Immigration-Impact

  • USCIS Hasn’t Approved a Single Person for Liberian Legalization Program
    July 2, 2020

    A program created in late 2019 to allow certain Liberian noncitizens in the United States to become lawful permanent residents (LPRs) is falling far short of its potential, according to a new report. The program in question is Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF), a provision of the […]

  • Federal Court Strikes Down Trump’s Asylum Transit Ban in Momentous Victory
    July 1, 2020

    On June 30, a federal judge in the District of Columbia struck down the Trump administration’s asylum transit ban, ending a sweeping policy that had shut down asylum for most people entering the United States at the southern border. The court’s decisive action could not have come soon […]

  • Inspector General Report Overlooks Serious Medical Care Issues Within Border Patrol Custody
    June 30, 2020

    The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently published a report analyzing U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) treatment of noncitizens at the border in 2019. While the report critiques the agency for not meeting its own standards, it also allows CBP to […]

  • Court-Ordered Release of Children May Lead to Family Separation
    June 29, 2020

    Federal Judge Dolly Gee has ordered that children held for more than 20 days at U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) family detention centers must be released. The order was the latest development in Judge Gee’s oversight of the Flores Settlement, a decades-old binding decree […]

  • Supreme Court Limits Court Oversight for Fast-Track Deportations  
    June 26, 2020

    The Supreme Court ruled on June 25 that certain asylum seekers forced through a fast-track deportation process at the U.S. border, called “expedited removal,” cannot challenge their deportations in federal court. Foreclosing a critical way to challenge these error-prone deportation […]