Waivers and Relief from Deportation
Pentagon May Deport Immigrants Who Have Served in the Military
The Pentagon is considering halting a program that allows immigrants with urgently needed skills to serve in the military, putting the thousands of soldiers promised expedited citizenship in exchange for their service at risk for deportation. According to an undated Defense Department memo, the Pentagon may terminate the Military… Read More
Circuit Judge Says “Even the Good Hombres Are Not Safe”
A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an important immigration opinion last month, blasting the administration’s immigration policy and the unfettered discretion it is exercising in deportation decisions. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, in a concurrence, concluded that instead of focusing on the “bad hombres,” the… Read More
Challenges for Visa Waiver Program Overstays
A young DACA recipient named Daniela Vargas was detained in Mississippi by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after speaking out earlier this month about her fear of being deported under the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. Officials arrested Daniela immediately after she spoke at a press conference organized by the… Read More
DHS Secretary Johnson Discusses Border Security, Executive Action, Refugees and PEP
On Thursday, Secretary Jeh Johnson of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) addressed the 12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, covering a wide-range of topics, from border security to the new Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) to executive action and refugees. Secretary Johnson began his remarks calling attention to… Read More
Will the Guidance on Extreme Hardship Waivers Allow More Individuals to Become Permanent Residents?
This week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued draft guidance on what constitutes “extreme hardship” for purposes of an immigration waiver. The much anticipated guidance is a component of the Administration’s executive actions on immigration announced in November 2014. Many had hoped that the guidance, and its potential… Read More
Immigration Appeals Court Reverses Position on Deportation Waivers
In a decision issued last week, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed course and decided that a subset of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) who have been convicted of certain crimes may now have an opportunity to avoid deportation by proving to an immigration judge that their removal would cause… Read More
How New Guidance Improves a Waiver Program to Limit Family Separations
When President Obama announced his executive actions on immigration in November, much of the focus was on the new temporary immigration protections, namely the deferred action programs (called DACA and DAPA). Of all of the announced reforms, DACA and DAPA certainly will affect the greatest number of people, with… Read More
What Does More Discretion and Less Deportation Look Like?
Following President Obama’s announcement that administration officials will review enforcement policies to see how to make them more humane, NBC News reports that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has compiled a list of recommendations for Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on what actions could be taken to slow… Read More
Justice Department’s Losing Battle Over Deportation Waivers for Permanent Residents
For more than five years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has defended a policy that deprives long-term lawful permanent residents (LPRs) of the opportunity to apply for a waiver that would allow them to remain in the United States. The waiver—known as the 212(h) waiver (referring to section 212(h)… Read More
Putting the White House Immigration Reform Proposal into Perspective
Over the weekend, the press reported on a leaked draft of portions of the White House’s immigration proposal, and the coverage since then has been largely a frenzied discussion of whether the leak will kill Senate negotiations. There shouldn’t be much chance of that, given the immense pressure on the Senate to not only come up with a proposal, but actually draft legislation that can be debated and voted on this year. Now that at least some of the Administration’s ideas are out in the public eye, it’s useful to treat them as what they are: basic discussion points on what might be in an eventual bill. In the long run, the draft proposal may help to encourage the constructive conversation that the Administration has sought to have on reform. Read More
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