Your weekly summary from the Council

 LATEST ANALYSIS 

• New ‘Dedicated Docket’ Could Rush Asylum-Seeking Families Through Court
  
  A new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) “rocket docket” effort aims to complete the claims or cases of asylum-seeking families within 300 days. A similar effort implemented by the Trump administration was widely criticized for its negative impact on asylum seekers’ rights to due process. Read More »
   
• Supreme Court Rejects Two Ninth Circuit Decisions That Protected Immigrants
  
  In less than two weeks, the Supreme Court struck down two Ninth Circuit decisions that favored immigrants. Unfortunately, in these two recent decisions, both the liberal and the conservative Supreme Court justices were united in rejecting rules that provided important protections for immigrants. Read More »
   
• Biden’s First Budget Is A Missed Opportunity to Overhaul Immigration Enforcement
  
  A presidential budget generally reflects the goals of the administration and can provide an important roadmap for the future. Despite calls for a serious rethinking of the role of DHS in immigration, the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022 mostly calls for flat or increased levels of funding for immigration enforcement. Read More »

 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW  

• The Biden administration terminated this week the Trump administration’s harmful Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program. MPP forced 70,000 asylum seekers to await in Mexico for their U.S. immigration court hearings, while also making it nearly impossible for them to access the asylum process.
  
  This fact sheet from the American Immigration Council provides an overview of the implementation and detrimental impact of the program on asylum seekers and the U.S. asylum process. 

  Read more: The “Migrant Protection Protocols”

 ACROSS THE NATION 

• Individuals held under mandatory detention often face substantially longer detention periods and greater violations of due process. The government is asking courts to endorse prolonged mandatory detention for people in removal proceedings.
  
  The American Immigration Council, along with our partners at the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, submitted an amicus brief to the Eighth Circuit arguing that mandatory detention has constitutional limits and is at odds with due process. 

Read more: Council Files Amicus Brief on the Legality of Prolonged Mandatory Detention

 MAKE A CONTRIBUTION 

 QUOTE OF THE WEEK 

A-Files are a critical resource in immigration courts that contain a noncitizen's immigration records and are accessible only by request via the Freedom of Information Act. Without their A-Files, noncitizens and naturalized citizens are unable to confirm their legal status, apply for immigration benefits, defend against deportation, or adjust their status. 

“It is fundamentally unfair that a person can’t see what the government attorney prosecuting the case has on his table, in the same courtroom.

“The government attempts to create a narrative where the onus is on the requester. That’s not how the law is written. The law is about the requester having access to records within a relatively short period of time.” 

– Emily Creighton, the legal director of transparency at the American Immigration Council

 FURTHER READING 

• The Guardian: Ny Nourn: the woman convicted of murder and pardoned – who now fights for other battered women
   

• Al Día News: The ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy is over and it’s about time
   

• The Washington Times: Biden budget 'betrays' promises, too harsh on migrants, civil rights, immigration activists say

 SAVE THE DATE  

• Are you an Immigration Lawyer? Don't miss the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Annual Conference June 9-12.

Learn more here about the AILA Annual Conference on Immigration Law

         

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