Immigration Benefits and Relief

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The Dream Act would permanently protect certain immigrants who came to the United States as children but are vulnerable to deportation. 

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  • Practice Advisories

Arriving Noncitizens and Adjustment of Status

This Practice Advisory discusses the impact of an interim rule repealing two former regulations which barred all “arriving aliens” from adjusting status if they are in removal proceedings.

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  • Blog

Judge Orders A Full Restart of DACA, but Its Future Remains Uncertain

August 6, 2018

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restart the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative by August 23. This ruling in the D.C. District Court comes just...

  • Blog

How Long Does It Take USCIS to Issue a Green Card?

July 24, 2018

How long does it take to process an application for permanent residence in the United States, or a “green card?” You might be surprised by how difficult it is to find a reliable answer to this...

  • Blog

USCIS Is Slowly Being Morphed Into an Immigration Enforcement Agency

July 9, 2018

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new guidance to initiate deportation proceedings for thousands of applicants denied for any immigration benefit. This policy change will...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Decision May Make Some Eligible for Relief From Deportation

June 29, 2018

In an 8-1 decision on June 21, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an individual previously prevented from applying for a type of relief from deportation known as cancellation of removal. In...

  • Blog

New USCIS Policy Places Certain Students and Exchange Visitors at Serious Risk of Being Barred from the United States

May 17, 2018

In another attempt to restrict legal immigration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a policy change to the way foreign students and exchange visitors accrue unlawful...

  • Blog

Confused About the Current Status of DACA? Here Is What You Need to Know

May 16, 2018

The Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative set off a slew of lawsuits attempting to stop the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from...

  • Blog

Local Limits on Immigration Enforcement Successfully Slow Deportation Machine

May 14, 2018

Immigration policies may be crafted on a national scale, under the purview of the federal government, but it is at the local level that immigrants live their lives. And it is at the local level...

  • Blog

After Almost 20 Years, Honduran Temporary Protected Status Holders Lose Permission to Stay

May 4, 2018

Nearly 60,000 Hondurans learned today that they will no longer be able to remain in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), placing them at risk of deportation when termination...

  • Blog

Congress Reaches A Deal to Fund Government for the Year Without Solution for Dreamers

March 23, 2018

This week Congress passed a $1.3 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, running through September 30, 2018. Though the legislation includes record levels of...

  • Blog

The Invisible Wall That President Trump Has Already Built

March 21, 2018

Legal immigration and the number of foreigners visiting the United States has taken a serious hit within the last year, as the Trump administration makes changes to policies and procedures without...

  • Blog

USCIS’ Change to How ‘Unlawful Presence’ Is Calculated Is Defeated in Court

February 12, 2020

A federal district court stopped U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) from drastically changing how the agency determines when a foreign student or exchange visitor is “unlawfully...

  • Blog

Student’s Deportation Shows a Pattern of US Government Targeting Iranians

January 22, 2020

Iranian students coming to the United States are being stopped at airports, having their visas revoked, and are being deported. Advocates warn this trend is emerging less than a month after...

  • Blog

Defense Spending Act Allows Thousands of Liberians to Apply for Permanent Residency

January 2, 2020

The defense spending package for the fiscal year 2020 will allow thousands of Liberians living in the United States to gain green cards. The $738-billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)...

  • Blog

The Supreme Court Heard a Major Case on DACA. Here’s What You Need to Know.

November 13, 2019

The Supreme Court heard arguments on November 12 in three cases challenging President Trump’s attempted rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. The Court’s...

  • Blog

‘I Have DACA. No Matter What the Supreme Court Decides, I’ll Continue to Build American Communities.’

November 11, 2019

On November 12, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the legality of President Trump’s 2017 rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. The...

  • Blog

Opposition Mounts to Trump’s Effort to Delay Work Permits for People Seeking Asylum

November 7, 2019

The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that would delay work authorization for people seeking asylum in the United States. The move is drawing opposition from advocates across the...

  • Blog

Congress Debates Current Policies That Make Life More Difficult for Immigrant Service Members and Their Families

October 31, 2019

At a House Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Hearing on Tuesday, Congress heard testimony from experts about the impact of recent immigration policies affecting foreign-born military members,...

  • Blog

USCIS Changes Policy on Fee Waivers, Potentially Deterring Thousands of Citizenship Applications

October 30, 2019

The cost of filing an application for citizenship—usually a hefty $725—has long been a barrier for some immigrants. Now, a change to the naturalization process may leave even more people priced...

  • Blog

Which Immigration Cases Will the Supreme Court Rule on This Session?

October 15, 2019

The Supreme Court began a new session this October, and in the coming months, the justices will hear several high-profile immigration cases. These cases involve the attempted termination of the...

  • Press Release

Judge Grants Class-Action Status to Thousands of Immigrants Waiting for Access to Their Immigration Records

October 15, 2019
A federal court in San Francisco certified two nationwide classes of immigrants and attorneys claiming that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have a systemic pattern and practice of failing to provide access to immigration case records within deadlines set by the Freedom of Information Act. The case records, known as A-files, contain information about individuals’ immigration history in the United States. This is the first time a court has certified a class in a lawsuit alleging a pattern and practice of violating FOIA

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