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After Escaping War, Bosnian Refugee Helps Others Make Roanoke Home
Elvir Berbic’s family fled Bosnia when war broke out in 1992. “One day I went to school, and out of four grades—so about 80 students—10 showed up to class,” Berbic says. “They told us, ‘School is over. We don’t know when it’s going to be open. Go home. Be safe.’” But to stay in Derventa, […]
Read MoreFederal Court Allows Controversial ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy to Continue
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is resuming its controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy. This policy requires asylum-seeking Central American migrants who arrive at our Southern border to return to Mexico to await their immigration court hearings in the United States. A federal judge in California had previously blocked the policy’s implementation until the court […]
Read MoreRichmond Times-Dispatch Opinion: Luis Angel Aguilar column: Fighting to stay out of the shadows
Since I was 15 years old, I’ve always felt anxious about looking for a job. I worried an employer might discover I was an undocumented immigrant. For nearly a decade, I managed to slide under the radar and take whatever jobs I could get in construction, restaurants and hotel housekeeping. But I always dreamed of […]
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Daily News Opinion: The continuing cost of the Trump Muslim ban
As a lawyer with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, I see plenty of people trying to navigate our immigration system, some with more success than others. Not long ago, a Syrian-born client named Hasan attended a green-card interview at the United States Embassy in Rome alongside Sarah, his American wife. (I’ve changed both names to […]
Read MoreNew Report Shows More Than 30 Percent of San Antonio’s Business Owners Are Immigrants
SAN ANTONIO, TX – Immigrant households earned nearly $4.6 billion in 2017 and contributed more than $1 billion in taxes, according to a new research brief released by New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. The report will be released at a public […]
Read MoreThe Transcontinental Railroad at 150: The Contributions of Chinese Immigrants and Chinese Americans
This week marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Transcontinental Railroad, the first continuous railroad line from California to the East Coast. The completion of the Railroad was transformative, shortening travel time between New York and San Francisco from up to six months to less than a week. It opened up the West […]
Read MoreWhite House Demands Additional $4.5 Billion for Border
In a move designed to ratchet up pressure on Congress, last week the White House sent an emergency budget request to Congress asking for $4.5 billion of funding to deal with increased numbers of families arriving at the border. The money includes a request for funds that would permit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to […]
Read MoreLocal Officials in Massachusetts, New York Challenge ICE Courthouse Arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has dramatically increased enforcement actions in and around state and local courthouses since 2017. As part of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda, ICE began using courthouses to conduct frequent civil immigration arrests. In practice, this means ICE agents—often unidentified and in plainclothes—have a greater presence in civil and […]
Read MoreGroups Launch Legal Challenge to Trump Administration Policy on Jailing Asylum Seekers
The American Immigration Council, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and The American Civil Liberties Union, filed a proposed amended complaint in federal court today in order to challenge the Trump administration’s new policy that categorically denies bond hearings to asylum seekers. The policy, announced April 16 by Attorney General William Barr, targets asylum seekers whom immigration officers previously determined have a “credible fear” of persecution or torture if returned to the places they fled.
Read MoreRecord Low U.S. Birth Rate and Retirements Will Result in Contracting U.S. Prosperity, If Unaddressed
The U.S. population is aging quickly. Baby boomers are retiring en masse and Americans are having far fewer children, on average, than any other time in our history. The median age in this country was 38 as of 2017. America now runs the risk of becoming an aging nation with few youthful replacements if we […]
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