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Policing the Enforcers: Criminalizing Alabama Employees Encourages Discrimination
Alabama lawmakers want undocumented immigrants to be so afraid of the consequences of the state’s new anti-immigrant law (HB 56) that they leave the state. However, that’s not the only fear factor built into the law. Under section 6(f), state and local government employees must report violations of HB 56—which includes unlawfully present immigrants even […]
Read MoreProsecutorial Discretion Survey Demonstrates Need for More Training, Consistency Across ICE Field Offices
It’s been almost six months since ICE Director John Morton issued new guidelines on prosecutorial discretion to help ICE agents, attorneys and other officials distinguish between high priority cases (national security threats and serious criminals) and low priority cases (DREAM Act students). A recent survey released by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the […]
Read MoreNon-Citizens Eager to Serve in U.S. Military Blocked by Government Bureaucracy
BY MARGARET D. STOCK, COUNSEL TO THE FIRM, LANE POWELL PC This Veterans Day, we celebrate those who have proudly served in the U.S. military, including immigrants. Immigrants have long served in all branches of the U.S. military as infantry soldiers, medics, foreign-language translators, and in every other job open to them. At last count, […]
Read MoreEven Facebook Feels Brunt of Broken U.S. Immigration Policy
You know things are bad when a company as popular as Facebook has problems finding qualified talent. In a recent interview, Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, remarked that our outdated immigration policy is a big reason Silicon Valley tech companies are fighting each other for highly skilled workers. Current immigration policy limits high-skilled worker […]
Read MoreLawsuits Filed Against Department of Homeland Security Seek Greater Transparency
Washington, D.C.—The American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center (LAC) this week filed two lawsuits against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compel the release of records relating to noncitizens’ access to counsel before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The LAC pursued disclosure of these records, as […]
Read MoreProvisions in Alabama’s Immigration Law Go Further Than You Think
It’s no stretch to call Alabama’s new immigration law (HB 56) extreme—especially the provision (since enjoined) which required schools to check the immigration status of students and made it a criminal misdemeanor for an unauthorized immigrant to fail to carry immigration documentation. Two provisions that may have flown under the radar, however, are the contract […]
Read MoreRemembering the Benefits of IRCA, 25 Years Later
Twenty five years ago this week, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), an immigration reform bill which, despite a contentious debate, managed to pass a Republican Senate and a Democratic House. In fact, Reagan called the immigration bill one of the “most difficult legislative undertakings of recent memory” but one […]
Read MoreThousands of Children Stuck in Foster Care after Parents Deported, Report Finds
A report released this week reveals yet another devastating consequence of the enforcement-only approach to immigration—a startling number of children whose parents have been detained and deported are placed in foster care and face enormous barriers reuniting with their families. According to the Applied Research Center, 1 in 4 people deported in FY 2011 (nearly […]
Read MoreDOJ Responds Forcefully to Civil Rights Disaster in Alabama, What Will DHS Do?
Washington D.C. – This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it was filing suit in South Carolina to block Act No. 69 (formerly SB 20), South Carolina’s new anti-immigrant law—modeled on Arizona’s SB1070. DOJ argues—like it did in Utah and Alabama—that the law is unconstitutional and interferes with the federal government’s ability to […]
Read MoreCongressional Members to Join Civil Rights Groups in Fight Against Alabama’s “Juan Crow” Law
In the days following passage of Alabama’s extreme immigration law (HB 56), many business, religious and civil rights leaders spoke out about the law’s damaging impact on immigrant communities, farms, businesses, and schools. Since then, many notable community and civil rights leaders have stepped forward to add their voice to those demanding a repeal of […]
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