Executive Action
DHS Faces Challenges as It Rolls Out the Priority Enforcement Program
Among the executive actions on immigration unveiled last November was the announcement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would end the controversial Secure Communities program and replace it with the new Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). After months of planning, DHS officially launched PEP last month. The agency has… Read More
Appellate Court Hears Oral Argument in Texas v. United States
Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard oral argument in the most closely watched immigration case in years, Texas v. United States. This is a case brought by Texas and a number of other states challenging the legality of two key components of President… Read More
Court Rejects Restrictionists’ Attempts to Derail Work Authorization for H-4 Spouses
Despite immigration restrictionists’ efforts to derail implementation, a new rule went into effect this week allowing certain H-4 spouses (i.e., spouses of H-1B workers) to apply for work authorization. This new policy, announced as part of the Administration’s package of Executive Actions on immigration, permits H-4s to obtain work… Read More
Appeals Court Denies Emergency Stay in Legal Challenge to Deferred Action
Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the federal government’s request for an emergency stay of the preliminary injunction, which has temporarily stopped President Obama’s deferred action initiatives from being implemented. These initiatives, announced last November, could shield as many as 5 million immigrants from deportation. As a… Read More
Why DAPA Applications Were Not Accepted by USCIS Today
Today should have been the day when millions of undocumented moms and dads of U.S. citizens could have claimed their chance to work legally and live in dignity in the United States, alleviated, at long last, from vulnerability to exploitation and the constant threat of deportation and family separation. What… Read More
2016 Presidential Candidates Weigh-In on President Obama’s Immigration Action
Immigration policy has become a hot topic as the 2016 Presidential primary picks up steam. It is no surprise that the issue of Presidential authority over immigration has taken center stage in recent weeks as Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush have all begun discussing their views around how… Read More
Arpaio Faces Skeptical Judges In Lawsuit Challenging Obama’s Immigration Action
It is unsurprising that the press is paying close attention to Texas v. United States, the case filed by Texas and a number of other states challenging President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. After all, that lawsuit has resulted in a widely-criticized order temporarily blocking millions of undocumented immigrants… Read More
No Justice For Family of Mexican Child Killed By U.S. Border Patrol Agent
On June 7, 2010, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, a fifteen-year-old Mexican national, was playing with a group of friends on the Mexican side of the border near the Paso del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas. The boy and his friends were playing a game in which they ran up… Read More
Ending Birthright Citizenship: (Still) Unconstitutional, Unwise, Unworkable, and Un-American
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Birthright Citizenship: Is It The Right Policy For America?” The hearing will question whether those born in America will automatically be citizens, as they have been for over 150 years. Undoubtedly, the hearing will feature the same counterproductive anti-immigrant… Read More
Commissioner Kerlikowske Offers Vision of Change at CBP
On Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske answered questions from the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee regarding CBP’s budget, and more generally his first year on the job. Kerlikowske’s seeming rationality, and openness to administrative changes, provided an alternative to the enforcement-first strategy that… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
