Posts From September, 2019

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that the new “tent courts” in Texas along the border will not be open to legal observers, the press, and the public. This is unlike standard immigration court proceedings, which are normally open. Immigration lawyers harshly criticized this move as a violation of the rights of asylum seekers, who already face […]

Bahamian hurricane evacuees will not get temporary protected status. As many Bahamian citizens have been evacuated to Florida after Hurricane Dorian, the federal government has weighed the decision whether to grant the evacuees temporary protected status (TPS). In the end, Trump administration officials decided not to grant TPS, which would have given evacuees already in the United States […]

The Supreme Court overruled an injunction blocking Trump’s “asylum ban” nationwide. The contentious policy makes anyone ineligible for asylum if he or she passed through another country before reaching the U.S. and then applied for asylum for the first time. This week, a federal judge blocked Trump’s asylum ban from applying nationwide. The 9th Circuit Court of […]

USCIS announced a proposed regulation that would lengthen work authorization application wait times for asylum seekers. On Friday, September 6 USCIS announced a proposed regulation to remove the maximum 30-day processing time requirement for asylum applicant work authorization applications. Currently, USCIS has 30 days from the filing date of Form I-765 to grant or deny […]

ICE has reportedly been ignoring Connecticut state pardons, as the agency is currently attempting to deport a lawful permanent resident despite her pardon from the state. Per federal immigration law, a pardon should be an automatic waiver against deportation. However, the federal government is interpreting the law to only apply to pardons granted by a governor […]

DHS published an updated review of privacy issues which reversed the ban on USCIS officers creating social media accounts to monitor people applying for visas. It is unclear how the policy will work in action, as Twitter and other social media platforms have policies prohibiting fake or impersonating accounts and have shut down accounts used for […]

ICE announced Friday that it will not “ conduct immigration enforcement operations at hurricane evacuation sites or shelters, such as during and immediately after hurricanes,” referencing Hurricane Dorian. Though it is normal for ICE to suspend operations during weather emergencies, many undocumented immigrants fear repurcussions for checking into shelters. ICE stated that a hurricane is not […]

After President Trump was accused of promising pardons to DHS officials who break immigration law, the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to DHS commanding the office to produce all documents relating to discussions of presidential pardons. The subpoena also demands documents relating to specific meetings with Acting Secretary McAleenan and former DHS Secretary Nielsen, as Trump also allegedly […]

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper approved a plan taking $3.6 billion allocated to military construction projects and moving it to continue to build 175 miles of border wall and fencing. This move will delay 127 military projects, including rifle ranges, aircraft simulators, hangars, port repairs and a cyberoperations center. The effects will be felt in more […]

In July, the federal government began replacing interpreters with informational videos in initial proceedings. So far, the new policy has only been implemented in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, but it is already causing problems. Because all hearings are shown the same 20-minute video informing non-English speakers of their rights, and not all of […]