Your weekly summary from the Council

 LATEST ANALYSIS 

• New Illinois Law Allows Public Defenders to Represent Immigrants Facing Deportation
  
  Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a law in August that would allow the Cook County Public Defender to represent immigrants in the Chicago immigration court. The law is part of a movement to expand access to legal representation for people facing deportation. Read More »
   
• Unaccompanied Minors Among Thousands Evacuated from Afghanistan
  
  Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have confirmed that 34 unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan currently in the United States were among the approximately 123,000 Afghan nationals evacuated from Afghanistan last month. With more Afghan children expected to arrive in the United States, their future and what awaits them is unclear. Read More »
   
• President Biden is Overseeing a Historic Decline in Legal Immigration
  
  The Biden administration predicts that it will fail to issue many of the legal permanent resident visas—also known as green cards—allotted this year for immigrants who have been sponsored by a U.S. employer or family member. Read More »

 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW  

• For generations, people arriving at our border or already in the United States apply for asylum, or protection from persecution. In recent years U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at the southern border have turned away thousands of people who come to ports of entry seeking protection.

  This fact sheet from the American Immigration Council provides an overview of a practice known as “metering” that has been used by CBP to deny people arriving at our border access to the asylum process at U.S. ports of entry.

  Read more: Metering and Asylum Turnbacks​​​​​

 ACROSS THE NATION 

• U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant of the Southern District of California ruled that the United States is required by law to inspect and process asylum seekers when they present themselves at ports of entry, and condemned the practice of denying access to the asylum process through metering and similar practices.
  
  The American Immigration Council represented Al Otro Lado and a group of 13 individuals seeking asylum in the United States whom CBP turned back at ports of entry along the southern border. We challenged this practice with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Center for Constitutional Rights, and the law firm Mayer Brown LLP.

  Read more: Challenging Customs and Border Protection's Unlawful Practice of Turning Away Asylum Seekers​​​​​

 MAKE A CONTRIBUTION 

Our fight for a fair, just, and more welcoming immigration system didn’t end with a new administration. Donate today to help us build a system that works for all.

 QUOTE OF THE WEEK 

“Turning back asylum seekers at ports of entry unconstitutionally stripped people of their right under U.S. law to access the asylum process in the United States. Ports of entry are a critical part of our nation's asylum system and serve as the front door for arriving asylum seekers. Today's decision underscores that the government may not simply shut that door and deny asylum seekers this right. The law protects asylum seekers arriving at our doorstep as it does those who stepped over the threshold. CBP must inspect and process arriving asylum seekers.”

– Karolina Walters, senior attorney at American Immigration Council

 FURTHER READING 

• San Antonio Express-News: Editorial: Remain in Mexico policy stains this nation
   

• WTTW-Chicago PBS (VIDEO): Cook County Public Defenders to Represent Immigrants in Removal Cases
   

• Reuters: Judge says 'metering' of asylum applicants at border is illegal
   

• Texas Tribune: Texas House approves additional $2 billion for border security as state moves to build border wall"

         

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