Immigration News Resources

Dree Collopy, chair of AILA's upcoming Virtual Asylum Conference highlights some of the changes impacting asylum that have come recently and what will be covered by the conference, noting that while this is a tough fight to keep up, "We can lift each other up, help each other succeed, and save our clients' lives."

The United States Postal Service (USPS) will play an outsized role in the 2020 presidential election, as more states focus on mail-in voting to help curb the spread of the coronavirus at polling places. Central to USPS’ work are the staff members who sort, process, and deliver our mail—through “snow, rain, heat, and gloom of […]

The post Immigrant Workers are Essential to the United States Postal Service appeared first on Immigration Impact.

El Salvador experienced a 40% drop in remittances in April 2020 compared with April 2019, the largest decline among the six nations analyzed.

The post Amid COVID-19, remittances to some Latin American nations fell sharply in April, then rebounded appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Communication with the outside world is crucial for people in jail. This includes individuals facing deportation while detained in immigration detention centers, who do not have the right to court-appointed counsel. Having the ability to make a phone call in a detention center is essential for a variety of reasons. Individuals need to secure legal […]

The post ICE Makes It Almost Impossible for People to Make Phone Calls from Detention Centers, Even in a Pandemic appeared first on Immigration Impact.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told Congress in May that it was running out of money and would need a $1.2 billion bailout to maintain its operations without major disruptions. The agency threatened to furlough over 13,000 of its staff in the process—a step that would bring the U.S. immigration system to a near […]

The post USCIS Cancelled Planned Staff Furloughs, But Budgetary Challenges Remain appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is proposing a range of measures that will limit the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) authority. The new rule—scheduled to be published on August 26—will make it harder for the BIA to independently make decisions and accelerates the removal of individuals from the United States. The proposed changes raise concerns […]

The post Department of Justice Proposes New Limit to the Board of Immigration Appeals’ Power appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Over 250,000 Americans donated a total of $25 million to the “We Build the Wall” campaign, a crowdfunding effort led in part by former White House Adviser Steve Bannon. The campaign alleged that all funds collected would go directly toward erecting a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. An 18-foot high, half mile-long steel barrier did […]

The post Where Does Trump Get the Money to Build the Border Wall? Not From Steve Bannon appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) top two officials are under scrutiny once again after a congressional oversight office found they were unlawfully appointed to their positions. The independent nonpartisan agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), released a report that determined that Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli were not properly installed into their roles as […]

The post Cuccinelli and Wolf Were Found Ineligible to Serve at DHS. What Happens Next? appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s migrants.

The post Key findings about U.S. immigrants appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Key statistics about immigrants in the United States from 1980 to 2018.

The post Facts on U.S. Immigrants, 2017 appeared first on Pew Research Center.

For many people planning to seek asylum in the United States, enforcement starts in Panama, over 3,000 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. immigration agencies collaborate with Panama’s National Border Service, also known as SENAFRONT, to register and track people as they pass through Central America. The United States provides Panama with equipment, training, […]

The post Asylum Seekers Face a Dangerous Journey—and United States Interference appeared first on Immigration Impact.

People born in the United States are American citizens, regardless of what President Trump claims. Birthright citizenship—enshrined by the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution—guarantees it. Trump recently suggested to the contrary after a Newsweek column erroneously argued that vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris was not a “natural born citizen.” The assertion that Senator Harris […]

The post The Lie About Kamala Harris and Birthright Citizenship appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Immigration Nation, a six-episode docuseries that provides a rare view of the internal workings of immigration enforcement—and its impact on individuals and families—began streaming on Netflix in August. The series provides a unique, up-close look at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) operations in communities from 2017 to 2020 and the real-life impact of our […]

The post The Stories From Immigration Nation ICE Didn’t Want You to See appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Asylum seekers got a major win in a lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) illegal policy of turning back asylum seekers at ports of entry. In Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, a federal judge decided that the case may proceed as a class action. This decision means that the named plaintiffs—14 individuals and […]

The post Legal Victory Brings Hope to Asylum Seekers Turned Away at the Border appeared first on Immigration Impact.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has imposed new requirements on its officers for exercising discretion that will substantially increase time and expense for the agency and applicants. Applications for work authorization will be particularly impacted. On July 15, USCIS issued updates to its Policy Manual. This manual contains the agency’s official policies and “assists […]

The post Updates to USCIS Policy Manual Give Broad Discretion to Issue More Denials appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Two men died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on August 5. One of the men died in a hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, while the other died in his cell of a massive intercranial hemorrhage. These tragedies increased the total deaths in ICE custody this fiscal year to 17, the highest […]

The post Deaths in Immigration Detention Are at a Record High. ICE Can Prevent the Next One. appeared first on Immigration Impact.

The Trump administration announced on August 3 plans to end the 2020 Census one month earlier than previously planned. The change has led to fears that immigrant and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities will be undercounted. This has the real potential to harm them financially and politically for years to come. The […]

The post Why a Shorter Census Timeline Hurts Immigrant Communities appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA First Vice President Jeremy McKinney describes his first foray into litigation, and what tools and resources can help AILA members litigate and win cases, writing that litigation "can benefit your clients, it can benefit the immigration bar, and ultimately, it can benefit everyone."

The dangers to America’s farmworkers—primarily immigrant men from Mexico with temporary H-2A visas—have long persisted under a system that is ripe for abuse. But those risks have only grown since the coronavirus pandemic erupted in the United States this March. A lack of workplace protections, crowded housing, and no social safety net put farmworkers at […]

The post Farmworkers Need Better Support to Survive COVID-19 appeared first on Immigration Impact.

AILA Immigration Courts Conference Chair Michael Vastine shares insights on how AILA members can prepare themselves for immigration court, offering insights into the need to be “uniformly prepared, comprehensively trained, and conditioned to assertively and persuasively defend.”