California, District 44
The Contributions of New Americans in Maryland
With its close proximity to our nation’s capital, it is of little surprise that Maryland has emerged in recent years as a popular destination for the country’s immigrants. In 1990, immigrants made up 6.6 percent of the state’s total population. By 2010, that number had more than doubled, reaching 13.9… Read More
Deep Faith Motivates Nancy Long’s Support for Immigration Reform
In 2015, Nancy Long treated a young bipolar man who came to the crisis center where she worked as a licensed clinical professional counselor. The young man wasn’t medicated properly, and his family feared for their safety and his own. “They were kind of afraid of him when he was… Read More
ICE’s Computerized Detention Decision-Maker Can’t Work Because of Mandatory Detention Laws
In January 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) implemented the “Risk Classification Assessment” (RCA)—a computerized tool that analyzes evidence and recommends whether to detain or release immigrants facing deportation. Yet ICE still detained 80 percent of its arrestees in FY 2013, in a detention system that… 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
Labor Shortages Increase U.S. Reliance on Imported Foods, Harming Local Economies
While U.S. consumers increasingly seek out locally grown produce in grocery stores and farmers markets, imported fruits and vegetables are making up a growing share of the produce consumed in the United States. U.S. agricultural production is out of alignment with the demands of consumers and one problem is… Read More
ICE Policy on Parental Rights Addresses Long Overdue Problem in Immigration System
For years, leading family and children’s advocates have argued that the bond between parent and child is often a casualty of our broken immigration system. Consequently, they have argued that ensuring parental rights in the context of immigration proceedings is critical—whether the issue is about determining who should have custody of an unaccompanied minor, exercising discretion to release a sole caregiver from detention, or ensuring that a person in immigration proceedings doesn’t automatically lose parental rights. On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) finally released a memorandum that offers clear guidelines on these questions. Unfortunately, some people, like House Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, immediately tried to turn this into a political issue about immigration reform, instead of what it is—guidance for making sure the rights of parents and children are protected. Read More
Budget Cuts Led ICE To Release Immigrants From Detention
Along with every other government agency, on March 1, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials had to begin making mandatory cuts to their budget as a result of sequestration. ICE’s choice to shift some of its detainees from expensive detention facilities to non-detention alternatives was questioned yesterday by Members of Congress, but more importantly the decision demonstrates that alternatives to detention are a feasible choice—regardless of sequestration. Read More
Business and Labor Announce Breakthrough on Immigration Reform
One of the most contentious issues that has stymied past immigration reform proposals is the divide between business and labor over how many and under what conditions the U.S. should admit new immigrants into our labor force. Also known as the “future flow” issue, the conflict lies in the tension between business’ desire to recruit foreign workers and labor’s desire to ensure workforce protections for those working in the U.S. Read More
Advocates Call on Obama Administration to Protect Immigrant Families, Not Deport Them
Nearly a year ago, ICE Director John Morton issued a memo on prosecutorial discretion which led to the review of 300,000 immigration cases currently in removal proceedings. Advocates initially applauded this announcement, hoping that the administration would move quickly to close low-level, non-criminal immigration cases. But today, disappointed by the program’s low closure rate, advocates and community leaders called on the Obama administration to make good on its promise of using of prosecutorial discretion to protect DREAMers and immigrant families from deportation. Read More
Immigrants without Legal Representation Not Benefitting from Prosecutorial Discretion
After ICE Director John Morton issued a memo last June outlining how and when ICE officials should exercise prosecutorial discretion in immigration cases, many were optimistic that the memo’s implementation would relieve backlogs and help the agency focus on higher priority immigration cases. Months later, however, folks are finding that one large group of people has limited access to this review process—immigrants without legal representation. In fact, nearly half of all immigrants in removal proceedings appeared without legal representation in 2011, also known as “pro se.” While immigration attorneys often explain the effect of these prosecutorial discretion policies to their clients, pro se immigrants may be unaware that new policies are even in effect. Read More
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