Case Management Techniques and Strategies
CLINIC • January 28 – March 11, 2021 • 2-3PM ET
This webinar is an introductory-level course that will go over factors that lead to effective case management practices in immigration legal services programs.
Mixed-Status Immigrant Families Eligible for Stimulus Checks in COVID Relief Bill
Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News (December 22, 2020)
The recently passed $900 billion COVID relief bill will include mixed-status immigrant families with undocumented family members, making them eligible to receive stimulus checks, which they were not able to receive with the first stimulus package last spring. Mixed-status families with one Social Security Number-holder will also become retroactively eligible for the checks that were a part of the CARES Act.
Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law
CLINIC (January 12 – February 26, 2021)
This e-learning course is designed for aspiring and new practitioners to learn the necessary skills and knowledge surrounding immigration law to become effective advocates. This accelerated course incorporates webinars and self-directed activities, providing a foundational overview of integral immigration law and developing legal expertise.
Three-Part Webinar Series: All About Public Charge Inadmissibility
CLINIC (January 25- February 8, 2021)
Despite the incoming Biden administration’s indication that they will seek to undo the public charge rule’s stringent requirements, there is uncertainty over how long it will take to accomplish this. This webinar series will address how to navigate this issue in the interim, including regulations, best practices, and strategies to advocate on behalf of your client.
Policy Alert: Updated Policy Guidance for the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (November 13, 2020)
USCIS recently announced updates to age and “sought to acquire” requirements under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA). These updates further clarify how USCIS calculates an applicant’s age under defined conditions and provides other guidance.
USCIS: Multiple Updates and Opportunities to Provide Feedback
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (November, 2020)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have released multiple new and revised guidance from their policy manual currently open for public comment. Policy updates include changes to the Child Status Protection Act, adjustments to naturalization eligibility, and the revised civics test for naturalization. Deadlines for feedback are between December 14-18, 2020, respectively.
Best Practices for Safe Repatriation Advocacy
The Young Center (October, 2020)
Encouraging practitioners to operate from a trauma-informed lens when working with unaccompanied and separated immigrant children, this practice guide illustrates critical steps towards ensuring safe repatriation. The guide offers essential tips when working directly with clients and information regarding advocacy work with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), consulates, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Stronger Together: Building an Inclusive System of Supports for Immigrant Families During the Pandemic, and Always
Center for the Study of Social Policy (July, 2020)
Despite the passage of emergency response packages directed at providing coronavirus relief, this legislation has systematically excluded many immigrants. In response, many states and localities and philanthropic and community-based organizations have provided critical support during this time. However, their ability to deliver needed services is limited. This brief offers information for policymakers seeking to build a more comprehensive and inclusive system that centers immigrant families in COVID-19-related federal actions.
Affordable Housing and Public Charge Toolkit
Protecting Immigrant Families (November, 2020)
This toolkit, developed in partnership with the Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) state policy subcommittee, is geared toward immigration attorneys seeking to counsel clients who may be concerned about the impact their participation in affordable housing programs will have on their applications for permanent residency.
Immigration Data Matters
Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Michelle Mittelstadt, Migration Policy Institute (November, 2020)
This updated and convenient guide contains more than 250 migration data resources from the United States and internationally from reliable governmental and non-governmental sources organized by topics ranging from labor migration to immigration enforcement.
Enforced Separations: A Qualitative Examination of How Latinx Families Cope With Family Disruption Following the Deportation of a Parent
Kristina Lovato and Laura S. Abrams, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Sciences (November 5, 2020)
In the face of two decades of ever-restrictive immigration policies that have led to increased family disruption due to expansive deportations, this study examines how impacted families cope. Exploring the issue through a family systems theory lens, researchers found that in addition to restructuring family dynamics, those impacted also experience economic and familial tensions. The need to develop cultural and trauma-informed interventions for immigrant families in response is also discussed.
Families like this one were torn apart at the border. The U.S. still hasn’t made things right.
Catherine Rampell, Washington Post (November 23, 2020)
In 2017, mother and son Leticia and Yovany traveled from Guatemala and crossed the Rio Grande to seek asylum in the United States. Soon after, they were detained and separated. Speaking to Catherine Rampell of The Washington Post, Leticia and Yovany describe the trauma of such separation, something her son likened to “being a flower without water” and call on the U.S. government and the American public to redress the harm done to them and countless other families.
ICE Expelled 33 Immigrant Children Back to Guatemala After A Judge Said They Couldn’t
Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News (November 24, 2020)
Despite a preliminary injunction issued on November 18th that blocked the Trump administration from turning back unaccompanied children at the border, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flight with 33 children took off for Guatemala. ICE officials claim that they were not aware of the ruling at the time the flight departed. However, immigration advocates have stated that the children should be brought back to the United States due to the judge’s decision.
The Real Border Crisis: Childhood Trauma from Family Separations
Jessica Blatt, Borgen Magazine (November 15, 2020)
In this piece, Jessica Blatt traces the intersecting traumas that immigrant children experience from the countries they leave behind to their detention at the border of a country they believed they could seek refuge in. The longstanding, compounding traumas these children face are, according to Blatt, tantamount to a mental health emergency. However, through collective action in support of legislative measures, including the Keep Families Together Act and electing legislators concerned about immigrant children’s welfare, the United States can work to mitigate continued harm.
Biden might need years to reverse Trump’s immigration policies on DACA, asylum, family separation, ICE raids, private detention and more
Alan Gomez and Daniel Gonzalez, USA Today (November 13, 2020)
During its tenure, the Trump administration enacted more than 400 policy changes aimed at immigration. While many of these regressive policies can be overturned by the incoming Biden administration through executive orders and directives, Gomez and Gonzalez indicate that others could take months or years to undo. A list of possible actions Biden could take in the first 100 days, like halting construction on the border wall, raising the refugee cap, and preserving and expanding DACA, are all seemingly within reach. However, immigration advocates contend that rescinding policy is one thing, but hoping to undo the damage is another task entirely.
How America’s Immigration System Can Work Again
Gregory Chen, The Hill (November 11, 2020)
In this opinion piece for The Hill, Gregory Chen, the senior director for government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), explains the glaring lack of attention paid to how the judicial system has been seismically changed under the Trump administration. Chen states that any comprehensive plan to reverse this course under a new administration will mean seeking to restore the nation’s courts’ independence and fairness.
Lawyers Can’t Find the Parents of 666 Migrant Kids, a Higher Number Than Previously Reported
Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley, NBC News (November 9, 2020)
New information regarding the number of children separated at the border under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy who have yet to be reunited with their parents has climbed from 545 to 666. According to an attorney working at the forefront to reunite families, the new number includes those “for whom the government did not provide any phone number.” Almost 20 percent of these children were under 5 when they were separated.
Biden Plans Immediate Flurry of Executive Orders to Reverse Trump Policies
Matt Viser, Seung Min Kim, and Annie Linskey, Washington Post (November 7, 2020)
Describing it as potentially one of the “most startling” transitions of power in American history, Viser, Kim, and Linskey discuss the executive actions that Biden has promised to undertake once he is sworn into office on January 20th. Of those executive actions involving immigration, Biden has vowed to repeal the Muslim Ban, which barred travel from several mostly Muslim countries, as well as restoring the DREAM Act.
Migrant Families Were Confused When U.S. Expelled Children into Mexico
Caitlin Dickerson, New York Times (November 3, 2020)
Arduous journeys led young people like Esther and Nahum to the United States border seeking asylum and a chance to meet with their awaiting family members on the other side. However, their families were dismayed and confused when these children not only never crossed the border but were expelled into Mexico. Going against U.S. policy and diplomatic agreements with Mexico, Caitlin Dickerson describes how the Trump administration improperly removed minor children by shutting down the border to asylum applicants because of the pandemic.
The U.S. Separated Families Decades Ago, Too. With 545 Migrant Children Missing Their Parents, That Moment Holds a Key Lesson
Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez, TIME Magazine (November 2, 2020)
In the 1970s, The United States attempted to deter unauthorized immigration by prosecuting coyotes, who transported individuals and families across the border. However, this policy resulted in the detention of thousands of minor children and families. Placing an uncomfortable spotlight on the history of the United States, separating immigrant families, losing children, and obscuring the truth from the American people, Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez argues that this oft-ignored part of history should serve as a warning to advocates and concerned citizens today.
