Area’s Undocumented Immigrants From Mauritania Fearful of Deportation

Undocumented Mauritanians now living in the United States are essentially countryless, with no proof that they are residents or citizens of any nation. And if they go back to Mauritania without documentation, they’re at the mercy of the police, Tidiane said. Still, they’re being deported. People typically cannot be deported if their country won’t accept…

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Lawsuit Challenges New USCIS Policy on ‘Unlawful Presence’ for Foreign Students and Exchange Visitors

In a new lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, several institutions of higher education have challenged a recently announced Trump administration policy, effective August 9, 2018, changing the calculation of the number of days of “unlawful presence” for nonimmigrant foreign students from the date U.S. Citizenship and…

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CA9 Says INA §236(c) Applies Only if ICE Detains Noncitizen Promptly After Release from Criminal Custody

In a class action habeas petition brought by noncitizens with criminal convictions subject to mandatory detention under INA §236(c), the court affirmed the district court’s class certification order and preliminary injunction requiring the government to provide all class members with bond hearings under §236(a). The court held that, under the plain language of §236(c), the…

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AILA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The 2016 Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver Rule On July 29, 2016, DHS published a final rule expanding the availability of the provisional unlawful presence waiver to individuals who would be statutorily eligible for an unlawful presence waiver under INA §212(a)(9)(B)(v). The rule also makes additional changes to the current provisional waiver process. The following FAQs…

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Featured Issue: Family Detention

The Obama administration’s massive expansion of family detention began in the summer of 2014 and will incarcerate thousands of asylum-seeking children and mothers who are fleeing extreme violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) this year. This practice is a due process and humanitarian disaster and must end.…

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USCIS, CBP Extend Form I-129 Pilot Program for Canadian L-1 Nonimmigrants

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are extending the joint agency pilot program for Canadian citizens seeking L-1 nonimmigrant status under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) through April 30, 2019. Earlier this year, the USCIS California Service Center (CSC) and the CBP Blaine, Washington, port of…

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USCIS Expands ‘Modernization Program’ to Detroit, Los Angeles

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is expanding its Information Services Modernization Program to key field offices, beginning with the Detroit Field Office and the five offices in the Los Angeles District. Field offices in the Newark, Great Lakes, and San Francisco districts will implement the program during the first quarter of fiscal year (FY)…

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DHS Extends TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador Under Preliminary Injunction

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced actions to comply with the preliminary injunction order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Ramos v. Nielsen. Beneficiaries under the temporary protected status (TPS) designations for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador will retain their TPS while the preliminary injunction remains…

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