Immigration Courts
Immigration courts play a crucial role in ensuring that immigration laws are applied fairly and consistently, providing due process to those facing removal. Learn more about issues facing the courts today and explore the actions we're taking to ensure the rights of immigrants are upheld and legal integrity is maintained.

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

Justice Department Files Emergency Stay in Decision Against President Obama’s Executive Actions
The Justice Department on Monday filed an emergency stay asking the federal judge in Texas to lift the temporary hold (preliminary injunction) he issued on President Obama’s executive actions. Texas-based Judge Andrew Hanen issued the injunction against two of the President’s initiatives, namely, the expansion of… Read More

Five Things to Know About the Texas Court Decision on Immigration Action
Late last night, Judge Andrew S. Hanen, a federal district court judge, issued a decision in the lawsuit brought by Texas and 25 other states challenging President Obama’s new deferred action initiatives. In his decision, he issued a “preliminary injunction,” meaning that he temporarily blocked the implementation of the expanded… 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

U.S. Education of Foreign Students is Under Attack
Under the guise of protecting American workers, immigration restrictionists are trying again to prevent foreign students from having an opportunity to gain meaningful practical experience in the United States through a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security filed in March 2014 and brought, in part, by the Immigration… Read More

Top Five Immigration Stories of 2014
This year, the narrative on immigration swung from hope that the House of Representatives would follow the Senate’s lead and act on comprehensive immigration reform legislation to hopelessness when Republican leaders refused to act. Then attention turned to anticipation of the President’s announcement of temporary executive actions to… Read More

Legal Challenges to Immigration Executive Action: Long on Politics, Short on Law
Within hours of President Obama’s November announcement of his executive actions on immigration, collectively referred to as the Immigration Accountability Executive Action, lawsuits challenging these new policies began. The lawsuits appear to be politicized attempts to use the courts to challenge President Obama’s authority to defer deportations, even… Read More

Third Federal Court Rejects Government Interpretation of ‘Admission’ into U.S.
This week, the federal district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) granted Melvin Medina—a Honduran citizen who entered the United States without inspection on October 9, 1992—Temporary Protected Status (TPS), it “inspected and admitted” him for purposes of adjustment… Read More

How USCIS Tried to Keep Out a Skilled Brazilian Steakhouse Worker
When a U.S. multinational company wants to bring a talented employee from overseas to work in the U.S. for a fixed period, it typically pursues what’s called an “L-1 visa” for transferring employees between related entities. There are two L-1 categories—the L-1A, which is reserved for executives and managers; and… Read More
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