South Carolina, District 7
The Cost of Doing Anti-Immigrant Business: Russell Pearce to Face Recall Election
While the authors and proponents of state level anti-immigrant legislation received some measure of notoriety initially, one could also predict that there would be a corresponding price to pay for pursuing such costly and divisive immigration measures. Aside from the immediate lawsuits filed in nearly every state that passed Arizona copycats, there are now additional political and fiscal costs that states and supporters of these restrictive laws must pay. Read More
Why Morton’s Memo is the Best Road Map on Prosecutorial Discretion Yet
BY DAVID LEOPOLD, ESQ., AILA IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT The memorandum on prosecutorial discretion recently issued by ICE Director John Morton is hardly a substitute for a full fix to our broken immigration system. That’s Congress’s job. But once implemented, the memo will allow ICE agents and trial attorneys to focus limited law enforcement resources on dangerous criminals and terrorists instead of hardworking immigrants caught in the web of our dysfunctional immigration system. While the memo is far from perfect, advocates should see it as a good faith attempt by Morton to implement smart immigration enforcement. Read More
New Data Shows Government Still Prioritizing Immigration Prosecutions over Dangerous Crime
Two recent reports by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a research center out of Syracuse University, confirm that the federal government is prioritizing immigration enforcement over potentially far more dangerous activities, such as gun smuggling. While prosecutions for illegal re-entry are up in criminal courts, prosecutions for weapons-related offenses are down in the last year. Not surprisingly, this prioritization of immigration prosecutions over dangerous crime has largely gone unnoticed by immigration restrictionists who routinely underscore “violence along the border” as a reason to bolster a border-only agenda. Read More
What ICE’s Latest Memo on Prosecutorial Discretion Means for Future Immigration Cases
Last week, Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), John Morton, reminded ICE officials of their duty and obligation to use good judgment in the prosecution of immigration cases. In a culture where many people still believe that “enforcing the law” and “removing people” are exactly the same, Morton’s new memo is likely to shake some things up. While the memo doesn’t change the law in any way or end controversial programs like Secure Communities, it does serve as a much-needed guide for ICE officials on how, when and why to exercise prosecutorial discretion in immigration cases. Read More
New York Looking to End Participation in Secure Communities Program
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Yesterday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo suspended his state’s participation in the Secure Communities program. In a letter to DHS, Gov. Cuomo wrote that the Secure Communities program is “having the opposite effect” of its intended purpose to target those who pose the “greatest threat” to the community and furthermore, compromises public safety “by deterring witnesses to crime and others from working with law enforcement.” Cuomo’s statement came after receiving pressure from state legislators, advocacy organizations, and other residents including a petition to the Governor opposing Secure Communities which had over 6,300 signatures. Read More
Controversy Over Deportation of Haitians Continues
BY ROYCE BERNSTEIN MURRAY, ESQ. Last week, CBS refused to display an advertisement on its Jumbotron in Times Square denouncing the deportation of Haitians because it was too controversial. Deportations to a cholera-plagued and earthquake-devastated country should be controversial, especially in light of DHS’s recent announcement that it would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for another 18 months and would expand the group of Haitians eligible for TPS. Going forward, Haitians who came to the U.S. after the earthquake no later than January 12, 2011 will be eligible to register for TPS. However, while the extension is a terrific humanitarian victory, DHS still intends to deport certain Haitians convicted of crimes, demonstrating some of the inconsistent policies that have plagued DHS’s handling of Haiti almost from the beginning. Read More
Administration Uses Executive Authority to Keep Educated Grads in U.S. Longer
By H. BOB SAKANIWA, AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYER'S ASSOCIATION As President Obama indicated in an immigration speech in El Paso, Texas, earlier this month, in a global marketplace, the United States needs the best and brightest to stay in our country to work, innovate and help create jobs for the benefit of all Americans. Well-educated, foreign-born professionals have made enormous contributions to our country, and we should do all we can to retain the next generation of these types of contributors. Just two days after President Obama put the topic of immigration reform back into the national debate, the administration exercised its executive authority to expand the number of science, technology, engineering, and math degree (STEM) programs that can be used to qualify foreign graduates to extend their post-graduate training. Read More
Senators Introduce Military Families Act
The week before the Memorial Day holiday, several senators honored U.S. military families caught up in our broken immigration system by introducing The Military Families Act. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the bill. Read More
SCOTUS E-Verify Ruling No Bellwether for Fate of SB1070
By Mary Giovagnoli and Melissa Crow Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding Arizona’s law requiring employers to use E-verify or risk losing their business licenses will, like all Supreme Court decisions, take some time to digest. What’s surprising, however, is how quickly some are already jumping to the conclusion that today’s decision signals how the Supreme Court might rule on SB 1070 when, and if, it finally makes its way to the Supreme Court. Read More
California Sheriff’s Comments Add to Saga Surrounding ICE’s Secure Communities Program
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca’s recent statements concerning the Secure Communities program is yet another development in what appears to be a saga surrounding ICE’s controversial enforcement program. Earlier this month, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn requested his state’s MOA with ICE be terminated. Advocates in New York have asked that their governor do the same. A lawmaker in San Francisco has even floated legislation that would allow counties to opt out of the program. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, ranking member on the Immigration Subcommittee, prompted a DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation to “determine the extent to which ICE uses the program to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens from the United States." Read More
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