Refugees and Asylum Seekers
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
Undocumented Children Face These Challenges in Accessing Public Education
Unaccompanied children arriving from Central America face many challenges – post-traumatic stress, facing a judge without an attorney, separation from their families, and the fear of being returned to their home countries, among others. Receiving the public education to which they are entitled should not be one of those challenges. Read More
Human Rights Commission Holds Hearing on Refugee Children and Families Seeking Protection
Earlier this week the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights held a thematic hearing on the “Human Rights Situation of Migrant and Refugee Children and Families in the United States.” A broad national coalition of advocacy groups and legal service providers, led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Transnational Law Clinic,… Read More
New Studies Show Refugees are Integrating
At a time when politicians and others are expressing concern about the U.S.’s refugee resettlement process, two new studies show that refugees want to integrate and are indeed integrating into the fabric of our country. However, there is much variation depending on the refugees’ country of origin, and there remains… 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
Breaking Down the Central American Refugee Crisis and the U.S. Response
When tens of thousands of women and unaccompanied children from Central America journeyed to the United States seeking asylum in 2014, President Obama’s administration concentrated its efforts and poured resources into an aggressive strategy of deterrence that is still in place today. The multi-prong approach, including a media campaign… Read More
Florida House Punishes Sanctuary Cities, Bill Authorizing Military Force Against Refugees Passes Committee
The Florida House of Representatives passed a sweeping “anti-sanctuary city” bill this week that would penalize Florida counties who do not aggressively target undocumented immigrants or who fail to honor every federal request to detain immigrants, regardless of the requests’ constitutionality. A House committee also passed a bill that targets… Read More
DHS Can’t Enforce Its Way Out of a Refugee Crisis
There are two competing narratives being spun about the Obama Administration’s response to the “surge” of refugees from Central America who are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, and each of these narratives is as fanciful as the other. According to one story, there has been a near-instantaneous deterrent effect as… Read More
How Welcoming Immigrants Gave Chicago, Dayton, and Nashville a Boost
Three geographically diverse cities have created more welcoming environments for immigrants and each has implemented initiatives that promote immigrant entrepreneurship and innovation in their communities, to the benefit of all residents. Their efforts are detailed in the report “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Welcoming Cities: Lessons from Chicago, Dayton, and… Read More
Senators and Rights Groups Call on White House to Protect, Not Deport Central Americans
A growing number of policy-players and makers are calling on the U.S. government to protect, rather than deport, Central American migrants and asylum-seekers. As rampant violence and organized crime continues to destabilize the Northern Triangle countries—evidenced not only by numerous reports but, by the thousands fleeing this region in the past several years—many are questioning the U.S. government’s decision to deport people back there. There are also a growing number of groups and individuals calling for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for those currently in the U.S. from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador until conditions improve. Read More
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