Featured Issue: Asylum Under Trump 2.0
On the first day of his second term, President Trump suspended all entries at the U.S. Southern Border for asylum seekers. Since then, the Administration has implemented sweeping restrictions that shut America’s doors to people fleeing persecution. These policies violate federal law, erode constitutionally protected due process, exacerbate the asylum backlog, and give those seeking safety an increasingly narrow path to protection.
Left unchecked by Congress, these policies will have dire consequences for both asylum seekers and the integrity of our legal system. Asylum seekers—especially those without access to counsel—are at grave risk of being returned to harm.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The Administration can maintain order at U.S. borders and effectively manage migration without sacrificing fairness and adherence to the law. With more trained asylum officers, a streamlined legal process, legal representation for asylum seekers, and more effective coordination between relevant agencies, the U.S. can establish a safe, orderly, and humane asylum system.
Browse the Featured Issue: Asylum Under Trump 2.0 collection
CA9 Says “Habitual Drunkard” Bar to Good Moral Character Is Unconstitutional
The court held that INA §101(f)(1) is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause, because there is no rational basis to classify people afflicted by chronic alcoholism as innately lacking good moral character (Ledezma-Cosino v. Lynch, 3/24/16)
CA9 Says "Imputed Wealthy Americans” Is Not a Particular Social Group
The court upheld the BIA's denial of the motion to reopen, finding that petitioners, Mexican citizens who asserted a fear of persecution based on membership in a social group comprised of "imputed wealthy Americans," failed to establish asylum eligibility. (Ramirez-Munoz v. Lynch, 3/21/16)
AILA’s Comment on Sentencing Guidelines for Illegal Entry and Smuggling
AILA comments submitted on 3/21/16 on the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s proposed changes to the Sentencing Guidelines for the crimes of illegal reentry (2L1.2) and smuggling (2L1.1).
How the Years Add Up
Imagine coming to the United States to seek asylum and having to wait four years just for an interview to decide whether you get to move forward with your claim. Four years. In most jurisdictions, asylum applicants are having to do just that: wait years for an interview, when before 2013, asylum app
BIA Holds Marriage Not Required for Domestic Violence Asylum Claims
Unpublished BIA decision holds that “women who cannot leave a relationship” is a cognizable particular social group regardless of whether the applicant was married to her abuser. Special thanks to IRAC. (Matter of H-M-R-M, 3/17/16)
H.R. 4731: Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2016
On 3/14/16, Representatives Raul Labrador (R-ID) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) introduced H.R. 4731, Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2016, which would drastically reduce and cap refugee admissions in the United States.
Sign-on Letter Opposing H.R. 4731: Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2016
On March 15, 2016, AILA joined over 200 organizations in urging the House Judiciary Committee to oppose the Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2016 (H.R. 4731), which would dismantle the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
Students and Professors Fight for Families at Karnes Detention Center
Two weeks ago, six law students from the University of Houston Law Center's Immigration Clinic visited Karnes Detention Center. The students were Kate Chapman (3L), Ivonne Escobar (2L), Hellieth Pedroza Guzman (2L), Nekka Morah (2L), Medjine Desrosiers-Douyon (LLM), Mathilda El Hachem (LLM). Super
CA6 Finds DHS Cannot Reopen Case Against Bangladeshi Asylum Grantee
The court held that BIA abused its discretion in granting DHS’s motion to reopen, finding that documents proffered by DHS allegedly showing petitioner’s story to be fraudulent were previously available and could have been discovered at petitioner’s prior hearing. (Sakhawati v. Lynch, 3/14/16)
Letter to Director Rodríguez on USCIS Processing Delays
A 3/11/16 letter from AILA to USCIS Director León Rodríguez, expressing concerns over significant backlogs in processing a variety of applications and petitions for immigration benefits, and a lack of transparency communicating current processing times to the public.
Affirmative Asylum Scheduling Bulletin (3/11/16)
USCIS’s Affirmative Asylum Scheduling Bulletin as of 3/11/16. This Bulletin explains how the Asylum Division has prioritized the adjudication of affirmative applications for asylum.
USCIS Provides Guidance on Processing Affirmative Applications (Form I-589) Filed by Applicants in Expedited Removal and Processing Credible Fear Case
USCIS released a memorandum with procedures for processing affirmative asylum applications (Form I-589) filed by individuals in expedited removal and for processing credible fear cases for individuals who are in expedited removal and who are not in immigration detention (non-detained).
BIA Reverses Finding That DHS Rebutted Respondent’s Presumption of a Well-Founded Fear
Unpublished BIA decision reversed the IJ’s finding that a fundamental change in circumstances had occurred in Togo such that would rebut the presumed well-founded fear of persecution of an asylum applicant who had suffered past persecution. Courtesy of Charles Ellison.
USCIS Alert: TSC Now Processing Certain Form I-765 Cases
USCIS recently began transferring Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, filed by an asylum applicant with a pending asylum application filed on or after January 4, 1995, from the Vermont Service Center (VSC) to the Texas Service Center (TSC) to balance workloads.
#0087
The Artesia Family Residential Center was thrown together in late June 2014 in the dark of night and in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Before the pro bono attorneys knew who or what was there, the first plane had already flown South, returning refugees who were streamlined through a farce of a
DOJ OIL March/April 2016 Litigation Bulletin
The DOJ OIL Immigration Litigation Bulletin for March/April 2016, with articles on Ledezma-Cosino v. Lynch and Gonzalez v. Attorney General, as well as summaries of circuit court decisions for March/April 2016.
Benefits of Volunteering Go Beyond the Client
I spend most of my days steeped in PERM filings, H-1Bs and other thorny employment-based conundrums. I don't speak Spanish. The number of asylum cases I have handled can be counted on one hand. I have rarely represented clients in Immigration Court. And yet, last year, I offered to help the CARA Fam
CRS Report: Federal Court Declines to Bar the Resettlement of Syrian Refugees in Texas
A CRS Legal Sidebar report discusses a 2/8/16 decision in which a federal district court denied Texas’s request that the federal government and a private refugee relief organization be temporarily barred from resettling Syrian refugees within the state.
Immigrant Rights Organizations Argue Against Government’s Inhumane Family Detention Policies
The four CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project partners joined with other immigrant rights organizations in an amicus brief explaining how the government has misinterpreted the Flores settlement and failed to comply with Judge Dolly Gee's August 2015 ruling in the case.
CA1 Finds Petitioner's Nine-Day Detention and Beatings Did Not Qualify as Past Persecution
The court held that a single detention, even one accompanied by beatings, does not necessarily rise to the level of past persecution, and upheld BIA's finding that petitioner's treatment by family planning authorities in China did not qualify as past persecution. (Chen v. Lynch, 2/24/16)
CA1 Says Women with Children Whose Husbands Live and Work in the U.S. Is Not a PSG
The court held that the BIA supportably found that petitioner had not presented evidence that her proposed particular social group (PSG)—women with children whose husbands live and work in the U.S.—was socially distinct. (Granada-Rubio v. Lynch, 2/24/16)
AILA and the NJIC File Amicus Brief with CA11 on Issue Exhaustion
AILA joined the National Immigrant Justice Center (NJIC) in filing an amicus brief with the 11th Circuit in Jeune v. Lynch urging the court to treat issue exhaustion as a claims-processing rule rather than a jurisdictional matter.
CA8 Upholds Withholding of Removal Denial to El Salvadorian Whose Murdered Cousin Belonged to Gang
The court held that none of the proposed family-based social groups in which petitioner claimed membership had the kind of visibility and particularity required to constitute a recognizable social group. (Aguinada-Lopez v. Lynch, 2/23/16)
CA5 Remands for BIA to Determine Whether Asylum Status Is Terminated upon Adjustment to LPR Status
Finding that the BIA did not address relevant subsections of INA §201, DHS regulations, and previous BIA decisions, the court remanded for the BIA to consider in the first instance whether a petitioner's asylum status is terminated upon adjustment to LPR status. (Ali v. Lynch, 2/22/16)
CA4 Says BIA Did Not Err in Following Matter of J-E- to Deny Petitioner's CAT Application
Deferring to the BIA's interpretation of the CAT's intent requirement as articulated in Matter of J-E-, the court found that the BIA did not err in denying petitioner's application for deferral of removal under CAT. (Oxygene v. Lynch, 2/22/16)