Center for Immigrant Rights
Catholic Leaders Outline Key Strategies for Haitian Adoptions
February 12, 2010
The heads of five Catholic agencies that work with Haitian earthquake victims have outlined steps they say the U.S. government should take to protect children left alone after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Letter to Secretaries on safety of Haitian Children
Dear Madam Secretaries:
As representatives of the Catholic social service network in the United States and internationally, we write to offer our views on the situation of Haitian unaccompanied children (commonly, but not always correctly referred to as “orphans”) in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12.
Representation before the EOIR: Protections for Unaccompanied Children from Private Attorneys Hired by Traffikers and Smugglers
CLINIC, along with several private attorneys and other child advocates wrote a letter to the Chief Immigration Judge and the Acting Director for the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
A copy of the letter is available here.
Letter to DHS on Safeharbor Procedures for Employers who Receive No Match Letters
CLINIC submitted comments to the Department of Homeland Security on the safe harbor procedures for employers who receive SSA No-Match letters.
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Immigration Advocacy Organizations Ask for Improved Naturalization Process
CLINIC joined a number of immigrants-rights organizations in sending a letter to Director Alejandro Mayorkas of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services asking for an improved naturalization process. A copy of the letter is below.
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Dear Director Mayorkas:
Letter to Congress on Extension of Religious Worker Visa Program
CLINIC joined with several organizations to ask Congress to advocate for extension of the Special Immigrant Non-Minister portion of the Religious Worker Visa Program for a period of three years.
A copy of the letter is below.
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September 2, 2009
The Honorable David Price, Chairman The Honorable Robert Byrd, Chairman
CLINIC Signs on to Letter to HHS re: HIV/AIDS
CLINIC wrote a letter to Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius supporting the proposed rule which would remove HIV from the definition of communicable diseases of public health significance from the Federal Regulations, and thereby also removing HIV as grounds for inadmissibility to the US.
Petition for Regulations on Appointed Counsel for Immigrants in Removal
CLINIC, along with five other national immigrant advocacy organizations, signed a petition asking Attorney General Eric Holder to initiate rulemaking on the right to counsel to indigent individauls, where necessary, in removal proceedings to ensure the fundamental fairness of the proceedings.
A copy of the petition, submitted on June 29 2009, is below.
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Undocumented Immigrants and the Right to Marry
County clerks in a number of states have refused to issue marriage licenses to undocumented immigrants. The clerks argue that federal law requires marriage license applicants to provide a Social Security number. Undocumented immigrants, who are not eligible to apply for a Social Security number, are therefore denied marriage licenses. This article explains why states cannot deny marriage licenses to undocumented immigrants.
The article addresses a number of questions.
