DHS
DHS and DOJ Announcement on Prosecutorial Discretion: An Advocacy Perspective
Wed, 08/24/2011 - 1:43pm — Anonymous
By: Allison Posner
CLINIC welcomes the Obama Administration’s August 18th announcement that the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice will be working together to re-assess and prioritize the hundreds of thousands of pending removal cases. In addition to providing temporary relief from imminent deportation to those individuals whose cases will be administratively closed, this interagency review will cut into the severe backlog that plagues our immigration court system, reducing the wait times for individual cases to be adjudicated.
Haitian Heritage Month: The State of the Union
Fri, 05/27/2011 - 11:46am — AnonymousBy: Alexander Cohen
The motto of Haiti is “L’union fait la force” which translates to “the union makes the strength.” In the wake of the January 2010 earthquake, the people of Haiti struggled with a humanitarian crisis that no union could solve unilaterally, much less a country that was the poorest in the western hemisphere before the tragedy.
Advocating for Families: The Need for Fee Waivers
Fri, 10/01/2010 - 3:50pm — AnonymousBy: Natalia Ricardo*
On Friday, September 24, 2010, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its final rule on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) fee schedule, first proposed on June 11, 2010. The rule results in an average 10% increase in fees. Additionally, the rule establishes three new fees associated with the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, the Civil Surgeon Designation, and processing of Immigrant Visa requests. There is also an adjustment of the Premium Processing service fee. USCIS maintained that the fee increase was a necessary means to recover operating costs. The rule will take effect on November 23, 2010; meaning that all applications or petitions mailed, postmarked, or otherwise filed on or after November 23, 2010 will be subject to the fee increase.
Hurricane Katrina: 5 Years Later
Fri, 08/27/2010 - 4:22pm — AnonymousBy: Hiroko Kusuda, Helen Chen, and James Porter
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Southeast Louisiana ravaging parishes, towns, and cities across the Gulf Coast. When the levees broke that protected the city of New Orleans from the surrounding waterways, 80% of the city wound up under water. The city has begun to rebound with the population at 90% of its pre-Katrina numbers. This year, CLINIC had its annual convening in downtown New Orleans, and it was a major success.
Pending: Asylum Seekers in the U.S.
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 3:59pm — AnonymousBy: James Porter
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an asylum seeker is “a person who has left their country of origin, has applied for recognition as a refugee in another country, and is awaiting a decision on their application.” There is often much attention paid to refugees by those in the nonprofit sector. However, asylum seekers are unique from refugees and face unique challenges of their own such as detention in the U.S. and the uncertainty of the asylum adjudication process.
