Due Process & the Courts
The Department of Justice is Restructuring Immigration Courts in Secret
The Trump administration has steadily implemented initiatives to restructure the immigration court system without providing much information to the public. The lack of government transparency around these changes is especially important because they compromise fairness in the courts. The Department of Justice (DOJ) oversees the Executive Office for Immigration Review… Read More
What Will It Take for USCIS to Reduce Its FOIA Backlog?
March 15 marks the beginning of Sunshine Week – a week devoted to celebrating the importance of government transparency and access to public records. It is a time to point out the lack of openness and accountability among immigration agencies and to assess what must be done to fight for… Read More
Judge Stops DHS From Arresting US Citizens’ Foreign Spouses During Marriage Interviews in Maryland
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been targeting U.S. citizens’ foreign spouses when they apply for legal immigration status. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Maryland put a halt to this practice. For the past few years, couples attending interviews about their marriages sometimes faced a terrible… Read More
How Will Conditions in Border Patrol Facilities Change Now That a Judge Has Ruled Them Unconstitutional?
A federal court found on Wednesday that U.S. Border Patrol may not detain migrants held in its facilities in Arizona’s Tucson Sector longer than 48 hours without providing for their “basic human needs.” This includes providing beds, blankets, food, water, personal hygiene, and medical care. Federal Judge Bury determined the… Read More
Calls for Independent Immigration Court Grow Louder at Congressional Hearing
A congressional oversight committee held a hearing this week on the need for immigration court reform and the systemic due process challenges within the immigration court system. The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship heard from several experts on the issue. Most experts made… Read More
A Humanitarian Catastrophe at the Border: One Year of the ‘Migrant Protection Protocols’
One year ago today, a confused Honduran man seeking asylum in the United States became the first person to be turned away from the border and sent back to Mexico to await a U.S. court hearing. He would become the first of nearly 60,000 people subjected… Read More
Tent Immigration Courts Are Still Not Fully Open to the Public
Asylum seekers subject to the Migrant Protection Protocols—or the “Remain in Mexico” program—in Laredo and Brownsville, Texas attend their court hearings in tents known as “port courts.” The government announced these secretive courts would finally be opened last week, but the public still does not have full access. For the… Read More
Immigration Courts Further Limit Legal Help Available to People Facing Deportation
Every year, thousands of people are forced to face the complex deportation system without an attorney representing them. Now, the immigration courts are seeking to limit the assistance that these individuals can receive from “friend of the court” attorneys. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the agency which includes… Read More
A Federal Agency Is Deleting Court Records That Implicate Trump’s Immigration Policies
Understanding how the immigration agencies operate has never been more important. Equally important is being able to rely on the information that those agencies release to the public. For this reason, a recent report issued by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is cause for alarm. Read More
In Historic Ruling, Thousands of Immigrants Waiting for Their Immigration Records Can Now Challenge Agency Delay
A federal court in San Francisco certified two nationwide classes of immigrants and attorneys challenging extreme agency delays in producing immigration case files. Plaintiffs allege that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have a system-wide practice of failing to… Read More
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