Department of State – immigrationcourtside.com

🏴‍☠️ THIS WEEK IN “GARLANDING” — “What Me Worry” AG Attains “Verb Status,” Pisses Off WH, & More Tales Of Woe From The Land Where Justice Goes To Die!”

Alfred E. Neumann — Merrick Garland doesn’t worry about injustice in his courts! But, YOU should PHOTO: Wikipedia Commons

THIS WEEK IN “GARLANDING” — True Tales From The “Twilight Zone” Of American Justice!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive

February17, 2024

garland ( gar’ land) v.t. [garlanded, garlanding] [dv. USAG Merrick Garland via Prof. Laurence Tribe] m. inflict injustice by one in charge, often through inattention, inaction, or dithering. (Ex 1. I pray the judge won’t garland my case. Ex 2. My client was garlanded and deported to death. Ex 3. They will be garlanding asylum applicants at the U.S. border.)

I would love to take full credit for the above verb. But, that honor must go to the inspiring writing of Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, one of AG Merrick Garland’s former mentors. See https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2024/02/gross-abuse-merrick-garlands-former-constitutional-law-professor-is-now-blasting-him/.

By all accounts, President Biden and his White House were outraged this week when they were garlanded by the “Hur report.” Ironically, three years of complaining by some of Biden’s core supporters who helped elect him in 2020 about being systematically “garlanded” at EOIR brought not so much as a raised eyebrow from the WH. Indeed, they might now be viewed as just a preview of Biden’s “Miller Lite” dissing of his supporters and human lives at the border with his inanely enthusiastic support of an attempted human rights “fire sale” by Senate Dems! Obviously, it’s quite a different story when things come full circle and the “chickens finally come home to roost.”

But, enough of that. When we left our DOJ antihero last week he was fresh off paying out $1.2 million of your taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment claim by one of his ex-EOIR employees! See https://immigrationcourtside.com/2024/02/09/%F0%9D%90%97%F0%9D%90%97%F0%9D%90%97%F0%9D%90%97%F0%9D%90%97-sex-the-courthouse-%F0%9F%A4%AF-a-tragicomic-%F0%9F%8E%AD-series-starring-judge-merrick-garland-dag-lisa-mo/.

You might think that’s hard to top! But, you would be wrong! Let’s get started on this week’s trip around “the land where due process and fundamental fairness fear to tread!”

No Due Process In The Omaha Immigration Court

The ACLU released it’s report condemning Garland’s Omaha Immigration Court for a plethora of due process abuses. See https://www.aclunebraska.org/en/press-releases/new-report-finds-omaha-immigration-judges-routinely-compromise-peoples-rights.

Among the “lowlights:”

The project focused on pretrial hearings that can encompass pleadings, scheduling and other technical matters. The average observed hearing ran under four minutes, a rapid-fire pace to cover all of a hearing’s required steps.
Judges advised people of their rights in only 18% of the observed hearings. Most often, this involved reading rights to everyone in a group instead of individually.
Immigration courts are required to provide interpretation in the preferred language of the individual appearing at a hearing at no cost to the individual. The court frequently failed to provide Central American Indigenous language interpretation. This impacted roughly four out of five individuals who preferred to speak in a Central American Indigenous language.
In about one in five observed hearings, the individual was not represented by an attorney.

Of course, one might wonder why it is the responsibility of the ACLU to ferret out things that Garland should have discovered and corrected himself. But, no matter. Those poor souls whose lives and future are in the hands of the Omaha Immigration Court can expect to be garlanded.

2) Shenanigans in Chicago

Dan Kowalski reports:

IJs hide the ball; find the secret list or lose your case

Friends,

Immigration court practitioners in many cities now face a new hurdle: find, and adhere to, a secret list of IJ procedural preferences (requirements, actually)…posted, in one case, in the “pro bono room” of one court. NOT online anywhere. Oh, and it changes frequently, and without warning. See the attached sample from Chicago.

Practitioners have complained to EOIR, so let’s see what happens.

I have a funny feeling that PWS may have a thing or two to say about all this.

DPF!

2024.02.05 – EOIR Chicago IJ Hearing Preference Sheet

Indeed I do, my friend, indeed I do. This one hits “close to home.”

Back in 2006 my friend and Round Table colleague Judge John Gossart of Baltimore headed a group of IJs who took on the monumental task of writing the first Immigration Court Practice Manual (“ICPM”). Based on Judge Gossart’s own “local court rules and best judicial practices” developed over decades, the ICPM built on the success of the award- winning BIA Practice Manual, created and issued during my tenure as BIA Chair.

One of the key features of the ICPM is that It superseded and erased all then-existing “local rules.”

Those few of us IJs who did public education events — under the watchful eye of our HQ “handlers” — were encouraged to tout and promote the ICPM as the “definitive guide” to successful practice before the courts, which, of course I dutifully did as reflected in my speeches from those days. I believe we even had “Q&A” sessions with the local immigration bar to promote and explain the ICPM.

Now, after years of gross mismanagement under Trump and Biden, things have come full circle. The oft-conflicting, idiosyncratic, and frequently inaccessible or counterintuitive “local rules” that the ICPM was created to eliminate evidently have returned with a vengeance.

Meanwhile, the very substantial amount of time, resources, credibility, and effort that went into creating, distributing, and implementing the ICPM has been a colossal waste of taxpayer resources because the last two Administrations have failed in their duty to competently and professionally administer EOIR!

And let’s not leave out Congress! If ever there were a need for a new, independent, professional, expert Article I Court System it’s EOIR. Yet, although Dems have introduced bills, the GOP has expressed no interest in Article I, nor has it been a priority for Congressional leadership and the Administration. It wasn’t even “on the radar screen” during the failed Senate “debate” on the immigration system.

Both Chicago Immigration Court practitioners and those IJs, current and past, who devoted their professional time and energy to the ICPM have been garlanded.

3) ADR On Steroids In Virginia

A long-time DMV immigration lawyer told the “Courtside I-Team” this week:

I routinely have MCHs listed as “in person” that are actually by Webex (I had one today). I also have an Individual on Thursday listed as Webex, but I received an email at 4:00 PM today stating that this was an error, and it was actually in person. I replied that I could not attend in person, as I have too many other cases and family issues to rearrange my schedule at the last minute. We’ll see what happens, but all this is typical of an agency that could care less about applicants, practitioners or due process of law. Take care.

For decades, practitioners and experts had been begging DOJ and EOIR to enter the 21st century with automation. Dishearteningly, now that automation has belatedly arrived at EOIR, it’s being used to severely diminish customer service rather than improve it!

It seems that every whim, irrationality, inefficiency, and inconvenience that developed at EOIR over years has now been “automated” to maximize the trauma and stress inflicted on those appearing before these broken courts. As this example points out, that has led to “Aimless Docket Reshuffling (“ADR”) on steroids!”

And here’s why automated ADR is such a powerful tool! Some practitioners have told me that it allows EOIR to unilaterally schedule them to be in three or four different courts at the same time, with almost no notice. Then, it’s up to the lawyer to file individual “motions to reschedule” to clean up EOIR’s mess.

Sometimes they are granted, sometimes denied without any rationale. All of this leads to more work and case shuffling but, importantly, without ever getting to the merits of any case!

Meanwhile, the backlog grows exponentially and the stress levels on the private bar and the staff ratchet up.

There might be surer ways to destroy a court system, but none come immediately to mind. This is garlanding at its best!

4) Another “F” In “Immigration Law 101” From The 3rd Circuit

This from Dan Kowalski at LexisNexis:

CA3 CAT Remand (Somalia) – Herrow v. Atty. Gen.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-02-12/pdf/2024-02829.pdf

https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca3-cat-remand-somalia—herrow-v-atty-gen

“[W]e conclude that the BIA, in deciding his CAT claim, failed to consider evidence favorable to Herrow. For that reason, we will remand his petition as it applies to that claim. … Herrow claims that the BIA and IJ erred in denying his CAT claim and in finding that (1) he is unlikely to face torture and (2) the Somali government would not acquiesce in such torture. Because the BIA and IJ ignored evidence favorable to Herrow, we will grant his petition in part and remand for a more comprehensive review of the evidence. … To establish a likelihood of future torture, the record must demonstrate an aggregate risk of torture to the noncitizen that exceeds fifty percent. In making this determination, the IJ must address what is likely to happen to the petitioner if removed, and whether “what is likely to happen amount[s] to the legal definition of torture.” In answering these questions here, the BIA and IJ found that Herrow did not demonstrate a likelihood of torture. We conclude, however, that this determination could not have been made if all the evidence presented by Herrow had been properly considered.”

[Hats off to Christopher M. Casazza and Caitlin J. Costello! Audio of the oral argument is here.]

—

Daniel M. Kowalski

Editor-in-Chief

Bender’s Immigration Bulletin (LexisNexis)

Being wrongfully denied CAT is no small matter, particularly if the USG is threatening to send you to Somalia. Lets get a glimpse of what happens in Somalia, courtesy of the latest report from our State Department:

Government security forces, including NISA and the Puntland Intelligence Agency (PIA), detained boys and adult men in the same facility and threatened, beat, and forced them to confess to crimes, according to Human Rights Watch. There were reports of rape and sexual abuse by government agents, primarily members of the security forces. The Human Rights Center, a local nongovernmental organization (NGO), reported two Somaliland police officers, area commissioner Hassan Ismail and Mustafe Yusuf Dheere, raped Nimo Jama Hassan on June 4 in Caynabo (see sections 1.g. and 6).

Al-Shabaab imposed harsh treatment and punishment on persons in areas under its control (see section 1.g.).

Torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment at the hands of clan militias, some of which were government-affiliated, remained frequent. A strong and widespread culture of impunity continued, due mainly to clan protection of perpetrators and weak government capacity to hold the guilty to account.

You might think that would lead Garland and his subordinates to take extra care to get these cases right. But, you would be wrong. Dead wrong in many cases. “Good enough for government work” is the touchstone of garlanding.

By all accounts, Garland was a stellar student during his Harvard Law days. But, not so much some of his EOIR judges at the trial and appellate levels, particularly some of the “Sessions/Barr holdovers” who appear to have been appointed to the bench primarily because they were viewed as likely to deny protection without regard to law or facts. (I’ll concede that Barr and Sessions were wrong about some of their appointments who turned out, perhaps against the odds, to be fair judges.)

Far too many EOIR judges receive “Fs” from the Courts of Appeals on the basics of immigration and asylum law, even though most mistakes never get to the Article III Courts or manage to otherwise wend their way through the system, thereby endangering lives.

Mr. Herrow was garlanded, but survived (at least for now) thanks to the work of his lawyers and the Third Circuit.

Well, folks, that’s this week’s wrap from Gar-Land, “the land that justice forgot!” But, stay tuned to Courtside for future updates on garlanding and its victims!

What’s on the horizon: In March, a final report expected from AILA Ohio on systemic racism at EOIR! Should be a great read!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-17-24

📖 BOOKS: BLITZING ⚡️ BORDER MYTHS & SACKING 🏈 SELECTIVE HISTORICAL AMNESIA — Jonathan Blitzer Takes On Generations Of Official Misconduct, Human Misery At The Border — PLUS: Here’s Your Chance To Hear From Those Migrants Whose Voices Are Ignored By U.S. Politicos & Media, Courtesy Of Immigration Law & Justice Network & The Hope Border Institute!

Read Manuel Roig-Franzia’s WashPost review of Jonathan Blitzer’s book “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here:”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/02/05/everyone-gone-here-blitzer-review/

Blitzer’s villains include “[n]umerous U.S. institutions, bureaucrats, and presidents” who supported and enabled “savage governments responsible for vast numbers of people killed — many of them poor and Indigenous.”

Blitzer has particular contempt for “one of the most ineptly titled American officials ever — the State Department’s assistant secretary for human rights, Elliott Abrams — [who] tried to suppress information about the massacre of 978 people, including 477 children, in the Salvadoran village of Mozote.” Abrams, later was convicted of misdemeanors for withholding information from Congress in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal, but was pardoned by Bush I.

Our political bureaucracy continues to have infinite capacity for inventing intentionally misleading, mocking titles that directly contravene truth, particularly when it comes to abusing human rights. For example, the so-called “Migrant Protection Protocols” (a/k/a “Remain in Mexico”) were quite specifically intended to unlawfully reject migrants who had established a “credible fear” of persecution! The MPP resulted in numerous “publicly documented cases of rape, kidnapping, assault, and other crimes committed against individuals sent back under MPP.” See https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjq1pmw_qWEAxUwL1kFHUbSDMIQFnoECBAQAw&url=https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/migrant-protection-protocols#:~:text=According%20to%20Human%20Rights%20First,individuals%20sent%20back%20under%20MPP.&usg=AOvVaw2ehZRBR_jXYoI41NZZN2DK&opi=8997844.

According to U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal, the MPP “trapped [] asylum seekers in Mexico in dangerous conditions that impeded their ability to access the U.S. asylum system or obtain legal representation.” See https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjLgaLW_6WEAxUqFmIAHb5MDlEQFnoECCYQAQ&url=https://immigrationimpact.com/2023/03/24/where-the-migrant-protection-protocols-stand-four-years/&usg=AOvVaw18vgP5kU86mgTigCBEFLNY&opi=89978449%0A%0A.

Among Blitzer’s unsung heroes are “relentless US. immigration advocates,” the late Rep. Joe Moakley (D-MA) who “grasped all the nuances of U.S.-manufactured border crises,” and of course, an “array of migrants” who bravely persevered in the face of treacherous, dishonest, ill-informed, and often deadly U.S. immigration policies intended to “break them” and destroy their humanity. That disgraceful process continues today — on steroids!

The review ends on a perhaps unexpectedly optimistic note:

And yet, after reading Blitzer’s book, one can’t help but think that the impossible might be possible — that maybe, just maybe, this could be fixed. He’s not trying to lay out a set of policy solutions. He’s making a more nuanced plea, a rejection of the “selective amnesia” of politics in favor of a deeper understanding of how we — as a nation and as a region — got here.

It is a book with a “mission,” he writes, a nudge for U.S. decision-makers and a platform for voices on the other side of the border, a “kind of go-between: to tell each side’s story to the other; to find a way to bring the Homeland Security officials into the housing-complex basement; and to allow the migrants in the basement to participate, for once, in the privileged backroom conversations that decide their fate.”

Hopefully, those with the power to change things will listen.

Manuel Roig-Franzia is a Washington Post features writer and formerly served as The Post’s bureau chief in Miami and Mexico.

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Following up on the last point — the “seldom-heard and never-heeded by our politicos and media” voices of those whose lives and humanity are threatened by our failed policies, this Thursday, Feb. 15, @ 3 PM EST, Immigration Law & Justice Network & The Hope Border Institute will present a free webinar, “Stop The War On The Border: Migrants Speak:

Stop the War on the Border: Migrants Speak – Detengan la Guerra en la Frontera: Migrantes Hablan

Date & Time

Feb 15, 2024 03:00 PM in

Description

ILJ Network and our partners invite you to participate in this webinar and hear directly from migrants in the northern Mexican border and the U.S. interior on how restrictions to asylum and humanitarian parole impact their lives.

ILJ Network y compañeros de coaliciones los invita a participar en este evento virtual para escuchar directamente de migrantes, ubicados entre la parte Norte de México y el interior de los Estados Unidos, acerca de cómo dichas restricciones al derecho de asilo y de parole humanitario impactan sus vidas.

Webinar Registration

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_efx1ZeUqTCmSOVCBNTRxrg#/registration?os=ipad

Information you provide when registering will be shared with the account owner and host and can be used and shared by them in accordance with their Terms and Privacy Policy.

This is very timely! Rarely do we hear from those whose lives, dignity, and safety are being bargained away and devalued as if they were “commodities” at the disposal of disingenuous politicos and interests who have turned their misery and desperation into “profit centers” and political rallying cries.

🏈🏆Finally, on another topic, congrats to Coach Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs, and “Chiefs’ Superfan” Taylor Swift on their second consecutive Lombardi Trophy and third in five seasons. As almost everyone in sleep-deprived America knows by now, KC outlasted the SF 49ers in yesterday’s Super Bowl ending with a thrilling overtime finish 25-22!

For everyone else, including my Green Bay Packers, it’s “wait till next season!”😎

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-12-24

🤯 PROVING MY POINT: “Justice for asylum seekers and other migrants shouldn’t be this difficult in Garland’s courts!” — Despite “Happy Ending,” 600-Day Ordeal In What Should Have Been “Day 1 Grant” To Afghan Ally Shows Deep-Seated Problems @ Garland’s DOJ/EOIR & Human/Operational Consequences Of That Failure!

Star Chamber Justice — AG Merrick Garland’s methods for treating allies and friends of America when they apply for asylum in his “courts” are highly questionable and demonstratively counterproductive. Did the DC Circuit use “trial by ordeal” during Garland’s tenure? If not, why is it OK for EOIR?

From Human Rights First (“HRF”):

https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/ice-pushes-to-deport-asylum-seeking-afghan-incarcerated-in-the-united-states/

About Us

Join the Work

HELPING AN AFGHAN INCARCERATED IN THE UNITED STATES EARN ASYLUM

Mohammad[1] is an Afghan citizen of the Hazara ethnic minority and Shi’a religion, who fled Afghanistan after repeated threats to his life following the Taliban’s consolidation of power in 2021. He escaped by traveling through the treacherous and only available route to the United States to seek asylum.

In Afghanistan, Mohammad was a professor with a history of advocacy for women’s rights and for victims of the Taliban and other extremist groups. Mohammad’s wife, who worked for a U.S. government-funded nonprofit organization in Afghanistan. Due to her work, she has an initially approved Special Immigrant Visa application that also gives Mohammad a path to permanent residence in the United States.

Despite this, Mohammad was criminally prosecuted for entering the United States to seek asylum. He spent 7 months in prison before he was transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, where he could only then begin to pursue his asylum claim. ICE repeatedly denied Mohammad’s release into the community despite his having permanent resident family in the United States ready to sponsor and receive him.

Mohammad was forced to undergo his asylum case without an attorney while detained in immigration jail. After being held for one year, an immigration judge denied Mohammad’s asylum claims despite extensive evidence that he survived multiple attacks on his life by the Taliban and ISIS-K, and that the Taliban continue to search for him. The judge also dismissed irrefutable evidence of the significant risk he would face due to his ethnic and religious minority status if forced to return to Afghanistan, and the escalating violence imposed by the Taliban.

Mohammad’s story was detailed by the Associated Press. The article provided “a rare look inside an opaque and overwhelmed immigration court system where hearings are often closed, transcripts are not available to the public and judges are under pressure to move quickly with ample discretion” and highlights Human Rights First’s efforts to find justice for Mohammad.

The United States should not deport Afghan allies—especially not those like Mohammad, who have courageously fought for human rights in Afghanistan, are members of ethnic and religious minority groups, and have family eligible for SIV status—all factors that would lead to certain risk of persecution and torture at the hands of the Taliban if forced to return.

We argued that Mohammad was subjected to unreasonably prolonged incarceration. He deserved to live freely in the United States and be reunited with his family while he sought asylum.

As Human Rights First acted on Mohammad’s case, we updated this blog with details of that effort. Please follow this link for more on Mohammad’s story.

December 22, 2023

Mohammad’s journey has been long – he traveled from Afghanistan to South America, through the Darien Gap to the border, to ICE detention, and more – but it has come to a successful conclusion.

Our attorneys were successful in stopping the Department of Homeland Security from deporting Mohammad back to Afghanistan. We filed a Motion to Reopen Mohammad’s case and then filed a new asylum application. We made multiple parole requests to get Mohammad released. We filed for Temporary Protected Status for Mohammad, arguing that it is the U.S. government’s long-standing policy to release any individual who is prima facie eligible for TPS. We contacted government officials and advocated for Mohammad’s release for his sake and for his family — two small children and his wife, whose application through the Special Immigrant Visa program has long been approved. Our request to have his TPS application expedited was denied.

With our partners at the law firm of Akin LLP, we prepared Mohammad for his December 13 Individual hearing before a new judge in Dallas Immigration Court. We gathered additional evidence, spoke with eyewitnesses, consulted with an expert, and filed all necessary filings.

Finally, on December 20, 2023, 602 days after he first arrived in the United States, Mohammad was granted asylum. The immigration judge found that Mohammad had suffered persecution due to his political opinions and ethnicity.

Mohammad was released from detention on December 22, 2023, and will soon reunite with his niece in Michigan. Human Rights First and Akin LLP will now work to reunite Mohammad with his wife and children and help him to pursue a dignified life in the relative safety of the United States.

December 12, 2023

Mohammad is scheduled for an Individual Hearing on December 13. We are very concerned about the possibility of his facing more detention even though he has an incredibly strong case with multiple claims to asylum.

Mohammad is an ethnic Hazara Shia Muslim who was an outspoken law professor and advocate on behalf of victims of Taliban terrorist attacks. His wife was employed by a U.S.-funded organization, and was granted COM approval for her Special Immigrant Visa. Mohammad’s two brothers converted to Christianity, a crime punishable by death; Mohammad fears retribution by the Taliban due to their close family relationship and because they lived in the same building unit. In recent months, the Taliban have visited their home in Afghanistan multiple times.

We continue to believe and will argue that Mohammad should have never been detained in the first place.

December 2, 2023

On December 1, USCIS denied Human Rights First’s request to expedite Mohammad’s application for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). At the time of our request, Mohammad had been in detention for over 550 days.

We argued for expedited processing of his TPS application based on urgent humanitarian reasons — he survived an ISIS-K bombing and an attempted gunpoint abduction by the Taliban — and the national interest of the United States.

We anticipated that the filing of Mohammad’s TPS application would be sufficient for DHS to release him, as he clearly meets the prima facie eligibility requirement. It is a long-standing U.S. government policy that “once granted TPS, an individual cannot be detained by DHS based on their immigration status in the United States.”

Unfortunately, our parole requests have repeatedly been denied, even after the submission of proof of TPS filing and of Mohammad’s wife’s COM approval for her Special Immigrant Visa (SIV).

September 25, 2023

Following the immigration judge’s erroneous denial of Mohammad’s asylum claim, he was connected with a pro bono attorney at Human Rights First to timely appeal that decision. Although ICE argued that Mohammad waived his right to appeal during the final immigration court hearing, experts, including former immigration judges, have reviewed the court transcript and agree with Human Rights First that Mohammad did not receive a fair hearing or knowingly waive his right to appeal. Unfortunately, the Board of Immigration Appeals summarily dismissed Mohammad’s appeal due to that purported waiver.

Human Rights First then filed a motion to reopen his removal proceedings directly with the Immigration Court. With the assistance of Akin Gump LLP, Mohammad also filed a petition for review of the BIA’s decision.[2]

On September 21, Mohammad’s motion to reopen before the immigration court was granted, despite the government’s continued opposition, winning him the opportunity to present his evidence for asylum again but this time with the assistance of an attorney and a new judge. That same day, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the Secretary has redesignated Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status, which will provide an additional path to temporary protection from deportation for Mohammad. Human Rights First will continue to defend Mohammad’s case until he secures protection for himself and his family.

[1] full name withheld due to security concerns for his family

[2] this petition will be voluntarily dismissed as Mohammad’s motion to reopen removal proceedings was separately granted by an immigration judge

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I said it yesterday on “Courtside.”

https://immigrationcourtside.com/2023/12/26/🌲under-your-tree-a-gift-🎁-from-sir-jeffrey-chase-of-the-round-table-🛡️-asylum-in-the-time-of-m-r-m-s/.

And, “bingo,” Garland and his inept minions at EOIR and DOJ furnish a great example of a backlog-building, due-process denying, expertise-lacking, dysfunctional, illogical “court” system that is damaging humanity while undermining U.S. justice and democracy in so many ways!

The full scope of USG failure is on display in this saga:

Prosecutorial abuse;
Coercive detention;
Denial of counsel;
Bad judging at both trial and appellate levels of EOIR;
Lack of asylum expertise;
Absence of positive precedents granting asylum in recurring situations like Afghanistan;
Ignoring evidence;
Punishing allies;
Disregarding potential solutions;
Backlog-building, totally unnecessary “Aimless Docket Reshuffling;”
Squandering USG and NGO resources;
Alienating the NGO community;
Mistreating those we eventually will be welcoming and relying upon in our society;
Generating unnecessary litigation;
Promoting arbitrary and inconsistent results.

The HRF report also notes the supportive role of former Immigration Judges in obtaining justice for Mohammad.

As renowned asylum expert Eleanor Acer, Refugee Protection Director at HRF, said of this case on X:

So relieved that he was finally granted asylum, but I continue to be appalled that people seeking asylum in the US often face so many obstacles & injustices. Senators & Biden officials should focus on staffing & steps for accurate & just decisions, not more barriers & cruelty.

Yup! Our leaders “just don’t get it” when it comes to human rights, immigration, and the reality of forced migration. The costs to humanity of their failures is incalculable!

Institutionalizing “accurate and just decisions” is something that has largely eluded Garland — despite his long service as an Article III Judge and his near-elevation to the Supremes. Many of us, obviously incorrectly, believed that with his judicial background and reputation — and few other real priorities on his plate given his recusal from the Trump prosecutions — Garland would be the AG who would finally fix EOIR and push the transition to Article I status. Instead, he has allowed EOIR to drift and deteriorate on his watch, with destruction of human lives and the undermining of justice in America as consequences!

All the punitive measures Congress is discussing will make things worse! The legislators and the politicos “running” this dysfunction are completely detatched from reality! (Reportedly, Secretary Blinken and other Administration politicos are now in Mexico looking for more “ guaranteed to to fail yet cause more human misery” ways to “enforce their way” out of a humanitarian crisis that is not at core a law enforcement problem at all!)

EOIR and the BIA require senior leaders who are practical experts in asylum law, who put due process and fundamental fairness first, and who are proven problem solvers — not part of the problem as is now the case. Unless and until we get an AG and senior DOJ leaders who recognize both the problems and the (now unrealized) opportunities at EOIR, American justice and democracy will continue to suffer! And human lives will continue to hang in the balance!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-27-23

🤯 WACKO PRIORITIES! — Huge Backlogs & Poor Public Service, Yet DOS Bureaucracy Finds Time To “Correct” Their Own “Mistake” From More Than 6 Decades Ago, Thus Making American Doctor “Stateless!”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/25/virginia-doctor-passport-citizenship-nightmare/

Theresa Vargas reports in WashPost:

Siavash Sobhani is stateless.

The Northern Virginia doctor knows at least that much about his situation. He knows he is no longer considered a citizen of the United States — the place where he was born, went to school and has practiced medicine for more than 30 years — and that he also belongs to no other place.

“I’m in limbo,” he told me on a recent afternoon.

In the past few years, there have been many passport-renewal nightmare stories, with processing delays forcing people to beg, lose sleep and miss once-in-a-lifetime trips. But what Sobhani has experienced this year after trying to renew his passport is uniquely unmooring.

As he tells it, when he sent in an application for a new passport in February, he had no reason to expect he’d face any difficulties. He had renewed his passport several times previously without problems. This time, it was set to expire in June, and he wanted to make sure he had a valid one in hand before his family took a trip in July.

But he did not receive a new passport. Instead, at the age of 61, he lost what he had held since he was an infant: U.S. citizenship.

A letter from a State Department official informed him that he should not have been granted citizenship at the time of his birth because his father was a diplomat with the Embassy of Iran. The letter directed Sobhani to a website where he could apply for lawful permanent residence.

“This was a shock to me,” said Sobhani, who specializes in internal medicine. “I’m a doctor. I’ve been here all my life. I’ve paid my taxes. I’ve voted for presidents. I’ve served my community in Northern Virginia. During covid, I was at work, putting myself at risk, putting my family at risk. So when you’re told after 61 years, ‘Oh there was a mistake, you’re no longer a U.S. citizen,’ it’s really, really shocking.”

. . . .

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

Read Theresa’s full article at the link.

Months for a routine passport renewal? If you’re lucky! The DOS has struggled to cope with a totally predictable and largely self-aggravated “crisis!” Who would have thought that after several years of pandemic isolation and with a booming economy, Americans would start traveling again in record numbers? Probably, everybody in America except ivory tower DOS bureaucrats who failed to prepare for the obvious and to elevate public service over intrasigence!

As a veteran of more than four decades of dealing with the immigration bureaucracy — from both the inside and outside — I can testify to the truth of the adage that “Some cans of worms are better left unopened!” (Corollary: “If you open it, you own it!”) Where’s the common sense here? Lost in the bureaucratic fog, 🌫️ I guess!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

11-2-23

🏴‍☠️🤮 SURPRISE: NIHILISTS CAN’T GOVERN — INCOMPETENT, UNINTERESTED — With Wars Raging, GOP Clown Show On Full Display, As Scalise Withdraws!🤡

Clown Car — “GOP House Conference en route to Capitol.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Ellin Beltz, 07-04-16, Creative Commons License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Creator not responsible for above caption.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/us/politics/scalise-jordan-house-speaker.html

By Luke Broadwater

Reporting from the Capitol

Oct. 12, 2023

Updated 8:57 p.m. ET

Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana withdrew on Thursday from consideration for the speakership he was on the cusp of claiming after hard-line Republicans balked at rallying around their party’s chosen candidate, leaving the House leaderless and the G.O.P. in chaos.

After being narrowly nominated for speaker during a Wednesday closed-door secret-ballot contest among House Republicans, Mr. Scalise, their No. 2 leader, found himself far from the 217 votes needed to be elected on the House floor. Many supporters of his challenger, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the right-wing Republican endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, refused to switch their allegiance.

With no clear end in sight to the G.O.P. infighting that has left one chamber of Congress paralyzed at a time of challenges at home and abroad, Mr. Scalise said he would step aside in hopes that someone else could unite the fractious party.

“I just shared with my colleagues that I was withdrawing my name as a candidate for speaker-designee,” Mr. Scalise said. “If you look at where our conference is, there’s still work to be done. Our conference still has to come together, and it’s not there. There are still some people that have their own agendas.”

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

With two wars involving our allies raging and the USG on track to run out of funding in a month, the GOP focuses on what’s important to them: THEMSELVES!

The GOP is a national disgrace and an international menace! They have brought the same disorder, callous disregard for the common good, and wacko, selfish, far right minority agenda to national politics that they have to the states they misgovern.

The GOP also also threatens America’s standing and influence on the world stage. The only thing standing between us and disaster is President Biden’s determination to lead and govern despite the GOP’s disgraceful chaos and betrayal of the common good!

And remember, it’s not like Scalise, who has coddled White Supremacists — once comparing himself to Klanster David Duke — and is a lifetime shill for a divisive far/right extremist agenda, was qualified to be Speaker. He was, at best, “slightly less unqualified” than insurrectionist election denier and Trump toady Jim Jordan!

As for Trump, his incoherent, hateful, anti-democracy rantings and unhinged ravings shows why the GOP he controls is an existential problem for American democracy. See, e.g., https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/12/hamas-israel-biden-trump/

Just vote ‘em out, vote ‘em out!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-13-23

🤮 AMERICAN ASYLUM POLICY: GOP POLITICOS PANDER, ADMINISTRATION BUILDS WALLS, DEMS PREPARE TO THROW ASYLUM SEEKERS UNDER THE BUS (AGAIN) — What Happens To Those Waiting To Use “CBP One” At The Border? — They Get Raped & Extorted! — “It’s the saddest, most horrible thing that can happen to a person!”

""Rape of the Sabine Women" — “Rape of the Sabine Women”
Peter Paul Rubens
Circa 1635
Public Domain

From Reuters:

https://www.voanews.com/a/migrants-being-raped-at-mexico-border-as-they-await-entry-to-us-/7291239.html

REYNOSA, MEXICO —

When Carolina’s captors arrived at dawn to pull her out of the stash house in the Mexican border city of Reynosa in late May, she thought they were going to force her to call her family in Venezuela again to beg them to pay $2,000 ransom.

Instead, one of the men shoved her onto a broken-down bus parked outside and raped her, she told Reuters. “It’s the saddest, most horrible thing that can happen to a person,” Carolina said.

A migrant advocate who assisted Carolina after the kidnapping, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, confirmed all the details of her account.

The attack came amid an increase in sexual violence against migrants in the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros, both major transit routes for immigrants seeking to enter the U.S., according to data from the Mexican government and humanitarian groups, as well as interviews with eight sexual assault survivors and more than a dozen local aid workers.

“The inhumane way smugglers abuse, extort, and perpetrate violence against migrants for profit is criminal and morally reprehensible,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Luis Miranda said in response to questions about the rise in reported rapes.

Criminal investigations into the rape of foreign nationals, excluding Americans, were the highest on record in the two cities this year, according to state data from 2014 to 2023 obtained by Reuters through freedom of information requests.

The U.S. State Department considers Tamaulipas, where the two cities are located, to be the most dangerous state along the U.S.-Mexico border.

. . . .

A Venezuelan migrant said he was kidnapped in May in Reynosa by a cartel while traveling to the border for his confirmed CBP One appointment. He couldn’t raise the full $800 ransom, so he was forced to work for two months to pay off the remaining $200, he said.

Two other migrants who said they were held at the house during the same time period confirmed the man was forced to work against his will, and that they heard female migrants being raped.

On the nights the Venezuelan man was tasked with standing guard over the other migrants, he said he watched the cartel members ask the man in charge of the house for permission to rape the women of their choosing.

He said the answer was always the same: “Take her.”

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

Read the full article at the link.

Walls, detention, eliminating the right to asylum aren’t going to solve this. But, solving it doesn’t seem to be the objective. Blaming the victims is a lot easier than treating them as human beings.

As my friend Debi Sanders (who alerted me to this report) said: “Terrifying!” Yup! 🤯🏴‍☠️

How disingenuous is the Biden Administration’s latest attempt to “get tough” at the border with more proven to fail deterrence? Well, just this week, DHS announced plans to deport more individuals to Venezuela. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-restarting-direct-deportations-venezuela-senior-official-2023-10-05/

Yet, just a few days earlier, in deciding to extend TPS to nearly a half million Venezuelans in the US, that same DHS found:

Overview

Venezuela continues to face a severe humanitarian emergency due to a political and economic crisis, as well as human rights violations and abuses and high levels of crime and violence, that impacts access to food, medicine, healthcare, water, electricity, and fuel, and has led to high levels of poverty. Additionally, Venezuela has recently experienced heavy rainfall in the spring and summer of 2023 which triggered flooding and landslides. Given the current conditions in Venezuela, these issues contribute to the country’s existing challenges.

Venezuela is experiencing “an unprecedented political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.” ^[5]“Venezuela is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the history of the Western Hemisphere,” which has been characterized by “[h]igh levels of poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, and infant mortality, together with frequent electricity outages and the collapse of health infrastructure.” ^[6]Though there were some positive developments in Venezuela in 2022 “as the economy stabilized and showed signs of economic growth,” the effects of these changes were not felt across the Venezuelan population and did not offset the impact of the large-scale economic contraction which resulted in significant humanitarian challenges that continue today and will take time to address.^[7]

Political Repression and Human Rights

The Maduro regime has closed off channels for political dissent, restricting enjoyment of civil liberties and “prosecuting perceived opponents without regard for due process.” ^[8]The UN Human Rights Council’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (IIFFM) found in its September 2022 report, “Venezuela’s military and civilian intelligence agencies function as well-coordinated and effective structures in the implementation of a plan” to “repress dissent.” ^[9]

Crime and Insecurity

Venezuela has one of the highest rates of violent deaths in the world.^[10]Additionally, “Venezuelans face physical insecurity and violence from several sources, including irregular armed groups, security forces, and organized gangs.” ^[11]Corruption in Venezuela exacerbates insecurity. InSight Crime has reported that “criminal groups and corrupt state actors together form a hybrid state that combines governance with criminality, and where illegal armed groups act at the service of the state, while criminal networks form within it.” ^[12]Human trafficking remains a serious concern. Traffickers exploit and subject Venezuelans, including those fleeing the country, to egregious forms of exploitation, including sex trafficking and forced labor.^[13]Members of non-state armed groups that operate in the country with impunity, subject Venezuelans to forced labor and forced criminality, and recruit or use child soldiers.^[14]

Economic Collapse

Since 2014, Venezuela has suffered from an “economic recession marked by hyperinflation, shortages of basic goods and a collapse in public services such as electricity and water.” ^[15]Recently, Venezuela’s economy has shown some signs of recovery; however, it is still in a precarious condition.^[16]In a report covering the period from May 2022 through April 2023, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted that while economic growth which occurred in 2022 “would bring hope for improved economic prospects, persistent challenges and other factors continued to negatively affect essential public services, transport, education, and health.” ^[17]

In its annual report covering 2022, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) noted “the high rates of poverty and inequality in the country, in which there are estimates that more than 90% of the population lives in poverty.” ^[18]The same report stated that “as of March 2022, HumVenezuela estimated that 94.5% of the population would not have sufficient income to cover items such as food, housing, health, education, transportation and clothing.” ^[19]

Health Crisis

Various sources have referred to severe problems with health systems in Venezuela, including the IACHR, Human Rights Watch, and the Congressional Research Service (CRS).^[20]Per The Associated Press, Venezuela’s “health care system crumbled long before” the start of the COVID–19 pandemic.^[21]Likewise, in its 2022 annual report, the IACHR acknowledged that while the COVID–19 pandemic “has had significant impacts on the health sector and the population, the serious affectations of the system preceded the health emergency.” ^[22]Elaborating on this topic, the IACHR identified “shortages of medicines, supplies, materials and medical treatment” as of 2018, and that the “situation has been worsening since 2014, and it is important to highlight that the health system has reportedly collapsed due to its persistent precariousness, which would have been exacerbated by the pandemic.” ^[23]

According to OHCHR, health centers in Venezuela “report structural underfunding and understaffing resulting in for example, regular blackouts and water shortages.” ^[24]In its report on the humanitarian situation in Venezuela in 2022, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that “[h]ealth services continue to be affected by insufficient water and sanitation conditions and the lack of electricity supply in facilities.” ^[25]Similarly, Human Rights Watch stated in its annual report covering 2022 that “[p]ower and water outages at healthcare centers—and emigration of healthcare workers—were further weakening operational capacity.” ^[26]Furthermore, the IACHR has reported that “98% of the hospitals in the country lack medicines, electrical plants and water, as well as failures in laboratories, reagents and wards. As a result, it is estimated that only between 3 and 10% of the hospitals have medical and surgical material to solve medical circumstances.” ^[27]

Food Insecurity

In a humanitarian response plan published in 2023, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) identified food insecurity as “the most pressing challenge for the population.” ^[28]Human Rights Watch stated in its annual report covering 2022 that HumVenezuela reported in March 2022 that “most Venezuelans face difficulties in accessing food, with 10.9 million undernourished or chronically hungry. Some 4.3 million are deprived of food, sometimes going days without eating.” ^[29]Moreover, the IACHR noted in its 2022 annual report that “32% of children live in a situation of chronic malnutrition.” ^[30]

Heavy Rains and Flooding

Since May 26, 2023, as hurricane season began, Venezuela has experienced heavy rains which resulted in flooding that affected several areas of the country.^[31]According to ACAPS, “Between June and July there have been 19 tropical waves, that have brought heavy rains, floods and landslides across the country.” ^[32]As of July 11, 2023, the meteorological situation in Venezuela indicated “that rainfall and resulting damages are expected to be more severe than previous years.” ^[33]Reports of the damage caused by the heavy rains include 5,100 people affected with damage to houses and blockages in the drainage system in the state of Portuguesa.^[34]In another area—Delta Amacuro state—around 7,500 people are affected by the 2023 floods.^[35]

In summary, extraordinary and temporary conditions continue to prevent Venezuelan nationals from returning in safety due to a severe humanitarian emergency which has resulted in food insecurity and the inability to access adequate medicine, healthcare, water, electricity, and fuel. Additionally, human rights violations and abuses, high levels of poverty, high levels of crime and violence, and heavy rains and flooding prevent Venezuelan nationals from returning in safety and permitting Venezuelan noncitizens to remain in the United States temporarily would not be contrary to the interests of the United States.

Based on this review and after consultation with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary has determined that:

• The conditions supporting Venezuela’s designation for TPS continue to be met. See INA sec. 244(b)(3)(A) and (C), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(3)(A) and (C).

• There continues to be extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent Venezuelan nationals (or individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Venezuela) from returning to Venezuela in safety, and it is not contrary to the national interest of the United States to permit Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries to remain in the United States temporarily. See INA sec. 244(b)(1)(C), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(1)(C).

• The existing designation of Venezuela for TPS (Venezuela 2021) should be extended for an 18-month period, beginning on March 11, 2024 and ending on September 10, 2025. See INA sec. 244(b)(3)(C), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(3)(C).

• Due to the conditions described above, Venezuela should be redesignated for TPS beginning on October 3, 2023, and ending on April 2, 2025. See INA sec. 244(b)(1)(C) and (b)(2), 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(1)(C) and (b)(2).

For the redesignation, the Secretary has determined that TPS applicants must demonstrate that they have continuously resided in the United States since July 31, 2023.

Initial TPS applicants under the redesignation must demonstrate that they have been continuously physically present in the United States since October 3, 2023, the effective date of the redesignation of Venezuela for TPS.

There are approximately 243,000 current Venezuela TPS beneficiaries who are eligible to re-register for TPS under the extension.

It is estimated that approximately 472,000 additional individuals may be eligible for TPS under the redesignation of Venezuela. This population includes Venezuelan nationals in the United States in nonimmigrant status or without immigration status.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-10-03/pdf/2023-21865.pdf

Does this sound like a country that will “ensure orderly, safe and legal repatriation?” Duh!

As for the DHS attempt to “blame the victims” for not taking advantage of legal opportunities, the legal right to apply for asylum in the U.S. attaches at the border to ANYONE “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.” INA, section 208.

With huge backlogs at both the Asylum Office and EOIR, and some problematic adjudicators, judges, administrators, and poor precedents, just how could hundreds of thousands of legal removals take place without huge systemic changes that to date the Administration has failed to make at either DHS or EOIR? Sounds like a prescription for massive legal and human rights violations!☠️

Yes, we’re going to hear chants of “we can’t take them all” from all sides. But, the truth that few acknowledge is that we haven’t and won’t be “taking them all” — not by a long shot! Of the more than 7 million who have fled the Maduro regime in Venezuela, only approximately 10% (about 750,000) have come to the U.S.! https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66875264. The vast, vast majority — approximately 90% — have taken refuge elsewhere in Latin American, in poorer countries far less able than the U.S. to absorb them! But, hey, when does truth and reality ever enter into the U.S. political debate on immigration?

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-05-23

‼️⚖️🗽ATTENTION: NDPA PRACTICE ALERT: USCIS Announces FY 2025 Diversity Visa (“DV”) Window!

GW Law Immigration Clinic Director Professor Alberto Benítez & Co-Director Professor Paulina Vera

Submitted by Professor Alberto Benitez at GW Law Immigration Clinic:

The entry submission period for the FY2025 Diversity Visa lottery is from 12:00 pm (ET) on October 4, 2023, to 12:00 pm (ET) on November 7, 2023. Please see the attached.

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

Alberto Manuel Benitez

Professor of Clinical Law

Director, Immigration Clinic

The George Washington University Law School

650 20th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20052

(202) 994-7463

(202) 994-4946 fax

abenitez@law.gwu.edu

THE WORLD IS YOURS…

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

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

Thanks my friend!

The window opens,

And the window closes.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-30-23

🇺🇸 PERSPECTIVE FROM HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: Don’t Let The Trump Gang’s Legal Shenanigans Deflect Focus From Biden’s Successful Initiatives To Restore America’s Prestige & Leadership On The World Stage!

From Letters From An American 09-08-23:

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/september-8-2023?r=330z7&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

It turns out the special purpose grand jury of Fulton County, Georgia, created in May 2022 to investigate the attempt to disrupt the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, recommended criminal charges against more people than the 19 the traditional grand jury indicted in August. Their report, published today, shows that a majority of the 23-person special grand jury also recommended the state bring charges against South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham and the two Georgia senators in early 2020: David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

The special purpose grand jury also recommended charges against Trump lawyers Cleta Mitchell and Boris Epshteyn, Trump advisor Michael Flynn, and all the false electors.

In most of the votes, it appeared there was one staunch vote opposed to bringing charges against anyone associated with Trump.

Also today, U.S. district judge Steve C. Jones for the Northern District of Georgia denied the request of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows to move his prosecution to federal rather than state court. This is important. Meadows had argued that the crimes for which the Fulton County grand jury indicted him were part of his duties as a federal official. If the judge had agreed, the removal of his case to federal court would have enabled Meadows to argue that his case should be dismissed because his actions were part of his official duties. But the judge determined that Meadow’s actions were part of his work for the Trump campaign and thus could stay in state court.

To make his case, Meadows testified himself, a high-risk step that now leaves him, as legal analyst Harry Litman of the Los Angeles Times put it, “in a very bad place. He gambled heavily on winning & then getting immunity. Now his ability to cooperate w/ either Jack Smith or Fani Willis is a) of much less value & b) possibly even off the table. He is in a world of hurt.”

Meadows has already appealed.

Other defendants, including Trump himself, were hoping their cases would be removed to federal court, but the decision in Meadows’s case does not bode well for them.

It would be a shame if the growing legal troubles of the Trump conspirators overshadow the work of the Biden administration on the global stage this week as it seeks to counter the power and influence of China by supporting other countries in the region. Vice President Kamala Harris took the lead in a visit to Jakarta, Indonesia, where she participated in the U.S.–Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

ASEAN is a political and economic group of 10 countries that, combined, have more than 600 million people. Within that group, different countries seek stronger ties either with the U.S. or with China, and Harris has become a key figure in the administration’s attempt to bolster U.S. interests there. This was her third trip to Southeast Asia as vice president and fourth to Asia.

In Jakarta, Harris told Chris Megerian of the Associated Press: “We as Americans…have a very significant interest, both in terms of our security but also our prosperity, today and in the future, in developing and strengthening these relationships.” She said the government must “pay attention to 10, 20, 30 years down the line, and what we are developing now that will be to the benefit of our country then.” Southeast Asia has a young population, with two thirds of it under 35; makes up the fourth-largest market for U.S. exports; and is a passageway for one third of global shipping.

As Harris returned to the U.S., Biden left for New Delhi, India, for the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders’ Summit. On Friday he and Indian prime minister Narenda Modi had a bilateral meeting, and on Saturday and Sunday he will participate in the G20 summit. The G20 is a forum made up of 19 countries and the European Union that works to address issues relating to the global economy. G20 countries are responsible for 85% of the world’s economy and 75% of the world’s trade. The G20 is meeting September 8–10 in New Delhi.

On Tuesday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the U.S. focus at the G20 will be to emphasize the scaling up of development banks, especially the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which provide funding for developing countries. In August, Biden asked Congress to increase funding for the World Bank, and at the G20, Biden will call on G20 members “to provide meaningful debt relief so that low- and middle-income countries can regain their footing after years of extreme stress,” Sullivan said.

The U.S. will also emphasize the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), a collaborative effort by the Group of Seven (G7) put together in 2022 to fund infrastructure projects from rail to solar to supply chains in developing nations. The G7 is a political forum made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and the European Union (EU).

At the center of the G20 meeting is the issue of money for developing countries. In 2013, China launched the so-called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to invest in infrastructure development in more than 150 countries as part of its assumption of a greater role in world affairs. The U.S. and key allies, including Japan and Australia, saw the plan as an effort to tie world trade to China.

But now, economic troubles in the wake of the onset of the coronavirus pandemic have made BRI debt less attractive to borrowing countries, while China has tightened up lending to reduce its own risk in the midst of an economic downturn. China is planning a big celebration for the tenth anniversary of the initiative in October, but European leaders are not planning to attend. In August, Italy, which was the only G7 country to join BRI, announced it was withdrawing.

Meanwhile, China’s president Xi Jinping will not attend this week’s G20 for the first time since he took office in 2012, possibly signaling internal turmoil in China or Xi’s frustration with what he sees as its increasing orientation toward the U.S., especially the growing ties between the U.S. and India, which shares a contested 2,100-mile border with China. In his place, Premier Li Qiang, the second-ranking leader in the People’s Republic of China, will attend the meeting.

Xi appears to be focusing less on the G20 now and more on BRICS, a bloc of emerging economies that began in 2009 with four countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—and added South Africa in 2010. When the group suggested earlier this year that it might admit more member states, more than 40 expressed interest, and BRICS has invited six to join: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is with the president in New Delhi, where today she told the press that the U.S. is “committed to supporting emerging markets in developing countries” and outlined the ways in which the U.S. hopes to increase access to funds, especially to address climate change. She said the administration is asking Congress for $2.25 billion for the World Bank and a loan of up to $21 billion for the IMF, and is looking to find a way to provide debt relief for struggling countries.

After attending the G20, Biden will travel to Hanoi, Vietnam, as part of what national security advisor Jake Sullivan called “a vision for facing the 21st century together with an elevated and energized partnership.”

Russia is also part of the G20, but Russian president Vladimir Putin will not attend, sending foreign minister Sergey Lavrov instead. While that absence can be attributed to the increasing isolation of Putin and Russia by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there might also be a different source of tension between the normally cooperative Russia and India. Last month, both countries launched lunar probes. India’s landed successfully and has been completing scientific studies.

Russia’s crashed.

—

Notes:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23944933-2022-ex-000024-ex-parte-order-of-the-judge-2

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/judge-denies-meadows-bid-to-remove-georgia-case-to-federal-court

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/08/mark-meadows-georgia-election-charges

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/in-southeast-asian-summit-kamala-harris-at-the-center-of-white-house-efforts-to-oppose-china

https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-indonesia-summit-34ad8477fc9b0afb1f17adf807dda475

https://apnews.com/article/harris-2024-election-vice-president-7ecabc8d9f0117edad8e83a0c37c9134

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/20/fact-sheet-partnership-for-global-infrastructure-and-investment-at-the-g7-summit/

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202308/1297328.shtml

https://www.rferl.org/a/g7-global-infrastructure-investment-plan-bri-china/31915926.html

https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-italy-withdrawing-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/22/the-border-dispute-that-s-bedeviling-china-india-ties/3e86f86a-40cf-11ee-9677-53cc50eb3f77_story.html

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/08/china/china-xi-g20-absence-global-governance-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/09/08/press-gaggle-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-en-route-ramstein-air-base-germany/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/09/08/press-gaggle-by-secretary-of-the-treasury-janet-yellen-ahead-of-the-g20-summit-in-india-new-delhi-india/

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/China-up-close/Analysis-Xi-reprimanded-by-elders-at-Beidaihe-over-direction-of-nation

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/5-things-watch-biden-travels-india-g20-vietnam/story?id=102977070

https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-avoids-chinas-belt-and-road-forum-keeping-a-distance-from-xi-and-putin-14f6253b

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/29/putin-confirms-g20-absence-to-modi-congratulates-india-on-moon-landing

https://apnews.com/article/russia-moon-luna25-spacecraft-mission-33c9884c907998f06bf9562be6d47445

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/world/india-lunar-lander-chandryaan-mission-obit-scn/index.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-column-brics-bloc-expansion-china-russia-western-alternative-shackelford-20230908-2slrpb52xnblppb3yrotkwtv7u-story.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/09/05/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-6/

Twitter (X):

harrylitman/status/1700278326902788237

MacFarlaneNews/status/1700305331392331999/photo/1

kyledcheney/status/17001500

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Forget the “age issue.” There is no way that narcissist Donald Trump and any of the “lesser clowns” 🤡 with whom he surrounds himself could represent America’s interests effectively on the world stage, particularly at this crucial point in time!

Watching low-key yet highly competent Secretary of State Tony Blinken working in Ukraine this week, there is no way that Pompeo could have pulled that off. America needs a credible presence on the world stage. That’s one of many things that today’s insurrectionist, conspiracy theorist, Putin-appeasing GOP could never accomplish!

Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-09-23

LIVE IN DC ON FEB 24! — SEE “ROCK STAR” 🎸 IMMIGRATION EXPERT PROFESSOR STEPHEN YALE-LOEHR & HIS “RAMBLIN’ BAND OF EXPERTS” TAKE ON IMMIGRATION POLICY @ THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB! — ONLY DC Area Performance* — Free, In Person or Online! — Just As Administration Rolls Out Idea Steve Has Championed: Private Refuges Sponsorship!

* In Feb. 2023

Immigration Rocks — Immigration law rocks with “Professor Stevie & His Ramblin’ Band of Experts!”
Public Realm

Immigration Reform: Lessons Learned and a Path Forward

Congress has been unable to enact comprehensive immigration reform for over 30 years.

Employers face an unprecedented shortage of workers.
The Dreamers, long-contributing members of our society, face uncertainty due to litigation questioning the legality of the DACA program.
And border security concerns everyone.

Polls suggest Americans want immigration reform. But the conventional wisdom is that “comprehensive immigration reform” is impossible in a divided Congress.

This conference will explore targeted legislation and other policy changes that could be enacted in 2023, focusing on work visa changes to help alleviate our labor shortages, border security and asylum reforms, and a permanent path forward for Dreamers, farmworkers.

Sponsored by the Cornell Law School Immigration Law and Policy Research Program and cosponsored by the Cornell Migrations Initiative.

While we encourage in-person attendance, the conference will be webcast live from the National Press Club. Mark your calendars now for this important event!

Panelists from the following organizations:

American Action Forum, American Business Immigration Coalition, AmericanHort, Bipartisan Policy Center, Compete America, Cornell Law School, Migration Policy Institute, National Association of Evangelicals, National Immigration Forum, Niskanen Center, Service Employees International Union,

Texas Association of Business, TheDream.US, UnidosUS,

United Farm Workers of America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

A special thanks to the Charles Koch Foundation for sponsoring this event.

DATE

February 24th, 2023

TIME

8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

*Reception to follow

LOCATION

National Press Club

529 14th St NW,

Washington, DC

20045

REGISTRATION LINK

MORE INFO

Michelle LoParco at:

k.loparco@cornell.edu

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

The U.S. State Department has just announced an initiative promoted by Steve, his colleague Dr. Janine Prantl, and other experts. See, e.g., https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/10/17/🗽prantl-yale-loehr-ny-daily-news-private-refugee-sponsorship-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-but-the-biden-administration-has-turned-its-back-on-the-legal-human-rig/

Read the information sheet on the “Welcome Corps” here: https://welcomecorps.org/resources/faqs/.

This is a promising idea. Hope it works! I have to wonder, however, why a coordinated effort like this wasn’t implemented for asylum seekers arriving at the Southern Border?

You can register (free) for the Cornell Conference, where this and other timely topics will be discussed by the experts!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

01-20-23

🤯BILL FRELICK @ THE HILL BLASTS BIDEN’S SCOFFLAW, ELITIST MISTREATMENT OF VENEZUELAN REFUGEES! — Welcome A Few Of The Well-To-Do, Give Others In Need The Screw! 🔩☠️ — Whatever Happened To The Refugee Act of 1980 & The Rule Of Law?

Too many Biden Administration Immigration officials appear to share Stephen Miller’s “upside down” view of the Statue of Liberty, in whole or in part! Why can’t they just follow the Refugee Act of 1980 and establish the robust, timely, generous legal approach to refugees and asylum seekers that best serves America?

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/3704714-bidens-new-plan-no-help-for-desperate-venezuelan-refugees/

Refugees are people who flee for their lives. Escape from danger and abuse is usually chaotic, sudden, desperate. The Biden administration’s rollout of its new policy for Venezuelan refugees seems oblivious to this refugee reality and risks doing more harm than good.

. . . .

Announcing the program on Oct. 12, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said Venezuelans who enter irregularly “will be returned to Mexico.”

He didn’t mention — and appeared to disregard — U.S. law, which recognizes that anyone who arrives in the United States has the right to seek asylum “whether or not at a designated port of arrival” and “irrespective of such alien’s status.”

The impact of this announcement, “effective immediately,” was the summary return to Mexico without examination of their asylum claims of any Venezuelans entering the United States without authorization. Mexico has given no assurances that it will examine their refugee claims or provide asylum to those who fear return to Venezuela. In fact, the 4,050 Venezuelans expelled to Mexico since the implementation of the policy have been given visas valid for only one week and instructed to leave the country.

. . . .

With the Biden administration’s plan in effect, we might as well apply a blowtorch to Emma Lazarus’s welcoming poem at the foot of the Statue of Liberty and chisel in a new message: “Give me your well-rested, your well-to-do, your properly ticketed jet-setters yearning to breathe free.”

Bill Frelick is the refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch. Follow him on Twitter @BillFrelick.

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

Read Bill’s complete op-ed act the link. Bill is one of many “practical experts” who would do a much better job than current Administration politicos in establishing and running a refugee and asylum program that would comply with the law, due process, human dignity, and America’s best interests. Why is Biden following the lead of his “clueless (and spineless) crew?”

The Refugee Act of 1980 was enacted and amended to deal with these situations! Robust, realistic refugee programs outside the U.S. should encourage many refugees to apply, be screened abroad, and admitted legally.

Other refugees arriving at our border can be promptly screened for credible fear. Those who fail that test can be summarily removed in accordance with existing law.

Those who pass that test should have access to counsel and receive timely, expert adjudications, with full appeal rights, under the generous “well founded fear” (1 in 10 chance) international standard established by the Refugee Act. See, e.g., INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca (Supremes); Matter of Mogharrabi (BIA).

It’s not “rocket science!” With dynamic, experienced refugee experts running the system and “practical scholars” with expertise in refugee processing and human rights laws serving as USCIS Asylum Officers and EOIR judges at the trial and appellate levels the legal system should be flexible enough to deal with all refugee situations in an orderly manner.

Many, probably a majority, of today’s asylum seekers should be granted asylum and admitted to the U.S. in full legal status, authorized to work, and on their way to green cards and eventual citizenship. Like those admitted from abroad, they could also be made eligible for certain resettlement assistance to facilitate integration into American communities who undoubtedly will benefit from their presence.

The more robust, realistic, and timely our overseas refugee programs become, the fewer refugees who will be forced to apply for asylum at our borders. Also, real, bold, dynamic humanitarian leadership, including accepting our fair share of refugees and asylees, could persuade other countries signatory to the Geneva Refugee Convention to do likewise.

No insurmountable backlogs; no bewildered individuals wandering around the U.S. in limbo waiting for hearings that will never happen; few “no shows;” no long-term detention; no botched, biased “any reason to deny” decisions from unqualified officers and judges leading to years of litigation cluttering our legal system, no diverting Border Patrol resources from real law enforcement, no refugees huddled under bridges or sitting on street corners in Mexico!

It’s not “pie in the sky!” It’s the way our legal system could and should work with competent leadership and the very best available adjudicators and judges! It would support the proper, important role of refugees as an essential component of LEGAL IMMIGRATION, not an “exception” or “loophole” as racists and nativists like to falsely argue.

Instead of demonstrating the competence and integrity to use existing law to deal with refugee and asylum situations, the Biden Administration resorts to ad hoc political gimmicks. Essentially, the “RA80” has been repealed “administratively.” Effectively, we’re back to the “ad hoc” arbitrary approaches we used prior to ‘80 (which I worked on during the Ford Administration, and where I recollect I first heard of Bill Frelick).

I doubt that the late Senator Ted Kennedy, former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, and the rest of the group who helped shepherd the Refugee Act of 1980 through Congress would have thought that using Border Patrol Agents as Asylum Officers or packing the Immigration Courts and the BIA with judges prone to deny almost every asylum claim, regardless of facts or proper legal standards, was the “key to success!”

Congress specifically intended to eliminate the use of parole to deal with refugees except in extremely unusual circumstances, not present here. Biden’s latest ill-advised gimmick violates that premise. It’s totally inexcusable, as the refugee flow from Venezuela is neither new nor unpredictable. I was granting Venezuelan asylum cases before I retired in June 2016. Even then, there were legions of documentation, much of it generated by the USG, condemning the repressive regime in Venezuela and documenting the persecution of those who resisted!

A better AG would say “No” to these improper evasions of existing law. But, we have Merrick “What Me Worry” Garland! His botching of the Immigration Courts has been combined with a gross failure to stand up for equal justice for migrants (particularly those of color) across the board! America and refugees deserve better from our chief lawyer.

The Refugee Act of 1980 actually provides all the tools and flexibility the Biden Administration needs to establish order on the border and properly and fairly process refugees and asylees. Why won’t they use them?

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-28-22

⚖️ “BRAVING THE WILDERNESS: HOLDING HANDS WITH STRANGERS” — A Timely Sermon About Promoting Justice & Resisting Bigotry — By Steven A. Honley

October 23, 2022 Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost 10:00 AM

Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25:31-40

Sermon: “Braving the Wilderness: Holding Hands with Strangers”

When Pastor Deborah asked me to preach today, I was honored as always to accept her gracious invitation. But I have to tell you: This has ended up being one of the most challenging sermons to write that I’ve given in my 28 years at Beverley Hills, for several reasons.

The first challenge stems from the fact that I had never read anything by Brené Brown until now. In fact, I first heard of her just a few months ago, when her name popped up on a Canadian situation comedy, “The Lake,” that I streamed on Amazon Prime.

The next problem: I have never been a fan of self-help books, though I enjoyed reading this one. And I found a lot of Brown’s observations sensible, if sometimes obvious.

The title of this morning’s topic was yet another hurdle. Most of you will probably not be surprised to hear me confess that the very idea of holding hands with strangers gives me the willies. Frankly, I’m not even wild about holding hands with friends! But duty calls.

Finally, it turns me off when authors strive to come across as “spiritual” rather than religious. You won’t find any Bible verses in Braving the Wilderness, and only passing references to Christianity. What I find most frustrating about that approach is that it appears Brené Brown and I have had similar journeys, moving from Southern-fried fundamentalism to a more inclusive faith. So I would have liked to hear more about that!

To be blunt, Braving the Wilderness is only incidentally a book about faith. But as you’ve been hearing—and I hope you’ll hear again today—it still has some useful things to say to us about becoming an even more welcoming faith community. And in that respect, I admire the way Pastor Deborah has adapted Brown’s thoughts for our current sermon series, both by focusing on the themes in various chapters each week and finding Scripture passages to go with them.

All of which brings me to today’s topic, “Holding Hands with Strangers.”

********

In today’s Gospel passage—surely one of the most memorable of our Lord’s parables—Jesus describes two groups of people. The first group, the sheep, have done God’s will by ministering to strangers: feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and visiting those who are sick or in prison. The king in the story informs these servants of his pleasure at their virtuous conduct on his behalf, which shocks the sheep. They had literally no idea they’d done anything out of the ordinary, let alone done something for royalty. So they ask: “When did we do that for you?” And he answers: “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me.”

Matthew does not record what, if anything, they said when the king explains that, but I imagine “O my God, what if I hadn’t done that?” figured pretty prominently in their thoughts.

We didn’t hear the goats’ story read today, but you know how that part of the story goes. They saw the same strangers as the sheep did, but did nothing to help them.

Now, I have a hunch that only some of the goats were callous, intentionally withholding their

assistance from the needy because they regarded them as unworthy. The rest were just preoccupied with their own troubles, or feared they wouldn’t have enough resources for their own families if they gave away food and clothing to mere strangers. Some may genuinely have believed that someone else would take care of feeding the hungry and performing other good works.

Whatever the reasons for each goat’s indifference and apathy, the core issue is that they failed to recognize the people they encountered as people: members of their own community. As Desmond Tutu once observed: “We’re not our brother’s keeper; we’re our brother’s brother.”

Beverley Hills Community United Methodist Church has a long tradition of acting on that understanding. We don’t just write checks, either, valuable as that is. No, many of you are hands-on participants at Carpenter’s Shelter and ALIVE and Casa Chirilagua and many other worthy organizations. You literally hold hands with strangers!

********

Speaking of which: I can’t honestly say I found much of Brown’s chapter on this topic helpful. She devotes a lot of it to the idea of experiencing community at soccer games and rock concerts and funerals, and even goes so far as to talk about “football as religion.”

She doesn’t mean that literally, of course, but she really does seem to believe that the wave of emotion a stadium full of fans feels is not just a momentary rush of adrenaline, but something more profound. Maybe I’d buy that claim if I’d ever felt it for myself, but I haven’t—so I don’t.

Happily, just when I was about to give up on finding any inspiration in this chapter, Brown talks about a concept she calls “common enemy intimacy.” Or, as the old saying goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Brown cites one of my favorite quotes to introduce this section of the chapter: “If you don’t have something nice to say about someone, come sit by me!” That saying, generally attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, expresses something universal. Most of us love to gossip about someone, especially if they’re all high and mighty and could stand to be taken down a few pegs.

But the problem, as Brown notes, is that there is no adhesiveness to such a bond. If all two people have in common is their mutual dislike of a third, then their “friendship” is phony. And as such, it can’t sustain a more meaningful relationship, let alone build community.

From there, common enemy intimacy snowballs into tribalism, which dehumanizes not just individuals but whole groups. And because there is nothing keeping such a group cohesive except fear and hatred, its leaders must keep fueling the fire with ever more polarizing rhetoric that attacks anyone not in the group.

********

Sadly, we see the evidence of the breakdown of community all around us. So what can we do as Christians to bring about reconciliation and healing?

Alas, I have no sweeping answers to that question. But I will offer this recommendation: We should speak out, both as individuals and as a church, against the bullying and abuse so many of our politicians and faith leaders are advocating. And I’m not talking about generic hand-wringing, either. We should be naming names, and making clear that those who invoke God as they persecute sexual minorities and the powerless are not honoring Christ in the process.

Now, some of you are probably thinking, “Wait a minute! What about turning the other cheek? Aren’t we supposed to be peacemakers?”

Yes, of course we are. But I would respectfully point out that our Lord did not mince words when he confronted the religious authorities of his day, who followed the letter of the law but not its spirit.

In Luke 11, Jesus declares: “Now, you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? … Woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; those you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like graves which are not seen, and men walk over them without knowing it.”

Pretty harsh, right? But Jesus was following a long prophetic tradition that stretches all the way back to Moses warning the pharaoh of the dire consequences if he didn’t let the Israelites go. Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah and Jeremiah all denounced the kings of Israel for their failure to rule justly.

Nor did our Lord stop at speaking truth to power. He took matters into his own hands on one memorable occasion, Matthew 21 tells us. Just days before his death, “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

I have always detested the saying “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” As a gay man, I’ve heard that a lot over the years, and in practice, what it actually means is: Hate the sin and marginalize the sinner. So let me be clear: I am not advocating that we sink to the level of those who promote so-called “Christian Nationalism,” by declaring them evil and beyond redemption.

But we do have a solemn charge to resist those who are working to flout democratic norms and rend our social fabric, under the pretext of making America a “Christian nation.” Our faith commands us to defend all those whom politicians target and exploit for who they are; for whom they love; for what deity they believe in or don’t; for the color of their skin; for the language they speak; or where they came from. As I John 4 tells us: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.”

Back in January, on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Washington National Cathedral hosted an online conversation between Jon Meachum, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist, and the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, Michael Curry. If you watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markel a few years back, you saw and heard Bishop Curry in action; hold that image in your mind while I share a few excerpts from that dialogue.

Bishop Curry begins his remarks by referencing all the stories about Jesus and his disciples huddled on a boat at night in turbulent waters. There’s no artificial light, just the moon and stars, so we can certainly understand why the men are terrified.

In one of those stories, Peter sees Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the storm. Impetuous as always, he jumps out of the boat and starts walking toward him. Peter’s doing OK until he lets his fear of the storm take his focus off Jesus, at which point he immediately starts sinking. Curry draws this parallel to our situation:

“We must not shift our focus from becoming the true democracy—a multiracial, multiethnic, plural, holistic democracy—which is that shining ‘city on a hill.’ We must not shift from that vision of who we can be by focusing only on the storms that are in our midst, because the storms will consume us. They will consume our perception. And eventually, we’ll believe that’s all there is—lightning, thunder and the roll of the water—instead of the possibility of becoming that city on the hill.

Bishop Curry continues: “It’s midnight in the hour of this democracy. We will determine what we will do with that moment. It’s a moment of decision, and we must decide: Will we be E Pluribus Unum? Will we truly become, from many diverse peoples, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice—not just for some, but for all?”

The full title of Brené Brown’s book is: Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone. Even in a state somewhere between purple and light blue, and a fairly liberal city, it still takes real courage for us to denounce racism and misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, and every other form of bigotry, and to resist those who would enshrine those evils in our laws.

But that is how we can hold hands with strangers, and help them belong. In the process, we will truly live up to the words we recite at the end of each service at Beverley Hills: “Our mission is to welcome all people as they are, to grow together in Christian faith and fellowship, and to share Christ-like love in word and deed.” Amen.

Republished by permission.

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

My friend Steven A. Honley is the Director of Music at the Beverley Hills Community Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, A Reconciling Congregation, where my wife Cathy and I are members. He is a retired Foreign Service Officer and former Editor-in-Chief of the Foreign Service Journal (2001-14). Steve is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post’s “Style Invitational,” and a passionate advocate for inclusion and equal justice for all persons in America.

Here’s another timely piece on promoting justice and resisting bigotry in today’s America from the San Francisco Chronicle: ‘We are the real face of America’: Local faith and civil rights leaders call out racism, division https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/We-are-the-real-face-of-America-Local-17529396.php.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-24-22

🌎THE AMERICAS: THE L.A. DECLARATION ON MIGRATION & PROTECTION — Blueprint For Action Or More Empty Rhetoric?

Here’s what the document says:

https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2022/06/10/los-angeles-declaration-migration-and-protection

Lot of promises, no specifics, as you can see!

Here’s the “White House Fact Sheet” which lists specifics from apparent “side agreements” by the various signatories:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/10/fact-sheet-the-los-angeles-declaration-on-migration-and-protection-u-s-government-and-foreign-partner-deliverables/

Here’s “critical commentary” from one observer:

Tyler Mattiace, an Americas division researcher with Human Rights Watch who closely followed the declaration’s drafting process, said that this type of multilateral approach is long overdue to assist “the millions of people all across the continent who have fled their homes either because of violence or persecution or human rights abuses.”

“They often face serious abuses that are many times the result of the fact that government either tries to prevent them from seeking protection or make[s] it difficult for them to obtain legal status or implement enforcement strategies to lead to them taking dangerous migration routes where they suffer abuses,” he said.

He said the declaration is a departure from what’s happening on the ground at the U.S.-Mexico border, where immigration enforcement officials keep expelling asylum seekers under Title 42, a COVID-19-related health measure implemented under former President Trump and maintained by Biden. The measure is tied up in the courts.

“The declaration is a major step forward, but it could be meaningless unless Biden immediately does everything possible to restore access to asylum at the U.S. border and ends other abuses, other anti-immigration policies,” Mattiace continued. “The U.S. also has to stop focusing immigration policy on efforts to outsource immigration enforcement to other governments in the region.”

http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=dae611a5-6dfe-4e35-a4df-3329cdc3866b

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

I like to be optimistic. Nevertheless, color me skeptical on this.

The ultimate success of this type of initiative will depend on courageous, enlightened, bold, dynamic leadership from the U.S. That’s not currently in the cards.

Right now, the U.S. is in violation of various international migration agreements, domestic law, and the Due Process Clause of our Constitution. Our legal asylum, refugee, Immigration Court, and adjudication of legal status systems are a dysfunctional mess. Proposals for necessary, practical reforms have been ignored by the Administration, blocked by Trump Federal Judges, or not gotten off the ground. That’s NOT a “leadership posture” that is going to inspire and persuade other nations.

For example, the much ballyhooed “Asylum Regulation Reforms” are moving forward in a flawed “Beta test mode,” with no leadership, no practical precedents, incompetent judicial review, and a few dumb “in your face” features (like proposing to relocate asylum applicants to cities in Texas, where the EOIR asylum denial rates approach 100%, a move apparently specifically intended to spur xenophobic reactions from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott).

Here’s one of the “key commitments” from the U.S. taken from the above White House “Fact Sheet”:

The United States will commit to resettle 20,000 refugees from the Americas during Fiscal Years 2023 to 2024. This represents a three-fold increase from this year and reflects the Biden Administration’s strong commitment to welcoming refugees. The protection needs are significant in the Western Hemisphere. More than 5 million Venezuelans have been displaced in the Americas, and hundreds of thousands more people from other countries across Latin America and the Caribbean are also displaced [across borders]. As the United States scales up its resettlement operations in the Americas, we call on other governments to do the same.

20,000 over two years? (Or is it 20,000 per year over two years — doesn’t really matter?) Are you kidding me? That wouldn’t begin to address the current situation on the Southern Border. Indeed, it wouldn’t even cover all the individuals already determined to have a “credible fear” of persecution who have been waiting, some for years, for processing under the cruel, illegal, and ineptly administered “Remain in Mexico” program.

As Tyler Mattaice from HRW observes, the problem involves millions of individuals. Yet, we’re talking about accepting a few thousand more as a solution? Not going to cut it!

I’d also be mildly surprised if the U.S. even fulfills this exceptionally modest commitment. Over the past few years, the U.S. hasn’t even filled it’s “historically meager quotas.” And, the once proud U.S. Refugee Program, which relied heavily on NGOs for success, has been shredded — intentionally left in tatters by the Trump regime. If the Biden Administration has been able to rebuild it to the necessary size and operational strength, they have kept it a secret from most of us!

A realistic “low ball” starting number for Western Hemisphere refugees would be more like 100,000 in each of the next two years! Even this well might not be enough.

Moreover, a competent Administration could actually have processed and admitted thousands of qualified refugees waiting in Mexico over the past 18 months, thereby at least beginning to reduce pressure on the border and the asylum adjudication system.

Whether folks want to admit it or not, we are going to experience substantially more immigration from the Americas. It could be mostly legal or mostly extralegal — that’s our choice.

But, no totally bogus Title 42 extension, wall, prison, family separation, cruelty, punitive law, prosecution, militarization of the border, racist rhetoric, “don’t come” message in three languages, or Federalist Society Federal Judge is going to halt the natural flow of human migration. Nor can migration be largely “outsourced” to smaller countries in the Hemisphere.

International cooperation is great! That’s what the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention and subsequent 1967 Protocol are all about. But, logically, we can expect other countries to “proportionalize” their responses to what they see the U.S. doing.

Moreover, we have to consider that, for example, Colombia, a much smaller and poorer country than the U.S., with its own set of problems, has already taken in 1.7 million Venezuelan refugees. That dwarfs our so-called “crisis” at the Mexican border. https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2021/10/31/supporting-colombian-host-communities-and-venezuelan-migrants-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

Realistically, is Colombia going to want to help us resettle Venezuelan refugees waiting at our Southern Border? Don’t count on it!

If you “add up” all of the numbers and commitments from all the countries contained in the “Fact Sheet,” it wouldn’t even come close to solving the current flow at our Southern Border, let alone make a dent in the Hemisphere-wide movement of individuals.

Dealing with the “root causes” of migration is also a great idea, if hardly a new one. Problem is, many of the “sending countries,” Northern Triangle, Haiti, Venezuela, are functionally failed states. Unless someone has a “silver bullet solution” addressing this sad fact — and nobody has one to date — this isn’t going to happen in the short run. It’s a decades if not generations long project. Worthy, to be sure. But not a way of effectively addressing today’s realities and migration pressures.

So, I see the same “aura of unreality” and unwillingness to face the facts hanging over the LA Declaration that has crippled our immigration and human rights policies over the past several decades. And, as refugee situations have continued to get worse, so has the “dream world” inhabited by those countries fortunate to be prosperous and stable enough to be “refugee destinations” become more pronounced and increasingly untethered to reality and humanity.

Sorry, but that’s not a “formula for success!”

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

06-12-22

⚖️ THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-18-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — 2021 DOS Country Reports, TPS For Cameroon and Ukraine, Harris Co. (TX) Legal Services Fund, Among The “Headliners!”

Elizabeth Gibson
Managing Attorney
National Immigrant Justice Center
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

Weekly Briefing

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

CONTENTS (jump to section)

PRACTICE ALERTS

NEWS

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

RESOURCES

EVENTS

PRACTICE ALERTS

TPS For Ukraine Scheduled to Be Published tomorrow, 4/19/22

Secretary Mayorkas Designates Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status for 18 Months

2021 DOS Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

USCIS Announces Online Filing for DACA Renewal Forms

ICE announces new policies strengthening protections for detained noncitizens with mental disorders

NEWS

State Department Unveils US 2021 Human Rights Report

VOA: A U.S. State Department annual report highlighted concerns about continuing human rights abuses in Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Egypt and other authoritarian nations, as well as the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on rights practices around the world.

U.S. arrests 210,000 migrants at Mexico border in March, rivaling record highs

Reuters: The 210,000 migrants arrested in March, a figure made public in a court filing on Friday night, is the highest monthly total on record since February 2000, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics dating back to 2000.

Launch of Program for Legal Representation of Detained Immigrants

RAICES: On Monday, April 18th, 2022, immigrant legal services providers, advocates and community members will hold a press conference to announce the launch of the Harris County Immigrant Legal Services Fund (ILSF), which will provide free legal representation for immigrant members of the county who are detained and facing the threat of deportation. As of February 2022, Harris County had the most residents with pending immigration court cases in the country.

Democrats intensify fight against Biden immigration policy

CNN: While immigration advocates celebrated the decision to reverse Title 42, many moderate Democrats have sounded the alarm warning that lifting the policy without an adequate plan in place will lead to a rapid influx of migrants at the Southern border, something that Republicans will be quick to seize on the campaign trail.

First busload of migrants from Texas arrives in D.C.

WaPo: They were also thankful that Abbott had given them a free ride and trips to McDonald’s, even after being told the governor is calling for them to be expelled from the United States…“The truth is, they helped us. They gave us a hand so that we could arrive here and honestly, we are very grateful.” See also Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock; Examining Nearly Two Decades of Taxpayer-Funded Border Operations.

Kansas gov signs bill to ban local ‘sanctuaries’ for immigrants

AP: The bill was filed after Wyandotte County passed a “sanctuary” ordinance in February that would provide local identification cards for immigrants and other residents and would prevent local law enforcement from helping the federal government enforce immigration laws unless public safety is threatened. Lawrence and Roeland Park have similar ordinances.

Watchdog Pans ICE For Sole-Sourcing $87M Hotel Deal

Law360: A federal watchdog rebuked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for an $87 million no-bid contract to house migrant families in hotels, saying the agency hadn’t justified directly awarding the deal to a nonprofit inexperienced in emergency family residential services.

Cuba has stopped accepting deportations of its nationals from the US, ICE says

Denver Gazette: The Cuban government has not been accepting deportations of Cuban nationals from the U.S. for more than six months, at a time when tens of thousands are leaving the island to reach the U.S. in the largest exodus since the 1980s Mariel boatlift.

Illinois budget expands tax breaks and healthcare for immigrants

WTTW: An expanded class of low-income workers will permanently get a larger tax break via the Earned Income Tax Credit, and that benefit will be extended to those who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), something that Rep. Aaron Ortiz, D-Chicago, said is important to many immigrants who play an important role in the state’s economy. Illinois is allocating $70 million for healthcare for undocumented immigrants. See also Illinois launches health care coverage for older immigrant adults aged 55 to 64.

Ukrainians Face New Hurdle at U.S. Border: No Dogs

NYT: Federal health guidelines limit the entry of pets from countries like Ukraine with a high incidence of rabies. For some refugees, the rule has been devastating. See also Poland builds a border wall, even as it welcomes Ukrainian refugees.

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

4th Circ. Won’t Grant Immigrant Fees, Despite Feds’ Loss

Law360: The Fourth Circuit refused to award attorney fees to a man who convinced the full appeals court that the federal government had arbitrarily rejected him for special immigrant juvenile status, saying the U.S. was justified in fighting the suit.

7th Circ. Leery Of Letting States Step Into Public Charge Fight

Law360: The Seventh Circuit seemed unconvinced Wednesday that it should unsettle the dust in a dispute over a Trump-era public charge rule that the Biden administration has already begun redrafting by letting a group of Republican-led states enter the fray.

USCIS To Give Veterans Citizenship After Failing To Ax Suits

Law360: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will grant naturalization requests made by two immigrant veterans after federal courts refused to toss the soldiers’ lawsuits alleging the agency unfairly disqualified them from expedited processing of their citizenship bids.

DHS Can’t Block Probe Of Detained Migrants’ Counsel Access

Law360: A D.C. federal court has denied the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s bid to block inspections of detention facilities that immigration advocates say are denying inmates access to counsel, but the government did get its choice of monitor for the probe.

18 Additional States Join Suit To Keep Pandemic Border Block

Law360: Eighteen additional states on Thursday signed on to a lawsuit started by Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri to challenge the Biden administration’s decision to wind down a pandemic-related order known as Title 42 that allows the quick expulsion of migrants arriving at U.S. land borders.

Immigrant groups sue ICE for information on alternative detention programs

Hill: A coalition of immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking information from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about the agency’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), a so- called alternative to detention program that has ballooned during the Biden administration.

Immigration warning not needed in police questioning of undocumented suspects, court rules

NJ Monitor: Police do not have to — and should not — advise crime suspects that their cooperation could impact their immigration status, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Friday.

Secretary Mayorkas Designates Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status for 18 Months

USCIS: Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the designation of Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. Only individuals who are already residing in the United States as of April 14, 2022, will be eligible for TPS.

DHS Equity Action Plan

DHS: The key program areas include: Applying for naturalization; Accessing humanitarian protection during immigration processing

Bidding on DHS contracts; Countering all forms of terrorism and targeted violence; Filing complaints and seeking redress in DHS programs and activities; Airport screening; Accessing Trusted Traveler Programs.

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.

EOIR Announces Appointment of Mary Cheng as Deputy Director

EOIR: Since April 2021, Judge Cheng has served as the Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge for the Eastern Region at EOIR. She previously served as a Deputy Chief Immigration Judge from 2017 to 2021, and she was the Acting Principal Deputy Chief Immigration Judge from August 2020 to February 2021. Judge Cheng has also served in the New York Immigration Court both as an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge from 2015 to 2017, and as an Immigration Judge from 2009 to 2015. Before joining EOIR, she served as Assistant Chief Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from 2002 to 2009; and before that, she practiced immigration law in New York from 2000 to 2002.

EOIR Announces New Appellate Judge

AILA: EOIR announced the appointment of Beth Liebmann as a member of BIA by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. Biographical information for Liebmann has been provided.

AMICUS INVITATION (Texas Burglary – Crime of Violence)

BIA: Whether, in light of U.S. v. Herrold, 941 F.3d 173 (5th Cir. 2019) (en banc), and regardless of the specific mens rea of an underlying crime, the commission or attempted commission of a felony, theft, or an assault under Texas Penal Code § 30.02(a)(3) necessarily supersedes or implicitly contains generic burglary’s intent element, which requires an “intent to commit a crime” upon entry into a building or habitation. Due Date: May 3, 2022

RESOURCES

AILA: Solutions for America’s Immigration System

ASISTA: Updated ASISTA Practice Advisory: The Impact of Matter of L-N-Y- (April 2022)

CLINIC: Practice Advisory: Screening DACA Recipients for Other Relief

DHS OIG: ICE Spent Funds on Unused Beds, Missed Detention Standards while Housing Migrant Families in Hotels

EOIR Introduction to Immigration Court video as part of its “Access EOIR” initiative

ILRC: USCIS Policy Manual Priorities

ILRC: Advance Parole for DACA Recipients

EVENTS

NIJC EVENTS

5/18/22 Pro Bono Training: Representing Immigrant Survivors Eligible For U Visas

6/28/22 Pro Bono Training: Asylum Pride Part 1

6/30/22 Pro Bono Training: Asylum Pride Part 2

GENERAL EVENTS

4/20/22 U Visa Webinar Series: U Visa Consular Processing

4/21/22 USCIS Invites Stakeholders to Focus Groups regarding the USCIS Website

4/21/22 Monthly NIPNLG Removal Defense Webinar: Hot Topics in SIJS

4/21/22 The Asylum Processing Rule & Southern Border Legal Updates

4/21/22 Marriage Can Be Messy! How to Handle Problematic Issues in I-751 Cases

4/25/22 USCIS to Host Engagement on TPS for South Sudan

4/25/22 Bias, Equity, and the Impact of Anti-Blackness on Immigrant Survivors

4/27/22 Special Immigrant Juvenile Policy Updates

4/27/22 U Visa RFEs

4/28/22 Motions to Reopen Removal Proceedings

5/3/22 The Family Visa Petition

5/3/22 Inaugural “Vicarious Trauma Check-in” for Immigration Attorneys & Legal Staff: Reflecting on Lawyering Under 4 Years of Trump + 1 Year of Biden and Looking Forward

5/4/22 California Pardons and Post-Conviction Relief

5/5/22 Stories from the Trenches: Tools for Dealing with Depression, Burnout, and Substance Abuse

5/5/22 Preventing & Mitigating Vicarious Trauma Among Immigration Legal Staff As An Immigration Attorney Supervisor or Manager

5/6/22 Preventing & Mitigating Vicarious Trauma Amidst Zealous Immigration Detention Lawyering & Organizing

5/6/22-5/13/22 NITA-NIPNLG “Advocacy in Immigration Matters” Training

5/10/22 Asylum Claims for Young People

5/10/22 2022 Consular Processing Updates: Strategies and Alternatives for NIV and IV Cases

5/11/22 EOIR/ICE Liaison Update: The Most Recent Information on the State of Prosecutorial Discretion

5/12/22 Advanced DACA Issues: What You Need to Know in 2022

5/13/22 FBA Immigration Law Conference

5/17/22 Advocating for Prosecutorial Discretion for Clients in Removal Proceedings

5/18/22 Pro Bono Training: Representing Immigrant Survivors Eligible For U Visas

5/19/22 Fighting Interpol Red Notices with guest speaker, Sara Grossman

5/19/22 Waivers in Removal Proceedings: Beyond the Basics

5/19/22 Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: Your Client’s I-360 Is Approved, Now What?

5/24/22 Current Issues in Afghan Asylum Claims

5/24/22 Obstacles to TPS Eligibility

5/24/22 Advanced FOIA Techniques

6/7/22 Asylum and Employment Authorization

6/8/22 ASISTA: Immigration Practice & Policy for Survivors: What’s New & What’s Next

6/8/22 Naturalization for People with Disabilities

6/22/22 Introduction to Immigrant Visa Consular Processing

7/5/22 Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law (COIL)

7/13/22 CGRS Using Universal Expert Declaration in Immigration Court

9/26/22 Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law (COIL)

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit: https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

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

Thanks Elizabeth.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-19-22

THE GIBSON REPORT — 04-11-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center — FEATURE: Fifth Circuit 🏴‍☠️ Attacks Refugee Women With Absurdist “Analysis” In Sanchez-Amador v. Garland! 🤮

Weekly Briefing

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

CONTENTS (jump to section)

PRACTICE ALERTS

NEWS

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

RESOURCES

EVENTS

PRACTICE ALERTS

EAD Rules Fully Vacated

NIJC: On Friday (4/8) we learned from the government that it would not file an appeal in AsylumWorks v. Mayorkas. This means, happily, that the EAD Rules that delayed and in some cases denied access to EADs for asylum seekers are fully vacated. The vacatur applies to both the 30-day adjudication rule and the larger rule that had more than a dozen changes to EAD eligibility for asylum seekers.

NY EOIR Asks ICE to Submit PD Stance 3 Days Before Hearings

EOIR: In an effort to reduce our interpreter non-usage and our continuance rates, the New York – Federal Plaza Immigration Court has asked DHS that PD positions be provided to the court on matters scheduled for a hearing at least three days before the hearing. This would allow cancellation of the interpreter order without cost to the court, and would permit another previously scheduled case to be advanced into the open hearing slot. In addition, the court is endeavoring to identify cases already scheduled which are likely to be granted PD based upon DHS guidelines. We have requested DHS’s assistance in this endeavor. [It is unclear whether other courts will request the same.]

Social Security Administration to Resume In-Person Services at Local Social Security Offices

NEWS

Disagreement and Delay: How Infighting Over the Border Divided the White House

NYT: The C.D.C. finally announced at the beginning of April that it would lift its public health border restrictions on May 23, around the time of the year when migration typically increases. But this past week, the issue of Title 42 flared up again as Senate Republicans and some Democrats in Congress held up Covid funding in an effort to protest the administration’s decision to lift the health rule and tensions over the issue flared in both parties. See also The Democratic revolt over Biden’s border policy.

Senators to restart bipartisan immigration reform talks

Hill: Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told The Hill that they want to bring together a group of senators interested in trying to revive immigration discussions — a perennial policy white whale for Congress — after a two-week recess.

Immigrant rights groups say ICE’s no visitation policy taking toll on detainees’ mental health

NPR: Visitations at federal and state prisons have largely resumed. Last year, for example, the Washington state Department of Corrections determined it was safe to reinstate visitations. But those who want to talk to loved ones in ICE detention must still rely on old-fashioned phone calls or video.

As Haitian migration routes change, compassion is tested in Florida Keys

WaPo: Although the Florida Keys have been an entry point for refugees fleeing communist Cuba since the 1960s, officials say the increase in arrivals of migrants by boat represents a shift in migration patterns. Since the start of the year, more than 800 Haitians have landed in the 113-mile-long Florida Keys, made up 1,700 small islands. Two of the landings occurred in Ocean Reef, an exclusive gated community near Key Largo that is home to some of nation’s wealthiest residents, officials said.

Cubans arriving in record numbers along Mexico border

WaPo: Cuban migrants are coming to the United States in the highest numbers since the 1980 Mariel boatlift, arriving this time across the U.S. southern land border, not by sea.

Thousands of Ukrainian refugees arrive at U.S.-Mexico Border

NPR: Thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war have come to the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana, where immigration agents are letting them into the U.S. on humanitarian grounds. See also Even with ties, Ukrainian families struggle to reach the United States.

Texas takes new border action; ex-Trump officials want more

AP: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday delivered new orders along the U.S.-Mexico border and promised more to come as former Trump administration officials press him to declare an “invasion” and give state troopers and National Guard members authority to turn back migrants.

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

CA2 blocks disclosure of docs on immigrant terrorist screenings

Reuters: U.S. appeals court on Wednesday said federal agencies properly withheld documents related to how they vet applicants for immigration benefits with the aim of uncovering possible terrorist ties, reversing a judge who ordered their disclosure.

3rd Circ. Says India Native’s Persecution Claims Inconsistent

Law360: The Third Circuit declined to halt the deportation of a man from India claiming he suffered political persecution there, reasoning that the immigration judge was correctly skeptical of his inconsistent accounts of the violence he claimed to have experienced.

CA5 on Unable or Unwilling to Control Persecutors

CA5: [W]hether an applicant’s subjective belief that authorities would be unwilling or unable to help them is sufficient for asylum eligibility when paired with country condition evidence supporting that belief, notwithstanding that the underlying events do not support that conclusion. We think not… When she checked in, the police informed her “that the process would take at least two weeks.” She fled before those two weeks expired, and there is no evidence of what happened with the claim. Thus, the evidence supports the BIA’s finding that Sanchez-Amador “successfully reported one incident with the gang member to the police, but did not pursue the issue.”

CA5 Equitable Tolling Remand: Boch-Saban V. Garland

LexisNexis: “Petitioner Jose Santos Boch-Saban, a citizen of Guatemala, seeks review of a Board of Immigration Appeals decision dismissing, as untimely, his appeal of an immigration judge’s order denying, as time and number barred, his motion to reopen and dismiss. We VACATE the Board’s decision and REMAND the case for consideration in the first instance of the issue of equitable tolling.”

Al Otro Lado Class Action Notice of Preliminary Injunction

DHS: Al Otro Lado v. Mayorkas is a lawsuit that relates to the U.S. government’s use of “metering” at land ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Court in this lawsuit issued a Preliminary Injunction(PI) prohibiting the U.S. government from applying a rule known as the “third-country transit rule”(TCT)to certain people who were subject to “metering” before the rule took effect on July 16, 2019.

Pennsylvania State Police settle profiling, immigration suit

AP: Pennsylvania State Police settled a federal lawsuit alleging troopers routinely and improperly tried to enforce federal immigration law by pulling over Hispanic motorists on the basis of how they looked and detaining those suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, officials announced Wednesday.

11 Set Up Hundreds of Sham Marriages for Green Card Seekers, U.S. Says

NYT: Clients paid fees up to $30,000 as part of the yearslong scheme, an affidavit said. Some applications falsely claimed the clients had been abused by their spouses, prosecutors said.

San Antonio To Pay Texas $300K To End ‘Sanctuary City’ Fight

Law360: The city of San Antonio, Texas, has agreed to pay the state $300,000 to settle both allegations lodged by the state’s attorney general that it was violating the state’s “anti-sanctuary city law,” and a subsequent lawsuit seeking to remove the police chief from office for the alleged violations.

Banned Travelers Ask Judge To Revisit Dead Visa Applications

Law360: People who were banned from the U.S. under now-defunct Trump-era travel restrictions urged a California federal judge to order the Biden administration to revisit their denied visa applications, saying the administration’s attempts to redress the harm don’t go far enough.

Feds Keep Diversity Visa Order Paused, But Must Update Tech

Law360: A D.C. federal judge extended the stay of his order directing the State Department to issue more than 9,000 diversity visas while the Biden administration appeals to the D.C. Circuit, but he unfroze his directive for the department to update the technology for processing the visas.

House Committee Advances Bill Slashing Visa Country Caps

Law360: The House Judiciary Committee voted to advance a bill that would eliminate the Immigration and Nationality Act’s per-country cap for employment-based visas and raise similar caps on family-based visas, aimed at trimming immigration backlogs.

CDC Provides Public Health Determination and Order on Termination of Title 42

AILA: On 4/1/22, CDC released an order to terminate its Title 42 public health order on 5/23/22. The document assesses the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, provides legal considerations, and describes plans for DHS to mitigate COVID-19 and resume use of Title 8. (87 FR 19941, 4/6/22)

CBP Issues Memo on Title 42 Exceptions for Ukrainian Nationals

AILA: On 3/11/22, CBP issued a memo to its Office of Field Operations stating that noncitizens in possession of a valid Ukrainian passport or other valid Ukrainian identity document, and absent national security or public safety risk factors, may be considered for exception from Title 42.

USCIS Extends EADs for Certain TPS Syria Beneficiaries

AILA: USCIS is issuing individual notices to certain TPS Syria beneficiaries whose applications to renew Form I-766 are pending. The notices extend the validity of their EADs until September 24, 2022. Guidance on filing Form I-9 is available.

DHS/CBP/PIA-072 Unified Immigration Portal (UIP)

DHS: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Unified Immigration Portal (UIP) provides agencies involved in the immigration process a means to view and access certain information from each of the respective agencies from a single portal in near real time (as the information is entered into the source systems). CBP is publishing this Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) to provide notice of implementation of the UIP and assess the privacy risks and mitigations for the UIP.

USCIS Implements Risk-Based Approach for Conditional Permanent Resident Interviews

USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a policy update to adopt a risk-based approach when waiving interviews for conditional permanent residents (CPR) who have filed a petition to remove the conditions on their permanent resident status.

Request for Comments: Form G-639; Online FOIA Request: Due 5/5/22.

RESOURCES

GENERAL RESOURCES

AIC: ICE’s New Guidance to Government Attorneys Aims to Reduce Immigration Court Backlog

AILA Policy Brief: Recommendations on the Expansion and Implementation of Immigration Legal Representation Programs

CLINIC: All About Parole Practice Advisory

CLINIC: Demographic Data for Immigration Reform

CRS: The Department of Homeland Security’s Nationwide Expansion of Expedited Removal

CRS: U.S. Border Patrol Encounters at the Southwest Border: Titles 8 & 42

DHS OIG: CBP Needs Improved Oversight for Its Centers of Excellence and Expertise

USAHello: Afghan Resource Center

EVENTS

NIJC EVENTS

4/12/22 Pro Bono Training: Representing Immigrant Survivors Of Domestic Violence (VAWA)

5/18/22 Pro Bono Training: Representing Immigrant Survivors Eligible For U Visas

6/28/22 Pro Bono Training: Asylum Pride Part 1

6/30/22 Pro Bono Training: Asylum Pride Part 2

GENERAL EVENTS

4/12/22 An Overview of the Final Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Regulations

4/12/22 Introduction to Bond Proceedings

4/12/22 Preparing Military Naturalization Applications: What You Need to Know

4/12/22-5/3/22 Webinar Series: Selected Issues in Inadmissibility

4/13/22 Understanding Helpfulness for U Visa Certification and the Ongoing Assistance Requirement

4/14/22 Workshop for Country Conditions Experts on Mitigating DHS Challenges

4/20/22 U Visa Webinar Series: U Visa Consular Processing

4/21/22 USCIS Invites Stakeholders to Focus Groups regarding the USCIS Website

4/21/22 Monthly NIPNLG Removal Defense Webinar: Hot Topics in SIJS

4/21/22 The Asylum Processing Rule & Southern Border Legal Updates

4/21/22 Marriage Can Be Messy! How to Handle Problematic Issues in I-751 Cases

4/25/22 USCIS to Host Engagement on TPS for South Sudan

4/25/22 Bias, Equity, and the Impact of Anti-Blackness on Immigrant Survivors

4/27/22 Special Immigrant Juvenile Policy Updates

4/27/22 U Visa RFEs

4/28/22 Motions to Reopen Removal Proceedings

5/3/22 The Family Visa Petition

5/3/22 Inaugural “Vicarious Trauma Check-in” for Immigration Attorneys & Legal Staff: Reflecting on Lawyering Under 4 Years of Trump + 1 Year of Biden and Looking Forward

5/4/22 California Pardons and Post-Conviction Relief

5/5/22 Stories from the Trenches: Tools for Dealing with Depression, Burnout, and Substance Abuse

5/5/22 Preventing & Mitigating Vicarious Trauma Among Immigration Legal Staff As An Immigration Attorney Supervisor or Manager

5/6/22 Preventing & Mitigating Vicarious Trauma Amidst Zealous Immigration Detention Lawyering & Organizing

5/6/22-5/13/22 NITA-NIPNLG “Advocacy in Immigration Matters” Training

5/10/22 Asylum Claims for Young People

5/10/22 2022 Consular Processing Updates: Strategies and Alternatives for NIV and IV Cases

5/12/22 Advanced DACA Issues: What You Need to Know in 2022

5/13/22 FBA Immigration Law Conference

5/17/22 Advocating for Prosecutorial Discretion for Clients in Removal Proceedings

5/18/22 Pro Bono Training: Representing Immigrant Survivors Eligible For U Visas

5/19/22 Fighting Interpol Red Notices with guest speaker, Sara Grossman

5/19/22 Waivers in Removal Proceedings: Beyond the Basics

5/19/22 Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: Your Client’s I-360 Is Approved, Now What?

5/24/22 Obstacles to TPS Eligibility

5/24/22 Advanced FOIA Techniques

6/7/22 Asylum and Employment Authorization

6/8/22 ASISTA: Immigration Practice & Policy for Survivors: What’s New & What’s Next

6/8/22 Naturalization for People with Disabilities

6/22/22 Introduction to Immigrant Visa Consular Processing

7/5/22 Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law (COIL)

7/13/22 CGRS Using Universal Expert Declaration in Immigration Court

9/26/22 Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law (COIL)

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit: https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

You now can change your email settings or search the archives using the Google Group. If you are receiving this briefing from a third party, you can visit the Google Group and request to be added.

Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

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

As always, thanks Elizabeth.

Sanchez-Amador v. Garland — The 5th Circuit Goes Off The Rails Again To Threaten Refugee Women of Color!

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-60367-CV0.pdf

The issue in Sanchez-Amador is whether a reasonable person in her position would believe that the Government of Honduras is “unwilling or unable” to protect her. On the facts set forth in the court’s decision, any reasonable person in her position would hold such a objectively reasonable view. Therefore asylum should have been granted.

For some context, Honduras has one of the highest femicide rates in the world. Indeed, it is “one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman.” See, e.g., https://news.sky.com/story/the-most-dangerous-place-in-the-world-to-be-a-woman-11950981

The Honduran Government is so totally corrupt, inept, and disinterested in protecting its citizens, particularly women, that recent past “President Juan Orlando Hernandez [is] on the United States’ Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors list, under Section 353 of the United States–Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act.” https://www.state.gov/u-s-actions-against-former-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-for-corruption/

Ricardo Zuniga, the U.S. Special Envoy to Central America recently said: “‘All we’re trying to do now is halt the slide’ of democracy and accountability, Zúniga said in an interview with The [L.A.] Times, ‘so that we can have some place to build from.’” https://apple.news/A9FpzsjRAQ2OoAyQZzHZm1A.

In other words, any a semblance of the rule of law and honest, minimally effective government in the Northern Triangle has long disappeared. Conditions are rapidly getting worse, rather than better. Conditions are so bad, that a better Administration or a better BIA could probably establish a “rebuttable presumption of failure of state protection in the Northern Triangle,” thus properly shifting to the DHS the burden of establishing, against all odds, that “state protection” against gangs and other basically uncontrolled third-party actors would actually be effective in a particular case.

This common sense action would also facilitate rapid, efficient, consistent, and correct approval of many credible, valid asylum claims now stuck in the endless, largely self-inflicted, backlogs at the Asylum Office and in Garland’s dysfunctional courts, not to mention at the border following two years of illegal suspension of our asylum laws. That’s as opposed to the unseemly “Institutionalized Refugee Roulette” now being played by Garland and his subordinates.

According to the Supremes in Cardoza-Fonseca and the BIA itself in Matter of Mogharrabi, asylum law is supposed to be generously applied to grant protection even where persecution, although reasonably possible, is significantly less than likely. But, in Garland’s dysfunctional “courts,” the current reality for vulnerable asylum seekers has moved far, far away from those supposed “norms.”

Although most asylum applicants come from nations with well-established records of serious endemic human rights abuses, “asylum denial rates” at EOIR range from 10% or less to a beyond outrageous 98% or more denials! Cases with basically the same facts might be routinely granted in one courtroom while being uniformly denied, usually for specious reasons, in the next.

Moreover, while the overall nationwide grant rate of around 37% appears unreasonably low but perhaps still within the outer bounds of “plausibility,” most of those grants are “concentrated” in a relatively small number of Immigration Courts, basically in the Northeast and in California. A disturbing number of IJs and courts are allowed, perhaps even encouraged, by Garland and his denial-oriented, Trump-holdover BIA to establish “asylum free zones.” In other words, Garland has looked the other way while some of “his courts” have basically become de facto “asylum death squads.”

Back to Ms. Sanchez-Amador. Under the circumstances shown by Ms. Sanchez-Amador, a “reasonable woman” would not expect any effective protection from the Honduran Government. The respondent has shown that her “expectation of no protection” was “fulfilled” in this case.

The respondent credibly testified that a gang member said she had a week to either pay him money or become “his woman,” join the gang, and have involuntary sex with him, that is, he threatened to rape her. When she dutifully reported this to the police (despite their well-deserved reputation for indifference to attacks on women), she was told that they would investigate but that it would take two weeks, and offered her no other protection or options in the interim.

In other words, in response to an imminent, credible threat of harm, the police told the respondent that they would do nothing to stop the harm that would be inflicted upon her in a week. By the time the police “investigated,” assuming they ever did which seems doubtful in light of conditions in Honduras, the respondent would be either extorted or raped and forced to join a gang against her will. While police in Honduras might have a well-deserved reputation for corruption and ineffectiveness, gangs, on the other hand, have a reputation for being ready, willing, and able to carry out their threats against women, usually with impunity.

Elementary asylum law tells us that it is neither reasonable nor required that a refugee wait to actually be persecuted before fleeing to safety. That’s exactly what a “well-founded fear” is!

Yet a panel of male, right-wing judges of the Fifth Circuit nonsensically and disingenuously concludes that “one would be hard-pressed to find that the authorities were unable or unwilling to help her [because] she never gave them the opportunity to do so.” Poppycock!

The police failed to offer the respondent any semblance of effective protection. Given the conditions in Honduras, and the credible threats the respondent had received, a reasonable woman in the respondent’s position would flee to safety at the first opportunity rather than waiting for the gang to carry out its credible threat of harm and for the police to, perhaps, but likely not, investigate after the fact!

Indeed, it’s no stretch to say that under the facts of this case, NO reasonable woman would have remained in Honduras if able to escape. Moreover, NO reasonable factfinder would conclude that she lacked a reasonable possibility of persecution there!

The panel judges have perverted, perhaps intentionally, the criteria for asylum, the standard for review, and misconstrued the record to deny legal protection to this refugee woman. But, there is an even deeper problem here. And, it goes to Attorney General Garland and his mismanagement of the entire, broken Immigration Court system.

I daresay that NO asylum expert would have handled this potentially perfectly grantable case the way this Immigration Judge and the BIA did. This whole process documents an ongoing, biased, unprofessional, designed-to-deny asylum system that unfairly attacks and threatens “the most vulnerable among us” — targeting women of color in a particularly racist-misogynistic way!

I hope that this particular example of injustice, inhumanity, and unprofessionalism at all levels of the judiciary isn’t what awaits long suffering asylum seekers if and when the Administration finally lifts the illegal “Title 42 Blockade/Charade” on May 23. But, I have little reason for optimism.

Beyond long overdue reversals of several Sessions/Barr bogus anti-asylum, anti-immigrant “precedents,” neither Garland or Mayorkas has shown much inclination to actually get asylum law right. Nor have they empowered or employed the human rights and due process experts who could lead them out of the wilderness in which their entire “denial and deterrence-oriented” system now wanders.

Perhaps ironically, the all-too-often lawless Fifth Circuit refuses to acknowledge even those modest actions by Garland to correct the law, notwithstanding the supposed “great deference” they claim to show the Executive in the area of immigration. Like much that the Fifth Circuit does these days, that “deference” appears reserved for White men and is not applied to vindicate the rights of “persons” who happen to be migrants, women, or people of color.

“Dred Scottification” of “the other” is NOT a legitimate legal theory. No, it’s part of the “anti-democracy activism” that threatens to destroy our legal system and take our nation down with it! ☠️

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-12-22

👎🏽IN RACE TO DENY, BIA BLOWS BY OWN REGS IN LATEST 4TH CIR. REJECTION! — Garcia-Hernandez v. Garland (Changed Country Conditions) — Congrats To Ben & Alex!😎🗽⚖️

Kangaroos — “Every day is ‘Kangaroo Field Day’ @ Garland’s DOJ!” When it comes to immigrant justice, “good enough for government work” is the mantra!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rasputin243/
Creative Commons License

https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/ca4-on-changed-country-conditions-garcia-hernandez-v-garland

Dan Kowalski reports from LexisNexis Immigration Community:

CA4 on Changed Country Conditions: Garcia Hernandez v. Garland

Garcia Hernandez v. Garland

“The BIA “affirm[ed] the Immigration Judge’s decision to deny reopening because the respondent has not sufficiently demonstrated that his brother’s murder represents a material change in country conditions that would affect his eligibility for asylum.” A.R. 4. As we noted above, while (b)(4) requires “changed country conditions,” (b)(3)does not. Thus, the BIA’s reference to a “material change in country conditions” and the analysis that followed shows that the BIA applied § 1003.23(b)(4). See A.R. 4. In applying the standard of § 1003.23(b)(4) to a timely filed motion, the BIA acted contrary to law. … The question for the BIA to consider in evaluating Garcia Hernandez’s motion to reopen was whether Garcia Hernandez offered, in the proper from and with the appropriate contents, evidence that was material and not previously available at the initial hearing. 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23(b)(3). Because the BIA did not analyze that question, and instead evaluated the issue under § 1003.23(b)(4), the BIA abused its discretion. … The BIA held that Zambrano did not apply because the changed circumstances there took place before the petitioner filed a time-barred petition even though here, the purported changed circumstances took place after the time-barred petition was filed and adjudicated. But nothing in Zambrano suggests its holding or reasoning was limited in the way the BIA suggests. Thus, Zambrano’s framework in examining changed circumstances should have been applied to Garcia Hernandez’s asylum application. … [W]e grant Garcia Hernandez’s petition for review. We vacate and remand with instructions to the BIA to consider Garcia Hernandez’s motion to reopen under the appropriate standard. The BIA should also address Garcia Hernandez’s asylum application under the framework of Zambrano and conduct any further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

[Hats off to Benjamin J. Osorio and Alexandra Ribe!]

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

Many congrats to Ben and Alex, who were both “regulars” at the Arlington Immigration Court! Alex is also a former Arlington Intern and a “charter member” of the NDPA!😎

The 4th Circuit decision was written by Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, a Trump appointee, for a unanimous panel that included Judge Motz and Judge Thacker. While Judge Q doesn’t always “get it right,” his cogent analysis of the BIA’s lawless behavior in this case is “spot on.”

How does a supposedly “expert” tribunal like the BIA blow the “easy stuff” — like following their own regulations? Clearly it has something to do with an unduly permissive “haste makes waste/rush to deny” anti-immigrant culture at EOIR that Garland has not effectively addressed!

Another obvious problem: Why were Garland’s lawyers at OIL defending this obviously wrong decision? You don’t have to be an “immigration guru” to read the regulations!

Sadly, it’s not the first time under Garland that OIL has chosen to waste judicial resources and undermine our justice system by “defending the indefensible.” It’s what happens when leaders promote an “anything goes/no accountability/good enough for government work” atmosphere!

There are deep substantive, structural, personnel, attitude, and “cultural” problems at EOIR and DOJ. That, over his first year in office, Garland has chosen to ignore these glaring malfunctions of justice @ Justice is an ongoing national disgrace!🤮

It doesn’t have to be this way! But, unfortunately, it is! And, even more disturbingly, no meaningful improvements appear to be on the horizon! That’s a deadly ☠️⚰️ outlook for American justice and for those poor souls caught up in Garland’s unfair, broken, dysfunctional “court” system that bears little resemblance to any commonly understood notion of what a fair, impartial, subject matter expert court should be in America!🤯

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-04-22

THIS WEEK IN “GARLANDING” — True Tales From The “Twilight Zone” Of American Justice!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive

February17, 2024

No Due Process In The Omaha Immigration Court

2) Shenanigans in Chicago

IJs hide the ball; find the secret list or lose your case

3) ADR On Steroids In Virginia

4) Another “F” In “Immigration Law 101” From The 3rd Circuit

CA3 CAT Remand (Somalia) – Herrow v. Atty. Gen.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Read Manuel Roig-Franzia’s WashPost review of Jonathan Blitzer’s book “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here:”

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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From Human Rights First (“HRF”):

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Theresa Vargas reports in WashPost:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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From Reuters:

Overview

Political Repression and Human Rights

Crime and Insecurity

Economic Collapse

Health Crisis

Food Insecurity

Heavy Rains and Flooding

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Submitted by Professor Alberto Benitez at GW Law Immigration Clinic:

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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From Letters From An American 09-08-23:

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🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Republished by permission.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Here’s what the document says:

Here’s the “White House Fact Sheet” which lists specifics from apparent “side agreements” by the various signatories:

Here’s “critical commentary” from one observer:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Sanchez-Amador v. Garland — The 5th Circuit Goes Off The Rails Again To Threaten Refugee Women of Color!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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Dan Kowalski reports from LexisNexis Immigration Community:

CA4 on Changed Country Conditions: Garcia Hernandez v. Garland

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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