All unaccompanied immigrant children detained by immigration authorities either near the U.S border or in the interior of the country are placed in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Although ORR works very hard to place children in the least restrictive setting and reunify them with family when possible, this can result in frequent transfers of the minor. Typically, an unaccompanied minor is uprooted to a different city and state every few months.
This fall, CAIR Coalition welcomed Stephen Dekovich, a graduate of Stanford Law School and newly minted Equal Justice Works Fellow. Stephen, whose fellowship is sponsored by the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, will be spending the next two years working on a project to improve access to pro bono counsel for detained immigrants in removal proceedings who have mental disabilities that impair their ability to advocate for themselves.
The last few months have demonstrated that despite widespread public opposition, ICE is determined to move forward with the controversial Secure Communities program. On August 5, 2011, ICE announced that Secure Communities, the program that allows state and local law enforcement and ICE to automatically and immediately search for both criminal and immigration history in DHS as well as FBI databases upon arrest, will be mandated in all 3,100 state and local jails by 2013.
CAIR Coalition’s Detained Children’s Program has recently produced two color-printed graphic novels, which kick off a mini-series of fictional stories. These stories are designed to help the detained immigrant children we work with discuss difficult and traumatic events, which may be crucial in gaining legal status.
In October 2010, CAIR Coalition began assisting a girl, Ana (not her real name), from Honduras. At 3 months old, Ana's mother abandoned her, leaving her with an abusive grandmother and uncle. Both relatives often beat her with belts, chairs and other objects around the house. When Ana was 16 years old, she journeyed to the U.S. on foot to live with her male cousin who had promised Ana an education and an escape from her miserable home life.
The number of immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Virginia jails has nearly doubled in the last year. In 2010, the average daily population of immigrant men and women detained in Virginia hovered between 600 and 700. As of June 2011, the detainee population stands at over 1000.
CAIR Coalition’s Legal Director, Liz McGrail, gave a well-received presentation on the immigration consequences of crimes to over 500 Virginia criminal defense attorneys gathered for the Virginia State Bar’s Conference on Indigent Criminal Defense held on April 29 in Richmond. In addition, Liz’s presentation was video-streamed to two other locations in Virginia. A number of attorneys came up to Liz afterwards and told her how much they appreciated her presentation.
Now operational in 72 jurisdictions around the country, including Frederick County, Maryland and Prince William County, Virginia, the 287(g) program gives local and state law enforcement authorities the right to question individuals about their immigration status and turn them over to Immigration and Customs
In September, CAIR Coalition expanded its Detained Children’s Project to include a second juvenile detention facility in Northern Virginia. The Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Home in Alexandria, VA contracts with the Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide bed space for up to 10 immigrant children who are facing removal proceedings. CAIR Coalition staff members will be providing these children with “Know Your Rights” presentations and individual consultations. CAIR Coalition will also prepare the children for their first master calendar hearings and assist them i
Mr. ZP fled to the United States in 2000 to escape China’s population control measures, including forced sterilization in his case. Mr. ZP subsequently applied for and was granted asylum after presenting compelling evidence that he would be persecuted if he returned to China. Mr. ZP’s sister and brother, a U.S. citizen and a lawful permanent resident, respectively, helped him to start his life anew in the United States. Mr.
Now full-fledged attorneys, former law students Erica Morgan and Edmundo Saballos spent nearly a year fighting to defend the rights and dignity of their client, I.P., a young man from Honduras who suffered from such severe mental illness that at one point he stopped talking altogether and could only communicate through hand gestures.
Recently, the United States signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and celebrated the 19th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. These two actions mark our nation’s commitment to provide reasonable accommodations to and ensure basic fairness for all people with disabilities. Unfortunately, this commitment falters in our nation’s immigration courts, where people with mental disabilities are not afforded such accommodations and fairness.
A new report by an independent task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations asserts that "the continued failure to devise a sound and sustainable immigration policy threatens to weaken America's economy, to jeopardize its diplomacy, and to imperil its national security." Rather than seeing immigration as one of this country's success stories, the report states that we are in the midst of an immigration crisis that not only undermines our prosperity and hurts our standing abroad, but also causes untold hardship to the individuals who must navigate what has become, in many w
Maria de Gador Manzano-Guillen, an attorney with the Inter-American Development Bank, served as pro bono co-counsel, along with CAIR Coalition's Legal Director, Liz McGrail, in the case of Mr. AR, a native of Honduras who immigrated to the United States in 1982 at the age of 14. Mr. AR faced deportation to a country he left over two decades ago because of minor drug use. Despite being stricken with polio at the age of eight months which left him physically weak with a pronounced limp, Mr.
On Wednesday, June 17, CAIR Coalition will hold a Tenth Anniversary Party to celebrate a decade of working to ensure that all immigrants are treated with fairness, dignity and respect for their human and civil rights and to help raise funds for CAIR Coalition's programs. The party will take place from 6-8 p.m. at Busboys & Poets 2021 14th St. NW (the corner of 14th & V) in Washington, DC. Ten former volunteers and legal interns who have made a significant impact during their time with CAIR Coalition will be honored at the event.
