Immigration Law

SUPREME COURT HEARS IMPORTANT CHALLENGE TO REMOVAL PROCEEDINGS

Agusto Niz-Chavez, a citizen of Guatemala, arrived in the United States unlawfully in 2005. In 2013, he received a Notice to Appear (“NTA”). An NTA is a document an immigrant may receive placing him or her in Removal Proceedings.  The NTA instructs the intending immigrant to appear before an Immigration Judge at a certain place, date and time. When one receives this document, it commences removal proceedings. However, in Niz-Chavez’s NTA, no time or place for…

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TRUMP IMPLEMENTS INITIATIVE TO DEPORT NON-MEXICAN ASYLUM SEEKERS AT SOUTHERN BORDER

The Trump administration, in a joint effort between the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, has been in the process of implementing an experimental pilot program along the Southern Border of the United States designed to fast track the processing and deportation of asylum seekers from all over the world. The goal is essentially to render non-Mexican immigrants ineligible for asylum when they reach the United States. Reportedly, this new initiative is part of…

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JULIAN CASTRO EMERGES AS THE MOST PASSIONATE PROPONENT OF IMMIGRATION REFORM DURING FIRST OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

Political pundits and commentators are not only touting Julian Castro as the winner of the first Democratic presidential debate, but the most informed and outspoken proponent of comprehensive immigration reform among the large field of candidates. Noteworthy is the fact that Castro was the first presidential candidate to put forward a comprehensive immigration plan and to define immigration as central to his campaign. In fact, when asked about what he would do in his first hundred…

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TRUMP REELECTION CAMPAIGN THREATENS MASS DEPORTATIONS

As President Trump officially kicked off his 2020 reelection campaign with a rally in Orlando, he threatened to intensify immigration enforcement efforts and to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. He stated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will begin deportations that will be like a “rocket docket“, meaning cases of high-priority will be expediently placed in front of an already long administrative line. Notwithstanding Trump’s history of oft-times hysterical and hyperbolic pronouncements…

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U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASS THE “AMERICAN DREAM AND PROMISE ACT OF 2019”

The House of Representatives passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019," last night. The act, which had a unanimous affirmative vote by every single Democrat in the House, offers a path to Citizenship for individuals who were brought to the United States as children, known as DREAMers. This legislation, which impacts approximately 2.5 million immigrants whose legal protections President Trump has strategically moved to upend, via the termination of the DACA (Deferred Action for…

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NEW IMMIGRATION PLAN TO MINIMIZE FAMILY-BASED IMMIGRATION

President Trump is gearing up to unveil a new immigration plan that will reportedly serve as a central part of his re-election campaign message, with a projected twofold purpose: 1. to impose new security measures at the U.S.-Mexico border; and 2. to increase the education and skills requirements for people allowed to migrate to the United States. He is scheduled to reveal some of the details of this proposal during a Rose Garden ceremony this afternoon.…

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PRESIDENT TRUMP ISSUES ORDER TO DENY ASYLUM SEEKERS AT U.S. SOUTHERN BORDER

One week after President Trump announced that he would send thousands of troops to the southern border, he set forth another anti-immigrant order today, spearheaded by Stephen Miller, one of his hard-line governmental aides. Specifically, he signed an official executive proclamation today that essentially denies asylum to undocumented individuals who enter the United States via the southern border. The executive order bars all asylum claims outside of specified ports of entry. When queried about this new…

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TRUMP CONSIDERS NEW FAMILY SEPARATION POLICY IN ADVANCE OF MIDTERM ELECTIONS

With midterm elections fast approaching, President Trump and conservative candidates are once again employing a hard-line stance on immigration to ignite their Republican base and increase voter interest. Based upon voter history trends, it appears that Republican voters become supercharged when candidates discuss and promise anti-immigrant polices. Indeed, President Trump confirmed that he is considering a new family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border, with the hope that it will “scare away undocumented individuals from trying…

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THE ADVERSE IMPACT OF NEW TRUMP FAMILIAL SEPARATION IMMIGRATION POLICY

The United States government, under a new Trump administration policy, has already separated nearly 2,000 children from their parents under a "zero tolerance" ruling on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed on Friday. Most disturbing is the fact that they are being placed in separate holding facilities likened to the Japanese internment camps, without any clear procedure for their reunification. Without any seeming sense of humanity, Attorney General Jeff Sessions proudly described the new…

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JOURNALIST UNCOVERS IMMIGRANT BACKGROUNDS OF ANTI-IMMIGRANT PUBLIC FIGURES

In a world where many public figures have felt free to broadcast their anti-immigration views and share aloud their pejorative claims and prejudices against immigrants, Jennifer Mendelsohn, a journalist and genealogist has been highlighting these people's ancestral immigration histories to illustrate the obvious hypocrisy. Her genealogy facts have garnered public attention, have gone viral, and are being re-tweeted by the thousands as the apparent double standard seems to viscerally resonate with people. Mendelsohn began her quest…

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