COVID-19
Note: Policies are rapidly changing, so please verify information on the relevant government websites and with colleagues on listservs as best you can.
EOIR Status Overview & EOIR Court Status Map/List: Hearings in non-detained cases at courts without an announced date are postponed through, and including, December 4, 2020. NYC non-detained remains closed for hearings.
TOP NEWS
Biden plans sweeping reversal of Trump’s immigration agenda, from deportations to asylum policy
CBS: While the COVID-19 public health crisis and its impact on the U.S. economy will preoccupy President-elect Joe Biden during his first weeks in office, the incoming Democratic administration is also expected to quickly start dismantling President Trump’s immigration agenda. See also Biden might need years to reverse Trump’s immigration policies on DACA, asylum, family separation, ICE raids, private detention and more and Trump Could Further Rattle Immigration Law Before His Exit.
WaPo: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials said the updated exam will take effect Dec. 1, though elderly applicants who have been green-card holders for at least 20 years will be allowed to take the shorter version instead. See also More Green Card Holders Are Becoming U.S. Citizens.
Federal judge rules acting DHS head Chad Wolf unlawfully appointed, invalidates DACA suspension
NBC: A federal judge in New York City on Saturday said Chad Wolf has not been acting lawfully as the chief of Homeland Security and that, as such, his suspension of protections for a class of migrants brought to the United States illegally as children is invalid.
Migrant Children Will No Longer Be Held in Detention in Mexico
Vice: The reform, which took effect this week, also gives migrant children temporary legal status in Mexico in order to avoid immediate deportation and allow time for them to seek legal avenues for staying in the country.
ICE launches billboards in Charlotte featuring at-large public safety threats
ICE: These individuals were previously arrested or convicted of crimes in the U.S. but were released into the community instead of being transferred to ICE custody pursuant to an immigration detainer.
Under Trump asylum policy, hundreds of Cubans remain locked up in US detention centers
AZ: The number of Cuban migrants arriving at the southern border tripled from 7,079 in fiscal year 2018 to 21,499 in fiscal year 2019, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Meanwhile, the backlog of Cuban migrants in federal immigration courts has soared 347 percent, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
The National Book Awards named their first undocumented finalist
CNN: The stories she tells in “The Undocumented Americans” aim to reveal the complex lives of people who are often oversimplified or overlooked — who, as she puts it in her book’s introduction, “don’t inspire hashtags or T-shirts.”
CBS: In 2014, Attorney Sergio Garcia became the first undocumented immigrant in the United States to pass the bar and practice law in California without being a citizen. He was honored with a Medal of Valor by then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris for the achievement. Now in 2020, he’s earned his citizenship and he was able to vote for the first time in the election.
LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS
Asylum Bars Effective 11/20, TRO Hearing 11/18
Pacer: A motion for a temporary restraining order will be heard in Pangea Legal Services v. DHS, 3:20-cv-07721 (N.D. Cal. filed Nov. 2, 2020) two days before the new asylum bars are scheduled to go into effect.
The BIA ruled that absent ineffective assistance of counsel, or a showing undermining the validity and finality of the finding, it is inappropriate for the Board to exercise its discretion to reopen a case and vacate an IJ’s frivolousness finding. Matter of H-Y-Z-, 28 I&N Dec. 156 (BIA 2020) AILA Doc. No. 20111334.
Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Trump Administration’s Arguments in Immigration Case
Law&Crime: The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in an immigration case about whether the government must provide relevant information in one statutory notice or whether inadequate notice can be cured by sending multiple documents over time. Those arguments did not appear to go well for the time-limited Trump administration.
Los Angeles-Area Individual Pleads Guilty to Arranging Fraudulent Marriages for Immigration Purposes
Chang Yu “Andy” He, of Monterey Park, CA, and the owner of Fair Price Immigration Service, pled guilty to a federal conspiracy charge to commit marriage fraud. Specifically, He planned to arrange fraudulent marriages for three pairs of Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens to obtain green cards. AILA Doc. No. 20111338
USCIS updated policy guidance clarifying that USCIS calculates an applicant’s CSPA age using the petition underlying the AOS application. The guidance also clarifies how USCIS determines the age of derivatives of widow(er)s, and how applicants may satisfy the “sought to acquire” requirement. AILA Doc. No. 20111337
USCIS Updates Policy Guidance on Civics Educational Requirement for Purposes of Naturalization
USCIS updated policy guidance on the naturalization civics test, increasing the general bank of questions to 128, the number of exam questions to 20, the number of correct answers needed to pass to 12, and providing for officers to ask all 20 test items even if applicants achieve a passing score. AILA Doc. No. 20111331
DOS Announces Phased Resumption of Routine Visa Services
DOS updated its announcement and FAQs on the phased resumption of visa services, noting that resumption would occur on a post-by-post basis, but that there are no specific dates for each mission. DOS also announced that it has extended the validity of Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fees to 12/31/21. AILA Doc. No. 20071435
RESOURCES
Transition Memos:
- Possible Cabinet Appointees
- Transition Team
- The Biden Plan For Securing Our Values As A Nation Of Immigrants
- CMS: Improving the U.S. Immigration System in the First Year of the Biden Administration
- ILRC: Blueprint for the Next Administration
- CGRS: Asylum Priorities for the Next Presidential TermNovember 2020Center forGender & Refugee Studies
- AILA: A Vision for America as a Welcoming Nation
- MPI: At the Starting Gate
- IARC: Our Path Forward
- 2021 Immigration Action Plan
Other:
- Domestic and Gang Violence Claims After Matter of A-B-: Reactions to the Case and Strategies for Success
- Comprehensive List of AG-Certified Opinions in Trump Administration To Date
- Protecting the Materiality Requirement in False Citizenship Claim Cases Outside the Eleventh Circuit
- CRS Releases Report on Searches and Seizures at the Border and the Fourth Amendment
- Frequently Asked Questions on Ethics During the Pandemic
- CBP Provides FY2020 Statistics on Assaults and Use of Force
- EOIR Releases Workload and Adjudication Statistics
- 2020 State Immigration Legislation in Review
- Summary of Temporary Visa and Country Related Travel Bans
- Practice Alert: Temporary Changes to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Response to COVID-19
EVENTS
- 11/16/20 The Evolution of U.S. Homeland Security in the 21st Century
- 11/17/20 Post Election Update & the Impact on Immigration Protections for Survivors
- 11/17/20, 11/19/20 Trauma Informed Interviewing
- 11/17/20 Make the Government Pay! Attorney fees in Immigration
- 11/17/20 Employment-Based Immigration Opportunities for Immigrant Youth
- 11/17/20 Post Election Update & the Impact on Immigration Protections for Survivors
- 11/18/20 Gender-Based Asylum w/ CGRS
- 11/18/20 Applying for Asylum and Related Relief for Clients with Convictions
- 11/19/20 I-ARC Public Charge Training
- 11/23/20-12/14/20 Selected Issues in Family-Based Immigration
- 11/24/20 VAWA Self-Petitioning Fundamentals
- 11/30/20 Perfecting a Winning Strategy for Asylum Applications
- 12/2/20 Migration, Climate Change, and Human Adaptation
- 12/2/20 An Overview of Naturalization
- 12/2/20 Legal Writing for DOJ Accredited Representatives
- 12/2/20-12/3/20 Legal Remedies for Immigrant Survivors: Introductory Seminar Series
- 12/3/20 Representing Permanent Residents in LPR Cancellation Cases
- 12/3/20 2020 AILA Crimes and Immigration Virtual Conference
- 12/3/20-12/4/20 53rd Annual Immigration and Naturalization Institute
- 12/8/20 Litigating Your Way Out of Delay
- 12/9/20 Public Charge in Consular Processing
- 12/15/20 Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude
- 12/16/20 LPRs and Public Charge
- 12/16/20 Program Strategies for Removal Defense Practice
- 2/4/21 Basic Immigration Law 2021: Business, Family, Naturalization and Related Areas
- 2/5/21 Asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Crime Victim, and Other Immigration Relief 2021
ImmProf
Monday, November 16, 2020
- ‘Dreamer’ protections to be reinstated by Joe Biden on day one: Incoming Chief of Staff Ron Klain
- Immigration Article of the Day: Pleading the Fifth in Immigration Court: A Regulatory Proposal by Tania N. Valdez
Sunday, November 15, 2020
- The Travails of U.S. Military Contractors in Kuwait
- Immigration Article of the Day: Climate Change, Race, and Migration by Carmen Gonzalez
Saturday, November 14, 2020
- Judge finds DHS Acting Secretary Wolfe Unauthorized to Restrict DACA
- Coming This Friday to Amazon Video: Small Axe
- Read a Protest Poem, Get Arrested by ICE? Ninth Circuit to Hear Arguments in First Amendment Case of Retaliatory Removal
- Immigration Article of the Day: Deportation Arrest Warrants by Lindsay Nash
Friday, November 13, 2020
- Dreamers laud Biden’s win but remain vigilant on his DACA, immigration promises
- Refugees Drown Near Libya
- ICE Billboard Campaign Continues: ICE launches billboards in Charlotte featuring at-large public safety threats
- Trump administration’s revisions to the naturalization exam could make the test harder for immigrants seeking citizenship
- Immigration Article of the Day: Inalienable Citizenship by Irina D. Manta & Cassandra Burke Robertson
Thursday, November 12, 2020
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
- NYT Names Possible Cabinet Appointees
- Briefing: Persisting Inequalities and Paths Forward: A Report on the State of Undocumented Students at California’s Public Universities.
- Book Talk: Banned: Immigration Enforcement in the Time of Trump
- Lawyers can’t find the parents of 666 migrant kids, a higher number than previously reported
- Happy Veterans Day: The Contributions of Immigrant Service People
- Immigration Article of the Day: Asylum Under Attack by Lindsay Harris
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
- Biden’s DOJ “Agency Review Team”
- Biden’s DHS “Agency Review Team”
- Improving the U.S. Immigration System in the First Year of the Biden Administration
- Supreme Court Comments in the Harvard Law Review on Major Immigration Decisions
- Niz-Chavez v. Barr: “Pereira Groundhog Day”
- BioNTech’s Covid vaccine: a shot in the arm for Germany’s Turkish community
- TODAY Nov 10 CMS Conference
- Nov 11 Cornell talk on asylum and refugee system in US and Canada
- Immigration Article of the Day: Cultivating Civic Belonging for Resettled Refugees by Megan J. Ballard
Monday, November 9, 2020
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Already looking forward with great anticipation to Elizabeth’s report for January 25, 2021!
Also, many thanks and deep appreciation to the heroes at Pangea Legal Services, part of the “West Coast Division of the New Due Process Army” for filing the timely challenge to the regime’s latest bogus asylum regulations. See “Item #1” under “LITIGATION.”
Due Process Forever!
PWS
11-18-20