Immigration News Resources

A new Illinois law limiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention is expected to effectively end detention in the state by next year. The law goes further than those that have limited detention in other states. On August 2, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed SB 667, known as the Illinois Way Forward Act. The […]

The post New Illinois Law Expected to Go Furthest Toward Ending Immigration Detention in the US appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The U.S. Border Patrol reported nearly 180,000 encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in June.

The post Migrant encounters at U.S.-Mexico border are at a 21-year high appeared first on Pew Research Center.

In this blog post, AILA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee member Danielle Molliver shares her insights as both a Lumbee tribe member and a practicing immigration attorney as we recognize the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

A federal judge on Tuesday dealt an important blow to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s flawed plan to stop migrants from entering and traveling through Texas. Governor Abbott issued an executive order on July 28 that prohibited anyone other than law enforcement officials from transporting people who had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection […]

The post Texas’ Order to Pull Over Vehicles Carrying Migrants Likely Violates the Constitution, Judge Rules appeared first on Immigration Impact.

On the day that President Biden took office, he promised to send a bill to Congress to create a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Unfortunately, that bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act, has made little progress since it was introduced in February. Even the passage in the House of Representatives of the Dream and […]

The post Reconciliation and Immigration: What You Need to Know appeared first on Immigration Impact.

It is unquestionable that technology creates efficiencies. But efficiency should not come at the total expense of privacy. A new app from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) toes that line between productivity and the need for users’ privacy. In October 2020, CBP launched a new mobile application to help process individuals entering the United […]

The post The New CBP One App May Put Immigrants and Travelers’ Privacy at Risk appeared first on Immigration Impact.

In this blog post, AILA member John Manley describes the benefits of Trusted Traveler programs but also the distress when such status is revoked and the lack of transparency as to how those revocations can be redressed, offering a few ideas of changes CBP could make to improve the programs.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) keeps making an inexcusable error: it has been deporting U.S. citizens by mistake. 70 potential U.S. citizens were deported between 2015 and 2020, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded. They were deported even though U.S. citizens cannot be charged with violations of civil immigration law. […]

The post ICE May Have Deported as Many as 70 US Citizens In the Last Five Years appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Media Advocacy Committee member Emily Haverkamp highlights how immigrants are integral to teams we love, and two Kansas teams in particular, and how inspiring their stories of sacrifice and success are to so many.

As the number of families coming to the border has increased from June to July, the Biden administration is beginning yet another crackdown. Late on July 26, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would begin subjecting some families to “expedited removal.” This legal procedure allows individual immigration officials to issue deportation orders […]

The post Biden Administration Announces Plans to Ramp up Deportations of Families Arriving at the Border appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The state of Texas has started a concentrated effort to arrest immigrants who have recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. The immigrants are charged with criminal state offenses of trespassing and criminal mischief. The arrests are the latest in a series of attempts by Texas officials to increase the consequences of entering or being present in […]

The post The State of Texas is Arresting and Detaining Border Crossers for Trespassing appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Media Advocacy Committee Chair and business immigration expert Fiona McEntee shares information about the recently introduced LIKE Act and how a startup visa would make a tremendous difference to our economy and the entrepreneurs offered a path to America

In this blog post, AILA member Vaman Kidambi shares some insights into answering the question "What Does an Immigration Lawyer Do" and how to describe your work as an immigration attorney to those not in the field.

In this blog post, AILA Board of Governors member Ally Bolour highlights the urgent need for the Biden administration to recognize that those who helped our troops in Afghanistan need to be protected and evacuated to safety immediately.

Nearly a decade after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to provide protections to undocumented immigrants brought here as children, Judge Andrew Hanen of the Southern District of Texas struck down the program on July 16, ordering U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to stop issuing […]

The post Federal Judge Strikes Down DACA: What You Need to Know appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Attorney General Merrick Garland vacated Matter of Castro-Tum on July 15, reviving a key tool to help judges prioritize cases in the overburdened immigration court system and allow people facing deportation to pursue all available paths to legal status. In Matter of Cruz-Valdez, the attorney general reversed a decision by prior Attorney General Jeff Sessions. […]

The post Attorney General Garland Brings Back Administrative Closure for Immigration Judges appeared first on Immigration Impact.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may soon have its first Senate-confirmed leader in nearly five years. On July 15, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on the nomination for the head of ICE, Ed Gonzalez, who is currently the Sheriff of Harris County, Texas. Gonzalez’s nomination presents a unique […]

The post Who Is Ed Gonzalez? Biden’s ICE Nominee Signals Few Changes for the Agency appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA member Brent Renison shares the example of a business client negatively impacted by State Department policies and regional travel bans and highlights the straightforward solutions recommended by AILA to help businesses bounce back from the pandemic.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to expand a unique venture for the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo: The Refugee Olympic Team. The expansion is part of the IOC’s long-term effort to empower displaced athletes both before and after the Olympics.    The Refugee Olympic Team will feature athletes from 13 countries around the world, including Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela. The success of the original refugee team—which featured just 10 people during the […]

The post This Special Program Gives Refugee Athletes a Chance to Compete in the Olympics   appeared first on Immigration Impact.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will no longer detain most people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing, according to a new policy released on July 9. However, ICE did not commit to a total ban, saying that there will still be “very limited circumstances” that will allow the agency to detain pregnant people. The […]

The post ICE Will Stop Arresting and Detaining Most Pregnant and Nursing People appeared first on Immigration Impact.