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Hill Update: House Considers Immigration Amendments in Appropriations Bill
This week, the House of Representatives is considering the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, H.R 2017—which is, of course, a golden opportunity for lawmakers to attempt to tack on immigration amendments. As of today, 19 immigration and border related amendments were filed. The House agreed to eight of the amendments and rejected two.
Read MoreNew York Looking to End Participation in Secure Communities Program
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 […]
Read MoreControversy 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 […]
Read MoreAdministration 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 […]
Read MoreSenators 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 MoreSCOTUS 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 […]
Read MoreDeportation in the Time of Cholera: DHS’s Mixed Response to Haiti’s Earthquake
The dramatic announcement on May 17, 2011 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for another eighteen months to Haitians, including those who entered the country no later than January 12, 2011, is a welcome step forward in the saga of the Haitian earthquake. The decision to extend and redesignate Haiti for TPS has been a long time coming and reflects more than a year of solid effort on the part of advocates and the Haitian community. In many ways, DHS’s handling of the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti is emblematic of the triumphs and tribulations discussed in a recent report issued by the Immigration Policy Center, Second Annual DHS Progress Report: An Analysis of Immigration Policy in the Second Year of the Obama Administration. This critique found that the immigration agencies appear to be tackling issues affecting Haitians independently, failing to coordinate their enforcement and benefits-oriented policies. At times, critical information was disseminated in a limited and ad hoc fashion, generating confusion and unease about DHS policies. Observers have been left questioning how DHS’s priorities are ordered and whether they are integrated at the department level. DHS’s latest actions offer hope that a more coordinated, thoughtful, and humanitarian approach will prevail.
Read MoreUnderstanding Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Law
Frustrated by the lack of comprehensive immigration reform, many advocates, from grassroots community organizers to Members of Congress, have begun calling on President Obama to take action. They want the President and his administration to use the power of the executive branch to defer removals, revisit current policies and priorities, and interpret the law as compassionately as possible. The specific requests vary greatly. Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), for instance, last year asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to defer the removal of young people who qualified for legal permanent residence until such time as their legislation, the DREAM Act, became law. In April 2011, nineteen Democratic and Independent U.S. Senators, including Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY), reiterated the call to stop the removal of all students who meet the strict requirements of the DREAM Act. While the DREAM Act is frequently invoked, many community groups have also called for exercising prosecutorial discretion in individual cases by declining to put people in removal proceedings, terminating proceedings, or delaying removals in cases where people have longstanding ties to the community, U.S.-citizen family members, or other characteristics that merit a favorable exercise of discretion.
Read MoreWhite House Immigration Blueprint a Starting Point
Speeches, even those delivered by the President of the United States, can be forgotten fairly quickly. Following the El Paso immigration speech from two weeks ago, the White House is attempting to sustain a buzz by sending other members of the President’s cabinet and White House officials out to give speeches and hold roundtables across […]
Read MoreCIS Report Marred by ‘Deception and Disorder’
By Anam Rahman In a report issued earlier today, the restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) took aim at problems facing the U.S. immigration court system—a topic worthy of serious discussion. Unfortunately, as with many of CIS’ publications, today’s report combines dramatic rhetoric and unsubstantiated data with ill-conceived solutions. While it is unlikely the report […]
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