Archives: Resources

12/19/18 Back in June, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued one of the cruelest pronouncements of his cruel tenure in the Trump administration: That victims of domestic violence or gang violence would generally not be eligible for asylum.
Thankfully, the ACLU just won a major court victory forcing the administration to stop enforcing these policies. And the plaintiffs in the case, a dozen adults and children who had been denied asylum and given deportation orders, were ordered to be allowed to try again to seek asylum ” and to be returned to the U.S. if they’d already been deported.

12/31/18 mmigrant parents in Maryland concerned about being deported may now designate someone to care for their children under an expansion of emergency guardianship measures that take effect Tuesday.
It’s the latest move by state legislators to push back against the immigration policies of President Donald Trump. Attorneys behind the effort say it will reassure parents and prevent their children from becoming wards of the state.
“It’s emergency family planning. That’s what we were trying to provide people” said Cam Crockett, an attorney in Bethesda.

11/19/18 Starting today USCIS can begin deportation proceedings on victims of trafficking, crime, and domestic violence if their visa petitions have been denied. ***
VAWA petitions are different from U visas in that they are available only to the abused spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and they do not require law enforcement’s participation. But soon these immigration provisions may expire along with the rest of VAWA. The bill was up for reauthorization in September of this year, and was temporarily passed along with other measures in a short-term spending bill designed to keep the government from shutdown. VAWA must be re-authorized by December 7 in order not to lapse. Key Words: Violence Against Women Act

12/3/18 Thousands of migrants traveling together to flee dire circumstances in their native Central American nations are camped in towns and cities edging the U.S.-Mexico border. Many hold out hopes that despite intense political pushback, they’ll be given a chance to apply in the U.S. for the humanitarian immigration status known as asylum. Key Words: Caravan

12/15/18 Rules would target some immigrants who came before 1995.
Thousands of Vietnamese immigrants could be at risk of deportation under a Trump Administration re-interpretation of a long-standing agreement with Vietnam that largely has protected Vietnamese citizens who entered the United States before 1995.
Earlier this year, the administration unilaterally changed its interpretation of that 2008 agreement to allow deportation of Vietnamese citizens who arrived before 1995 and have been convicted of crimes. But the administration quietly backed off amid a class action lawsuit by a coalition of immigrants rights groups and a backlash that included the resignation of the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam.
Now, some activists are worried that was just a temporary reprieve.

12-16-18 Now that President Trump has done everything he can to eliminate asylum access on the U.S. border, he is attempting to enlist Mexico’s newly minted President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in a comprehensive scheme to block asylum seekers from gaining protection in the US. Recent reports of negotiations over a “remain in Mexico” plan indicate that this bilateral agreement would keep asylum seekers in Mexico while U.S. immigration courts consider and adjudicate their asylum claims.
UN agencies, international human rights organizations, and even U.S. government agencies have produced overwhelming evidence of the humanitarian crisis that is causing many Central Americans to flee. The violence inflicted by the gangs in Central America, and the utter failure of their governments to protect them leave these individuals and families with no choice but to flee.

12/17/18 RIVERSIDE ” For immigrants facing deportation, assistance from attorneys can make a profound difference in the outcome of their cases ” immigrants with lawyers have an overwhelmingly better chance of being able to stay in the U.S. For asylum seekers, it can be a matter of life or death.
But at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers in Southern California, officials make it nearly impossible for many detainees to contact and consult with attorneys. That violates not only the Immigration and Nationality Act, but also the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.

10/13/18 Two weeks: That’s how quickly a foreign technology worker in Silicon Valley can get an employment permit from Canada. In the US, that process takes months.
As the administration of President Donald Trump has increased scrutiny of H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers and plans to ban their spouses from holding jobs in the U.S., Canada has been moving aggressively to suck top foreign talent out of Silicon Valley and other technology-rich regions of the U.S. Key Words: Immigration, Indian

10/16/18 Under a new Trump Administration policy, family members who come forward to claim unaccompanied minors can now be arrested and deported if they are here illegally. Vetting sponsors has always been predicated on protecting children, not policing sponsors; in the past, officials from the Department of Health and Human Services made a point of stressing their independence from the Department of Homeland Security. “O.R.R. is not a law-enforcement entity” Robert Carey, the former head of the office, told me. “It’s a social-service provider.”
Now, according to advocates, the Trump Administration is manipulating the mission of the O.R.R. “They’ve flipped their mandate from the children’s welfare to immigration enforcement” Jennifer Podkul, the policy director of Kids in Need of Defense, told me. Key Words: ICE, DHS

11/13/18 Toddlers will continue representing themselves in immigration court in the wake of a Ninth Circuit panel’s refusal Tuesday to revisit dismissal of a class action that claimed kids should have court-appointed attorneys in immigration proceedings – a refusal that drew a blistering dissent from five circuit judges.
During oral arguments in the appeal, government attorneys told the panel that appointing representation for kids facing deportation would “destroy the framework of the immigration system.”

9/12/18 Set to take effect today, new changes to U.S. immigration policies appear likely to block increasing numbers of legal immigrants from potential citizenship by ratcheting up penalties for mistakes on applications and then accelerating the process for deportation, according to immigration experts.
The new policy language ” written specifically to trigger on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 ” gives broad authority to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service administrators to deny a legal immigrant’s application for a green card or citizenship over simple clerical errors.

9/18 The Trump administration continues to present a false choice between separating asylum-seeking families at the border or detaining them. That premise ignores the many alternatives to detention the government can turn
to while an individual or family goes through their asylum or immigration case, and in particular, a program
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operated that was specifically designed for families seeking
protection in the United States. For families where the government seeks to mitigate a demonstrated flight
risk or who may need additional support, the administration should turn to ” and Congress should fund “the Family Case Management Program.