THE GIBSON REPORT — 02-25-19 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, New York Legal Assistance Group
TOP UPDATES
Homeland Security Regional Compact Plan
DHS: On February 20, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen met Northern Triangle security ministers in San Salvador, El Salvador to discuss the development of a “regional compact” and action plan aimed at addressing the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis of irregular migration and the formation of migrant caravans. See also Homeland Security Regional Compact Plan Won’t Address Root Causes of Refugee Crisis.
The Demographics of Detention: Immigration Enforcement in NYC Under Trump
NYC Comptroller: The data clearly show that immigration enforcement actions have increased under the Trump Administration… Chinese immigrants make up the largest nationality of New York City immigrants with immigration court proceedings, with over 10,000 immigration cases (21 percent of cases) begun since FY 2016. Immigrants from India comprise roughly ten percent of all cases, while immigrants from Ecuador account for about 7 percent of cases and immigrants from Bangladesh for about 8 percent of cases.
Trump Admin Weighs Shielding Venezuelan Migrants From Deportation
DailyBeast: Team Trump moved to end ‘Temporary Protected Status’ for people from half a dozen countries. Now there’s debate about extending it to Venezuelans—and the pushback has begun.
EOIR Rules Are Biased Against Immigration Attys, AILA Says
Law360 reports on a letter sent by AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson and AILA President Anastasia Tonello to EOIR Director James McHenry expressing concerns that a memo he issued “perpetuated” the “continued imbalance in the treatment of counsel” appearing in immigration courts. AILA Doc. No. 19022001
Mexican Cops Do Trump’s Dirty Work Thwarting Asylum Seekers
DailyBeast: Mexico is not paying for ‘The Wall,’ but some officials are playing the U.S. administration’s game along the border, and the human cost is high.
Transgender woman deported from US murdered in El Salvador
WaBlade: The group looked for Camila at various hospitals and eventually learned she had been admitted to Rosales National Hospital in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital, on Jan. 31 with multiple injuries. Camila passed away on Feb. 3.
ICE Is Sending Hundreds of Asylum-Seekers to a Private Prison in Mississippi
MJ: ICE’s experiment at Tallahatchie has been carried out with little transparency or oversight. Congress required ICE in 2018 to publish basic information about the jails and detention centers it uses, but the agency has kept Tallahatchie off that list.
Migrant Youth Go From A Children’s Shelter To Adult Detention On Their 18th Birthday
NPR: When migrant children cross the border without their parents, they’re sent to federal shelters until caseworkers can find them a good home. But everything changes when they turn 18. That’s when, in many cases, they’re handcuffed and locked up in an adult detention facility. The practice is sparking lawsuits and outrage from immigrant advocates.
Democrats Used To Talk About ‘Criminal Immigrants,’ So What Changed The Party?
NPR: The makeup of the Democratic Party has changed, and its base has adopted a fundamentally more progressive attitude on immigration in a relatively short time span, which poses a challenge for party leaders.
LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS
Multiple Lawsuits Filed Against Trump’s National Emergency Declaration
AIC: The biggest challenge yet came on Monday [2/18], when a coalition of sixteen states—including California, New Mexico, and New York—brought a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in the Northern District of California. See also Tracking the legal challenges to Trump’s emergency declaration.
NBC: The rule change would strip employment authorization from the spouses of H-1B visa recipients who are on track for green cards to work in the United States.
EOIR Issues Memo on Its Strategic Caseload Reduction Plan
EOIR issued a redacted version of its strategic caseload reduction plan pursuant to an AILA FOIA request. AILA Doc. No. 19021932. See also FOIA Reveals EOIR’s Failed Plan for Fixing the Immigration Court Backlog.
EOIR Announces Plans to Relocate the Buffalo Immigration Court
EOIR announced it will temporarily close its Buffalo, NY, immigration court at 12:00 noon (ET) on February 20, 2019, to prepare for relocation to another floor within the building. Hearings will recommence on the third floor of the building on February 26, 2019. AILA Doc. No. 19021933
USCIS Contact Center Experiencing “Higher Than Normal” Wait Times
USCIS announced that its Contact Center is experiencing higher than normal wait times for callers to speak to a representative. Representatives are available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (ET), Monday – Friday (excluding federal holidays). USCIS encourages callers to use its online tools. AILA Doc. No. 19022531
RESOURCES
- Center for Immigrant Representation
- AILA’s Policy Brief: FOIA Reveals EOIR’s Failed Plan for Fixing the Immigration Court Backlog
- CLINIC Matter of L-E-A- Brief
- Eight Facts about Refugees & Asylum Seekers
EVENTS
- 2/26/19 Naturalization Challenges and Strategies in the Trump Era
- 2/28/19 Be a Better Conductor: Common Ways Immigration Individual Hearings Go Off the Rails
- 3/6/19 Chinese Couplets (Women’s History Month Screening)
- 3/8/19 Asylum & Immigration Conference with the Federal Bar Association at NY Law School
- 3/11/19 NYIC CLE to discuss the state of immigration detention in New York
- 3/12/19 AILA Spring Federal Court Litigation Conference
- 3/13/19 Sanctuary Law: Can Religious Liberty Protect Immigrants?
- 3/26-27/19 CLINIC: Immigration Legal Services for Immigrants Experiencing Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
- 3/28/19 The Rise Of Legal Status Restrictions In American Social Welfare Policy
- 3/28/19 Land of Song: Voicing Immigration; Carnegie Hall’s Migrations
- 3/29/19 Keeping Up with the Nguyens: When Poor Immigrants Return to the Homeland
- 4/11/19 Heating up History: An Exploration of Spice, Hot Sauce, and Immigrant Foods
- 8/4/19 Legal, Cultural, & Historical Approach to Understanding the Complex and Controversial Issue Dominating Our National Dialogue
ImmProf
Monday, February 25, 2019
- Full Text of Bipartisan Declaration of Former Senior U.S. Officials Refuting President’s Claim of a National Emergency at Southern Border
- International Organization for Migration: Migration scored with film audiences in 2018
Sunday, February 24, 2019
- Maryland (Republican) Governor on Immigration Reform
- In Garlic Capital, Tariffs And Immigration Crackdown Have Mixed Impacts
- Trump Administration’s Plan to Reduce Immigration Court Backlog: Fast Track Deportations
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
- Family files lawsuit against Trump administration seeking to return “ISIS bride” to US
- Lawsuit Claims that Immigration Agents used “excessive force” during Tennessee raid
- Immigration Article of the Day: Resistance Strategies in the Immigrant Justice Movement by Mariela Olivares
Thursday, February 21, 2019
- ‘The most unbelievable story in golf’: A treacherous border crossing was just the beginning of José de Jesús Rodríguez’s journey to the PGA Tour
- Being An Immigration Judge Was Their Dream. Under Trump, It Became Untenable.
- Immigration Article of the Day: Towards Empowerment and Sustainability: Reforming America’s Syrian Refugee Policy by Sahar F. Aziz, Joanna Gardner, and Omar Rana
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
- Immigration Article of the Day: Immigrant Sanctuary as the “Old Normal”: A Brief History of Police Federalism by Trevor George Gardner
- Your Playlist: Randy Rainbow
- Democrats Moving More Pro-Immigration?
- Caravans of Hope
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
- The Deported Americans
- New York Asylum & Immigration Law Conference
- California and 15 Other States File Lawsuit Challenging President Trump’s Declaration of National Emergency at the Southern Border
- Robert Tsai on the Constitutionality of President Trump’s Emergency Declaration
Monday, February 18, 2019
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Thanks, Elizabeth!
PWS
02-27-19