On the fifteenth anniversary of the immigration law, advocates call for the repeal of mandatory detention. The Detention Watch Network launched its “Dignity, Not Detention” campaign, calling on Congress to repeal the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which mandates the detention of undocumented immigrants, which was signed by President Clinton exactly fifteen years...Read More
Image via Wikipedia According to immigrant advocates, a new immigration enforcement bill is being considered in Congress, one that would undermine existing immigration law by removing prosecutorial discretion and deferred action-two components that protect undocumented victims of domestic violence. Michelle Ortiz, the supervising attorney of Lucha, a unit within the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, says...Read More
Florida Representative Luis Garcia Jr. (D-Miami), has called on state Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera (R-Miami), to schedule a Miami-Dade legislative delegation meeting to consider taking a unified position on immigration. In his letter, Rep. Garcia refers to the recently released Miami-Dade County Commission resolution that called on the state legislature to not pass any immigration legislation,...Read More
A report issued by the National Immigration Law Center has found that 160,000 immigrants have been deported without ever facing a judge over the course of seven years. The report reveals that the U.S. has used something called “stipulated removal” to coerce immigrants into signing away their due process rights. The research for this report...Read More
Federal officials have revealed that they are placing new security measures on immigrants who overstay their visas. A Homeland Security agent says they are running overstayed-visa files through multiple security, immigration and law enforcement databases. The department’s principal deputy coordinator for counterterrorism said they are automatically checking for national security risks, assuring that the new...Read More
Hundreds of people have called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to halt the deportation of 21-year-old Jennifer Lopez, a DREAM Act-eligible woman from Palm Beach, Florida who was placed in removal proceedings after a mere routine traffic stop. These supporters joined a campaign that was launched on Change.org by Manuel Guerra, the leader of...Read More
Image via Wikipedia As you may already be aware, the President signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011, which prevented the U.S. government from defaulting on its debt and requires deep cuts into future federal spending. While this is meant to affect all government spending, how will this impact immigrants and refugee programs?...Read More
There is still hope for immigrant residents of Alabama. After the state legislature passed the harshest, most irrational and far-reaching immigration law in the nation’s history to date, U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn has decided to block its new law for a month to give herself more time to rule on whether parts or...Read More
Image via Wikipedia Due to the fairly recent announcement made by theDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) that it would henceforth focus its efforts on “high priority” immigration cases- specifically, those involving serious criminals who are a threat to national securityor public safety – it is shocking to hear that DHS officers stationed along the U.S.-Mexico...Read More
As if immigrant rights groups needed another reason to distrust the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have cleared its agents of any wrongdoing in a recent internal investigation made due to reports of abuse. Earlier this year, ICE sparked controversy when federal agents allegedly followed immigrant parents to and...Read More
