Due Process and the Courts
Including LGBT Immigrants in Immigration Reform Helps Protect Vulnerable Individuals
Roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants live in the United States, and their backgrounds and stories are incredibly diverse. DREAM activists helped to change the picture of the 11 million by shining light on young people affected by our broken immigration system, while grassroots movements are highlighting the stories of families. But a new report from the Williams Institute adds another facet to this picture: an estimated 267,000 undocumented adults identify as LGBT. Even more compelling, the report highlights the other struggles LGBT individuals face when dealing with the legal immigration system. Read More
Immigrants Deserve Basic Miranda-Like Warnings When Arrested
As anyone who has watched an episode of Law and Order knows, police officers must give certain warnings to anyone placed under arrest, including that they have the right to an attorney and that the statements they make can be used against them in court. In the 1966 decision Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court explained that providing these warnings prior to police questioning ensures that criminal suspects are aware of their rights and therefore are better protected against the intimidation inherent in police interrogations. Read More
How Budget Cuts From Sequestration Will Affect The Nation’s Immigration System
The U.S.’s immigration system, already burdened by application processing backlogs and insufficient funding for immigration courts, could become even more unwieldy if the government must slash its budget on March 1. Sequestration – a package of across-the-board government spending cuts totaling $85 billion this year and $1.2 trillion over the next decade – likely will go into effect on Friday unless Congress and President Obama manage to reach a deal. Currently, there are no reports of ongoing negotiations to avert the automatic cuts, so when the cuts kick in, all aspects of the immigration system – from visas to deportations – would be impacted. Read More
SCOTUS Narrows Protections For Noncitizens Who Received Poor Legal Advice
Almost three years ago, in the landmark decision Padilla v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court acknowledged the severity of deportation and that our current immigration laws make “removal nearly an automatic result” for many noncitizens convicted of crimes. Consequently, the Court held that a criminal defense attorney must advise noncitizen clients about the risks of deportation if they accept a plea bargain. If the defense attorney fails to provide this advice, the noncitizen can seek to have the conviction set aside. Such recourse brings integrity to the criminal justice and immigration systems and ensures that immigrants who reasonably rely on advice from their lawyers are not unfairly held accountable for their lawyers’ mistakes. Read More
Shoddy Court Process Behind the Record Number of Deportations
The Obama Administration is on record for pursuing the toughest immigration enforcement policies in U.S. history, mostly evidenced by its record numbers of deportations. These numbers speak volumes: last year, nearly 400,000 people were deported from the United States. While these numbers are shockingly high and there has been much discussion about how these actions tear families and communities apart, there has also been an under-reporting of the unfair and often expedited process that leads to the deportation of hundreds of thousands of people each year. In fact, two-thirds of the individuals removed are done so without ever seeing the inside of an immigration courtroom and are not accorded many other basic due process protections. Read More
Survey: Asian Americans Concerned with Legalization, Family Backlogs
In the current debate, immigration is often depicted as a Latino issue. This is partially because just over half of America’s foreign-born population is from Latin America and the Caribbean, and the current political climate around immigration is largely seen as being driven by Latino turnout for Democrats in the 2012 election. But this depiction glosses over the millions of immigrants – documented and undocumented – who hail from other parts of the globe. Read More
Why Immigrants Should Have Access to Legal Counsel
U. S. immigration laws are incredibly complex, yet they provide only minimal due process protections for even the most vulnerable noncitizens. In criminal courts, defendants who cannot afford an attorney are provided one for free, but in immigration court, noncitizens do not receive the same protections. As a result, many immigrants facing deportation are forced to proceed on their own. Even noncitizens with serious mental disorders who cannot understand what is happening in court may be deported without ever speaking to an attorney. Although current laws and regulations provide some protections for people in immigration court who lack “mental competency,” they are insufficient and unclear. An immigration system that takes seriously the promise of due process and fair hearings must do better. Read More
Out of Legal Options, Alabama Files Petition at Supreme Court
Nearly five months ago, a federal appeals court in Atlanta issued a set of opinions that invalidated numerous provisions of Alabama HB 56, the most pernicious state immigration law in the country. After Alabama asked the full court to reconsider its rulings, the active judges unanimously rejected its request. Out of other legal options, the state filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to revive some (though not all) of the invalidated provisions. While the odds remain small that the Justices will take up the case, granting the petition could set up another legal showdown similar to the case over Arizona SB 1070. Read More
Federal Judges Remind Government to Consider Prosecutorial Discretion
Prosecutorial discretion is the authority of a law enforcement agency or officer to decide whether and to what degree to enforce the law in particular cases. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative continues to be a successful example of prosecutorial discretion in the immigration context. However the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) often ignores other non-DACA-related cases where prosecutorial discretion would be equally appropriate. Read More
Arizona Faces Lawsuit over DACA Driver’s License Policy
Less than six months after it received a stinging rebuke from the Supreme Court, Arizona today was hit with another major lawsuit over its punitive immigration policies—this time challenging its practice of denying driver’s licenses to beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Filed in federal court in Phoenix, the class-action suit challenges an executive order issued by Gov. Jan Brewer making DACA recipients ineligible for all public benefits. Although the suit is limited to Arizona’s policy, the outcome could affect DACA recipients’ ability to obtain driver’s licenses in other states as well. Read More
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