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Federal Court Grants Class-Action Status in Challenge to Obama Administration
A federal court has granted class-action status to a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s failure to provide children in immigration court with lawyers in their deportation hearings. Several thousand children are estimated to be members of the class.
Read MoreHow DACA’s Success Can Be Built Upon
Last month marked the four-year anniversary of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. Since DACA was first announced in 2012, it has had positive impacts on the lives of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants in the United States. Yet, there are still ways in which the current DACA initiative can and […]
Read MoreWinners of the 19th Annual Celebrate America Fifth Grade Creative Writing Contest
Washington D.C. – The American Immigration Council is pleased to announce that the first place winner of the American Immigration Council’s 19th Annual Celebrate America Fifth Grade Creative Writing Contest is Eliana Jaffee from the Pardes Jewish School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Eliana’s poem was chosen from among thousands of entries nationwide. Her poem “Why We’re Here” describes America as […]
Read MoreCourt Rejects Government’s Efforts to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging Detention Conditions
Washington D.C.—On Monday, a federal district court permitted a class action lawsuit challenging harmful and unconstitutional conditions of confinement by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to move forward. In Jane Doe, et al. v. Johnson, et al., the court certified a class of plaintiffs to include: “All individuals who are now or in the future will be […]
Read MoreCoalition Urges Supreme Court to Protect President’s Executive Actions on Immigration
Washington, D.C. — A coalition of 224 immigration, civil rights, labor, and social service groups has filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief, urging the Supreme Court to review the case, Texas v. U.S., that has blocked some of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The filing comes less than a month after the U.S. Court […]
Read MoreExecutive Director Benjamin Johnson to Take Helm at the American Immigration Lawyers Association
Washington D.C. – It is with a mixture of sadness and excitement that the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees of the American Immigration Council (Council) announce the departure of Executive Director Benjamin (Ben) Johnson. Ben will become the Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in 2016. Ben has been part […]
Read MoreThe Big Easy Would Be Hard Pressed To Keep Building Without Immigrants, Says Catholic Charities Lawyer
Born in San Juan, Texas, to a migrant worker from Mexico, Homero Lopez Jr. grew up moving around the country as his mother found work on farms and in restaurants, hotels, and meatpacking facilities. He sometimes worked beside her, harvesting crops like potatoes, beets, and onions. Occasionally, a small theater troupe would come and perform […]
Read MoreSecond Circuit Narrowly Interprets Aggravated Felony Bar Under INA § 212(h)
Washington, D.C.—Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a precedent decision that will allow a greater number of lawful permanent residents (LPRs) to avoid deportation if they can demonstrate to an immigration judge that their removal will result in extreme hardship to close family members in the United States. The Court held that […]
Read MoreExecutive Director Benjamin Johnson Testifies Before Senate on High-Skilled Immigration
Washington D.C. – Today, the American Immigration Council’s Executive Director, Benjamin Johnson, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the integral role immigration plays in America’s economic prosperity. Although the hearing title, “Immigration Reforms Needed to Protect Skilled American Workers,” suggested that some minds had already been made up, he reframed the conversation, calling on Congress […]
Read MoreFrom South Vietnam to The U.S. Capitol: An Immigrant Tale
Joseph Cao believes a letter he received as a boy from his father helped steer his life’s course—although he didn’t recognize it at the time. Cao’s father, an officer allied with American forces in South Vietnam, had been captured by the North Vietnamese in 1975, at the close of the Vietnam War, and sent to […]
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