Tag: Gibson Report 12-07-20

THE GIBSON REPORT — 12-07-20 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Esquire, NY Legal Assistance Group

Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson
Attorney, NY Legal Assistance Group
Publisher of “The Gibson Report”

COVID-19

Note: Policies are rapidly changing, so please verify information on the relevant government websites and with colleagues 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,January 1, 2020. NYC non-detained remains closed for hearings.

 

TOP NEWS

 

Judge Orders Government to Fully Reinstate DACA Program

NYT: Up to 300,000 additional undocumented immigrants could be allowed to apply for protection from deportation under a new court ruling. President Trump had sought to cancel the program.

 

Biden picks California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be Secretary of Health and Human Services

ImmProf: As Attorney General, Becerra has filed 100 challenges to Trump administration policies, including many immigration and immigrant-related ones such as the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, efforts to defund sanctuary cities, addition of a U.S. citizenship question to Census 2020, and more.  Just last week Becerra won a challenge to President Trump’s public charge rule in the Ninth Circuit.

 

A Trump Immigration Policy Is Leaving Families Hungry

NYT: The “public charge” rule was supposed to ensure that green cards go only to self-sufficient immigrants, but in the pandemic, it is driving up hunger and leaving Joe Biden with a quandary.

 

Biden’s policies on immigration

WaPo: President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to make the United States a welcoming place for

immigrants, but his plans to dismantle the Trump administration’s barriers to immigration

could leave him in a quandary, especially as a new migration surge could be looming.

 

Undocumented Immigrants Are Half as Likely to Be Arrested for Violent Crimes as U.S.-Born Citizens

Scientific American: Some of the most solid evidence to date shows that President Trump’s cornerstone immigration policy was built on a wholly false premise.

 

LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS

 

EOIR Issues Memo Consolidating and Updating Policy Regarding the Processing of Asylum Applications

EOIR issued a policy memo (PM 21-06) consolidating and replacing OPPM 00-01, Asylum Request Processing, and OPPM 13-02, The Asylum Clock. The memo concerns the processing of affirmative and defensive asylum applications, the asylum and EAD clocks, docketing and scheduling, BIA appeals, and more. AILA Doc. No. 20120702

 

EOIR Issues Guidance on “Enhanced Case Flow Processing” in Removal Proceedings

EOIR issued guidance on the implementation of an enhanced case flow processing model for non-status, non-detained cases with representation in removal proceedings. Memo is effective 12/1/20. AILA Doc. No. 20120130

 

BIA Rules on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

BIA ruled that counsel accepting responsibility of error does not discharge the disciplinary authority complaint obligation, and respondents seeking reopening based on ineffective counsel must show probability they would’ve prevailed otherwise. Matter of Melgar, 28 I&N Dec. 169 (BIA 2020) AILA Doc. No. 20120442

 

Full 4th Circ. To Revisit Nationwide Public Charge Block

Law360: The full Fourth Circuit will revisit a lower court order blocking the Trump administration’s immigration wealth test, months after a split panel allowed the federal government to enforce the so-called public charge rule while immigrants challenge it in court.

 

CA1 Finds Petitioner Abandoned LPR Status After Living and Working in Canada for Six Years

The court denied the petition for review, finding that the petitioner, a Lebanese citizen who was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident (LPR) in 1991, had abandoned his LPR status after living and working in Canada for six years. (Mahmoud v. Barr, 11/30/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120708

 

CA1 Upholds Denial of Asylum to Haitian Petitioner Who Provided Unsupported Theory of Attackers’ Motivation

Upholding the BIA’s denial of asylum, the court held that the Haitian petitioner had failed to establish a nexus between his 2017 attack and a protected ground, where he had provided no credible evidence that the attack was motivated by his political activity. (Celicourt v. Barr, 11/17/20) AILA Doc. No. 20113034

 

CA2: Federal Court Affirms New York’s Green Light Law Allowing Undocumented Immigrants To Seek Driver’s Licenses

Gothamist: In a ruling issued Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns’s 2019 lawsuit seeking to block the state’s Green Light law.

 

CA4 Finds BIA Abused Its Discretion in Denying Asylum to Former Colombian Police Officer

The court held that the BIA erred in deciding that the petitioner, a retired Colombian police officer, had not shown past persecution because threats by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were written, and because he was never physically approached. (Bedoya v. Barr, 11/25/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120133

 

CA6 Upholds Matter of Castro-Tum and Says IJs Lack General Authority to Administratively Close Cases

The court found that the Attorney General correctly interpreted 8 CFR §§1003.10 and 1003.1(d) in Matter of Castro-Tum in holding that IJs do not have the general authority to suspend indefinitely immigration proceedings by administrative closure. (Hernandez-Serrano v. Barr, 11/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120134

 

CA7 Finds Petitioner Failed to Exhaust Administrative Remedies Where He Made No Argument About Criminal Violence in Mexico

The court dismissed in part the petitioner’s appeal of the denial of his cancellation of removal application, finding he had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies because he did not ask the BIA to address the subject of criminal violence in Mexico. (Barrados-Zarate v. Barr, 11/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120145

 

CA8 Upholds BIA’s Conclusion That Somali Government Would Not Acquiesce in Any Torture of Petitioner by Al-Shabaab

Where petitioner sought Convention Against Torture (CAT) relief and argued that the Somali government would acquiesce in his torture, the court held that the record did not show that the Somali government had willfully turned a blind eye to Al-Shabaab’s activities. (Moallin v. Barr, 11/23/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120146

 

CA9 Upholds Limited Preliminary Injunctions of DHS Public Charge Rule

CA9 upheld preliminary injunctions issued against DHS’s public charge rule by district courts in California and Washington. In its order, however, the panel majority vacated the Washington court’s entry of a nationwide injunction. (City and County of San Francisco, et. al. v. USCIS 12/2/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120235

 

CA9 Declines to Rehear Vega-Anguiano v. Barr En Banc

The court issued an order amending its prior opinion and denying the rehearing en banc of Vega-Anguiano v. Barr, in which the court found a reinstatement order improper where the petitioner had shown a “gross miscarriage of justice.” (Vega-Anguiano v. Barr, 11/19/19, amended 11/24/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120147

 

CA9 Finds BIA Erred in Giving Reduced Weight to Testimony of Specialist in Gang Activity

The court held that, despite its direction to reconsider the testimony of a specialist in gang activity in Central America and its effect on petitioner’s Convention Against Torture (CAT) claim, the BIA erred on remand by according reduced weight to his testimony. (Castillo v. Barr, 11/18/20) AILA Doc. No. 20113035

 

CA9 Says Showing of Prejudice Is Not Required When Ineffective Assistance Leads to In Absentia Removal Order

Granting the petition for review and remanding, the court held that the BIA erred by treating the petitioners’ failure to show prejudice caused by alleged ineffective assistance of counsel as a basis for denying their motion to reopen removal proceedings. (Sanchez Rosales v. Barr, 11/18/20) AILA Doc. No. 20113036

 

CA11 Says INA §241(a)(5) Bars Reopening of Reinstated Removal Order Where Noncitizen Unlawfully Reentered After Removal

The court concluded that the plain language of INA §241(a)(5) bars the reopening of a reinstated removal order where a noncitizen has illegally reentered the United States following his or her initial removal, and thus denied the petition for review. (Alfaro-Garcia v. Att’y Gen., 11/30/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120709

 

District Court Orders DHS to Fully Restore DACA Program

District court orders DHS to accept first-time requests for DACA, renewal requests, and advance parole requests, based on the terms of the DACA program prior to 9/5/17 and that one-year deferred action and EADs must be extended to two years. (Batalla Vidal, et al., v. Wolf, et al., 12/4/20) AILA Doc. No. 20120701

 

Advance Copy of USCIS Notice of Extension of TPS Documentation for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal

Advance copy of USCIS notice that DHS is automatically extending the validity of TPS-related documentation for beneficiaries under TPS designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal through 10/4/21. The notice will be published in the Federal Register on 12/9/20. AILA Doc. No. 20120710

 

USCIS Issues Memo on Expanding Interviews to Refugee/Asylee Relative Petitions

USCIS issued a policy memo stating that it will require most petitioners to appear for an interview in connection with Form I-730. USCIS will implement the expansion of in-person petitioner interviews in phases and will provide advance public notice before each phase is implemented. AILA Doc. No. 20113041

 

DHS Issues Supplemental Policy Guidance on the Migrant Protection Protocols

DHS issued supplemental policy guidance on MPP, including on access to information about MPP, appeals, family units, mixed-nationality family units, UACs, known physical and mental health issues, use of restraints, interagency collaboration, and ongoing changes. AILA Doc. No. 20120712

 

CBP Says Program to Collect DNA Samples from Certain Individuals in Custody Will Reach Full Operation by End of 2020

CBP announced that the pilot programs it began in January 2020 to assess collection of DNA samples from certain individuals in CBP custody have provided the information it needs to implement nationwide collection. Per CBP, the collection program will reach full operation by December 31, 2020. AILA Doc. No. 20120433

 

RESOURCES

 

 

EVENTS

   

 

ImmProf

 

Monday, December 7, 2020

Sunday, December 6, 2020

Saturday, December 5, 2020

Friday, December 4, 2020

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Monday, November 30, 2020

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Undoubtedly, the “malicious incompetents” in the regime’s immigration kakistocracy will intentionally leave a mess behind. I also recognize that construction is more difficult than destruction.

But, I don’t subscribe to the “mission impossible” tenor of the Post article above in Elizabeth’s report. Sure, the issues related to immigration are challenging. But, if Biden puts experts from the NDPA in charge they are very solvable, in months and years, not decades!

And, even if there were an immigration “surge” on the horizon, it hardly presents the “dire threat” to America’s security and prosperity that both parties have claimed it to be in the past. The “fiction of the great surge” overwhelming our nation has driven immigration policy of both parties for far too long with disastrous consequences!

In an article I recently posted, my friend and Round Table colleague retired U.S. Immigration Judge Paul Grussendorf, who also has been an Asylum Officer and worked with the UNHCR, cogently debunks the oft repeated myth of “surge theory:”

In the early days of this administration there was much hype over the “migrant caravans” composed mostly of Central Americans from the “northern triangle” countries, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, that were “invading” our country — the old “barbarian hordes” trope that is a favorite of every totalitarian regime. In fact the numbers of each such “caravan” for the most part would easily fit inside a typical college stadium. (Current demographics demonstrate that even if we admitted all of them as potential workers and residents, the U.S. would still experience labor shortfalls in the near future and they would not supplant the decline of our native-born population.)

https://immigrationcourtside.com/2020/12/02/round-table-champion-%f0%9f%9b%a1%e2%9a%94%ef%b8%8fjudge-paul-grussendorf-speaks-out-from-personal-experiences-on-regimes-immigration-atrocities-%e2%98%a0%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%a4%ae%e2%9a%b0/

Hon. Paul Grussendorf
Hon. Paul Grussendorf
U.S. Immigration Judge (Ret.)
Member, Round Table of Former IJs
Author
Source: Amazon.com

Indeed, immigration is likely to be a key part of our economic, jobs, and societal recovery. To make that happen, however, we need to end the “Amateur Night at the Bijou” approach that has been take by Administrations over the past two decades, bring in the pros and experts from the NDPA, and empower them to solve problems in conjunction with the private sector, NGOs, industry, labor, and international groups. Figuring out how to create mutually beneficial opportunities from the reality of human migration, rather than treating it as a “threat” that can be eliminated unilaterally (it isn’t, and it can’t) is the way to future success.

It’s not “rocket science.” But it will require cleaning out the immigration kakistocracy at EOIR, DOJ, DHS, DOS, and across Government and replacing it with qualified, professional, experts from the NDPA and letting them solve the problems!

Due Process Forever!

 

PWS

12-08-20

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. ROUND TABLE CHAMPION 🛡⚔️JUDGE PAUL GRUSSENDORF SPEAKS OUT FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCES ON REGIME’S IMMIGRATION ATROCITIES, ☠️🤮⚰️ URGENT NEED FOR PRACTICAL HUMANITARIAN REFORMS — “The sham is that no law enforcement body in the country, federal or state, has a zero tolerance policy, simply because no one has the resources to detain, charge, prosecute, adjudicate and jail all offenders. (This stark reality is in fact the reason for the plea bargaining system in criminal court).”
  2. GROSS NATIONAL DISGRACE: “A Fucking Disaster That Is Designed to Fail”: How Trump Wrecked America’s Immigration Courts — Fernanda Echavarri Reports For Mother Jones On How Our Failed Justice System Daily Abuses The Most Vulnerable While Feckless Legislators &   Smugly Complicit Article III Judges Look On & Ignore The Human Carnage They Are Enabling — “ Two days after US immigration officials sent her to Tijuana, she was raped.”
  3. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚖️🗽🇺🇸FORMER DEPUTY AG DON AYER, JUDGE MIMI TSANKOV AMONG “HEADLINERS” AT TIMELY UPCOMING NY CITY BAR ASSN. EVENT: “Rule of Law Forum – Preserving the Rule of Law in an Age of Disruption” — Register Now, Right Here!
  4. DEMS NEED TO STOP REPEATING THE BOGUS 🤥 NARRATIVES ABOUT THE (LARGELY SELF-CREATED & OVERBLOWN) “SOUTHERN BORDER CRISIS:” Channeling “Courtside,” Yale Schacher Sets Forth A Plan For Using Experts To Not Only Reinstitute But Drastically Improve Due Process ⚖️🗽🇺🇸 For Asylum Seekers! — It’s NOT Rocket 🚀 Science!