Immigration Law

Relatives of undocumented children caught up in ICE dragnet

This summer, a Kansas City man named Edwin got a call from immigration officials. They had picked up his nephew at the southern border and wanted to release the teen into his care. So Edwin went online and bought a bed. Later that week, he was contacted again, this time…

Sep 12, 2017 3:45 PM CDT

4 more states sue Trump administration for canceling DACA

Led by California, four more states sued the Trump administration on Monday over its cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and Politico reported. In their complaint (PDF), the attorneys general of California, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota argue that rescinding the program…

Sep 12, 2017 2:45 PM CDT

Justice Department asks Supreme Court to stay part of 9th Circuit ruling on refugee admissions

Updated: The Justice Department on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stay part of a federal appeals court ruling that had required the government to allow additional refugees to enter the United States.

Sep 11, 2017 1:18 PM CDT

9th Circuit rules grandparents exempt from Trump’s travel ban, allows more refugees

In a ruling issued just 11 days after oral arguments, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a district court’s limits on restrictions on travel to the U.S. created by President Donald Trump’s travel ban. The ruling (PDF) in Hawaii v. Trump is not on the legality of…

Sep 7, 2017 9:07 PM CDT

15 states and DC sue Trump administration over DACA program wind-down

Fifteen states and Washington D.C. sued President Donald Trump and his administration on Wednesday, alleging that Tuesday's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will harm those jurisdictions and was racially motivated.

Sep 6, 2017 6:09 PM CDT

Trump administration winding down Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday that the Trump administration will wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which permitted certain undocumented young people to get temporary work permits.

Sep 5, 2017 10:25 AM CDT

Lifting a Lamp

Iman Boundaoui grew up knowing that good fortune is not earned. “You don’t choose the circumstances that you were born into,” she says. “Fortune is a gift. So you think: How can you use it to empower people, to inspire people, to encourage people?”

Sep 1, 2017 1:10 AM CDT

Your ABA: Protecting Whom?

The ABA is opposing federal legislation that it maintains would strip critical legal and other protections from unaccompanied immigrant children at the U.S. border and undermine the fairness and integrity of the nation’s immigration system.

Sep 1, 2017 1:10 AM CDT

Afghan, Iraqi interpreters caught in immigration waiting game

A special immigrant visa program aids Afghans and Iraqis whose lives are threatened because they’ve worked with the U.S. Delays jeopardize SIV applicants and their families, and perhaps the goals of the U.S. military.

Sep 1, 2017 12:30 AM CDT

Trump administration settles travel ban lawsuit with promise to reconsider visas

The federal government has settled one of the first high-profile lawsuits challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order banning travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries, a press release from the International Refugee Assistance Project said Thursday. Darweesh et al v. Trump was brought in the first days after the executive order…

Aug 31, 2017 6:05 PM CDT

Federal judge blocks Texas law penalizing sanctuary cities

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction that blocks a state law that was to go into effect Friday and would have imposed daily fines of up to $25,500 on sanctuary cities that enforce or endorse policies that limit federal immigration enforcement. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia…

Aug 31, 2017 8:27 AM CDT

How ICE uses secret police databases to arrest immigrants

In 2011, then 19-year-old Luis Vicente Pedrote-Salinas was leaving a relative’s house and getting into his car when he was stopped by Chicago police. Officers found an unopened can of beer in the cupholder and booked him for underage drinking. He spent a night in jail, and the charges were…

Aug 29, 2017 3:48 PM CDT

Trump pardons former sheriff Arpaio less than a month after his contempt conviction

Updated: President Donald Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio on Friday night, less than a month after the former Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff was found guilty of contempt of court for violating a federal judge’s order to stop detaining citizens based only on a suspicion they were in the country illegally.

Aug 25, 2017 8:42 PM CDT

Plan would designate sheriffs as ICE contractors in bid to bypass Fourth Amendment court decisions

President Donald Trump's administration is reportedly discussing a plan with sheriffs across the country that is intended to address Fourth Amendment problems when local jails detain immigrants past their release date on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Aug 21, 2017 11:44 AM CDT

Courthouses should not be used for routine immigration arrests, ABA House says in resolution

Corrected: On Tuesday, the ABA House of Delegates voted to urge U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to treat courthouses as sensitive locations and to only conduct such arrests there “upon a showing of exigent circumstances and with prior approval of a designated supervisory official.”…

Aug 15, 2017 2:47 PM CDT