⚖️🗽🌟👏 🦸🏻‍♀️🎖️CONGRATS TO NDPA SUPERSTAR CAMILLE J. MACKLER ON BEING NAMED A 92ND STREET Y WOMEN inPOWER FELLOW! 

Camille J. Mackler
Camille J. Mackler
Executive Director
Immigrant ARC
PHOTO: JustSecurity

Camille writes on LinkedIn:

I’m beyond excited to be able to finally share that I was selected to be part of this year’s 92nd Street Y Women inPower fellowship!

I’m looking forward to a year of learning, connecting, mentorship (something that so many women of my generation feel they missed out on) and growing within this incredible network of current and past fellows.

🌟 Exciting Announcement: Introducing our 2024 Women inPower Fellows! 🌟

Thrilled to share the news that we are welcoming a new cohort of dynamic and accomplished individuals to our Women inPower Fellowship program this week. 

These extraordinary women embody resilience, leadership, and a commitment to driving positive change in their respective fields. Join us in extending a warm welcome to our 2024 Fellows! 🎉

See full cohort here:https://lnkd.in/ednfEiU9 and press release below

#WomenLeaders #WiP2024 #Welcome #Empowerment

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Congrats, Camille! You show what true courage, inspiration, and leadership is all about at a time when our nation needs you and other NDPA leaders to fight for human rights, the rule of law, and humane values!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-04-23

🏴‍☠️ 🤯 ABSURDIST SCOFFLAW TEX “GOV” ABBOTT BLOWN AWAY IN ROUND I OF “BUOY BATTLE!” — Texas Federal Judge Rejects Ludicrous “Invasion Defense!”

Priscilla Alvarez
CNN Digital Expansion 2019, Priscilla Alvarez
Politics Reporter, CNN

Priscilla Alvarez reports for CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/06/politics/texas-mexico-border-water-barriers-migrants/index.html

CNN  —

A federal judge ordered Texas to remove floating barriers in the Rio Grande and barred the state from building new or placing additional buoys in the river, according to a Wednesday court filing, marking a victory for the Biden administration.

Judge David Alan Ezra ordered Texas to take down the barriers by September 15 at its own expense.

The border buoys have been a hot button immigration issue since they were deployed in the Rio Grande as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative known as Operation Lone Star. The Justice Department had sued the state of Texas in July claiming that the buoys were installed unlawfully and asking the judge to force the state to remove them.

In the lawsuit, filed in US District Court in the Western District of Texas, the Justice Department alleged that Texas and Abbott violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act by building a structure in US water without permission from United States Army Corps of Engineers and sought an injunction to bar Texas from building additional barriers in the river. The Republican governor, meanwhile, has argued the buoys are intended to deter migrants from crossing into the state from Mexico.

Texas swiftly appealed the judge’s order.

. . . .

Ezra also found Texas’ self-defense argument – that the barriers have been placed in the face of invasion – “unconvincing.”

. . . .

Ezra also found Texas’ self-defense argument – that the barriers have been placed in the face of invasion – “unconvincing.”

. . . .

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Read the rest of Priscilla’s report at the link.

Who knows how this will play out in the 5th Circuit and the Supremes, given the composition of those courts. But, at least for a day, Judge Ezra has brought some common sense and the rule of law to bear on out of control grandstanding Texas “Governor” Greg Abbott. 

In addition to being cruel and illegal, Abbott’s $140 million buoy boondoggle is predictably a failure from a deterrence standpoint. See, e.g., https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi-5saEvpiBAxUXpIkEHU1VBwoQFnoECBoQAQ&url=https://www.livemint.com/news/texas-floating-border-wall-fails-to-deter-migrants-11693942981798.html&usg=AOvVaw0TX6bBkO0Fv0MezJLQPJkk&opi=89978449. (Although Abbott and his White Nationalist supporters falsely claim otherwise.) But, as my friends Dan Kowalski and Judge “Sir Jeffrey” Chase often say, effective deterrence isn’t the point — the cruelty and dehumanization is!

We should also remember that the vast majority of those whom Abbott and the nativists bogusly call “invaders” seek only to turn themselves in to U.S. authorities so they can exercise their clear legal rights to apply for asylum — rights that attach regardless of status or manner of entering the U.S. (Rights that also have improperly been diminished and impeded by the Biden Administration’s ill-advised asylum regulations, currently under legal challenge).  

If successful (under a legal system intentionally rigged against them), these so-called “invaders” will use their skills and work ethic to expand our economy and help Americans prosper while saving their lives and those of their families. To anybody other than Abbott and other White Nationalists, that sounds like a potential “win-win” that could and should be “leveraged” for everyone’s benefit!

Judge Ezra’s opinion in the aptly-named U.S. v. Abbott can be found here:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172749163/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172749163.50.0.pdf?ftag=YHF4eb9d17

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-07-23

THE GIBSON REPORT — 11-29-21 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

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

Please note there will not be a weekly briefing on December 6, 2021.

 

PRACTICE UPDATES

 

All Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Applicants May Now File Forms I-821 and I-765 Online

 

EOIR Memo on Administrative Closure

 

Respondent Access Portal: EOIR’s Respondent Access allows Respondents to file forms with the immigration court and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

 

AO Covid Update: USCIS has updated the public website to reflect that field offices are expanding occupational capacities. Beginning November 29, 2021, the New York Asylum Office (ZNY) will be resuming in-person interviews, with the officer and the applicant’s party (including the attorney) in the same room.

 

NEWS

 

Proposed DACA Rule Draws Over 9K Comments

Law360: The Biden administration’s proposed rule to reinforce the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program has attracted more than 9,300 responses ahead of Monday’s deadline for public comments, with many calling for broader changes than the regulations set out.

 

New York Moves to Allow 800,000 Noncitizens to Vote in Local Elections

NYT: The City Council is planning to approve a bill that would allow more than 800,000 noncitizen New Yorkers to register as members of political parties and vote in municipal elections, provided they are green card holders or have the right to work in the United States. The measure is expected to be approved on Dec. 9 by a veto-proof margin. It would allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, and would not apply to federal or state contests.

 

U.S. still seeking agreement from Mexico on return of asylum seekers

Reuters: The Biden administration and Mexico have not yet agreed to restart a Trump-era program obliging asylum seekers to await U.S. court hearings in Mexico, because certain conditions must first be met, two Mexican officials said on Wednesday. News outlet Axios reported earlier that returns under the program officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) could restart as soon as [this] week.

 

Under Trump, ICE aggressively recruited sheriffs as partners to question and detain undocumented immigrants

WaPo: Despite mounting concerns about discriminatory policing, the Trump administration aggressively recruited local law enforcement partners and courted sheriffs who championed similar views on immigration policy, according to dozens of internal ICE emails obtained by The Post.

 

New caravan sets off from Mexico as officials struggle with immigration claims

Reuters: Some 2,000 migrants and asylum seekers departed the southern Mexican city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border overnight on Sunday in the latest in a series of caravans setting out for the United States.

 

Venezuelan migrants are new border challenge for Biden administration

WaPo: Record numbers of Venezuelan migrants have been crossing into the United States in recent months, posing a new border challenge for the Biden administration and raising concerns that more of the nearly 6 million people displaced from the South American nation could be heading north.

 

US citizen sues after month-long immigration detention

AP: He said he repeatedly told authorities he was American but was rebuffed by immigration agents, according to the suit. Bukle, who derived citizenship when he was 9 and his parents naturalized, was sent to the Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Central California for more than a month until an attorney got immigration authorities to verify his citizenship status and release him.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

SCOTUS Grants Cert. In Border Bivens Case: Egbert V. Boule

LexisNexis: SCOTUSblog case page for Egbert v. Boule, Docket No. 21-147 ” Issues : (1) Whether a cause of action exists under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics for First Amendment retaliation claims; and (2) whether a cause of action exists under Bivens for claims against federal officers engaged in immigration-related functions for allegedly violating a plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment right

 

Justices Won’t Review If Using Fake SSN Is ‘Moral Turpitude’

Law360: A Mexican woman facing removal for using a fake Social Security number lost her case Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her arguments for why the offense shouldn’t disqualify her from receiving deportation relief.

 

CA1 Says IJ and BIA Erred in Finding That Petitioner’s Prior Conviction Rendered Him Ineligible for Withholding of Removal

AILA: The court held that the IJ erred in informing the pro se petitioner he was eligible for potential relief only under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), and in treating his conviction for drug trafficking as if it were a per se bar to withholding of removal. (DeCarvalho v. Garland, 11/17/21)

 

5th Circ. Won’t Revive Gay Immigrant’s Asylum Bid

Law360: The Fifth Circuit on Monday upheld a ruling that a Mexican citizen who sought refuge in the United States because he is gay cannot remain in the country because the Mexican government “was able and willing to protect” him.

 

CA5 Upholds BIA’s Conclusion That Indian Petitioner’s Second Motion to Reopen Was Time and Number Barred

AILA: The court held that the BIA did not err in finding that the petitioner’s second motion to reopen for lack of notice was time and number barred under 8 CFR §1003.2(c)(2), because the petitioner had failed to inform the immigration court of his change in address. (Maradia v. Garland, 11/17/21)

 

CA6 Finds BIA Reasonably Concluded That Changed Conditions in the Congo Rebutted Petitioner’s Well-Founded Fear of Persecution

AILA: The court upheld the BIA’s denial of asylum, finding that the Board did not err in holding that governmental changes in the Congo—namely, that the petitioner’s own political party had assumed power—made any future political persecution unlikely. (Mbonga v. Garland, 11/22/21)

 

CA6 (2-1) – No Bivens At Border: Elhady V. Bradley

LexisNexis: Elhady v. Bradley Maj. – “In short, when it comes to the border, the Bivens issue is not difficult—it does not apply. And district courts would be wise to start and end there.

 

Evangelical Pair Wins Removal Relief On 3rd Go At 9th Circ.

Law360: A fractured Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday undid a removal order against an Indonesian couple who say they fear persecution for their evangelical Christian beliefs, handing the parents of three a win on their third turn before the appeals court.

 

CA9 Declines to Rehear Soto-Soto v. Garland En Banc

AILA: The court issued an order denying the rehearing en banc of Soto-Soto v. Garland, in which the court held that the BIA erred by reviewing the IJ’s decision de novo rather than for clear error. (Soto-Soto v. Garland, 11/18/21)

 

CA9 Upholds Denial of Motion for Reconsideration Where Petitioner Failed to Demonstrate Due Diligence for Equitable Tolling

AILA: Where petitioner had filed a motion for reconsideration arguing that a recent Supreme Court ruling rendered his conviction no longer a “crime of violence” aggravated felony, the court held that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying equitable tolling. (Goulart v. Garland, 11/18/21)

 

CA11 Remands Asylum Claim of Sri Lankan Petitioner Who Feared Future Persecution as a Tamil Failed Asylum Seeker

AILA: The court held that the BIA failed to give reasoned consideration to the Sri Lankan petitioner’s claim that, as a Tamil failed asylum seeker, he had a well-founded fear of future persecution, and thus remanded his asylum and withholding of removal claims. (Jathursan v. Att’y Gen., 11/17/21)

 

BIA Finds CA Carjacking Conviction is Categorically an Aggravated Crime of Violence

AILA: The BIA found that the respondent’s conviction for carjacking under section 215(a) of the California Penal Code is categorically a conviction for an aggravated felony crime of violence. Matter of A. Valenzuela, 28 I&N Dec. 418 (BIA 2021)

 

Proclamation on Suspension of Certain People Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Omicron Variant

AILA: The White House issued a proclamation suspending and limiting the entry for certain immigrants and nonimmigrants who were physically present in countries where the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been detected. Effective 11/29/21.

 

Effective Today: DHS Issues Updated Guidance on the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law

AILA: DHS issued updated guidance on the enforcement of civil immigration law. Guidance is effective on 11/29/21 and will rescind prior civil immigration guidance.

 

USCIS Updates Policy Manual to Incorporate and Supersede Guidance on General Adjudications

AILA: USCIS issued a policy alert that it is incorporating and superseding existing guidance into the USCIS Policy Manual addressing topics in the context of general adjudications, including evidence, sworn statements, and adjudicative decisions.

 

EOIR Issues Policy Memo on Administrative Closure Following Matter of Cruz-Valdez

AILA: EOIR issued guidance to address administrative closure in light of Matter of Cruz-Valdez. Where a respondent requests administrative closure, and DHS does not object, the request should generally be granted and the case administratively closed. Guidance effective as of 11/22/21.

 

EOIR Announces Opening of Immigration Court in Santa Ana, CA

AILA: EOIR announced it will open a new immigration court in Santa Ana, California, on November 29, 2021. The court will include 22 immigration judges. At the time of opening, three judges will hear cases transferred from the Los Angeles – Olive Street court. EOIR has notified the affected parties.

 

DOS Provides Embassies and Consulates Broad Discretion to Prioritize Visa Appointments

AILA: DOS stated that the guidance to posts for the prioritization of consular services issued in November 2020 has been rescinded. Embassies and consulates have discretion on prioritizing visa appointments among the range of visa classes.

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

ImmProf

Monday, November 29, 2021

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Friday, November 26, 2021

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Monday, November 22, 2021

 

 

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Thanks, Elizabeth!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-01-21

DUE PROCESS MOVES FORWARD IN NY:  Universal Representation In Immigration Court Bill Introduced!

 

Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 1:47 PM
Subject: [NY Asylum] New York introduces right to universal representation legislation

 

Hi all,

 

Apologies for the cross-post but we are very excited to announce that today New York introduced a bill that will create a statutory right to counsel for individuals facing deportation and live/are present in New York. The campaign is in the beginning stages and we know that we have a lot of educating and other ground-laying work ahead of us, but we also want to acknowledge the tremendous amount of work that it took, both in our State and nationally, to get us to a point in the conversation where drafting and introducing this bill became possible.

 

The Access to Representation Act to create a statutory right to counsel for immigrants facing deportation in New York.  You can see the press release HERE and read a summary of the bill HERE.

 

In solidarity,

Camille

 

Camille J. Mackler, Esq.

Director of Immigration Legal Policy

She/Her/Hers

 The New York Immigration Coalition

 

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It’s a beginning.  And, something that won’t require action from the screwed-up Feds. The New Due Process Army keeps fighting for American justice, for everyone in America, in the age of Trump!

Due Process Forever!

 

PWS

 

01-17-20