Thousands of undocumented immigrants cross the border into the United States and willingly turn themselves into federal Customs and Border Patrol agents so they can apply for asylum. The journey into this country is long and dangerous, especially for children under the age of eighteen who have no parents or guardians to protect them. These […]
Families and unaccompanied children (“UAC”) from Central America have been migrating to the US for decades. But since 2011 these numbers have increased exponentially and reached record numbers in the summer of 2014. Over the 2014 fiscal year, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol apprehended more than 68,000 UACs. Although the causes for this migration are […]
The news since last year has been inundated with stories about children crossing the US/Mexico border unaccompanied. This surge, as it has been called, created a need for places to house the children and lawyers to defend them. So how many of those children have actually been allowed to stay in America? And what factors […]
Amid the growing debate over immigration reform, specifically concerning the increasing number of unaccompanied children migrants crossing into the United States, the White House announced that immigrant children who face imminent and mortal danger in their home countries will likely be allowed to remain in the United States. White House Secretary Josh Earnest stated that […]
In its 15th annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommends that the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list, which tracks and monitors countries with severe violations of religious freedoms, be doubled in size, expanding to include Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, and Tajikistan. The USCIRF is an independent, […]
In Aldana-Ramos v. Holder, just issued on June 27, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that family alone can constitute a particular social group, and thus an asylee who has been persecuted on account of his or her family membership can qualify for asylum. In Aldana-Ramos v. Holder, the […]
The American Immigration Council recently issued a special entitled, “Mexican and Central American Asylum and Credible Fear Claims: Background and Context.” This timely report discusses the current rhetoric surrounding the credible fear process and the state of the U.S. asylum system. Specifically, the report examines the legitimacy of credible fear claims based on situations of […]
This week, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security held a hearing entitled, “Asylum Fraud: Abusing America’s Compassion?”. Witnesses testified to members of the committee over the concern that there is an increase in people submitting fraudulent asylum applications attempting to take advantage of a generous system in a country known as a […]
On November 4, 2013 the Honorable Judge Jones with the U.S. District Court, in Seattle, Washington approved a class action settlement agreement. This agreement arose out of nationwide class action filed by the Legal Action Center (LAC) of the American Immigration Council, Northwest Immigration Rights Project (NWIRP), Gibbs Houston Pauw and the Massachusetts Law Reform […]
On Tuesday, the bipartisan group of senators known as the “Gang of Eight” introduced S. 744, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.” Earlier today, AILA issued this press release commending the Senators for their work on the bill. Below are eight initial points of interest pulled from the bill’s provisions. AILA continues […]
