Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Court Ensures That Asylum Seekers Will Receive a Fair Opportunity to Apply for Asylum
A federal court judge in Seattle ordered the government to notify asylum seekers that they are required by law to file their asylum applications within one year of their entry, and to adopt and implement a procedure that will ensure that applicants are able to file their asylum applications… Read More
A New Official ICE Policy Calls for the Detention of Pregnant Women
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Thursday that it was ending its general practice of releasing pregnant women from immigration jail. Under its new policy, pregnant women will only be released from detention on a case-by-case basis, ending the presumption of release. Now, ICE will detain “only those whose… Read More
Trump Administration Refugee Admissions Fall Drastically Short of Six-Month Benchmark
Six months into fiscal year 2018, the Trump administration has admitted roughly 10,520 refugees, a number so low that it may be impossible to reach the 45,000 target set by the administration last fall. If admissions continue at this slow pace, the United States may barely reach 20,000 refugee… Read More
USCIS Is Withholding Records Showing That Border Agents Are Abusing Asylum Seekers
As thousands of Central American families arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border asking for asylum in 2014, human rights organizations raised alarms about asylum seekers’ treatment by Customs and Border Protection officials. But these organizations were not the only ones expressing concern—asylum officers within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services… Read More
Lawsuit Challenges the Government’s Policy of Indefinitely Detaining Asylum Seekers
A class action lawsuit was filed on March 15, 2018 challenging the U.S. government’s practice of detaining asylum seekers indefinitely and argues the practice is an attempt to deter future asylum seekers from seeking safety in the United States. The suit claims that the Department of Homeland Security has… Read More
Immigrants Rights Group Sues U.S. Government Over Family Separation at the Border
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit this week to demand the immediate release and reunification of an asylum-seeking Congolese mother and her 7 year-old daughter, who had been forcibly separated by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers at the U.S.-Mexico border last November. Read More
USCIS Changes to Asylum Interview Scheduling Allows Long-Pending Cases to Languish
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made abrupt and sweeping changes to how the agency will schedule interviews for affirmative asylum applications. Rather than interviewing those who have been waiting months or years for their interview, asylum offices will now prioritize brand new filings ahead of all others waiting in… Read More
Immigrant Women and Girls Often Face Abuse, Homelessness After Arriving to the United States
Immigrant women and girls face unique challenges in navigating the U.S. immigration system, their dire circumstances often exacerbated by the gender-based violence they encounter on the journey and upon their arrival to the United States. These struggles were captured in a new report from the Tahirih Justice Center, which surveyed… Read More
Decoding the White House Immigration Framework
After President Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, he instructed Congress to pass legislation to protect Dreamers. However, Congress had to wait for direction from the White House on what type of legislation the president would sign into law. Finally, on Thursday, his administration released their… Read More
Three Year Anniversary of Family Detention Center Is Sad Reminder of America’s Cruelest Immigration Policy Practice
December marks the three-year anniversary of the opening of the country’s largest family detention center for non-citizen mothers and their minor children located in Dilley, Texas. Referred to as a “baby jail” since it holds children under one year of age there, the opening of the Dilley family detention center… Read More
Make a contribution
Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.
