This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) renewed its contract with private prison company Corrections Corporations of America (CCA) to continue detaining women and children at its detention center in Dilley, Texas.
The Supreme Court, in its first day back for the fall 2016 session, denied a rehearing request by the White House in US v. Texas. This denial shuts the door to the possibility of breathing new life into the Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens (DAPA) program and the extension of the Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), two programs that would have granted immigration relief to millions and allowed them to stay in the country, legally work, and remain part of their families here in the United States. The denial means that the Court's June 2016 decision, which was a 4-4 tie and effectively upheld a lower court's shutdown of the programs, remains in effect. To read about CAIR Coalition's reactions to the July 2016 decision, all which remain true, click here.
We now have, for the first time, hard data to help us discuss the lack of counsel for immigrants in deportation proceedings. The American Immigration Council (AIC) has released a first-of-its-kind report on the “scope and impact of attorney representation in U.S. immigration courts.”
Leading one of the first cases under the Crim-Imm Pro Bono Project, Wiley Rein LLP forges ahead on appeal to argue that the law does not allow their client, a long-time green card holder, to be deported based on his criminal conviction. If successful, the team’s client will be able to keep his green card and reunite with his U.S. citizen family. Moreover, many future immigrants facing deportation due to similar types of convictions will be able to challenge their deportation.
Huge congratulations are in order to a terrific Mayer Brown LLP Pro Bono Team for winning the first case under the Crim-Imm Pro Bono Project, ending their client’s deportation proceedings. Mayer Brown attorneys Marcus Christian, Catherine Bernard, Meytal McCoy, Joshua Silverstein, Louis Balocca, Francis Doorley, Oral Pottinger, Gretel Echarte, Valentina Castillo, Diego Perez, and paralegal Janie McCutchen successfully defended their 19-year-old green card holder client Jose* from deportation. The team pioneered a new type of case for CAIR Coalition, post-conviction relief entailing a petition for writ of habeas corpus before the Virginia Circuit Court. In winning this petition, the team vacated Jose's single conviction allowing him to maintain his green card and remain united with his U.S. citizen family in Virginia.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about whether love trumps hate … or the other way around. As the Legal Director at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition, I know that love trumps hate because our staff proves it every day. I am humbled by my colleagues’ kindness and grit. CAIR Coalition serves immigrants facing the threat of detention and deportation. We fight for our clients’ due process rights in the face of a flawed immigration system and a national discourse steeped in fear.
With one, brief sentence, the Supreme Court has dashed the hopes of millions of immigrant parents who desperately wish for nothing more than to come out of the shadows, secure in the knowledge that they will not be ripped away from their U.S. born children. Dashed too are the hopes of young people, raised in the United States from childhood, who want nothing more than to be fully contributing members of the country they now call home. With the Supreme Court’s summary dismissal of the government’s appeal in U.S. v. Texas, both the Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens (DAPA) program and the extension of the Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) remain on hold indefinitely..
Today, Jason* is a typical high schooler who aspires to play soccer professionally or become a meteorologist. But just two years ago, he was running for his life.
It is illegal to be homosexual in the West African nation where Jason was born. When a local vigilante group discovered Jason’s orientation they took the law into their own hands, dragging him and two companions from the house and beating them with sticks.
The last thing Jason saw as he escaped was his friends being doused with gasoline.
This past November, Junior Francisco and Rodolfo Padilla, two longtime legal permanent residents of the United States, were approved to be part of the mass release of 6,000 individuals with low-level drug-related offenses. Even though federal judges affirmed that these two men deserved to be released from custody and were in no way a danger to society, their status as non-citizens landed them incarcerated, this time facing deportation while being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
On March 11, 2016, Reporte Hispano, a New Jersey newspaper, published a Spanish language article highlighting the story of CAIR Coalition client Junior Francisco.
The realities of immigration detention often get lost in the policy discussions of immigration and deportation. Detention means isolation from community and family. It means no employment, often pushing families of detainees into poverty. One of the cruelest forms of detention is when a client is subject to prolonged, indefinite detention after losing their case in Immigration Court and being ordered deported. This happens when the Government cannot actually follow through and deport the client, leaving the client in a detention limbo.
CAIR Coalition is excited to announce the launch of its newest initiative: The Crim-Imm Pro Bono Project. The goal of the Project is to defend detained non-citizens from the disproportionate immigration consequences of criminal convictions and expand strategic litigation. Three firms have mobilized to serve as leaders of this cutting-edge project in its pilot phase, Arnold & Porter, Mayer Brown, and Wiley Rein.
Join us in offering our ongoing thanks, appreciation, and applause to the many CAIR Coalition volunteers who devote countless hours to advance the rights of detained immigrants in the D.C. metropolitan area. Our volunteers provide translation and interpretation services, conduct intake during jail visits, attend Credible and Reasonable Fear Interviews, and provide invaluable telephonic access to counsel for detained immigrants by staffing our detention hotline.
On March 2, 2016, Voice of America published an article highlighting the story of CAIR Coalition client Junior Francisco and the 2,000 other individuals who had non-violent drug offenses that were released from federal prison.
On March 2, 2016, Voice of America published an article highlighting the story of CAIR Coalition client Junior Francisco and the 2,000 other individuals who had non-violent drug offenses that were released from federal prison.
On February 28, 2016 and March 6, 2016 at 8:40AM CAIR Coalition's Senior Program Director Claudia Cubas will be featured on the radio show "Tu Familia Zol" with Maria Esther on El Zol 107.9 for a discussion about immigration issues facing the Latino community in the Washington, DC area and beyond.
