Immigration News
Check out daily roundups of immigration-related news stories, read articles that quote and cite AILA and AILA leadership, and check out analysis from AILA members and leadership on the AILA blog.
Are you a member who was quoted in a news story? Contact newsroom@aila.org to let us know.
Are you a member of the press? Visit the Press Room.
AILA in the News
Browse the Immigration News collection
Access to Counsel Should be Non-Negotiable
“Wait, you mean to tell me you are not allowed to contact a lawyer at the airport?“ That is a familiar response when I tell people of the lack of any protocol for allowing access to counsel to those who are coming into the United States from abroad. The fact is, when someone enters the […
Immigrants’ Access to Counsel Topic of New Rulemaking Petition
AILA and the American Immigration Council have petitioned DHS and DOS to issue new regulations that will ensure all immigrants have access to legal counsel in secondary and deferred inspection, as well as at overseas consular interviews.
Fair Treatment Under the Law
Indiana's highest court handed down a unanimous ruling earlier this month protecting the rights of injured unauthorized immigrants to seek recovery of lost wages and decreased earning capacity and importantly, making their undocumented status inadmissible at trial in most cases. I represented the In
Rebecca Schueller Awarded 2017 Michael Maggio Immigrants’ Rights Summer Fellowship
AILA, CHRCL, and NIP/NLG are delighted to announce Rebecca Schueller is the Michael Maggio Immigrants' Rights Summer Fellow for 2017; Ms. Schueller will create a pilot program to provide legal assistance to detainees held at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, OH.
Trump Administration Budget Aims to Undermine Due Process and Implement Mass Deportation Plan
AILA opposes the Trump administration’s newly released FY2018 budget request, which would fund massive increases in immigration enforcement and border security and undermine due process in immigration law.
AILA: Six-Month Extension of Protection for Haitians Is Not Enough
AILA welcomed the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals through January 22, 2018, but is disappointed that the Department of Homeland Security opted for a short extension given the overwhelming evidence that many of the conditions in Haiti that prompted TPS persist.
MAVNI: A Successful Program Currently SNAFUed
Imagine you are a Polish- or Punjabi-speaking graduate of a United States school and you volunteered to join the U.S. Armed Forces, ready to serve this country and America's interests. Your recruiter told you about the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) Pilot Program which al
5 Questions and Answers about the EB-5 Program
It's pretty rare that an investor visa gets press attention from all over the world. But this is exactly what happened when reports surfaced of Jared Kushner's sister promoting the EB-5 visa in China. What I saw repeatedly in coverage was confusion about the EB-5 program, what it is designed to do,
AILA Releases New Edition of INA and CFR
AILA is proud to release the 2017 editions of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) and the Immigration Regulations (CFR). AILA President Bill Stock noted, “Both of these references form the cornerstone of U.S. immigration law and no practice is complete without them.”
AILA Urges House Committee to Move Away from Cruel, Costly, and Ineffective “Enforcement-Only” Immigration Legislation
AILA President Bill Stock urges the House Judiciary Committee to move away from cruel, costly, and ineffective “enforcement-only” immigration reform that completely misses the mark “on the kind of reform our country needs in order to build a 21st century immigration system that benefits us all.”
Despite the Odds
On a Sunday in February 2016, I was at the San Francisco airport ready to travel to the family detention center in Dilley, Texas, to meet with my new pro bono clients, Marta and her two young sons. Moments after I arrived at SFO, I received word that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was tra
The Courage of Mothers in Family Detention
Over the past two years, hundreds of volunteers have given up a week or more of their lives to help nearly 30,000 mothers and more than 33,000 children detained by the federal government as they seek asylum as our laws allow. Pro bono attorneys, joined by translators and legal assistants, help them
Standing Up for One Family and Making a Difference
A few weeks ago, we had a chance to stand up for one Central American family and make a real difference. We, one law professor and one law student, were the latest in a chain of connections that helped ensure that this vulnerable family will have a meaningful chance to claim asylum. Each semester, l
AILA Condemns Enactment of Texas “Sanctuary City” Bill
AILA condemns the enactment of Texas Senate Bill 4, which will encourage unacceptable profiling of people based on immigration status and will undermine the public safety of local communities.
It’s time to tackle the 3/10 year bar!
Perhaps not since the Japanese internment camps of the 1940's, or during the aftermath of 9/11, have immigrants been more fearful than they are now. Never have I seen immigration attorneys and advocates more concerned about what might happen to their clients and communities. And never has an admini
Say It with Me: It Is Not Illegal to Seek Asylum
Reading this recent Reuters article, from the headline to the end, I'm not sure what offends me most. Is it the Trump Administration's concerted effort to scare people away from seeking safety in the U.S.? That's pretty disgusting. Is it the fact that those threats only work if people believe our go
Our Immigration Laws Are Bad for Small Businesses
We've just wrapped up another H-1B lottery season, during which United States companies submit H-1B petitions on behalf of skilled workers to fill professional-level positions. This year, nearly 200,000 petitions were submitted for just 85,000 visas. Once again, the government must resort to a compu
AILA Gravely Concerned by Reports that USCIS Recommends Ending Protections for Haitian Nationals
AILA expressed grave concern regarding reports that USCIS is recommending that the United States end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals in January 2018.
AILA: Impact of “Hire American” Provisions in New Executive Order Remains to Be Seen
AILA President Bill Stock noted, “Any reforms proposed by the Trump Administration as a result of this Executive Order should be based on facts and data, not innuendo and anecdote, and must ensure that our immigration system, including the H-1B program, remain viable tools for U.S. businesses.”
ICE Enforcement in Courthouses is a Dangerous Mistake
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been stepping up its enforcement operations, this time in and around courthouses. There have been reports of ICE officers increasingly showing up in courthouses across the country to arrest unsuspecting immigrants. This is a misguided policy…and a
Our Battles Are Only Beginning
Regardless of the veracity of President Trump's negative immigration rhetoric, it is undoubtedly sparking and emboldening anti-immigration groups. Constitutional battles that have long been over and won are creeping back with validation from the new administration. In California, the American Childr
Kids These Days
A child can be sweet, mad, smart, hilarious, whiny, silly, or sad. A child can be an angel, a terror, a silly goose, Captain America, Wonder Woman, a kitty cat, or a Tyrannosaurus Rex. A child cannot be an immigration lawyer. And yet… In immigration courts across the United States, every singl
AILA: Job Creators Again Stymied by Outdated Cap
AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson responded to the USCIS announcement that the H-1B cap had been surpassed within the first five business days of the FY 2018 filing period noting, “Each year that we limit these visas with an artificial cap, we stifle economic growth and all of us lose out.”
Block the Money, Block the Wall
The Trump Administration has developed an immigration-related agenda that rejects long held American values, our country's commitment to due process, and what our economy needs to keep America working. His first Executive Orders related to immigration have one important theme in common: to be imple
Staining America’s Image
Tuesday night, I spoke at a “Know Your Rights“ event in Tucson, Arizona, to a large group of concerned and fearful refugees from all over the world, including countries such as Iraq, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Afterward, I spoke individually to several of the attendees who expressed anguis