USCIS to Continue Implementing New Policy Memorandum on Notices to Appear, Starting Nov. 19, 2018
VIA USCIS.gov
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is continuing to implement the June 28, 2018, Policy Memorandum (PM), Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens (PDF, 140 KB).
Recent ICE Memo Details the Differences Between Trump and Obama on Immigration Enforcement
Hamed Aleaziz reports on a recent ICE Memo obtained via FOIA by BuzzFeed, ICE issued guidance on 8/15/17 from ICE Principal Legal Advisor Tracy Short to all OPLA attorneys. This memo implements President Trump’s 1/25/17 Executive Order 13768 and Secretary of Homeland Security Kelly’s 2/20/17 memo on interior enforcement. The memo also details the significant differences between the Trump and Obama Administrations with respect to Immigration Enforcement.
More than 300,000 Central American and Haitian Immigrants to Lose TPS: May Soon Face Deportation
New York Magazine reports that US Dept. of State has advised US Dept. of Homeland Security officials this week that the 300,000+ Central Americans and Haitians who are currently in the United States in a Temporary Protected Status will no longer be protected from deportation. This announcement arrives days prior to a highly anticipated DHS announcement on a decision to renew said TPS program.
“Per a letter from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to DHS secretary Elaine Duke this week, the State Department believes that conditions in Central America and Haiti have now improved to the point that TPS designation is no longer necessary. The legally required assessment came as the DHS prepares to announce by Monday whether it will renew TPS protection for more than 60,000 Honduran and Nicaraguan immigrants in early January. Tillerson’s letter doesn’t bode well for them or for two other large groups of American residents: nearly 60,000 Haitian immigrants with TPS whose protection expires in late January, and almost 200,000 Salvadorans whose protection expires next March.
Some of these immigrants have been in the U.S. for as long as two decades, and many own homes and businesses. One study has estimated that TPS holders have almost 275,000 U.S.-born children in their families. Should the designations not be renewed, these immigrants would have at least six months to get their affairs in order and leave the country. If they chose to stay, they could face arrest and deportation.”
Practice Advisory on Changes to Expedited Removal due to President Trump’s Executive Order on Border Security and Immigration Enforcement
The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, the American Immigration Council, and ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project provide a practice advisory on how expedited removal has changed since President Trump issued the Executive Order on border security and immigration enforcement. This Practice Advisory addresses the coming expansion of expedited removal, who likely will be impacted, and possible ways to challenge an expedited removal order.
Congressional Research Service Report: “Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Enforcement: Legal Issues”
Seal of the United States Department of Homeland Security. (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
The latest CRS Report offers valuable information on Prosecutorial Discretion, and provides insight into how such Discretion will fit in with the different Comprehensive Immigration Reform plans currently being discussed in Washington. An extract follows: Read More…
Deferred Action Process for Young People Who Are Low Enforcement Priorities
VIA USCIS.GOV
|
Over the past three years, this Administration has undertaken an unprecedented effort to transform the immigration enforcement system into one that focuses on public safety, border security and the integrity of the immigration system. As DHS continues to focus its limited enforcement resources on the removal of individuals who pose a danger to national security or a risk to public safety, including aliens convicted of crimes, with particular emphasis on violent criminals, felons, and repeat offenders, DHS will move to exercise prosecutorial discretion to ensure that enforcement resources are not expended on low priority cases, such as individuals who were brought to this country through no fault of their own as children, have not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, or multiple misdemeanor offenses, and meet other key criteria. |
Frequently Asked Questions about ICE Policy Directive Number 11061.1, Facilitating the Return to the United States of Certain Lawfully Removed Aliens
via ice.gov
I was ordered removed, and am scheduled to be removed soon. How will this affect my appeal of
my case, which is pending before the U.S. circuit court of appeals?
As explained in ICE Policy Directive Number 11061.1,
Facilitating the Return to the United States of Certain Lawfully Removed
Aliens, an alien who appeals his or her final order of removal to a federal
circuit court of appeals may continue to litigate his or her case after being
removed from the United States. Your removal will not affect your
right to continue to pursue your case before the court. Although you may be
abroad for the pendency of your case, the court of appeals that is currently
reviewing your petition for review will nevertheless be able to review and make
a decision on your case while you are not in the United States. In order to ensure
that you receive notice of the decision entered by the court in your case, you
should follow the court’s procedures for providing updated address and contact
information.
Georgia Legislature passes HB 87
On 4/14/11, the Georgia Legislature passed HB 87, an immigration enforcement bill that
Separate and New Immigration Courts advocated by Lawyers
02/08/2010
VIA NY Times
The American Bar Association called for an overhaul of the US Immigration Court system, citing immense backlogs and an “an overwhelmed system choked by an exploding caseload”
Read article
Owner of Mandarin restaurant to be deported after jail
VIA Jacksonville.com
“The co-owner of a popular Jacksonville restaurant received a three-month sentence Monday for harboring illegal aliens and faces certain deportation to his native India.
Sanjit Kumar Rajak, who was head chef and manager of Cilantro Indian Cuisine in Mandarin, will complete his prison sentence in about a week because he has been behind bars since his January arrest. He agreed to a $5,000 fine.
His lawyer, Shawn Arnold, said he expects deportation proceedings to begin immediately, a bitter end for a successful businessman who lived a rags-to-riches story. Arnold said Rajak won’t be allowed to re-enter the United States for five to 10 years.
Rajak admitted hiring four illegal workers and leasing their Sunbeam Road apartment. He has no other criminal record.”
Continue reading:
Mistaken immigration raid?
Via kgbt4.com
Olga Savage said she went through a harrowing life-changing experience that might have been a total mistake.
The 68-year-old woman told Action 4 News that she heard a knock at her door Tuesday morning.
But before she had a chance to get up she said U.S. Immigration & Customers Enforcement (ICE) agents were inside her home.
“They came in with guns, grenades and holding their pistols,” Savage recalled.
When she asked them why they came into her home they allegedly responded, “Show us your papers.”
Savage complied by showing them documentation proving that she’s been a United States citizen for 40 years.
Feds say Wash. immigration guards weren’t checked
VIA AP
By GENE JOHNSON
SEATTLE (AP) — A privately run immigration lockup in Tacoma hired security guards without required preliminary background checks and then lied about it, according to authorities.
Continue reading
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
The Unauthorized Population Today
via www.immigrationpolicy.org
“Recent estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicate that the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States has remained unchanged at roughly 11 million since 2009. This comes after a two-year decline of approximately one million that corresponded closely to the most recentrecession, which ran from December 2007 to June 2009. Despite that decline, the new data make clear that the current population of unauthorized immigrants is very much part of the social and economic fabric of the country. Three-fifths of unauthorized immigrants have been in the United States for more than a decade. Unauthorized immigrants comprise more than one-quarter of the foreign-born population and roughly 1-in-20 workers. Approximately 4.5 million native-born U.S.-citizen children have at least one unauthorized parent. While the largest numbers of unauthorized immigrants are concentrated in California and Texas, there also are sizable unauthorized populations in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, and Maryland. In short, unauthorized immigrants who are already in the country have become integral to U.S. businesses, communities, and families.
The size of the unauthorized population has remained unchanged at roughly 11 million since 2009.”
Continue reading article