Asylum
Asylum grants legal protection to foreign nationals already in the U.S. or arriving at the border who can’t go back to their home country because of persecution. Learn more about the asylum system in the United States, including how asylum is defined, eligibility requirements, and the difficult and complex application process.
Deterrence Strategy Targeting Central American Asylum Seekers Comes at a High Human Cost
The Obama Administration has recently announced plans to double down on its strategy of rounding up and deporting Central American asylum seekers to some of the most dangerous countries in the world. This is part of the Administration’s deterrence strategy, which is specifically designed to curtail the flow of… Read More
Despite Obstacles, A Majority of Child Migrants Appear in Immigration Court
Reuters reported last week that the Obama Administration would begin to round up Central American women and children, including “minors who have entered the country without a guardian and since turned 18 years of age” and begin deporting them. The news report goes on to say that “many of… Read More
Judge Who Believes Toddlers Can Represent Themselves, Only Part of the Problem in the Battle over Representation for Kids
Over the past week, several media outlets reported that Assistant Chief Immigration Judge (ACIJ) Jack Weil claimed that he could teach immigration law to three- and four-year-old children such that the children could represent themselves in immigration court. Now, Attorney General Loretta Lynch claims that the… Read More
Letter to DHS Outlines Problematic Practices That Undermine Due Process Protections for Asylum Seekers
Even before the recent ICE raids on Central American families began last week, there were serious signs that the government was undermining due process and not providing asylum-seekers a meaningful opportunity to make their cases. Many of the violations were brought to the attention of the immigration agencies by the… Read More
Attorneys Work Swiftly to Thwart DHS’ Aggressive Enforcement Tactics Against Asylum-Seekers
After a series of immigration raids last weekend, resulting in a reported 121 children and mothers being rounded up, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) quickly transferred many of these families to the family detention center in Dilley, Texas to rapidly process them for deportation. While few have been able… Read More
What to Expect From Congress on Immigration in 2016
As members of Congress make their way back to Washington, D.C. this week, the prevailing wisdom is that nothing substantive will happen on Capitol Hill because we have officially entered an election year. On immigration, there is little hope that lawmakers will take up comprehensive reform, but that does not… Read More
Transfers of Detained Families Traumatizes Mothers and Children and Interferes with Access to Lawyers
The government recently began transferring families who have been held in Texas to the Berks County Family Residential Facility in Pennsylvania. Not only have these sudden transfers traumatized many mothers and children, but they are interfering with the families’ access to their lawyers and are jeopardizing their right to a… Read More
Evidence Shows Asylum Seekers Appear for Court with Alternatives to Detention and Legal Assistance
When thousands of Central American families fled violence to the United States last year, the Administration responded by opening family detention centers, which are detaining mothers and children as their asylum-based claims work through the court system. Family detention has since led to complaints of psychological harm, suicide attempts, protests and hunger strikes by detainees, and lawsuits over lack of due process, all at exorbitant cost. Yet a new paper by the American Immigration Council and Center for Migration Studies, A Humane Approach Can Work: The Effectiveness of Alternatives to Detention for Asylum Seekers, suggests that U.S. detention of asylum seekers is not only harmful, but unnecessary. Read More
Measuring Protections for LGBT Immigrants
25 years ago, the Board of Immigration Appeals held that people fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation are eligible for asylum. Just months later, President George H.W. Bush lifted a ban which excluded lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) immigrants from entering the country. A recent report by… Read More
What Is Driving Children to Leave Central America?
The children who leave behind their homes in Central America and Mexico and undergo the dangerous and sometime fatal journey into the United States are not doing so on a whim. Most are fleeing conditions that are life threatening: violence committed by gangs that act with impunity, violence committed within… Read More
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