2020
1/27/2020
AILA expressed disappointment and concern at the 5-4 Supreme Court decision to stay the current nationwide injunction of the “public charge” rule. The administration can now, temporarily at least, implement the Public Charge Final Rule everywhere but Illinois, while underlying litigation continues.
AILA Doc. No. 20012705
12/23/2020
AILA welcomes reports that President-elect Biden is committed to following through on campaign pledges that will help ensure our immigration system and asylum process become fairer and more just.
AILA Doc. No. 20122317
12/14/2020
AILA and our litigation partners celebrate today’s summary judgment in our pro bono lawsuit challenging the Department of Labor’s attempt to change prevailing wage determinations.
AILA Doc. No. 20121408
12/10/2020
AILA and American Immigration Council leadership respond to the latest asylum regulation that would make it nearly impossible for most applicants to successfully claim humanitarian protection in the United States.
AILA Doc. No. 20121034
11/23/2020
AILA welcomes the news that President-elect Biden will nominate Alejandro Mayorkas to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
AILA Doc. No. 20112342
11/18/2020
A federal judge has granted class certification in AILA’s lawsuit, filed with the Council, Van Der Hout LLP, Joseph & Hall P.C., and Kuck Baxter Immigration LLC, challenging USCIS’s practice of arbitrarily denying H-1B nonimmigrant employment-based petitions for market research analyst positions.
AILA Doc. No. 20111800
11/10/2020
AILA released recommendations on immigration reform and called upon the incoming Biden-Harris administration to take swift action to fix the immigration system because “nothing short of a comprehensive plan is needed to restore American values and our standing in the world.”
AILA Doc. No. 20111000
11/7/2020
AILA congratulates the incoming Biden-Harris administration and pledges to offer solutions that will ensure our nation’s immigration policies reflect America’s founding principles and contribute to our shared prosperity.
AILA Doc. No. 20110639
10/30/2020
AILA joined the American Immigration Council and the National Immigrant Justice Center in litigation against EOIR and GSA. The lawsuit requests information on the expansion and creation of immigration adjudication centers, which were established as part of EOIR’s Strategic Caseload Reduction plan.
AILA Doc. No. 20103038
10/29/2020
AILA President Jennifer Minear and AILA Director of Government Relations Sharvari Dalal-Dheini respond to a new H-1B regulation that will harm U.S. workers and businesses.
AILA Doc. No. 20102900
10/19/2020
AILA joins Jeff Joseph, Charles Kuck, and Greg Siskind in suing to enjoin, in its entirety, the Department of Labor Interim Final Rule, “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States.”
AILA Doc. No. 20101907
10/7/2020
AILA President Jennifer Minear and AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson respond to sweeping rules that will alter the H-1B process.
AILA Doc. No. 20100700
10/2/2020
AILA welcomed the passage of the bipartisan U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 1153 which condemns unwanted, unnecessary medical procedures on individuals in immigration detention without their full, informed consent.
AILA Doc. No. 20100202
9/15/2020
In a joint statement, AILA and the American Immigration Council respond to reports of inadequate medical care and unnecessary hysterectomies in ICE detention.
AILA Doc. No. 20091591
9/30/2020
AILA applauds Judge White’s decision to halt USCIS’s Fee Rule in its entirety following litigation filed with Sidley Austin LLP on August 20, 2020.
AILA Doc. No. 20093000
9/4/2020
Litigators from AILA, Justice Action Center, and Innovation Law Lab respond to the U.S. District Court for the District Columbia's preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from denying immigrant visas to 2020 diversity visa winners.
AILA Doc. No. 20090496
8/31/2020
AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson comments on the release of the 17th edition of Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook, authored by Ira J. Kurzban.
AILA Doc. No. 20083100
8/27/2020
AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson comments on the release of the fifth edition of Litigating Immigration Cases in Federal Court, authored by Robert Pauw.
AILA Doc. No. 20082730
8/26/2020
AILA Senior Policy Counsel Laura Lynch and AILA First Vice President Jeremy McKinney respond to a new rule proposed by DOJ that would overhaul Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) processes.
AILA Doc. No. 20082631
8/25/2020
AILA Director of Government Relations Sharvari Dalal-Dheini and AILA President Jennifer Minear respond to USCIS’s announcement that it will cancel its planned furlough of over 13,000 employees.
AILA Doc. No. 20082530
8/24/2020
AILA’s Executive Director Benjamin Johnson comments on the release of the sixth edition of Immigration Law and the Family by Charles Wheeler.
8/21/2020
On August 20, 2020, AILA and Sidley Austin, LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of the nation’s leading immigrants’ rights organizations challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful USCIS Fee Rule. The law suit seeks to prevent the rule from going into effect on October 2, 2020.
AILA Doc. No. 20082133
8/4/2020
AILA, the Council, and NIPNLG filed a FOIA request to obtain documents related to EOIR’s response to COVID-19, noting that EOIR has repeatedly ignored requests for information and seeking expedited release of documents that are integral to understanding EOIR’s operations during the pandemic.
AILA Doc. No. 20080434
8/3/2020
AILA, Justice Action Center, and Innovation Law Lab, with pro bono support from Mayer Brown LLP, filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for a preliminary injunction to halt implementation of the Trump Administration’s immigration ban.
AILA Doc. No. 20080307
7/28/2020
AILA President Jennifer Minear and AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson respond to the Trump administration announcement that it will begin to wind down legal protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients while it conducts a review of the program.
AILA Doc. No. 20072890
7/17/2020
AILA, Justice Action Center, and Innovation Law Lab, with pro bono support from Mayer Brown LLP, sued the Trump Administration on behalf of 23 individual and organizational plaintiffs to prevent the devastating effects of President’s Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional immigration ban.
AILA Doc. No. 20071701
7/13/2020
Today, AILA and our partners filed a complaint on behalf of a group of applicants for lawful permanent residence, their sponsors, and nonprofit immigration legal service providers, suing the Trump administration for violating the law in its implementation of the new “public charge” regulation.
AILA Doc. No. 20071339
7/8/2020
AILA and the Council expressed deep concern about the administration’s soon-to-be-published proposed rule that would allow DHS to ban people from seeking asylum or withholding of removal in the United States solely because they traveled from or through a country under threat by a serious disease.
AILA Doc. No. 20070840
7/6/2020
AILA condemns the Trump administration’s recent ramp-up of efforts to turn the immigration court system into an enforcement tool rather than an independent arbiter for justice.
AILA Doc. No. 20070696
6/24/2020
On June 23, 2020, the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, through their pro bono work with the Immigration Justice Campaign, filed a group habeas petition demanding the release of individuals detained in the Joe Corley Detention Facility in Conroe, Texas due to the conditions at this ICE facility.
AILA Doc. No. 20062437
6/24/2020
Representatives from AILA, Justice Action Center, and Innovation Law Lab react to the carve-out exemption in President Trump’s immigration ban expansion for children or child relatives who could be separated from their families if they age out while the ban is in effect.
AILA Doc. No. 20062400
6/22/2020
AILA President Jennifer Minear and AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson respond to President Trump’s Proclamation barring access to certain nonimmigrant workers until the end of the 2020.
AILA Doc. No. 20062220
6/18/2020
Jennifer Minear was installed as AILA’s President, and the following officers were elected today for the 2020-2021 term: Allen Orr as President-Elect, Jeremy McKinney as First Vice President, Farshad Owji as Second Vice President, Kelli J. Stump as Treasurer, and Jeff Joseph as Secretary.
AILA Doc. No. 20061805
6/18/2020
AILA applauds the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision blocking the rescission of DACA. The decision underscores the incredible importance of our nation’s foundational principle of separation of powers and the need for accountability in government agency actions.
AILA Doc. No. 20061802
6/17/2020
AILA recognizes Greg Siskind of Memphis, TN, with the 2020 Advocacy Award for outstanding efforts in support of AILA's advocacy agenda.
AILA Doc. No. 20061760
6/16/2020
AILA recognizes Alexis S. Axelrad, of New York, NY, with the 2020 Susan D. Quarles AILA Service Excellence Award, in recognition of her outstanding service, over a period of years, in advancing the mission, development, and value of AILA for its members and the public it serves.
AILA Doc. No. 20061660
6/15/2020
AILA recognizes Kathleen M. Gillespie with the 2020 Sam Williamson Mentor Award, in acknowledgment of her outstanding efforts and excellent counsel to immigration attorneys by providing mentoring assistance.
AILA Doc. No. 20061563
6/12/2020
The Trump Administration’s proposed rule seeks to fundamentally rewrite U.S. asylum laws and policies, and remove almost any chance for those fleeing persecution to gain protection. AILA highlights some changes of extreme concern, and we urge the public to comment on the proposed rule.
AILA Doc. No. 20061204
6/12/2020
AILA recognizes Sidley Austin LLP with the 2020 Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award for outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the immigration field.
AILA Doc. No. 20061260
6/11/2020
AILA recognizes Hamed Aleaziz, of San Francisco, CA, with the 2020 Media Leadership Award, given to individuals whose efforts in the media most accurately depict immigration and immigrants.
AILA Doc. No. 20061162
6/10/2020
AILA recognizes Sabrina Damast, of Los Angeles, CA, with the 2020 Joseph Minsky Young Lawyer Award for her outstanding contributions made as a young lawyer in the field of immigration and nationality law.
AILA Doc. No. 20061060
6/9/2020
AILA recognizes Wasden Banias LLC with the 2020 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award for excellence in litigation in the field of immigration law.
AILA Doc. No. 20060960
6/8/2020
AILA recognizes Lindsay M. Harris, Associate Professor of Law at the University of the District of Columbia School of Law, and Director of the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic, with the 2020 Elmer Fried Excellence in Teaching Award.
AILA Doc. No. 20060860
6/5/2020
AILA recognizes Russell Abrutyn of Berkley, MI, with the 2020 Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for excellence in advancing the practice of immigration law.
AILA Doc. No. 20060560
6/4/2020
AILA recognizes the LGBT Asylum Project of San Francisco, CA, with the 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Award for outstanding efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion excellence in the immigration legal profession.
AILA Doc. No. 20060462
6/3/2020
AILA recognizes Taylor Levy of El Paso, TX, with the 2020 Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award for outstanding service in advancing the cause of human rights.
AILA Doc. No. 20060360
5/28/2020
AILA, Justice Action Center, and Innovation Law Lab, with pro bono support from Mayer Brown LLP, have filed a lawsuit on behalf of U.S. citizens and LPRs petitioning for their children and derivative relatives to join them in the U.S. who would “age-out” while the administration’s ban is in place.
AILA Doc. No. 20052838
5/28/2020
AILA responded to the recent effort by EOIR Director McHenry to buy out the remaining pre-Trump administration BIA members and highlighted the continuing push by this administration to manipulate the functions of the BIA, underscoring the urgent need for an independent immigration court system.
AILA Doc. No. 20052830
5/20/2020
AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson responds to the announcement by DHS and the CDC extending indefinitely their order blocking entry to asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.
AILA Doc. No. 20052038
5/20/2020
AILA urges congressional appropriators to demand accountability, conduct strict oversight, and ensure conditions are met before agreeing to an emergency funding request by USCIS.
AILA Doc. No. 20052036
5/15/2020
AILA urges support for the HEROES Act which would help protect the health and safety of all communities and provide a plan for this nation to rebuild, ensuring our shared prosperity.
AILA Doc. No. 20051533
5/14/2020
AILA joined the American Immigration Council, Human Rights Watch, and the law firm Winston & Strawn LLP in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. Northern District of California to compel the release of records about the U.S. Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program.
AILA Doc. No. 20051433
5/11/2020
AILA opposes MPP and the new procedures announced Sunday, May 10, which create more confusion and instability for the thousands of asylum seekers waiting for their U.S. immigration court hearings in violent and dangerous conditions in Mexico.
AILA Doc. No. 20051190
5/8/2020
AILA commends the introduction of the “Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act” in the House; the bill is companion legislation to a Senate bill intended to help address the critical healthcare shortage in the United States, a weakness that has been evident during the COVID-19 national emergency.
AILA Doc. No. 20050835
5/7/2020
Immigration Justice Campaign Director Karen Lucas and National Advocacy Counsel Katie Shepherd detail why ICE’s failure to protect those in its custody during the COVID-19 pandemic demands immediate oversight by DHS.
AILA Doc. No. 20050737
5/4/2020
AILA and our partners welcomed the Ninth Circuit 2-1 panel decision today to refuse the federal government a stay pending appeal of the preliminary nationwide injunction in Doe v. Trump; the government had sought a stay of the injunction granted by the U.S. District Court in Portland, OR.
AILA Doc. No. 20050443
5/4/2020
AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson and American Immigration Council Executive Director Beth Werlin react to documents obtained by the organizations via FOIA revealing DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review’s updated hiring plan for Immigration Judges and Appellate Immigration Judges.
AILA Doc. No. 20050441
4/30/2020
AILA welcomes the announcement by Senators Perdue, Durbin, Young, and Coons that they will introduce bipartisan legislation which would help address the critical healthcare shortage in the United States, a weakness that has been evident during the COVID-19 national emergency.
AILA Doc. No. 20043033
4/28/2020
The decision denying the emergency TRO in NIPNLG, et al., v. EOIR, et al., is deeply disappointing; the lawsuit against EOIR and ICE was brought to protect the health of attorneys, immigrants, and the public from the impact of dangerous and unconstitutional policies.
AILA Doc. No. 20042800
4/25/2020
Litigators from the Justice Action Center, AILA, and Innovation Law Lab are filing an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Trump Administration’s recent immigration ban; the TRO would protect underage children protected under Doe v. Trump.
AILA Doc. No. 20042501
4/23/2020
AILA denounced President Trump’s decision to temporarily block access to immigrant visas with some exceptions, with AILA President Marketa Lindt noting, “We don’t need to suspend immigration, we need to strengthen and improve our immigration system to respond to the challenges of our times.”
AILA Doc. No. 20042335
4/21/2020
AILA responds to President Trump’s tweet announcing his plan to suspend immigration by urging the White House and agencies to implement rational, policy-based measures that promote the public health and economic interests of our country rather than resort to distraction and political theater.
AILA Doc. No. 20042106
4/16/2020
AILA joined the Council and the law firms Van Der Hout, LLP, Joseph & Hall P.C., and Kuck Baxter Immigration LLC in filing a nationwide class action lawsuit today challenging USCIS’s pattern and practice of arbitrarily denying H-1B petitions for market research analysts positions.
AILA Doc. No. 20041635
4/8/2020
AILA and our partners moved for an emergency Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against EOIR and ICE to protect the health of immigration attorneys, immigrants, and the public from the impact of dangerous and unconstitutional policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AILA Doc. No. 20040831
4/3/2020
AILA Director of Federal Litigation Jesse Bless and AILA President Marketa Lindt detail the importance of AILA’s complaint against USCIS seeking the immediate suspension of immigration benefit deadlines and the maintenance of status for nonimmigrants in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
AILA Doc. No. 20040331
3/30/2020
In a lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, AILA and our partners demanded that DOJ EOIR and ICE take immediate necessary actions to prioritize the health and safety of attorneys and clients at risk from the COVID-19 pandemic.
AILA Doc. No. 20033090
3/23/2020
AILA and the American Immigration Council, with over 100 other organizations, sent a letter to EOIR and ICE calling for the prioritization of the health and safety of government employees, detained individuals, and their legal representatives amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
AILA Doc. No. 20032331
3/22/2020
AILA, NAIJ, and AFGE #511 (ICE Professionals Union) all say that it is urgent for the public’s safety that DOJ immediately close all 68 immigration courts operated by EOIR. AILA's Second Vice President Jeremy McKinney states, “All live in-person hearings need to be immediately suspended.“
AILA Doc. No. 20032200
3/19/2020
AILA and the Council filed federal litigation on March 17, 2020, to compel DOJ to release records about the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s hiring procedures for appellate immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals members.
AILA Doc. No. 20031937
2/28/2020
AILA welcomed two Ninth Circuit decisions; one again halts the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” and the second ensures that the administration cannot block someone from seeking asylum solely due to where they presented themselves, either at a port of entry or elsewhere within the United States.
AILA Doc. No. 20022838
2/28/2020
AILA expressed serious concerns about a new proposed rule that would detrimentally impact individuals seeking a fair day in immigration court by drastically increasing fees required for forms submitted to EOIR.
AILA Doc. No. 20022800
2/26/2020
AILA welcomes the Case Backlog and Transparency Act of 2020 introduced in the House to hold USCIS accountable for severe case processing delays and an ever-growing immigration backlog.
AILA Doc. No. 20022637
1/31/2020
AILA leadership condemned the Trump administration’s expansion of its travel ban to include nationals from Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan , Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.
AILA Doc. No. 20013136
1/31/2020
AILA, NALEO Educational Fund, and the National Partnership for New Americans, are proud to sponsor the dozens of naturalization clinics in cities and towns across the country as part of the 14th AILA Citizenship Day, taking place on Saturday, February 1, 2020.
AILA Doc. No. 20013131
1/30/2020
AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson details several concerns with the new “birth tourism” rule and notes, “Given the limited information provided in the rule and the failure to provide sufficient notice and comment to the public, litigation is almost certainly on the horizon.”
AILA Doc. No. 20013037