Immigration at the Border
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Alabama’s Immigration Law
Today, the federal judge hearing the case against Alabama’s harsh anti-immigrant law HB 56 issued a temporary order preventing the law from going into effect on September 1, 2011. The judge made no ruling on the merits of the pending motions but rather temporary blocked it to buy… Read More
Some Hopeful, Early Signs That Prosecutorial Discretion Is Being Exercised
While the prospect of temporary immigration reprieves—made possible by DHS’s recent announcement that it will standardize its use of prosecutorial discretion—has excited many people, the devil remains in the details. Attorneys and community groups continue to caution that no one knows how fast or how wide spread this relief will be. Part of the confusion comes from the manner of the announcement which was made by Secretary Napolitano through a letter to Senator Durbin and others. Consequently, there have been no public fact sheets or uniform guidance issued by DHS to reassure the public or to explain the process to the department’s agencies or numerous employees. Although no one should expect DHS to drastically change its policies overnight, evidence that change is in the air is breaking through in the first reports of cases closed as a result of the announcement. Read More
Anti-Immigrant Activists Hysterical Over Recent DHS Guidelines
Anti-immigrant activists are nothing if not predictable. They scream “amnesty” whenever any administration or congress tries to inject a little justice and humanity into our broken immigration system. So, naturally, the anti-immigrant crowd has been screaming “amnesty” without pause since August 18—the day the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would review all of the nearly 300,000 pending deportation cases in order to identify those which are “low priority” and should be “administratively closed.” In other words, DHS will focus on deporting dangerous criminals rather than dishwashers. Read More
Immigration Lawyers Clarify What DHS’s Announcement on Prosecutorial Discretion IS and IS NOT
There has been much confusion in the wake of DHS’s recent announcement about how immigration agencies will use prosecutorial discretion in determining low and high priority immigration cases. What is considered a low priority case? Who is eligible for employment authorization? How should those with pending removal cases proceed? In an effort to protect immigrants who might be taken advantage of by immigration consultants (or notarios) and to clarify the information currently available, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recently issued a consumer advisory outlining what DHS’s announcement is and is not. Read More
DHS Detains Unauthorized Immigrants as They Attempt to Leave the U.S.
It is tempting to imagine that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has adopted a kinder and more just approach to its immigration enforcement mission. After all, the department announced in recent days that it will henceforth focus its enforcement efforts on “high priority” immigration cases; that is, those cases involving serious criminals and individuals who are a threat to public safety or national security. While this is a welcome, long overdue announcement, we must keep in mind that there are still DHS enforcement policies in place that are in dire need of repair. Read More
DHS Detains Unauthorized Immigrants as They Attempt to Leave the U.S.
It is tempting to imagine that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has adopted a kinder and more just approach to its immigration enforcement mission. After all, the department announced in recent days that it will henceforth focus its enforcement efforts on “high priority” immigration cases; that is, those cases involving serious criminals and individuals who are a threat to public safety or national security. While this is a welcome, long overdue announcement, we must keep in mind that there are still DHS enforcement policies in place that are in dire need of repair. Read More
Latino Leaders Defend DHS’s Announcement to Focus on High Priority Immigration Cases
Clarissa Martinez, Director of Immigration and National Campaigns at NCLR. As the dust continues to settle around the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) announcement last week that it will review some 300,000 pending deportation cases on a case-by-case basis as well as issue agency-wide guidance on using discretion to focus resources on high priority cases, some groups were quick to dismiss the announcement as political pandering. Predictably, restrictionist groups reacted like they always do whenever the administration does something to improve the immigration system—by screaming “amnesty” and accusing the administration of making end runs around congress. Today, however, leaders from the Latino community defended the administration’s actions as “a huge step forward” and even invited critics to come to the table with their own rational immigration policies. Read More
DHS: Prioritizing Enforcement and Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion
Washington D.C. – Today, the American Immigration Council hosted a briefing to discuss the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) announcement last week that it would issue agency-wide guidance to make certain that prosecutorial discretion is exercised in a manner that ensures the agency’s enforcement resources are used to remove those… Read More
How Will DHS’s Prosecutorial Discretion Guidelines Impact Gay and Lesbian Bi-National Couples?
Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that they would take concrete steps to implement existing guidance on prosecutorial discretion in an attempt to provide relief for low priority immigration cases. DHS also announced that a new committee will review 300,000 immigration cases currently in removal proceedings to determine which cases are low priority and can be administratively closed. Some of the factors used in determining low priority cases are family relationships and community ties—factors the Administration said yesterday may apply to gay and lesbian families. Read More
Prosecutorial Discretion Guidelines May Provide Temporary Relief to Gay and Lesbian Bi-National Couples
Washington D.C. –Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that they are taking concrete steps to implement existing guidance on prosecutorial discretion across the agency in an attempt to provide relief for low priority immigration cases. DHS also announced the creation of a committee which will review 300,000 immigration… Read More
