TOP UPDATES
Federal Court Preserves SIJS for UACs between 18 and 21
ImmProf: On behalf of their clients, the Legal Aid Society and Latham & Watkins praised a decision rendered [Friday] by United States District Judge John Koeltl on litigation brought last June … The lawsuit, filed as a class action by five young adults who applied for but were denied SIJS by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS), challenged a 2018 policy change in which USCIS unilaterally reinterpreted the law in a manner that effectively precluded minors between the ages of 18 and up to 21 from qualifying for SIJS.
- US Again Cuts Women from State Department’s Human Rights Reports
- State Dept. Accuses China of Rights Abuses Not Seen ‘Since the 1930s’
- Russia, China And Iran Respond To U.S. Human Rights Report: Look Who’s Talking
- State Department Human Rights Reports Showcase Selectivity of Administration on Abuses
Trump just used his first-ever veto to save his national emergency
Vox: President Donald Trump just used his first veto, and he did it save his recent national emergency, something he declared to obtain funding for a southern border wall. On Friday, he vetoed a congressional resolution that would have terminated the national emergency and barred him from authorizing certain military funds for border wall construction.
ICE supervisors sometimes skip required review of detention warrants, emails show
CNN: Internal emails and other ICE documents he obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, since reviewed by CNN, show that other officers across the five-state region where Oxley worked had improperly signed warrants on behalf of their supervisors — especially on evenings or weekends. Some supervisors even gave their officers pre-signed blank warrants — in effect, illegally handing them the authority to begin the deportation process.
Trump admin has turned back 240 asylum-seekers at border under ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy
NBC: Under the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy, 240 asylum-seekers have been turned around near San Diego and sent back to Mexico where they must wait until a U.S. immigration judge can hear their case, Department of Homeland Security officials said Tuesday. See also Scheduling glitch affects first hearings for ‘Remain in Mexico’ returnees and Exclusive: Mexican Officials Are Extorting Thousands Of Dollars From Migrants Applying For Asylum.
Trump administration preparing to close international immigration offices
WaPo: The Trump administration is preparing to shutter all international offices of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a move that could slow the processing of family visa applications, foreign adoptions and citizenship petitions from members of the military stationed abroad.
Here are 7 new rules N.J. cops must follow when dealing with immigrants – starting today
NJ.com: The sweeping new procedures, unveiled in November by State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, outline when the state’s 36,000 police officers can ask people about their immigration status and cut back on cases where police can cooperate with federal Immigration agents. The rules also limit when county jails can detain prisoners who are in the country illegally.
WaPo: Criminal organizations in Mexico have mounted a lucrative new smuggling operation that uses express buses to deliver Guatemalan migrant families to the U.S. border in a matter of days, making the journey faster, easier and safer, according to U.S. law enforcement reports and U.S. and Guatemalan officials.
Newsweek: Al Otro Lado, a California-based group offering legal services to immigrants, said that as many as 17 parents are still in ICE custody more than a week after they were initially detained on March 2. As Newsweek previously reported, the parents had came to the U.S. as part of a group of 29 and had been deported after they were separated from their children last year.
U.S. weighs plan to phase out family detention at Texas facility, despite migration surge
WaPo: ICE would instead use the Karnes facility to house easier-to-deport single adults, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been finalized.
WaPo: The database contains billions of records on vehicle locations captured from red-light and speed-limit cameras as well as from parking lots and toll roads that use the nearly ubiquitous and inexpensive scanners to monitor vehicle comings and goings.
House Democrats propose offering 2 million immigrants the chance to apply for U.S. citizenship
WaPo: The bill would offer green cards and a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children or teenagers — those known as “dreamers” — and to people now in the country on temporary permits that prevent them from being deported.
Bush hosting naturalization ceremony: Immigration is a ‘blessing and a strength’
Hill: The former president will also emphasize the importance of immigrants entering the country legally, according to Politico, and will speak about the “responsibility” of elected officials to “regulate who comes in and when.”
CEO of Southwest Key, the largest network of shelters for migrant children in the U.S., has resigned
VICE: The New York Times reported Southwest Key has collected $1.7 billion in federal contracts over the past decade. Sanchez was paid $1.5 million in 2017 alone. The organization received widespread attention last summer and fall following controversies surrounding the agency’s management and treatment of undocumented minors in its shelters.
In Search of Safety: An Investigation of Abuse at an Immigration Facility
Rewire: Over a ten-month period, Rewire.News partnered with Latino USA to dig into the case of one woman’s alleged sexual abuse. What we learned through a FOIA request raised questions about internal investigations at immigration facilities and the safety of thousands of detained immigrants.
Cafe to Help Refugees Opens Inside Brooklyn Public Library
NY1: Emma’s Torch opened the cafe in the Brooklyn Public Library’s main branch. The non profit trains refugees to work in the culinary industry to help them build lives in the community.
Trump Crackdown Unnerves Immigrants, and the Farmers Who Rely on Them
NYT: It has long been an open secret that some farms survive by relying on an undocumented labor force. Now, tough immigration enforcement has caused a crisis.
Bill to Allow Jury Trials in NYC for Low-Level Charges Clears Hurdle in Albany
NYLJ: A bill that would close a loophole in New York’s criminal procedure law that prohibits jury trials for low-level charges in New York City, but not the rest of the state, cleared a major hurdle this week when it passed the Codes Committee in the state Senate.
LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS
Ninth Circuit Court Provides Guidance on Difference Between Motions to Reopen or Reconsider
The Ninth Circuit Court provided guidance on the difference between motions to reopen and motions to reconsider in immigration proceedings including information on jurisdiction, standard of review, requirements, limitations, ineffective assistance of counsel, and more. AILA Doc. No. 19031540
SSA Notice of New Travel and Border Crossing Records System of Records
Social Security Administration (SSA) notice of a new system of records entitled Travel and Border Crossing Records to collect information about applicants, beneficiaries, and recipients of benefits under Titles II, XVI, and XVIII who have had absences from the U.S. (84 FR 9195, 3/13/19) AILA Doc. No. 19031302
ICE Announces Indictment of Eight Individuals for Exploiting Student Visa System
ICE reports eight individuals were indicted and arrested for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harboring foreign nationals for profit as part of an undercover operation involving a private university in Detroit that was operated by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents. AILA Doc. No. 19013108
RESOURCES
- U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018
- Crossing State Lines: A Practical Guide for Immigration Lawyers When Volunteering Their Services Out of State
- AILA Submits Amicus Brief on Good Moral Character and Multiple DUIs
- Sign-On Letter to DHS and DOS Requesting Venezuela Be Designated for TPS
- Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
- Immigration Beyond the Headlines
- NEW REPORT: Lawyers Assess the Impact of Immigration Detention on New Yorkers
- When Corruption Is the Operating System: The Case of Honduras
EVENTS
- 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 2019 Dash Conference Program: Human Rights and Today’s Vulnerable Migrants
- 3/29/19 Keeping Up with the Nguyens: When Poor Immigrants Return to the Homeland
- 4/3/19-5/1/19 Selected Issues in VAWA and U Status
- 4/11/19 2019 National Day of Action
- 4/11/19 Heating up History: An Exploration of Spice, Hot Sauce, and Immigrant Foods
- 5/2/19 The Assault on Due Process and the Need for an Independent Immigration Court
- 6/17/19 2019 AILA/GMS Annual Global Immigration Forum
- 8/4/19 Legal, Cultural, & Historical Approach to Understanding the Complex and Controversial Issue Dominating Our National Dialogue
ImmProf
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Saturday, March 16, 2019
- Federal Court Preserves SIJS for UACs between 18 and 21
- Immigration Article of the Day: Rescinding Inclusion in the Administrative State: Adjudicating DACA, the Census, and the Military’s Transgender Policy by Peter Margulies
Friday, March 15, 2019
- New Zealand Shootings Fueled by Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Muslim, Pro-Trump Philosophy
- Conflicting Messages on Legal Immigration
- 12 Republican Senators Join Dems in Backing Resolution Rejecting Trump Emergency Declaration
Thursday, March 14, 2019
- Do Immigrants Threaten U.S. Public Safety?
- Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018
- Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
- ICE Detention Blues
- Watch the Ninth Circuit Arguments in the California “Sanctuary” Case
- Immigration Article of the Day: All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace: Border Searches of Electronic Devices in the Digital Age by Sean O’Grady
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
- Why Hungary Is Accepting Venezuelan Migrants
- Immigration Article of the Day: Making Federalism Great Again: How the Trump Administration’s Attack on Sanctuary Cities Unintentionally Strengthened Judicial Protection for State Autonomy by Ilya Somin
- ICE Agents Forge Supervisor Signatures on Administrative Warrants
- Immigration Challenge in a Divided Europe
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
- 240 Asylum Seekers Told To Remain in Mexico
- National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: “Yo no soy oso”
- If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will
- Immigration Article of the Day: Bodily Inertia and the Weaponization of the Sonoran Desert in US Boundary Enforcement: A GIS Modeling of Migration Routes through Arizona’s Altar Valley by Geoffrey Alan, Samuel N. Chambers, and Sarah Launius
Monday, March 11, 2019
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Thanks, as always, Elizabeth!
PWS
03-23-19