Blog: Think Immigration
We believe that immigration law is an integral part of America’s past, present and future. We also know that immigration law is complicated. Here you’ll find experts writing in an accessible way about immigration issues, from big, broad ideas down to specific cases. Our members bring knowledge they’ve gleaned from the daily practice of immigration law to this space and offer their expertise to readers.
Browse the Blog: Think Immigration collection
The American Economy Needs Changes to the H-2B Temporary Worker Program
You may have seen a few articles recently about the shortage of temporary seasonal workers. Some articles were about shrimp boats in the South docked because of a lack of workers, or the Alaskan salmon industry being crippled due to labor shortages, while others were about resorts in Minnesota havin
Immigration Lawyers Save Lives
I took part in the AILA Annual Conference training for new chapter chairs, and as an ‘icebreaker,' was asked to complete phrases handed out on little slips of paper. Mine read, “The best way to save….“ I immediately responded, “One way to save a life is to be an immigration lawyer.“
Congressional Recess is No Time to Rest
Congress is now in recess, which means that most members of Congress are returning to their districts to reconnect with their constituents. It also means there couldn't be a better time to let our voices be heard on issues vital to our clients: ensuring that Congress protects Dreamers by supporting
U.S. Immigration Law is Simultaneously Inscrutable, Strict, and Arbitrary
Welcome to a complex world. A world in which the President of the United States has to intervene to allow in a group of girls from Afghanistan seeking to participate in an international robotics competition. A world in which two French kids were detained and returned to France, unaware of the fact
Let’s Make America Great Again For International Students
We've received what seems to be a daily dose of misery in the form of misinformation about immigrants and immigration for well over a year now. As intended, those messages appear to have left their mark. International student enrollment is down, while at the same time hate crimes, hate speech and fe
Divergent Approaches: Immigration Law and Policy in the United States and Canada
As an immigration attorney living and working in Canada, helping those seeking to visit or immigrate to the United States, I have the opportunity to see some significant differences between the two countries when it comes to immigration policy. Frankly, while both the U.S. and Canada are historicall
A Righteous Act
Lately, I have been thinking about the word “righteous“ and its application to our immigration laws. Is it righteous to deport hardworking parents, separate families and engage in mass deportation? Is it righteous to strip people of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Action for Child
There’s Always More to Learn
When I first began practicing law, I thought I knew everything I could ever need to know about immigration. I'd been a business immigration paralegal for several years before law school and had learned a lot about nonimmigrant visas and employment-based green cards. I'd assisted with processing th
An Obscure Trump Administration Policy that Needlessly Harms Americans
Laws often have unintended consequences. Sometimes, good government officials adopt interpretations of the law designed to mitigate those unintended consequences. But sometimes, the most anti-immigrant politician in recent memory directs his subordinates to adopt policies that undermine those mitiga
One Road to Immigration Law
True confession: I did not take immigration law in law school and I took Latin as my foreign language class. AILA members, reading that, I'm sure you just groaned. But the fact was, I did not become an attorney to practice immigration law. About 20 years ago though, my life took a happy turn and [&
Hypocrisy Unbridled: The Dismantling of the International Entrepreneur Rule
This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its intent to delay and likely eliminate a new immigration rule that if implemented would, to borrow a phrase, make America great. The “International Entrepreneur Rule“ was finalized on January 17, 2017, and was set to take effect
Finding Equilibrium in an Unsteady World
“You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.“ - Tom Brokaw So far this year, I've experienced dark moments where my calling in […]
“Wait Your Turn and Come Lawfully” (in 30 Years)
During a speech in Texas, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that intending immigrants should simply “wait your turn“ to enter the United States legally. The insensitivity of this statement clearly shows that Mr. Sessions, like many government officials and members of the public, just doesn't
The Top Eleven Terrible Things in President Trump’s Budget
There are a lot of things wrong with the President Trump's Fiscal Year 2018 budget request. Some of the immigration-related provisions have been mentioned in the press or by advocates, while others are flying relatively unknown under the radar. But they all have one thing in common: they are meant t
Not Winning Hearts or Minds
On Sunday, I was online, browsing for cool science gifts for my nieces and doing my best to ignore the pop-up ads for princess-themed everything. Eventually, I found an outstanding chemistry set and set about to buy it. At around the same time, I read a Washington Post story about a group of scho
Will Government Employees Show Some Moxie in the Immigration Struggle?
In case you haven't noticed, advocates for immigrants and favorable immigration policies in this country are at war with the current administration in Washington. And, for those who think the attitude in Washington will change in the next four to eight years, think again. Unfortunately, negative att
Travel Ban – An Update
The “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States“ Executive Order has once again been modified. From its original far-reaching, chaotic launch on January 26, to its initial limited injunctions, to its nationwide stay, withdrawal and replacement, to more injunctio
New World Requires New Strategies
I had heard a rumor that it was a fire-able offense for anyone in Ira Kurzban's firm to concede a conviction in immigration court. So while talking to Ira at a conference once, I asked him if it was true. He informed me I had heard wrong. He explained that it is a fire-able offense […]
Guardians of our Constitution
Adapted from the installation speech of Annaluisa Padilla, 2017-18 President of AILA
New Name, New Look, New Content – This Blog’s for You!
Welcome to Think Immigration, the new blog from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Here you'll find insightful commentary from legal experts - the folks who see firsthand every single day what immigration law and policy mean to our nation. They see the good, the bad, and the ugly,
Dollars and Sense
SB1070 made my state of Arizona about as unwelcoming as you'd imagine for a then-young Latino guy like me. I can recall being called an “illegal“ in an aisle of a Home Depot by an old woman who was surprised that I spoke English, and that I called her out, asking her who she was […]
Walking the Talk – Why AILA Moved the 2018 AC Out of Texas
Faced with the reality of SB-4's ugly shadow hanging over Texas, AILA has made the decision to move its Annual Conference (AC) in 2018, originally scheduled to take place in Texas, to another state. As a member of AILA's Executive Committee, I worked with my colleagues on the Board of Governors to
Take Action to Combat the Crisis in Post-Release Representation
Since July 2014, when the Obama Administration began detaining women and children crossing the southern border at a makeshift detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, more than 35,000 women and children from the Northern Triangle have been processed at detention centers near the southern border of t
Dangerous Exceptions?
In a recent op-ed in The Hill, James Tomsheck, former head of the Office of Internal Affairs for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lays out in detail why House and Senate efforts to weaken CBP hiring standards by waiving the polygraph test for certain applicants is a bad idea. Mr. Tomsheck ha
Access to Counsel Should be Non-Negotiable
“Wait, you mean to tell me you are not allowed to contact a lawyer at the airport?“ That is a familiar response when I tell people of the lack of any protocol for allowing access to counsel to those who are coming into the United States from abroad. The fact is, when someone enters the […