A Tale of Two Murders: Laken Riley and George Floyd

The murder of Laken Riley–a promising young nursing student–has spurred renewed calls for a crackdown against illegal migration into our country. Ms. Riley was allegedly killed by a Venezuelan man who entered the United States at the Southern border in September 2022. 

In response to the killing, Republicans hammered the Biden Administration’s border policy: “Innocent Americans from Laken Riley in Georgia to the 14-year-old rape victim of an illegal immigrant in our home state of Louisiana…. They’ve all been victimized by those whom the Biden administration has released into our country,” says Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

While there are instances of people crossing the border and then committing crimes, blaming all migrants for the bad acts of a very few is unfair and intellectually dishonest. That’s because immigrants–including “illegal” immigrants–improve our country in many ways and actually save the lives of many Americans each year. (more…)

Dear AILA: The Border Needs Realistic Solutions, Not Wishful Thinking

Last week, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) wrote a letter urging the Biden Administration to “take action to manage migration at the U.S. southern border in an orderly and effective manner while also ensuring a fair and humane process for people arriving at our borders.” That’s an excellent idea. The problem comes with the implementation, and here, AILA’s solutions fall short. (more…)

USCIS Claims to Have Reduced Its Backlog–but It Depends on the Definition of “Backlog”

In an announcement earlier this month, USCIS claims to have “reduced overall backlogs by 15%.” This sounds like good news, and it would be–if it were actually true.

The reality, as discussed in the same announcement, is that “USCIS received 10.9 million filings and completed more than 10 million pending cases” in FY 2023 (October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023). While completing 10 million cases is no small accomplishment, by my math, if the Agency received 10.9 million cases and completed 10 million cases, their backlog has actually increased by 900,000 cases.

So why does USCIS claim that the backlog has been reduced by 15%? The answer hinges on the definition of the term “backlog.” (more…)

Needed: More Immigration Lawyers!

There is a serious shortage of immigration attorneys. The dearth of lawyers makes it more difficult for non-citizens to obtain legal help. It also makes the immigration system less efficient.

A recent report from TRAC Immigration shows that representation rates in Immigration Court have fallen significantly in recent years. In 2019, 65% of non-citizens in court had a lawyer. In 2023, only 30% were represented by counsel. 

What’s the reason for this shortfall? How is it affecting immigrants, lawyers, and “the system,” and what can be done to raise representation rates? (more…)

Let’s Talk About the Bipartisan Immigration Bill – or – Don’t Speak Ill of the Dead

The long-awaited bipartisan border security bill has finally been released. The bill was negotiated by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and James Lankford (R-OK).

Before details of the bill were even released publicly, Donald Trump came out against it. His main objection seems to be a fear that the bill might improve conditions at the Southern border, which would potentially harm his chances for re-election. As a result of his opposition, many House Republicans–including Speaker Mike Johnson–have labeled the bill “dead on arrival.” It is even questionable whether the bill can pass the Senate. While the chances for passage seem low, the bill could still have an effect. If Republicans are seen as opposing reasonable border reform, it might just come back to haunt them in the upcoming election.

Politics aside, let’s discuss the provisions of the bill, and how it might affect asylum if it happens to become law. (more…)

Mandamus Lawsuits vs. Premium Processing

Anyone with a case before the Asylum Office knows that the system is not functioning properly. Applications take years–many people who filed in 2015 are still waiting for an asylum interview–and even after you are interviewed, it can take additional years to receive a decision.

For most applicants, the only way to move their case along is to file a mandamus lawsuit. Indeed, data from TRAC Immigration shows that the number of mandamus cases filed against USCIS has ballooned over the last few years. In Fiscal Year 2020, for example, there were 1,295 mandamus lawsuits against USCIS. For FY2023, TRAC estimates that USCIS faced more than 6,800 mandamus lawsuits (these include asylum cases and other types of USCIS cases).

The TRAC data is consistent with our experience and with what we’ve been hearing from officials at USCIS, who indicate that the only way to get an asylum interview is to sue the agency. Here, we’ll discuss mandamus lawsuits and whether “premium processing” might be a better way to deal with delay at the Asylum Office. (more…)

If Immigration Attorneys Said What They Were Thinking

Trigger Warning: This post contains a lot of curse words.

What’s the reason for the forthcoming salty language? It’s because we immigration lawyers work in a system that is utterly broken, and in order to make any progress at all for our clients, we need to hold our tongues and remain professional with our government colleagues.

Immigration Judges, court staff, DHS attorneys (the prosecutors in Immigration Court), USCIS officers, and Asylum Officers all have a lot of power over our clients’ lives. Losing our temper with these people rarely results in good outcomes for our clients, and so we attorneys must practice forbearance. We often can’t say what we are thinking for fear of jeopardizing our clients’ cases. But today, I propose to throw off the veil of civility and say what’s on my mind. (more…)

The Immigrant’s Thanksgiving (Some Reasons to Be Thankful)

Thanksgiving is the immigrant holiday because it is a day to remember and celebrate new arrivals in a new land, and friendship between immigrants and indigenous people. It is also the anti-immigrant holiday, since things did not end too well for the indigenous people in the original T-Day story.

These days, though, we need to take our good news where we can get it, and so in that spirit, I want to focus on the positives of Thanksgiving. In particular, I’d like to discuss some reasons for asylum seekers to be thankful. And yes, there are a few. (more…)

Selective Service for Noncitizen Men

They say you learn something new every day. I had always thought that asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, and other non-citizens were not required to register for the Selective Service. Turns out, I was wrong. With very few exceptions, all males between ages 18 and 26 who live in the United States are required to register for the Selective Service.

Here, we’ll talk about the Selective Service requirement: What is it? Who must register? How do you register? What happens if you fail to register? (more…)

Ombudsman Reports on USCIS’s Impossible Mission

In June of this year, the USCIS Ombudsman released its annual report, where it “details the urgent systemic issues affecting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services… and identifies potential solutions to resolve these problems.” This year, the agency’s various backlogs loom large in the 120-page report. Making progress on those backlogs has been difficult for various reasons, including the state of the world: “Global upheaval, political confrontations, and climate issues created populations in need of temporary protection, and the United States took on its share of assistance to these populations.” While the Ombudsman applauds the Biden Administration’s efforts to help those in need, it notes that other asylum seekers and immigrants have been harmed by diverting resources that might otherwise have been available to complete their cases.

To be honest, I have avoided reading the report until now because it is simply too depressing. We know the basic problem: Too many people and not enough resources. We also know that Congress–which controls the nation’s purse strings–is not likely to approve any additional funding, especially while the House of Representatives remains in Republican hands.

As I reviewed the report, I found myself feeling some sympathy for USCIS, which is being asked to do too much with too little. But the key word in that last sentence is “some,” as I also feel that–at least with regards to affirmative asylum cases–the agency has utterly failed to take bold and creative steps to alleviate the ever-increasing backlog.

Here, we’ll discuss the Ombudsman’s findings and try to explicate what is happening at one of the U.S. government’s most troubled agencies. (more…)

New USCIS Report Highlights Progress and Challenges

USCIS recently issued its Fiscal Year 2022 report (covering the period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022). The report discusses USCIS’s efforts to dig itself out of the hole created by the pandemic and the prior Administration, and sets forth plans for the current fiscal year.

There were some positive developments during FY2022 and most of these relate to the immigration agency’s efforts to reduce its various backlogs (though this report does not discuss the asylum backlog) and to address humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Ukraine. These developments were made possible with the help of Congress, which appropriated additional funds for USCIS’s mission (USCIS normally receives more than 95% of its funding from customer fees). The agency notes that for FY2023, “Continued congressional support is critical to eliminate current net backlogs and achieve a robust humanitarian mission, while a new fee rule will help prevent the accumulation of additional backlogs in the future.” (more…)

President Trump’s Immigration Team: Where Are They Now?

They say that time wounds all heels. In the case of President Trump’s immigration advisors–who implemented racist and anti-Muslim policies, separated parents from children, and generally tried to destroy due process of law in our immigration system–that old saw is largely dis-proven, at least for most of the people we’ve managed to track down. A year and half after Mr. Trump left office, many of his senior advisors seem to be doing just fine. Some have retired. Others have moved on to (seemingly) lucrative employment in high-level private sector positions. Here, we’ll catch up with a few of our old friends from the prior Administration, and find out: Where are they now? (more…)

The Biden Administration Can “Fix” the Border–Even Without Congress

In a recent editorial, the Washington Post opined that Congress’s failure to pass immigration reform has led to the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. But even without Congress, the Biden Administration can use its regulatory power to better define the term “refugee” and thus better control who is eligible to enter the United States under our asylum law. (more…)