Press Room
Recent AILA Press Releases
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AILA Presents Dagmar Butte with the 2018 Susan D. Quarles AILA Service Excellence Award
AILA will recognize Dagmar Butte of Portland, OR, with the 2018 Susan D. Quarles AILA Service Excellence Award for her outstanding service in advancing the mission, development, and values of AILA. She will receive the award this week during AILA’s Annual Conference in San Francisco.
AILA Recognizes Helen L. Tarokic with the 2018 Sam Williamson Mentor Award
AILA will recognize Helen L. Tarokic, of Wilmington, North Carolina, with the 2018 Sam Williamson Mentor Award for her outstanding counsel to immigration attorneys by providing mentoring assistance. The award will be presented this week during AILA’s Annual Conference in San Francisco.
AILA Presents the MAVNI Litigation Team of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, & Jacobson LLP with the 2018 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award
AILA will recognize the MAVNI Litigation Team of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP with the 2018 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award for excellence in litigation in the field of immigration law this week during AILA’s Annual Conference in San Francisco.
Attorney General Pushes Immigration Judges to Deny Asylum to Victims of Violence
AILA responds to the Attorney General's precedent decision in which he vacated the BIA decision in Matter of A- B and announced that in his view, domestic violence victims and other victims of crimes perpetrated by private, non-government actors do not generally qualify for asylum.
Complaint Filed with DHS Oversight Bodies Calls for Improvements to Medical and Mental Health Care of Immigrants in Aurora Detention Center
AILA and American Immigration Council released a press release on their complaint, filed 6/4/18, regarding inadequate access to medical and mental health care for immigrants detained at the Denver Contract Detention Facility, which is owned and operated by the private prison company Geo Group, Inc.
ICE Has Missed Two Detention Reporting Deadlines Set by Congress in March
AILA joined other organizations calling on congressional appropriators to hold ICE accountable for violations of congressionally imposed transparency obligations in the ever-expanding immigration detention system.
AG’s Latest Move Further Erodes the Independence of Immigration Judges
The AG announced that immigration judges and members of the BIA may no longer “administratively close” cases, except cases that meet very narrow criteria, eliminating a critical docket management tool and effectively ensuring that the courts will remain encumbered with massive backlogs.
DOJ and DHS Decide to Forcibly Separate Families and Prosecute Asylum Seekers
As DHS and DOJ announced new efforts that will result in the forcible separation of vulnerable families seeking protection in the United States under U.S. law, AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson called the decision “a gross injustice.”
Termination of TPS for Honduras Will Tear Apart Families and Harm American Businesses
DHS announced that TPS for approximately 57,000 Honduran nationals will end on January 5, 2020. In this statement, AILA President Annaluisa Padilla responded to the news and called on Congress to “pass a permanent fix to provide relief for long-term TPS beneficiaries.”
DOJ Reverses Course on Legal Orientation Program, For Now
AILA and the American Immigration Council welcomed the news that the Department of Justice will not halt the Legal Orientation Program (LOP) for now; AILA and the Council again highlighted the LOP’s benefits to the efficiency and effectiveness of the immigration court system.
DOJ Ignores Set of Recommendations to Strengthen Immigration Court System Efficiency and Effectiveness
In response to a FOIA request, AILA and the American Immigration Council received a partially redacted report written by Booz Allen Hamilton and commissioned by EOIR which offers recommendations to ensure efficient proceedings and due process. The administration, however, has done the opposite.
AILA: H-1B Numbers Show America is Losing Out on Talent
AILA responds to the news that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received 190,098 new H-1B visa cap-subject petitions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, down from approximately 199,000 in FY 2018.
DOJ Cuts Immigrants’ Access to Counsel in Latest Attack on Due Process
AILA and the American Immigration Council responded to the recent news that DOJ was halting the Legal Orientation Program despite the program’s success and congressional directives to maintain it.
AILA: Outdated Immigration Laws Locking Out Job Creators
AILA responded to the USCIS announcement that the agency has received more than enough H-1B petitions within the first five business days of the FY2019 filing period to reach the annual H-1B cap.
DOJ Strips Immigration Courts of Independence
In a joint statement, AILA and the American Immigration Council responded to the imposition of strict quotas as part of immigration judges’ performance evaluations, a shift that strips away the independence held by judges who are making high stakes decisions about whether a person will be deported.
ICE Formalizes Inhumane Detention Policies for Pregnant Women
In a joint statement with the American Immigration Council, AILA responds to a recently released ICE directive that formalizes the agency’s practice of detaining pregnant women.
AILA’s “Invisible Wall” Report Sheds Light on Trump Administration Policies to Restrict Legal Immigration
AILA’s new report, “Deconstructing the Invisible Wall: How Policy Changes by the Trump Administration are Slowing and Restricting Legal Immigration” highlights the broad array of policy and procedural changes that are harming U.S. businesses, American families, and the national economy.
Congress Set to Approve Funding Deal, Leaves Dreamers Out in the Cold
With Congress set to approve billions of additional funding for immigration enforcement as part of the spending package funding the federal government through September 30, AILA President Annaluisa Padilla noted, “It is absolutely shameful that there is no solution for Dreamers in this legislation.”
AILA Report “Cogs in the Deportation Machine” Shows Massive Escalation of Immigration Enforcement
AILA released a new report detailing how the Trump administration has systematically increased enforcement, using harsh, indiscriminate methods to deport thousands of families, asylum seekers, and people who have lived and worked for years in the United States.
Civil Rights Report Describes Legal Liabilities for Local Police that Detain Immigrants for ICE
AILA and four other organizations issued a press release about their new report detailing the illegalities inherent in each of the U.S. government’s attempts to enlist local law enforcement authorities to arrest and detain people on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
SCOTUS Jennings Decision Won’t Be the Last Word on Bond Hearings for Immigrants
AILA reacted to and explained today’s Supreme Court decision in Jennings v. Rodriguez; AILA President Annaluisa Padilla emphasized that the decision “does not mean that immigrants may be detained indefinitely and it does not mean that prolonged detention is constitutional.”
Rewrite of USCIS Mission Statement Cannot Change America’s Identity as a Nation of Immigrants
AILA expresses its deep disappointment at the Trump administration’s rewrite of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) mission statement to, among other things, remove the phrase “a nation of immigrants.”
Senate Bipartisan Efforts to Save Dreamers Destroyed by Veto Threat
AILA expressed deep disappointment in the failure of the Senate to pass commonsense reforms to protect Dreamers. At the same time, AILA commends the many senators who stood firm against the nativist voices demanding legislation to gut legal immigration and make our country weaker.
White House Appeals to Nativist Base with Anti-Immigrant Proposal
AILA denounced the latest iteration of the Trump administration’s proposal on immigration as destructive and untenable.
Another Bipartisan Failure to Protect Dreamers
AILA issued a statement about how “Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, once again let politics take precedence over the lives of real people, and has squandered another opportunity to protect Dreamers.”