TOP UPDATES
Justices rebuff government on asylum ban
SCOTUSblog: Last week the federal government went to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to block a ruling by a federal judge that bars the Trump administration from denying asylum to immigrants who enter the United States illegally from Mexico. Today the justices turned down the government’s request, which means that the government will not be able to enforce its new policy on asylum while the government appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and, if it comes to that, the Supreme Court. See also Ruth Bader Ginsburg Voted From Hospital To Block Trump Asylum Restrictions.
Trump is officially turning back asylum seekers who come to the US through Mexico
Vox: The policy change means that people who are trying to exercise their legal right to seek asylum will be barred from the US for months or even years while they wait for their asylum claim to come before a judge. See also Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen Announces Historic Action to Confront Illegal Immigration.
EOIR Creates More Obstacles for Families
Jeffrey Chase: In a November 16 memo to immigration judges, EOIR’s Director, James McHenry, announced that after a nearly two-year reprieve, “Family Unit” cases are again being prioritized, under conditions designed to speed them through the immigration court system, ready or not, with or without representation, due process be damned.
How Trump Is Stripping Immigrants of Their Citizenship
The Nation: Twin operations have been set up to accomplish this: Operation Janus, which is housed at an office in Los Angeles and had plans to refer 1,600 cases for prosecution and possible denaturalization, and Operation Second Look, which will review hundreds of thousands of petitions to locate the tiniest of discrepancies. See also Is Denaturalization the Next Front in the Trump Administration’s War on Immigration?
Trump’s crackdown hits legal immigrants
Politico: State Department data show visa issuances have slumped under Trump, according to government information reviewed and analyzed by POLITICO. The number of visas for temporary stays in the U.S. fell 13 percent in fiscal year 2018 compared with two years earlier, the last full year under President Barack Obama. Immigrant visas, which allow a person to apply for a green card, dropped by 14 percent over the same period.
Two Honduran teens from migrant caravan are killed in Tijuana
WaPo: Mexican authorities said the bodies of the two boys — thought to be 16 or 17 years old — were discovered last weekend. They had stab wounds and had been strangled after an apparent robbery attempt, according to the state police.… Mexican police said the two Hondurans, who were not identified, had left a shelter for migrant youths Saturday to visit a sports arena used as a migrant shelter in another part of the city.
Thousands of Migrant Children Could Be Released With Trump’s Major Policy Reversal
TexasMonthly: Federal officials have reversed course and announced they will reduce fingerprint requirements of potential sponsors for detained children.
‘A moral disaster’: AP reveals scope of migrant kids program
AP: Decades after the U.S. stopped institutionalizing kids because large and crowded orphanages were causing lasting trauma, it is happening again. The federal government has placed most of the 14,300 migrant toddlers, children and teens in its care in detention centers and residential facilities packed with hundreds, or thousands, of children. As the year draws to a close, about 5,400 detained migrant children in the U.S. are sleeping in shelters with more than 1,000 other children. Some 9,800 are in facilities with 100-plus total kids, according to confidential government data obtained and cross-checked by The Associated Press.
In Immigrant Children’s Shelters, Sexual Assault Cases Are Open and Shut
ProPublica: Across the country, kids are reporting sexual assaults in immigrant children’s shelters. Alex decided to come forward. He told the shelter two older teens dragged him into a bedroom. There was surveillance video. But Alex’s case wasn’t investigated. His isn’t the only one.
Growth in the Immigration Court Backlog Continues in FY 2019
TRAC: The Immigration Court backlog continues to rise. As of November 30, 2018, the number of pending cases on the court’s active docket topped eight-hundred thousand (809,041) cases. This is almost a fifty percent (49.1%) increase compared to the 542,411 cases pending at the end of January 2017 when President Trump took office. This figure does not include the additional 330,211 previously completed cases that EOIR placed back on the “pending” rolls that have not yet been put onto the active docket.
People smugglers arrested in several Latin American countries
BBC: A crackdown on migrant smuggling networks across the Americas has resulted in 49 arrests. The operation was co-ordinated by Interpol which said organised crime networks were helping to smuggle South Asian migrants into the US.
Healthcare, Immigration Down as Most Important Problem
Gallup: In the first survey after the midterm Congressional election, mentions of immigration and healthcare as the top problems facing the country are down. Sixteen percent of Americans cite immigration as the top problem, down from 21% last month, while those noting healthcare dropped to 5% from 11%.
‘Very possible’ shutdown could last into new year, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney says
WaPo: The partial shutdown paralyzing large portions of the federal government may last into January when Democrats retake control of the House, the White House acknowledged Sunday, as negotiations over funding for President Trump’s border wall sputtered to a near-standstill and congressional leaders abandoned Washington for Christmas.
NY Expands Legal Aid Program for Immigrants
AP: New York state is expanding a legal defense project for immigrants launched in 2017 to include social and health care services for families. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the new “Project Golden Door” will provide family support services at 12 existing sites. In addition, a new Regional Rapid Response team will set up attorneys in the state’s 10 regional economic development council areas to respond to raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
LITIGATION/CASELAW/RULES/MEMOS
Judge Finds Attorney General’s Gutting of Asylum Protections Unlawful
AILA President Anastasia Tonello and Executive Director Benjamin Johnson responded to today’s ruling striking down key portions of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision in Matter of A-B-, which restricted asylum for victims of domestic and gang violence. AILA Doc. No. 18121940.
Matter of A.J. VALDEZ 27 I&N Dec. 496 (BIA 2018)
(1) An alien makes a willful misrepresentation under section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(i) (2012), when he or she knows of or authorizes false statements in an application filed on the alien’s behalf.
(2) An alien’s signature on an immigration application establishes a strong presumption that he or she knows of and has assented to the contents of the application, but the alien can rebut the presumption by establishing fraud, deceit, or other wrongful acts by another person.
ICE Blocks Immigrants From Lawyers With Draconian Phone Rules In California, ACLU Says
Newsweek: An immigration detention center in California has effectively worked to keep immigrants from contacting lawyers through phone rules, a lawsuit alleged last week.
U.S. Representatives Request to Investigate DHS’s TPS Termination Decision
On 12/4/18, over 80 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to DHS Acting Inspector General requesting an immediate investigation into DHS’s decision to terminate TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Nepal, Haiti, El Salvador, and Honduras. AILA Doc. No. 18122033
ICE Releases Death Detainee Report
Congressional requirements described in the 2018 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill require ICE to make public all reports regarding an in-custody death within 90 days. ICE has provided those reports, beginning in FY2018. AILA Doc. No. 18121905
EOIR released guidance establishing policies and procedures for reporting suspected incidents of ineffective assistance of counsel or other violations of the EOIR Rules of Professional Conduct for Practitioners to the Office of General Counsel Attorney Discipline Program. Guidance effective 1/1/19. AILA Doc. No. 18121938
EOIR Announcement of Closing on December 24, 2018
EOIR announced that it would be closed on 12/24/18 in accordance with Executive Order 13854. Immigration court hearings scheduled for 12/24/18 will be rescheduled and new hearing notices will be sent to both parties. AILA Doc. No. 18122113
RESOURCES
- Communities in Crisis: Interior Removals and Their Human Consequences
- DOJ Flyer: Information for Refugees and Asylees About the Form I-9
- CBP Releases Officer’s Reference Tool Documents
EVENTS
- 1/9/19Infopass Services Modernization Briefing (attached)
- 1/9/19For Pro Bono: Preparing for the Hidden Policy Changes Threatening Immigrant Communities (attached)
- 1/12/192019 Crimes & Immigration In New York City
- 1/15/19The June 2018 RFE and NOID Guidance: How to Avoid Case Denials in 2019
- 2/7/19 Basic Immigration Law 2019: Business, Family, Naturalization and Related Areas
- 2/8/19 Asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Crime Victim, and Other Immigration Relief 2019
- 3/8/19 Asylum & Immigration Conference with the Federal Bar Association at NY Law School
- 3/12/19 AILA Spring Federal Court Litigation Conference
ImmProf
Sunday, December 23, 2018
- The Legend Continues: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Voted From Hospital To Block Trump Asylum Restrictions
- Immigration Article of the Day: Administrative Chaos: Responding to Child Refugees – U.S. Immigration Process in Crisis by Lenni Benson
Saturday, December 22, 2018
- 49 Arrested Across Americas for Human Smuggling
- President Trump’s “Dream Wall”: Why the U.S. Government Has Shut Down
- Immigration Article of the Day: The The US Refugee Resettlement Program — A Return to First Principles: How Refugees Help to Define, Strengthen, and Revitalize the United States by Donald Kerwin
Friday, December 21, 2018
- SCOTUS Refuses 5-4 to Stay Injunction Halting New Trump Asylum Policy
- Growth in the Immigration Court Backlog Continues in FY 2019
- In immigrant children’s shelters, sexual-assault cases are open-and-shut from
- Memorable 2018 Immigration Pictures
- Immigration Article of the Day: Communities in Crisis: Interior Removals and Their Human Consequences
Thursday, December 20, 2018
- DHS Secretary Announces Radical Approach to “Confront Illegal Immigration”
- Court Enjoins Trump Asylum Rule
- Immigration Article of the Day: Restoring the Statutory Safety-Valve for Immigrant Crime Victims: Premium Processing for Interim U Visa Benefits by Jason A. Cade and Mary Honeychurch
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
- Federal Judge Enjoins Asylum Restrictions
- Urban Institute: Immigrants make up 17 percent of the US workforce, and they merit investment
- In reversal, White House shifts border wall funding demands, wants to avoid shutdown
- Learning in ‘Baby Jail’: Lessons from Law Student Engagement in Family Detention Centers by Lindsay Muir Harris
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
- Gallup: Immigration Less Concerning to Americans Than Our Government
- Statue of Liberty Immigration Protester Convicted
- International Migrants Day 18 December
Monday, December 17, 2018
- Sweden: By Turns Welcoming and Restrictive in its Immigration Policy
- AALS Immprof Programming
- Immigration Article of the Day: The Search for Protection for Stateless Refugees in the Middle East: Palestinians and Kurds in Lebanon and Jordan by Susan M. Akram
AILA NEWS UPDATE
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Thanks, Elizabeth.
PWS
12-30-18