THE GIBSON REPORT – 10-09-18– Compiled By Elizabeth
Gibson, Esq., NY Legal Assistance Group
TOP UPDATES
The Atlantic: The stakes are higher in a Supreme Court case to be heard [] Wednesday. Nielsen v. Preap may determine whether thousands of longtime residents of the U.S. face indefinite detention without a hearing…Nielsen v. Preap will be heard by eight of the justices who decided Jennings—joined by the newly confirmed Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
An ICE Memo Lays Out The Differences Between Trump And Obama On Immigration Enforcement
BuzzFeed: Attorneys for Immigration and Customs Enforcement were restricted from granting reprieves for certain immigrants facing deportation, ordered to review and potentially reopen previously closed cases, and told that nearly all undocumented immigrants were priorities for deportation, according to a previously unreleased memo obtained by BuzzFeed News.
Judge Temporarily Blocks Termination of TPS for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen granted the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, stopping the termination of TPS for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. The preliminary injunction is effective immediately. (Ramos et al. v. Nielsen et al, 10/3/18) AILA Doc. No. 18092833
USCIS Provides Q&As from Teleconference on Updated NTA Policy Guidance
USCIS: representatives provided an overview of the memorandum and addressed many questions submitted in advance. Highlights include: Q6, Q12, Q15, Q33, Q50, Q62, and Q63.
USCIS Policy Update on Issuing RFEs and NOIDs
USCIS: representatives provided an overview of the memorandum and addressed many questions submitted in advance by the CISOMB… this PM does not change the RFE
and NOID policies and practices that apply to the adjudication of DACA and DACA-related requests. This PM also will not impact asylum, refugee, and NACARA cases because of existing regulatory and policy guidance specific to those requests… For certain filings, an RFE is necessary (updated taxes for a Form I-864; medical exam for a long pending adjustment of status case).
Leaked Report Shows Dysfunction Of Baltimore’s Immigration CourtVICE: But Maryland, with its more than 34,000 pending cases, has the fastest-growing backlog, largely because its sole immigration court, the Baltimore Immigration Court, is one of the most beleaguered and understaffed in the country, according to a confidential Department of Justice review obtained by VICE News.
Trump stops granting visas to same-sex partners of U.N. officials
VICE: The policy change came into effect this week and will impact staff at organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The administration originally flagged the new policy back in July…Foreign partners currently in the U.S., and who wish to remain in the country, have been given until the end of the year to submit proof of marriage to the State Department or face being forced to leave within 30 days.
U.S. citizens applying for green cards for noncitizen spouses see growing waits
NBC: Anastasia Tonello, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said she believes Trump administration policy changes are responsible in part for fueling delays by creating more work for immigration officers.
Inspectors Find Nooses in Cells at Immigration Detention Facility
NYT: Migrants imprisoned at the country’s largest privately-run adult immigration detention facility manage to regularly hang “nooses” fashioned from bedsheets in their cells, according to a report by federal inspectors made public on Tuesday.
LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS
Another Setback for Trump Administration in Sanctuary Case
ImmProf: In an order released on Friday, a federal judge in California struck down an immigration law that the Trump administration has used to go after cities and states that limit cooperation with immigration officials. The ruling by District Judge William Orrick also directed the U.S. Department of Justice to give California $28 million that was withheld over the state’s immigration policies.
BIA Reopens Proceedings for Respondent Who Meets Requirements for “U” Visa
Unpublished BIA decision reopens proceedings sua sponte in light of USCIS letter stating that respondent satisfied the requirements for “U” nonimmigrant status but a visa was not yet available. Special thanks to IRAC. (Matter of Patel, 9/15/17) AILA Doc. No. 18100500
BIA Dismisses Respondent’s Appeal and Discusses §18.5 of the California Penal Code
The BIA found that the amendment to §18.5 of the California Penal Code, which retroactively lowered the maximum possible sentence from 365 days to 364 days, does not affect the applicability of INA §237(a)(2)(A)(i)(II). Matter of Velasquez-Rios, 27 I&N Dec. 470 (BIA 2018) AILA Doc. No. 18100570
USCIS Advance Copy of Proposed Regulations on Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility
USCIS advance copy of a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise the regulations on the public charge ground of inadmissibility. The notice of proposed rulemaking will be published in the Federal Register on 10/10/18, and comments will be due 60 days from the date of publication. AILA Doc. No. 18092430
USCIS 60-day notice and request for comment on proposed revisions to Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver. The proposed changes would remove the receipt of a means-tested benefit as a criterion for receipt of a fee waiver. Comments are due 11/27/18. (83 FR 49120, 9/28/18) AILA Doc. No. 18092870
DHS OIG: Results of Unannounced Inspections of Conditions for Unaccompanied Children in CBP Custody
DHS OIG issued a report based on visits between June 26, and 28, 2018, by an OIG team to nine CBP facilities in McAllen and El Paso, Texas, including five Border Patrol stations and four OFO ports of entry. DHS OIG found that children were held longer than the 72 hours generally permitted by law. AILA Doc. No. 18100203
USCIS Announces the Use of Tablets During Naturalization Interviews
Posted 10/4/2018
USCIS announced that on 10/1/18, USCIS began using digital tablets to administer the English reading and writing tests during naturalization interviews.
AILA Doc. No. 18100434
USCIS Notice of Reestablishment of Matching Program for Receipt of Federal Benefits in California
USCIS notice of the reestablishment of the ‘‘Verification Division DHS–USCIS/CA–DSS’’ computer matching program, which will be used to determine whether benefit applicants in California possess the requisite immigration status to be eligible for the TANF and SNAP programs. (83 FR 50672, 10/9/18) AILA Doc. No. 18100900
CBP Statement on Canada’s Legalization of Marijuana and Crossing the Border
CBP released a statement on Canada’s legalization of marijuana, stating that “working in or facilitating the proliferation of the legal marijuana industry in U.S. states where it is deemed legal or Canada may affect admissibility to the U.S.” AILA Doc. No. 18100804
RESOURCES
- Immigrants Vote! Voter Informational Guide(in several languages)
- CRS: Immigration: Frequently Asked Questions about “Public Charge”
- CRS: Expedited Removal of Aliens: Legal Framework
- Bite-Sized Ethics: Choosing Between Loyalty and Lying
- AILA: Highlights from September 2018 USCIS Teleconference on Notices to Appear Policy Memorandum
- How to Explain the Public Charge Rule to Clients, Reporters, and Members of the Public
- Ethical Questions in Representing Clients with Administratively Closed Removal Cases
- Practice Alert: Long-Pending I-765 and I-131 Applications at the NBC
EVENTS
- 10/9/18 Citizenship in an Era of Record Migration and Growing Nationalism
- 10/9/18Stress Testing International Refugee Law: A Time of Gulag Archipelagos, Moats, and Walls
- 10/10/18 National Context: The Legal Fights over Sanctuary Policies
- 10/10/18 Immigrant Women, Labor, and the Quest for Gender Justice
- 10/13/18 The Economics and Ethics of Immigration
- 10/17/18Lives in the Balance: Eviscerating Asylum Protection for Victims of Gender Violence
- 10/18/18Temporary Protected Status Beneficiaries: What’s Next?
- 10/24-26/18 Queens conviction sealing workshops
- 10/25/18Hot Topics in Terminating, Closing, and Continuing Removal Proceedings
- 10/26/18 A Nation of Immigrants? 50 Years of the New Immigration
- 10/26-27/18 Mobilize, Organize, Resist: Immigrant Justice Lawyering in New York see attached
- 11/8/18 NYIC Tour of JFK Port
- 11/26-28/18 CLINIC & NITA “Advocacy in Immigration Matters”
- 2/8/19 Asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Crime Victim, and Other Immigration Relief 2019
ImmProf
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
- Politifact: Immigration in 5 charts: a 2018 midterm report
- Brookings: Report — A dozen facts about immigration
- Migrant Children in Search of Justice: A 2-Year-Old’s Day in Immigration Court
Monday, October 8, 2018
- A High-Stakes Immigration Case Hits the Supreme Court
- Refugees and Migrants Tell Their Own Stories Through Photographs
- Immigration Article of the Day: CONSTITUTIONAL CITIES: SANCTUARY JURISDICTIONS, LOCAL VOICE, AND INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY by Toni M. Massaro and Shefali Milczarek-Desai
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Saturday, October 6, 2018
- Immprofs at SALT on Teaching Empathy (Without Students Realizing It)
- Law & Order SVU Takes on “Zero Tolerance”
- Checkpoint Nation?
- The New Underground Railroad? Safe House: A group of Latina women across the country have been working in secret, turning their homes into shelters for abused immigrant women
Friday, October 5, 2018
- MacArthur Foundation 2018 Genius Grants Include Becca Heller & Raj Jayadev
- Law Professors Step Up: The Senate Should Not Confirm Kavanaugh
- Nobel Peace Prize Lauds Advocates Against Sexual Violence
Thursday, October 4, 2018
- Making The Case for Asylum: Duterte Edition
- Argument preview: Justices once again consider proper scope of immigration law’s mandatory detention provision
- District Court Enters Injunction in Challenge to Stripping TPS from Salvadorans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Sudanese
- Immigration Article of the Day: Citizenship and the Census by Justin Levitt
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
- From the Bookshelves: American Hate: Survivors Speak Out. Edited by Arjun Singh Sethi
- LBJ hails immigration reform, Oct. 3, 1965
- Architectural Photography Award Shortlist Includes Border Crossing Facility
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
- DHS OIG Report on Adelanto Immigration Detention Facility Finds Nooses in Cells, Other Detention Standards Violations
- Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States
- Trump Administration to Deny Visas to Same-Sex Partners of Diplomats
- US, Mexico, and Canada Again Avoid Addressing Immigration in Trade Accord
Monday, October 1, 2018
- CNN: Letters from Mothers Separated from Their Children by Immigration Authorities
- NYT: Transfer of Unaccompanied Children to Unregulated Tent City in Tornillo, TX
- Immigration Court Case Quotas Go Into Effect Today
- Supreme Court Asks for SG’s Views in Cross-Border Shooting Case
- Marty Lederman: Return to Garza: How ORR is acting without statutory authority (and why DOJ’s arguments haven’t gotten any better since last year)
AILA NEWS UPDATE
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Thanks, Elizabeth!
PWS
10-12-18