.  MACKLER @ JUST SECURITY “GETS IT!” — How Come Judge Garland & The Biden Administration Don’t? — “If we want to re-build a better, stronger immigration system, we need to start with immigration courts.” — Get Involved! Get Angry! Say No To Institutionalized Racism, Misogyny, & Dehumanization (“Dred Scottification”) @ EOIR! Force Judge Garland To Pay Attention! Demand Change, Now!
  2. ⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️”MEDLEY OF INJUSTICE” — CIRCUITS CONTINUE TO LOWER HAMMER 🔨 ON BIA: Anti-Asylum Misogyny; Illegal & Incredibly Stupid “Policies;” “Perplexing” Lack Of Legal Knowledge Highlighted In Latest Batch Of Reversals! — “Attempted rape by a gang of men, in broad daylight on a public street, is especially terrorizing because it powerfully demonstrates the perpetrator’s domination, control over the victim and imperviousness to the law. Requiring evidence of additional harms both minimizes the gravity of the sexual assault and demeans the victim.”
  3. COURTSIDE EXCLUSIVE! — A FIRST, DISTURBING LOOK INSIDE “JUDGE GARLAND’S FAILED EOIR” –  SOURCES CLAIM JUDGE’S APPROACH TO DUE PROCESS @ EOIR TIMID, INEFFECTIVE 🤮☠️ — HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE 🍇 – Judge Apparently Dissing Calls By Experts, Advocates For Bold, Common Sense Actions To Restore Due Process, & Promote Judicial Independence @ EOIR — Appears Ready To Allow Miller‘s White Nationalist “Plants,” Go Along To Get Along Judges, To Continue Mocking Due Process @ Dysfunctional Courts – Will Ex-Federal Judge Become Latest In Line Of Failed Dem AGs To Allow Institutionalized Racism, Misogyny, Anti-Asylum Attitudes, Mistreatment Of Migrants, & Administrative Chaos To Flourish In America’s Worst “Courts?”
  4. 🏴‍☠️☠️⚰️🆘NO JUSTICE @ JUSTICE! — OUTRAGE OF PROGRESSIVE EXPERTS CONTINUES TO GROW AS GARLAND FAILS TO VACATE SESSIONS/BARR RACIST, MISOGYNIST, ANTI-IMMIGRANT, UNETHICAL, BIASED PRECEDENTS — “Garland’s Star Chambers” Careen Further Out Of Control As AG Dithers While Lives Of Vulnerable Refugee Women Hang in Balance & Pro Bono Advocates Are Forced To Exhaust Resources Fighting Trump DOJ’s Misdeeds That Biden Has Failed To Fix, Despite Promises — “Unforced Errors,” Lack Of Competent Progressive Leadership Continue To Plague Flawed Immigration Agenda @ Justice, Offend Dem Supporters! — Expert Professors Karen Musalo & Stephen Legomsky Call For Immediate Vacating Of Repulsive Matter of A-B- Abomination Before More Lives Of Women Of Color Are Lost!

🇺🇸🗽⚖️😎BREAKING: FINALLY! — U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan Enjoins Biden’s Scofflaw Continuation Of Trump’s Illegal & Immoral Misuse Of Title 42 To Abuse Asylum Seekers! –“There is generally no public interest in the perpetuation of an unlawful agency action.”

Hon. Emmet G. Sullivan
Hon. Emmet G. Sullivan
US District Judge
DC

Here’s the decision in Huisha-Huisha v. Mayorkas:

https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/court-trump-biden-cdc-title-42-border-blockade-enjoined

KEY QUOTE

Finally, Defendants argue that “[a]ny time [the government]
is enjoined by a court from effectuating statutes enacted by
representatives of its people, it suffers a form of irreparable
injury.” Defs.’ Opp’n, ECF No. 76 at 38 (quoting Maryland v.
King, 133 S. Ct. 1, 3 (2012)). But, as explained above, the
Title 42 Process is likely unlawful, and “[t]here is generally
no public interest in the perpetuation of an unlawful agency
action.” Newby, 838 F.3d at 12.

*********************************“

“There is generally no public interest in the perpetuation of an unlawful agency action.” Yup! Couldn’t have said it better myself!

Who knows if this will stand. Both the DC Circuit and the Supremes have too often been willing to allow continued Government abuse of the rights of “mere migrants,”  mostly of color, because they can’t really see them as fellow human beings,  entitled to due process, justice, and human dignity!

But, at least for this moment in time, it’s a victory for due process, humanity, and judicial integrity.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-16-21

 

 

Related posts:

  1. ☹️BIDEN ADMINISTRATION DELIVERS FAMILIAR MESSAGE TO ASYLUM SEEKERS STUCK IN MEXICO: “Wait, While We Study & Think, Hope You’re Still Alive By The Time We Figure It Out!” — Lots Of Talk, Not Much Action Marks Latest Executive Orders Looking To Revisit The Chaos & Dysfunction Left By Four Years Of Miller’s White Nationalist Agenda!
  2. 🏴‍☠️CLOSING THE BORDER TO LEGAL ASYLUM SEEKERS IS A VIOLATION OF BOTH DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL LAW — It’s Neither Something To Tout (Biden Administration) Nor A Solution (GOP) (Except, Perhaps, In The “Hitlerian” Sense) — Our Inability To Solve A Humanitarian Situation By Acting Lawfully, Sensibly, & Humanely Is A Sign Of Gross National Weakness Spurred By Unwillingness To See The Human Tragedies We Are Promoting! — And The Lousy, Misleading, & Tone-Deaf Reporting By The Some Of The “Mainstream Media” Is Making It Worse! — Leon Krauze & Suzanne Gamboa With Simple Truths About Human Migration That Neither Pols Nor Nativists Want You To Hear! — PLUS BONUS COVERAGE: Friday Mini-Essay: “Degrading Ourselves As A Nation Won’t Stop Human Migration”
  3. 🇺🇸🗽⚖️MORE GOOD NEWS FOR AMERICA AS TRUMP KAKISTOCRACY☠️🦹🏿‍♂️⚰️ FINALLY COMES TO AN END: Biden Will Move Immediately For Sane, Humane, Practical Immigration Policies — Wants To Put Trump’s Cruel, Racist, Stupid Abuses Of Humanity, Common Sense, Rule Of Law, & America’s Immigrant Heritage In The Rear-View Mirror! — Promises Reversal Of DHS’s Role As White Nationalist “Political Police Force”🏴‍☠️☠️ That Beat Up On the Most Vulnerable While Ignoring Real Security Threat Posed By Trump-Inspired Righty Domestic Terrorists!
  4. ☠️⚰️🤮👎🏽BREAKING: DC CIR. OK’s BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S CONTINUED RETURN OF ASYLUM APPLICANTS TO DEATH ☠️ & DANGER WITH NO PROCESS!🏴‍☠️

⚖️PULVERIZED! — 6th Cir. Slam Dunks 🏀 On Mayorkas/Garland Efforts To Avoid Consequences of Illegal USCIS Actions On U Visas! 

Dan Kowalski reports for LexisNexis Immigration Community:

https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/21a0217p-06.pdf

https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/massive-u-visa-and-apa-victory-barrios-garcia-v-dhs-ca6#

Barrios Garcia v. DHS

“Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that USCIS has unreasonably delayed the adjudication of their U-visa applications. Because the BFD [“Bona Fide Determination”] process was issued after Plaintiffs’ complaints were filed, Plaintiffs should be allowed to amend their complaints should they wish to assert that USCIS has unreasonably delayed its determination that their U-visa applications are “bona fide.” … We hold that the issuance of the BFD Process moots no part of this case. We hold that 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(1), 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), and 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2) do not bar the federal courts from reviewing claims that USCIS has unreasonably delayed placing principal petitioners on the U-visa waitlist and adjudicating prewaitlist work-authorization applications. We hold that the federal courts may compel USCIS to place principal petitioners on the U-visa waitlist when an unreasonable delay has occurred per 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). We hold that § 706(1) allows the federal courts to command USCIS to hasten an unduly delayed “bona fide” determination, which is a mandatory decision under 8 U.S.C. § 1184(p)(6) and the BFD process. We hold, however, that the federal courts cannot invoke 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) to force USCIS to speed up an unduly delayed prewaitlist work-authorization adjudication, which is a nonmandatory agency action under 8 U.S.C. § 1184(p)(6) and the BFD process. We hold that Plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded that USCIS has unreasonably delayed the principal petitioners’ placement on the U-visa waitlist. We further hold that Plaintiffs should be permitted to amend their complaints should they wish to challenge any delayed “bona fide” determinations. We thus REVERSE the district courts’ grants of the Government’s motions to dismiss and REMAND for further proceedings.”

[Hats way off to Brad Banias!]

pastedGraphic.png

Daniel M. Kowalski

Editor-in-Chief

Bender’s Immigration Bulletin (LexisNexis)

cell/text/Signal (512) 826-0323

@dkbib on Twitter

dan@cenizo.com

Free Daily Blog: www.bibdaily.com

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

Just another in the continuing litany of why Mayorkas and Garland aren’t getting the job done for immigrants. They continue to: 1) mindlessly defend Trump-era screw ups and invidiously motivated actions; 2) attempt to weasel their way out of accountability for misdeeds by their agencies. This case should have been settled, plain and simple!

The only good thing about the dilatory litigation tactics employed by DHS and DOJ is that they are building up some good case law precedents for those challenging Government immigration actions and hopefully costing the DOJ attorneys’ fees that can be plowed back into public interest litigation. Actually, the DOJ should be litigating “in the public interest,” but apparently someone forgot to tell “Team Garland.”

Trump and his xenophobic, insurrectionist colleagues were not a “normal” Administration. For the Biden folks to continue to ignore that and pretend like the White Nationalist, anti-democracy actions of the Trump kakistocracy/bureaucracy were “business as usual,” will be a never-ending disaster for the Dems!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-16-21

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️”MEDLEY OF INJUSTICE” — CIRCUITS CONTINUE TO LOWER HAMMER 🔨 ON BIA: Anti-Asylum Misogyny; Illegal & Incredibly Stupid “Policies;” “Perplexing” Lack Of Legal Knowledge Highlighted In Latest Batch Of Reversals! — “Attempted rape by a gang of men, in broad daylight on a public street, is especially terrorizing because it powerfully demonstrates the perpetrator’s domination, control over the victim and imperviousness to the law. Requiring evidence of additional harms both minimizes the gravity of the sexual assault and demeans the victim.”
  2. ⚖️🗽🧑🏽‍⚖️COURTS OF APPEALS CONTINUE TO THROW ROTTEN TOMATOES 🍅 @ BIA’S ANTI-ASYLUM BIAS — Basic Analytical, Legal Errors Continue From Weaponized, Non-Expert “Star Chamber” ☠️ Posing As ”Tribunal!” — Judge Garland Must Fix This Inexcusable, Unnecessary, Systemic Failure Now! — Justice For Persons Of Color & Migrants Can’t “Wait For Godot!”
  3. 🤯👎🏽MORE CIRCUIT REJECTS FOR GARLAND & PRELOGAR — 1st & 3rd Cirs “Just Say No” To DOJ’s Ill-Advised Positions On “Theft Offense” & Derivative Citizenship!  — It’s Part Of A Larger Leadership Failure @ Garland’s Broken DOJ!
  4. 🤯GARLAND, MAYORKAS SLAM-DUNKED BY NGOs ON SEMI-FRIVOLOUS DEFENSE OF TRUMP’S CRUEL, ☠️⚰️ ILLEGAL WORK DENIAL FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS! — AsylumWorks v. Marorkas, D.D.C.😎⚔️⚖️

⚖️5TH CIR. GRANTS STAY ON “PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION” PORTION OF TEXAS V. USA!

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/21/21-40618-CV0.pdf

KEY EXCERPT:

For these reasons, we do not see a strong justification for concluding that the IIRIRA detention statutes override the deep-rooted tradition of enforcement discretion when it comes to decisions that occur before detention, such as who should be subject to arrest, detainers, and removal proceedings. That means the United States has shown a likelihood of prevailing on appeal to the extent the preliminary injunction prevents officials from relying on the memos’ enforcement priorities for nondetention decisions.

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

Finally, some rationality and common sense! A partial stay from the ultra-conservative 5th Circuit is a good sign for the Biden Administration on this issue.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-15-21

 

Related posts:

  1. ⚖️BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TAKES INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO KEEPING ICE ENFORCEMENT HONEST — “ICE Case Review Process” Lets Those Affected Seek Review!
  2. CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH @ DHS: ICE DEPORTS BLACKS TO DANGER & POTENTIAL DEATH, MANY WITH NO DUE PROCESS!🏴‍☠️ — Legislators Call On Biden Administration To End Racist Enforcement Policies!
  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. TRASVINA RESTORES “PD” @ ICE; 6TH CIR. REJECTS CASTRO-TUM! BUT GARLAND’S FAILURES @ EOIR CONTINUE TO HAMPER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, CAUSE CONFUSION, INCREASE BACKLOGS!  — “In performing their duties, including through implementation of this memorandum, OPLA attorneys should remain mindful that ‘[i]mmigration enforcement obligations do not consist only of initiating and conducting prompt proceedings that lead to removals at any cost. Rather, as has been said, the government wins when justice is done.’” 

🇺🇸BREAKING: DEMOCRACY WINS AS NEWSOM BEATS BACK GOP RIGHT-WING DISRUPTION IN CAL. BY NEARLY 2-1 MARGIN!

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=c6f2a3b9-b11e-439c-8262-d24cdfb93690&v=sdk

A sigh of relief for California

Voters chose to keep Gov. Newsom, sparing the state from more than a year of turmoil.

 

 

Phew.

We can rest easier now that Gov. Gavin Newsom will not be removed from office early and replaced by right-wing provocateur Larry Elder, a radio host with no experience in elective office and who doesn’t seem interested in being a governor for all Californians — only those who share his extremist, intolerant views.

Voters statewide showed overwhelming support for keeping Newsom, and news outlets started calling the race before 9 p.m. This is what the recent polls predicted, based on the early and heavy turnout of Democratic voters, who outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1 in California.

Elder, as expected, led the field of replacement candidates. He admitted defeat Tuesday night, telling supporters, “We may have lost the battle. But we’re going to win the war.”

It was a nice surprise given that, before election day, Elder and other Republicans had seeded the suspicion that if the recall failed it would be due to fraud rather than the more plausible scenario that millions of voters, most of them Democrats, heard what Elder had to offer and said “no thanks.”

Voters evidently saw through the smokescreen that recall proponents threw up about how Newsom was responsible for every bad thing that has happened in California over the last few years: wildfires, COVID-19, homelessness, crime, income equality, and on and on.

The decision to reject the recall is the best outcome for California.

Even if you dislike Newsom, it would have been a disaster to abruptly hand over leadership of the state to Elder or any of the other 45 people listed on the replacement ballot in the middle of a public health crisis and with a regular election little more than a year away.

Moreover, Newsom has been a strong leader during one of the most challenging periods in California’s recent history. It would have been madness to swap him for anyone, let alone someone with no relevant experience.

While the recall option is an important tool for democracy, it should be used sparingly and only in cases of clear dereliction of duty — and certainly not as a cynical ploy by political opponents to remove a legitimately elected governor.

This was not about Newsom’s performance, not really. The recall campaign started life as a referendum on Newsom’s liberal values, which were clear when he won with 62% of the vote in the 2018 election.

It’s unfortunate taxpayers had to spend between $200 million and $400 million to hold an election that didn’t change anything. But it could pay off down the road if it convinces the state’s Republicans that using the recall isn’t a fair, honorable — or even effective — way to win office.

Yes, it worked in 2003, when Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced Gov. Gray Davis, but that was a unique situation driven in large part by the fame of the winning candidate.

If Republicans want to end the “one-party rule” in California, then it’s up to them to develop a platform that appeals to voters, rather than trying to gain power by gaming the state’s direct democracy system.

Newsom now should get back to work but not rest on his laurels — he’s got another election in less than 14 months.

The recall failed, but millions of people voted to oust him nonetheless.

That the recall qualified at all, rather than dying in the signature-gathering stage as most recall efforts do, exposed a deep ambivalence by Californians about the direction of the state.

Though the dust hasn’t yet settled on this election, let’s start talking about fixing the state’s deeply flawed recall law. This election has shown that the process is confusing and the outcome potentially undemocratic.

It takes a majority of voters to oust the governor (or any elected official), but the replacement needs only to win a plurality of votes. A system that makes it possible for a California governor to be replaced with someone who has received a small fraction of the total votes cast in the election is nuts.

It seems California has escaped that possibility this time. Let’s do more than hope there isn’t a next time.

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

Another scurrilous attack by the neo-fascist GOP on American democracy and liberal, progressive values defeated! And, in the process, they wasted hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been used to make the lives of Californians better!

Sure, California has problems that need to be solved. But, the idea that any of the GOP clowns trying to replace Newsom could solve them, or would even be interested in trying, is beyond absurd!

🤡Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-14-21

Related posts:

  1. 🇺🇸🗽👍🏼😎MAKING AMERICA BETTER, FINALLY: “Mr. Biden has laid out an immigration program that would genuinely put America first.” (WashPost) — No Wonder GOP Anti-American White Nationalists Like Tom Cotton Are Apoplectic & Spouting Their Racist, White Elitist Nonsense!
  2. ⚖️ABOVE THE LAW: Trump Treated Ethics, Legal Norms, & Human Values Like A Joke — The GOP Supremes Laughed With Him, As They Insured His Lack Of Accountability & Actively Undermined Those With The Courage To Stand Up To Tyranny!🤮
  3. ☹️MEDIA SHOULD STOP GIVING GOP TOTALLY UNWARRANTED “FREE PASS” ON “BORDER BS!” — “The situation under former president Donald Trump was substantially worse from a humanitarian and a pragmatic governing perspective: worse for the migrants, worse for the rule of law and worse for our country.” — Greg Sargent @ WashPost sets the record straight!
  4. 📖 BOOK OF REVELATION: AFTER CARRYING TRUMP’S WATER @ DOJ, BILLY BARR COMES TO A NOT SO STUNNING CONCLUSION: TRUMP’S A COMPLETE SCHMUCK! 🤮

THE GIBSON REPORT —  09-13-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

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

NEWS

 

Dems bet their political chips on party-line immigration reform

Politico: With bipartisan immigration talks stalled, the White House and congressional Democrats are pushing to add a path to legal residency for 8 million immigrants to their sprawling social spending plan this fall. In order to steer that help for Dreamers, essential workers and those with Temporary Protected Status past a filibuster, though, the party has to win over the Senate parliamentarian, the chamber’s non-partisan rules arbiter.

 

Immigration Court Struggling to Manage Its Expanding Dedicated Docket of Asylum-Seeking Families

TRAC: Alongside the growing number of asylum-seekers assigned to the new Dedicated Docket, new questions emerge about whether these cases will be completed fairly and within the promised timeline, whether Immigration Judges will be able to manage large Dedicated Docket caseloads, and whether the Court is reliably tracking these cases as promised.

 

US steps up effort to unite families separated under Trump

AP: A federal task force is launching a new program Monday that officials say will expand efforts to find parents, many of whom are in remote Central American communities, and help them return to the United States, where they will get at least three years of legal residency and other assistance.

 

Former immigration judges: appellate review crucial to fix errors

Reuters: Nearly three dozen former immigration judges have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal appeals courts have the power to review immigration court rulings on whether individuals are eligible for relief from deportation.

 

What It’s Like Inside The U.S. Processing Center Welcoming Thousands Of Afghans

NPR: The Dulles Expo Center outside Washington, D.C., is usually reserved for home and garden or gun shows. Now the cavernous center hosts thousands of Afghan refugees. See also US gives 1st public look inside base housing Afghans.

 

Families Of Undocumented Immigrants Lost On 9/11 Continue To Search For Closure

NPR: The workers who’d gathered at Tepeyac started compiling a list, which in the next few days grew to 700 missing people. Almost all immigrants, many undocumented.

 

FBI Pressured U.S. Resident To Sign Away His Green Card, Forcing Him Into Exile

Intercept: Djumaev himself has never faced any criminal charge nor even been brought before an immigration court. When he later booked travel to the United States, the authorities blocked his return.

 

Jail ending agreement deputizing staff as ICE agents

AP: Massachusetts is the only state in New England where the contracts are in place; Barnstable County and the state Department of Corrections are the remaining entities with the agreements. See also Biden Ended Contracts with Private Prisons. So One May Turn To House Immigrants.

 

U.S. extends deportation relief for immigrants from 6 countries

Reuters: The renewals for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan will last until Dec. 31, 2022, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and were required as part of ongoing litigation over former President Donald Trump’s attempts to end most enrollment in the program.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

Full 1st Circ. Won’t Weigh Removal Relief For Venezuelan Man

Law360: A majority of the First Circuit’s judges declined on Wednesday to rehear a request for deportation relief from a Venezuelan man who said he was forced to smuggle drugs into the U.S., with one judge writing in her dissent that the full panel’s decision not to rehear the case is a “dangerously slippery slope.”

 

2nd Circ. Says Abuse Ruling Is Retroactive In Removal Case

Law360: A Dominican Republic immigrant who pled guilty to endangering a child in 2006 lost his deportation fight on Tuesday when the Second Circuit ruled in favor of the retroactive application of a 2010 decision, which found such crimes a removable offense.

 

Debate Over Immigrants’ Gun Rights Ignites In 2nd Circ. Case

Law360: As he walked down a Brooklyn block with a loaded gun in his hand on a dry, hot summer evening in 2016, Javier Perez didn’t know he was about to trigger a constitutional dilemma.

 

CA3 Finds BIA Erred in Denying Motion to Reopen Where IJ Failed to Meaningfully Evaluate Whether Interpreter Was Needed

AILA: The court held that the petitioner, who spoke “Pidgin” English, was denied due process, because the IJ did not conduct an adequate initial evaluation of whether an interpreter was needed and took no action even after the language barrier became apparent. (B.C. v. Att’y Gen., 9/1/21)

 

CA3 Finds Petitioner Who Was a Naturalized Citizen at Time of Criminal Conviction Cannot Be Removed Under Aggravated Felony Provision

AILA: The court held that, because the petitioner was a naturalized citizen at the time of his conviction for a felony relating to conspiracy to illicitly traffic controlled substances, he was not removable under INA §237(a)(2)(A)(iii)’s aggravated felony provision. (Singh v. Att’y Gen., 8/31/21)

 

CA3 On Mandatory Detention: Gayle V. Warden

LexisNexis: Gayle v. Warden: Under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), the Government must detain noncitizens who are removable because they committed certain specified offenses or have connections with terrorism, and it must hold them without bond pending their removal proceedings.

 

Sierra Leonean Loses Deportation Fight In The 3rd Circ.

Law360: A Sierra Leonean national who pled guilty to aggravated identity theft lost his fight to stay in the U.S. on Friday, after the Third Circuit found that he had used fake documents for a bank fraud scheme.

 

CA5 Says Evidence Did Not Compel Conclusion That Honduran Government Officials Would Acquiesce in Petitioner’s Torture

AILA: The court upheld the denial of Convention Against Torture (CAT) relief to the petitioner, finding that the evidence did not compel the conclusion that any torture by the MS-13 gang would occur with the consent or acquiescence of Honduran officials. (Tabora Gutierrez v. Garland, 8/31/21)

 

5th Circ. Mulls Staying Order Against ICE Removal Priorities

Law360: A Fifth Circuit panel on Wednesday peppered attorneys with questions aimed at understanding the effect of an order prohibiting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from following two Biden administration directives that prioritize the removal of certain immigrants.

 

CA8 Rejects Petitioner’s Vagueness Challenge to INA §241(b)(3)(B)(ii)’s Non-Per-Se “Particularly Serious Crime” Term

AILA: Where the petitioner challenged as unconstitutionally vague INA §241(b)(3)(B)(ii)’s non-per-se “particularly serious crime” (PSC) term, the court found that the statute stands because its text imposes standards that must reference underlying facts. (Mumad v. Garland, 8/27/21)

 

CA9 Finds Substantial Evidence Supported Adverse Credibility Determination as to Salvadoran Petitioner Threatened by Gang

AILA: The court held that, in making an adverse credibility determination as to petitioner, the IJ was allowed to afford substantial weight to discrepancies associated with a threat by gang members and a report the petitioner procured and submitted to the IJ. (Rodriguez-Ramirez v. Garland, 9/1/21)

 

CA9, En Banc, On Credibility: Alam V. Garland

Alam v. Garland: The en banc court overruled prior Ninth Circuit precedent establishing and applying the single factor rule, which required the court to sustain an adverse credibility determination from the Board of Immigration Appeals, so long as one of the agency’s identified grounds was supported by substantial evidence.

 

CA9 Says Peruvian Petitioner Failed to Show That His Parents Obtained a “Legal Separation” for Purposes of Derivative Citizenship

AILA: The court concluded that the petitioner had failed to present sufficient evidence to permit a rational trier of fact to find that his parents had obtained a “legal separation” as required for him to derive U.S. citizenship under former §321(a) of the INA. (Ghia v. Garland, 9/2/21)

 

CA9 Says BIA Erred in Applying Matter of Cortes Medina Retroactively to Classify Petitioner’s Conviction as a CIMT

AILA: The court held that the BIA erred in applying Matter of Cortes Medina retroactively to classify the petitioner’s 2011 conviction for indecent exposure under California Penal Code section 314.1 as a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT). (Reyes Afanador v. Garland, 8/27/21)

 

CA9 On Iran, Evidence, CAT: Etemadi V. Garland

LexisNexis: Etemadi v. Garland “Kami Etemadi, a citizen and native of Iran, came to the United States in 1996 and made a life in Los Angeles. After being introduced to an Iranian American church, he converted to Christianity and was baptized in 1999. The government maintains his faith is false, and endeavors to deport him.

 

District Court Holds Unlawful U.S. Government’s Practice of Turning Back Asylum Seekers at POEs Along Southern Border

AILA: U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant of the Southern District of California declared unlawful the government’s practice of systematically denying asylum seekers access to the asylum process at ports of entry (POEs) along the U.S.-Mexico border. (<=”” i=”” style=”box-sizing: content-box; background-clip: border-box;”> (9/2/21)

 

District Court Finds “No-Visa Policy” Is Contrary to Law and Orders Expeditious Adjudication of DV-2021 Applications

AILA: U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia granted summary judgment to plaintiffs on their claims that the No-Visa Policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and that defendants unreasonably delayed their visa applications. (Goh, et al. v. DOS, et al., 9/9/21)

 

Catholic Charities Files Complaint Against Rensselaer County Jail

Documented: They said an officer violently tugged at an immigrant’s shackles as she was being transferred into ICE custody, which caused her to bleed and bruise on her hips, ankles and wrists. According to multiple women who had been held there, medical neglect there is an “ongoing systemic problem.”

 

EOIR Announces Dedicated Docket Process for More Expeditious Immigration Hearings

AILA: EOIR issued a memo establishing a dedicated docket to certain individuals in removal proceedings with a focus on the adjudication of family cases as designated by DHS.

 

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.

 

USCIS Notice of Continuation of TPS Documentation for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal

AILA: USCIS notice of the automatic extension of the validity of TPS-related documentation for beneficiaries under the TPS designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal through 12/31/22 from the current expiration date of 10/4/21. (86 FR 50725, 9/10/21)

 

USCIS Extends Evidence of Status for Conditional Permanent Residents

AILA: USCIS stated that they will extend the time that receipt notices can be used to show evidence of status from 18 months to 24 months for conditional permanent residents with pending Form I-751 or Form I-829. New receipt notices will also be provided to those who file Form I-751/I-829 before 9/4/21.

 

ICE Provides Interim Litigation Position Regarding Motions to Reopen in Light of Niz-Chavez v. Garland

AILA: ICE provided interim guidance on motions to reopen in light of SCOTUS’s decision in Niz-Chavez v. Garland, stating that some noncitizens may now be eligible for cancellation of removal. Until 11/16/21, ICE attorneys will presumptively exercise prosecutorial discretion for these individuals.

 

ICE Releases Updated COVID-19 ICE Detainee Statistics

AILA: ICE provided updated statistics on COVID-19 in ICE detainees, by facility. As of 9/7/21, there are 847 positive cases currently in custody among a total detainee population of 23,445.

 

CDC Notice of Humanitarian Exemption to COVID-19 Test Requirement for Afghan Evacuees

AILA: CDC notice announcing a blanket humanitarian exemption to the requirement for a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test for evacuees from Afghanistan. The exemption went into effect on 8/15/21. (86 FR 49536, 9/3/21)

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

ImmProf

Monday, September 13, 2021

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Friday, September 10, 2021

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Monday, September 6, 2021

 

 

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

Item #1 on immigration reform is interesting, although I think the odds on any major reform passing are still slim. If enacted, remedial legislation would not only help America and recognize the huge contributions and potential of our many undocumented residents, but also would help eliminate the largely self-created Immigration Court backlog.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-15-21

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