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
New EOIR Friend of the Court Memo
EAD Automatic Extension Time Period—Temporary Increase to up to 540 Days
USCIS Changing Communication of Case Processing Data
NEWS
Mexico will take back more Cubans and Nicaraguans expelled by U.S.
WaPo: The deal is potentially significant because the Mexican government has more latitude to carry out deportation flights to Cuba and Nicaragua, nations whose frosty relations with Washington severely limit the United States’ ability to return their citizens.
New Legal Aid Alliance for Detained Immigrants Facing Deportation in the Chicago Immigration Court
MIDA: The Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance (MIDA) is a partnership between three nonprofit organizations — the National Immigrant Justice Center, The Resurrection Project, and The Immigration Project — and the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender. The groups will lay the groundwork toward ensuring anyone who is detained by ICE and facing removal proceedings before the Chicago Immigration Court has access to legal representation. The program will reach immigrants detained in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kentucky. While ICE no longer detains people in Illinois as the result of a state law enacted earlier this year, the groups will be representing Illinois residents who are being detained in other states.
Texas governor says the state may contest a Supreme Court ruling on migrant education
NPR: Abbott first made his remarks about the landmark education decision on Wednesday, in the aftermath of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Abbott said the court’s 1982 ruling had imposed an unfair burden on his state. “I think we will resurrect that case and challenge this issue again, because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different” from when the decision came down, Abbott said in an interview with conservative radio host Joe Pagliarulo.
Texas AG Opens Probe Into State Bar’s Immigration Funding
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday that his office had launched an investigation into the charitable arm of the State Bar of Texas over allegations that the organization is providing funding to “entities that encourage, participate in and fund illegal immigration.”
DeSantis scrutinizes health care costs for the undocumented
Politico: The DeSantis administration on Thursday asked state hospitals to tally up the cost of providing medical care to undocumented immigrants. It’s part of an executive order Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in September, but just had his Agency for Health Care Administration start implementing.
For Second Straight Year, California Sees a Population Decline
NYT: California lost 117,552 residents last year, driven largely by the Covid death toll and a sharp drop in foreign immigration. This followed a slightly bigger decline in 2020, when the state lost 182,083 residents — the first time in more than a century that California got smaller.
The Things They Carried: Is the Border Patrol discarding asylum seekers’ documents?
Border Chron: In Arizona and Texas, border residents are noticing more and more personal belongings left behind, including confidential documents, along the U.S. side of the border wall.
Biden administration scrambles to deal with Russians trying to reach America
Politico: A senior administration official told POLITICO that the United States is exploring ways to increase Russians’ access to the U.S. refugee program, but the official declined to give details. At the same time, U.S. diplomats are effectively being warned to be extra careful in issuing tourist visas to Russians because they are more likely to overstay them due to the war, according to the April 26 cable obtained by POLITICO.
Massachusetts Senate OKs immigrant driver’s license bill
AP: The bill was approved 32-8 in the Democratic-controlled chamber. That’s enough to override a possible veto from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who has expressed opposition to similar efforts in the past.
Less immigrant labor in US contributing to price hikes
AP: The U.S. has, by some estimates, 2 million fewer immigrants than it would have if the pace had stayed the same, helping power a desperate scramble for workers in many sectors, from meatpacking to homebuilding, that is also contributing to supply shortages and price increases.
U.S. Homelessness Haunts Migrant Families Separated by Trump, Reunited by Biden
Reuters: Of the 200 families the task force has so far reunited, including Hernandez and her daughters, around three-quarters have struggled with housing insecurity, according to previously unreported data collected by two groups that aid them, Together & Free and Seneca Family of Agencies.
U.S. labor agency moves to thwart intimidation of immigrant workers
Reuters: The top lawyer at the agency that enforces U.S. labor laws on Monday directed staff to assure foreign workers that they will not face immigration-related consequences for filing complaints against employers or acting as witnesses in cases.
LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES
Court orders additional briefing in dispute over “remain in Mexico” policy
Howe: In a short order, the justices asked both sides in the dispute to weigh in on technical – but potentially dispositive – issues relating to the court’s power to hear the case.
Matter of German Santos, 28 I&N Dec. 552 (BIA 2022)
BIA: Any fact that establishes or increases the permissible range of punishment for a criminal offense is an “element” for purposes of the categorical approach, even if the term “element” is defined differently under State law… Title 35, section 780-113(a)(30) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, which punishes possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, is divisible with respect to the identity of the controlled substance possessed.
BIA Remand Relating To Matter Of A-B-
LexisNexis (quoting Geoffrey Hoffman): This is a great decision as it affirms that A-B- (III) changed the law back to A-R-C-G- and warrants a remand back to the IJ for new proceedings. Importantly the Board notes that the remand is in light of the current case law of the BIA and the Fifth Circuit. Importantly, the Fifth Circuit’s Jaco v. Garland decision was not cited or relied on as impeding remand.
CA1 on Somalia, CAT: Ali v. Garland
LexisNexis: The critical question is whether this record compels the conclusion that Ali could not make the requisite showing with regard to the nature of the abuse to which he will be subjected, notwithstanding the IJ’s failure to have addressed evidence bearing on it. … [W]e conclude that the prudent course is to vacate and remand for the BIA to address the aspects of the record that have not been given their proper consideration.
CA2 On CIMT: Jang V. Garland
LexisNexis: The agency found Jang ineligible for cancellation because of her state conviction for attempted second-degree money laundering, see N.Y. Penal L. § 470.15(1)(b)(ii)(A), which it deemed a “crime involving moral turpitude” (“CIMT”) under the Immigration and Nationality Act, see 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2). We agree with Jang that, because her crime of conviction lacks the requisite scienter, it is not a CIMT.
4th Circ. Says Tardiness Isn’t A Failure To Appear
Law360: The Fourth Circuit has rebuked the Board of Immigration Appeals for rubber-stamping an asylum-seeker’s in absentia deportation order without addressing claims that a medical issue made him late to his immigration hearing, saying tardiness isn’t the same as not showing up.
Defective NTA Remand at CA5: Urbina-Urbina v. Garland
LexisNexis: Accordingly, we VACATE the three BIA decisions and REMAND the three cases for reconsideration in light of Rodriguez v. Garland, 15 F.4th 351 (5th Cir. 2021).
6th Circ. Affirms Cuban Man’s Meth Possession Guilty Plea
Law360: The Sixth Circuit affirmed Monday the guilty plea of a Cuban man who was arrested for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and sentenced to 16 years in prison, rejecting his argument that the district court made a crucial mistake by failing to warn him that the plea made him deportable.
9th Circ. Says BIA Must Rethink Gay Nigerian’s Torture Claim
Law360: The Board of Immigration Appeals must reconsider its denial of a Nigerian man’s request for protection against torture after the Ninth Circuit ruled that the man had presented enough evidence to show he faced persecution for being gay.
Military Can Help On Immigration Enforcement, 9th Circ. Says
Law360: The Ninth Circuit said on Wednesday that the U.S. military can assist Border Patrol agents in capturing those suspected of entering the country illegally, rejecting an appeal by a Mexican national who was apprehended with the help of a Marine Corps surveillance unit.
Indian Citizen Sues After Losing Work Due To USCIS Delays
Law360: An Indian citizen has asked a D.C. federal court to compel the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to resolve her employment authorization renewal application, saying its unlawful delay caused her to lose her job where she was working on a multimillion-dollar project.
County Called ICE On Immigrant For Traffic Issue, Suit Says
Law360: A Salvadoran immigrant has brought a $5 million lawsuit against a Maryland county, saying it illegally detained and transferred him to federal immigration enforcement over a minor traffic violation, exposing him to federal surveillance and the threat of deportation.
Judge Won’t Ax Florida Challenge To Biden Border Policy
Law360: A federal judge refused to toss Florida’s legal attack on the Biden administration’s border detention policies, saying Wednesday the courts could “unquestionably” review the federal government’s detention policies in a harsh rebuke to the administration’s claims of discretionary immigration authority.
USCIS Temporary Final Rule Increasing Automatic Extension Period for EADs
AILA: USCIS temporary final rule providing that the automatic extension period applicable to expiring EADs for certain renewal applicants who have filed Form I-765 will be increased from up to 180 days to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on their EADs. (87 FR 26614, 5/4/22)
HHS Supplementary Request for Comment on Forms Related to Release of Unaccompanied Children
AILA: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supplementary request for public comment on revised versions of several forms related to the release of unaccompanied children from the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Comments are due 6/6/22. (87 FR 27159, 5/6/22)
RESOURCES
NIJC Resources
General Resources
EVENTS
NIJC EVENTS
GENERAL EVENTS
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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
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