Immigration News Resources

In a blow to government transparency, the Trump administration has decided to designate Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a “security/sensitive agency.” The move further shields ICE from public accountability, allowing them to withhold even more information. According to a leaked government memo, the Trump administration granted ICE’s request to be designated a “security/sensitive” agency when […]

The post ICE Has Been Granted the Same Level of Secrecy as the FBI appeared first on Immigration Impact.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) expects, by the end of July, to have worked through nearly the entire backlog of naturalization oath ceremonies put on hold in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency is now providing new ways to take the oath, including drive-thru naturalization ceremonies. The cancellation of oath ceremonies had prevented […]

The post USCIS Holds Drive-Thru Naturalization Ceremonies to Work Through COVID-19 Backlog appeared first on Immigration Impact.

National Advocacy Counsel Katie Shepherd of the Immigration Justice Campaign shares the recent work with pro bono counsel Gibson Dunn that aims to free immigrants from the appalling conditions at Joe Corley detention facility.

Even as President Trump downplays the threat of COVID-19, the Trump administration is using the pandemic as a pretext to bar more people from asylum in the United States. While the proposal is being tied to the coronavirus right now, this asylum bar could remain in place long after the current national crisis subsides. Who […]

The post Trump Labels Asylum Seekers as National Security Threat in Expanded Asylum Bar appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Past President Ira Kurzban details how the Trump Administration has weaponized the COVID-19 pandemic to implement long-sought immigration policies, banning immigrants and non-immigrants alike.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security introduced their proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021 (beginning October 1, 2020) this week. The budget would have significant implications for U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities—current hotspots of the coronavirus pandemic. In a reversal of previous budget requests, this budget proposes a major decrease in […]

The post Congress Calls to Decrease ICE Detention as COVID-19 Continues to Spread appeared first on Immigration Impact.

 The Immigrant Integration Wire features a student film by PERE/CSII Data Analyst, Arpita Sharma.    Watch the film on YouTube   Leaving Out the UndocumetedVideos and films that talk about the impact of US laws and policies on undocumented immigrant communities are important.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge across the United States, many universities have chosen to temporarily move to online-only classes to protect public health. However, new guidance from the Trump administration will not allow international students to stay in the United States if their classes move online this fall. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement […]

The post ICE Says International Students Must Take Classes in Person or Leave the Country appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Immigrant children who arrive in the United States without a parent are placed in shelters or foster care while their guardianship and immigration process play out. But all too often, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) takes them away as soon as they turn 18 and locks them in an adult detention facility. However, a […]

The post Court Orders ICE to End Its Practice of Unlawfully Detaining Immigrant Youth appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, AILA law student member Maria Jaramillo highlights the indispensable workers who come to the U.S. on H-2A visas and ensure the U.S. food supply continues, and how employers need to step up and protect them during the pandemic.

A program created in late 2019 to allow certain Liberian noncitizens in the United States to become lawful permanent residents (LPRs) is falling far short of its potential, according to a new report. The program in question is Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF), a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 […]

The post USCIS Hasn’t Approved a Single Person for Liberian Legalization Program appeared first on Immigration Impact.

On June 30, a federal judge in the District of Columbia struck down the Trump administration’s second asylum ban, ending a sweeping policy that had shut down asylum for most people entering the United States at the southern border. The court’s decisive action could not have come soon enough, as the rule has been in […]

The post Federal Court Strikes Down Trump’s Second Asylum Ban in Momentous Victory appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently published a report analyzing U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) treatment of noncitizens at the border in 2019. While the report critiques the agency for not meeting its own standards, it also allows CBP to avoid meaningful accountability for numerous failures in meeting the […]

The post Inspector General Report Overlooks Serious Medical Care Issues Within Border Patrol Custody appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Asylum experts Dree Collopy and Lindsay Harris highlight the ways in which asylum adjudication inefficiencies have contributed to USCIS' $1.2 billion budget shortfall and urge that Congress hold USCIS accountable, linking to AILA's Take Action on the issue that members of the public can easily use.

Federal Judge Dolly Gee has ordered that children held for more than 20 days at U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) family detention centers must be released. The order was the latest development in Judge Gee’s oversight of the Flores Settlement, a decades-old binding decree governing the detention and treatment of immigrant children in government […]

The post Court-Ordered Release of Children May Lead to Family Separation appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, Michael Eatroff shares Mirna's story; she was one of the plaintiffs in the litigation filed by AILA, Justice Action Center, Innovation Law Lab, with pro bono counsel Mayer Brown to protect children from aging out under the April 22 Proclamation.

The Supreme Court ruled on June 25 that certain asylum seekers forced through a fast-track deportation process at the U.S. border, called “expedited removal,” cannot challenge their deportations in federal court. Foreclosing a critical way to challenge these error-prone deportation orders leaves people even more vulnerable to abuse by immigration authorities. In Department of Homeland […]

The post Supreme Court Limits Court Oversight for Fast-Track Deportations   appeared first on Immigration Impact.

People have taken to the streets across the country to protest the murder of George Floyd, who died at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department. This exercise of First Amendment rights has been met with a militarized response—including the deployment of Homeland Security personnel and technology. The presence of immigration enforcement agencies at peaceful […]

The post ICE and CBP Agents Were Deployed at Black Lives Matter Protests appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Member Matt Maiona highlights a recent outrageous USCIS statement in response to the SCOTUS DACA ruling, which showcases the dire need for agency reform, writing, "Perhaps now more than ever, government institutions must strive to restore the faith of Americans in the integrity of government."

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will finalize a new regulation on June 26 which will strip most asylum seekers of the right to seek work authorization. The rule imposes sweeping new grounds to deny asylum seekers a work permit during the multi-year process of obtaining asylum. DHS dismissed concerns that this would force many […]

The post DHS Suggests Asylum Seekers Should Get Used to ‘Homelessness’ After Stripping Work Permits appeared first on Immigration Impact.