The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has become the first federal appeals court to declare that asylum seekers who are not afforded the opportunity of a federal review are in violation of the Constitution. This decision came out of the Thuraissigaim v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security case where Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam filed a habeas petition […]
Immigration judges, law makers and legislators, among other advocates are calling to Congress to shield immigration courts from political influence. Unlike other judges, immigration judges have more restrictions in their decision making power. Immigration judges are not part of the judicial branch, they report to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Additionally, immigration judges are bound […]
The criminalization and violence inflicted on LGBTQ people in Central America and many other countries around the world is what leads them to head to the borders of the United States to seek asylum. Thousands of LGBTQ people flee their native homes where they are faced with homophobia, transphobia, and violence. They come to the […]
While the Trump administration has been fighting hard to convince the nation of an urgent need of a wall at the US-Mexico border, statistics are showing that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department have been heightening screening and vetting of visa applications for the past 2 years. This administration’s policies are […]
The Executive Office for Immigration Review plan to “significantly reduce the case backlog by 2020” was approved by the Deputy Attorney General for the Department of Justice in October 2018. But it was quickly noted that this plan not only is flawed but it is also challenged by the fundamental and structural problems the US […]
President Trump declared a national emergency on February 14th after he signed a budget deal passed by Congress to fund the government through the end of September. President Trump declared the national emergency in order to get funding from other government agencies for his border wall. The budget deal included only $1.35 billion for a […]
Our nation is facing a serious humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border with thousands of migrants seeking legal asylum but are paralyzed by draconian immigration policies enforced by the Trump Administration. As a result, a number of Immigration judges are quitting or taking an early retirement, Buzz Feed News reported Wednesday, February 13th 2019. Another […]
In an asylum case, establishing the “nexus” involves answering the question “why?” It is not enough to show that you suffered persecution or fear future persecution, you must also show the grounds in which the persecution was directed at you. When seeking asylum based on your membership in a particular social group (psg), you have […]
Immigration and Customs Enforcement have admitted to force feeding nine detainees held at the El Paso, Texas detention center. The detainees initiated a hunger strike due to the “rampant verbal abuse and threats of deportation from guards”. After missing nine consecutive meals, a federal judge ordered the nine detainees to be fed and hydrated without […]
More than 1,000 immigrants showed up at courts across the United States on January 31, 2019 for hearings they’d been told were scheduled but didn’t exist. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been placing so-called “fake dates” on Notices to Appear (NTAs), in an apparent attempt to comply with the Supreme Court’s recent […]
