President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 25, 2017, outlining a series of actions he directs the DHS, DOJ and related agencies to take in regards to internal enforcement of U.S. immigration law and to border security. Many of these actions are already part of federal law, but many others will require congressional approval and appropriation of funds …
Ex-Police Officer From El Salvador Who Was Threatened And Shot By Members of The Mara Gang Will Get To Stay in The U.S.
I had the pleasure and blessing to work with a man from El Salvador who used to work as an officer of the National Civil Police (or Policía Nacional Civil—in Spanish). He arrived to the U.S. (without documentation) after fleeing El Salvador following death threats and several encounters where he was shot by members of the Mara gang. After litigating …
ICE Raids Means Applicants Will Lose Their Asylum Cases or Will Not Apply at All
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency in charge of enforcing our country’s immigration laws, just launched a series of raids in North Carolina, Texas, and Georgia, to deport people (including young children and mothers) who, among other things, entered as undocumented after Jan. 1, 2014, or were ordered removed after Jan. 1, 2014. We have heard (from clients and …
Female Genital Mutilation – A Basis for Asylum
After I got my undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I moved to San Diego, learned how to surf and worked with the San Diego Counsel on Literacy. While I was in San Diego I heard the executive director of the Tahirih …
The “New” Standard for Voluntary Departure–Stay in Jail AND Pay Your Own Ticket Home!
Matter of M-A-S, 24I&N Dec. 762 (BIA 2009), a new case was decided by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“Board”) on March 19, 2009, holds that, “[a]n Immigration Judge may order an alien detained until departure as a condition of a grant of voluntary departure”. In this case, the respondent was denied his claim for asylum and as a condition …