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Lao Refugee Becomes Engaged Community Leader in Minneapolis
Sunny ChanthanouvongExecutive Director of the Lao Assistance Center When Sunny Chanthanouvong arrived in the U.S. with his family as a Lao refugee, little did he know he would soon be among 13,000+ rebuilding their lives in Minnesota, a state as different as one might imagine from Southeast Asia. It was an uncertain time with many […]
Read MoreIndian Researcher Starts Non-profit to Serve South Asian Community in Minneapolis
Raj ChaudharyCEO, SEWA-AIFW When Raj Chaudhary moved to Minneapolis in 1968 to become a cancer researcher at the University of Minnesota, she felt like a pioneer. At that time, the Twin Cities’ Indian community was small. And as it grew, newcomers would frequently tap earlier arrivals like Chaudhary and her husband for assistance. “They felt more comfortable […]
Read MoreSettlement Thwarts ICE’s Ability to Conduct Warrantless Sweeps
A federal court in Illinois recently approved a settlement agreement governing unlawful, warrantless arrests and vehicle stops. The settlement requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to adopt new policies related to warrantless arrests, re-train its officers, and release people from detention if ICE violates the settlement. The case, Castanon Nava v. ICE, was filed […]
Read MoreThe New Public Charge Standard Will No Longer Penalize Medicaid and SNAP Recipients
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to clarify the meaning of the “public charge ground of inadmissibility” on February 24. The new guidance will be welcome news for immigrants as well as state governments and immigrant-serving organizations across the country that have worked to combat fear and misinformation around […]
Read MoreCanada’s New Immigration Targets Show How the United States Is Falling Behind
The Canadian government released its 2022-2024 immigration targets earlier this week. Should it reach these targets, the number of new immigrants entering Canada would reach levels not seen in more than a century. This challenges the claim that the United States has the most generous immigration policies in the world. This axiom often comes with […]
Read MoreThe Dignity Act Could Signal Increasing Support for Immigration Reform on Capitol Hill
Miami Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a freshman Republican from Florida’s 27th congressional district, last week introduced an immigration reform bill that she calls the “Dignity Act.” Rep. Salazar claims the bill will both halt undocumented immigration to the United States and provide a “dignified solution” to the legal status of the more than 10.3 million […]
Read MoreThe Board of Immigration Appeals Will Now Provide the Public with Access to Its Unpublished Decisions
Immigrants and their representatives will gain access to decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) that were not publicly available. As a result of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of New York Legal Assistance Group, the BIA has agreed to post unpublished decisions in a […]
Read MoreCOVID-19 Rates in ICE Detention Are at Record Highs. Advocates Are Demanding an Investigation.
The Omicron variant has spread through immigration detention like wildfire, with a record 14% of people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody testing positive for COVID-19 as of February 1, 2022. That day, over 3,000 people in ICE custody had active cases, a 1,000% increase from one month prior. Despite the severity of […]
Read MoreComplaint Filed Against ICE as COVID Outbreak in Colorado Facility Raises Concerns
Immigration advocacy groups filed a complaint with DHS’s oversight bodies urging an investigation into the lack of COVID-19 protections and a COVID-19 outbreak—including threats of retaliation against detained people—at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado.
Read MoreCoalition Asks Inspectors General to Review Implementation of Biden Executive Order Against Private Prisons
The Council joined other organizations in calling for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Offices of the Inspectors General to formally review the implementation of Executive Order 14006.
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