Immigration at the Border
Court Orders DHS to Stop Detaining Mothers and Children to Deter Future Immigration Flow
In June 2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began implementing a border security policy of detaining nearly all mothers and children fleeing violence and persecution in Central America. DHS vastly increased its detention capacity for families to “send the message unequivocally that if you come here you… Read More
Report Shows Deported Parents Will Return to Kids in U.S., Risking Harsh Penalties
President Obama last November announced executive action to temporarily defer deportations for potentially 3.7 million unauthorized immigrant parents of children with U.S. citizenship or green cards, so as to focus enforcement resources on public safety threats and others. A new study by the University of California-Davis… Read More
Texas Judge Places Preliminary Hold on President’s Deferred Action Initiatives, Government Likely to Counter
A Texas Judge has placed a preliminary hold on the two initiatives announced by President Obama last November that would expand the two-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (DAPA). These two programs would provide temporary relief from… Read More
The Detention of Children and Their Families is Still Unjust and Still Against the Law
Detaining immigrant children is nothing new. In 1997, the government settled a lawsuit, Flores v. Reno, about the inhumane treatment of immigrant children held in detention. The settlement agreement said officials would follow a set of minimum national standards for the detention, release, and treatment of children subject to immigration… Read More
New York Times Exposes ‘Shame of America’s Family Detention Camps’
The New York Times details the government’s dangerous and expanding practice of detaining women and children who have recently crossed our southwest border in the magazine’s cover story this weekend “The Shame of America’s Family Detention Camps.” The facility the Times describes in Artesia, New Mexico, has since been… Read More
Unrepresented Children Still Being Fast-Tracked Through Immigration Hearings
Since the government began “prioritizing” the deportation of unaccompanied children and mothers with children last summer, legal service providers and other court observers across the country have reported that immigration judges are giving children less time to find attorneys before moving forward in their cases. Now, children without attorneys… Read More
Why Are Immigration Court Hearings Being Set Into 2019?
The immigration court system in the United States is being stretched to the breaking point. Immigration courts have long been expected to do more and more work without the additional funding or personnel needed to do the job effectively. But now, the courts are struggling to handle newer cases… Read More
Early Legislative Action in States Shows Mixed Bag of Immigration Proposals
While some state attorneys general are suing to stop President Obama’s immigration executive actions, many state lawmakers are working to address immigration issues within their own states. New York, for example, is trying to pass new reforms to help young immigrants afford college while Colorado legislators try to limit… Read More
A Compelling Case Study in Family Detention and Pro Bono Counsel
When the family detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, was hastily propped up by the U.S. government in order to detain and rapidly process women and children for deportation, immigration rights advocates raised alarms. Over the course of several months, as an uptick in families and unaccompanied minors appeared at… Read More
House Bill to Seal the Border is Unrealistic, Congressional Budget Office Finds
Last week, the House Homeland Security Committee sent to the House floor H.R. 399, the “Secure our Borders First” Act. The measure would mandate 100 percent “operational control”—defined as “the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States”—of high traffic areas within two years, and… Read More
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