State laws Archives - Benach Collopy

July 18, 2017

Immigration in Iowa: Countering Dominant Narratives by Lily Hamilton* *Lily Hamilton is an intern at Benach Collopy where she works on asylum issues, LGBT immigration issues, and the fine art of satisfying the Immigration Court...

April 2017 Clients of the Month- Angela and Omar Totti Ramirez

April 27, 2017

Angela and Omar Totti Ramirez are our clients of the month for April 2017. Omar, a Bolivian citizen, recently received his residence based upon his marriage to Angela, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Bolivia....

The DAPA and Expanded DACA Case Before the Supreme Court May Be Affected by Justice Scalia’s Passing

February 15, 2016

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has created turmoil in Washington DC and on the Presidential campaign trail. Republicans are uniformly calling on the President to refrain from nominating anyone to fill the...

Supreme Court Socks it to the Board of Immigration Appeals in Mellouli

June 4, 2015

Yesterday, in a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an immigrant who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor paraphernalia charge for concealing pills in his sock cannot be deported for the offense. Simply stated,...

Montgomery County Maryland Says No to ICE!

October 8, 2014

Great news right out of our own backyard. Montgomery County, Maryland, the county that surrounds most of Northwest Washington DC and the most populous county in Maryland, announced today that its jails would no longer...

GUEST BLOG: Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: Maryland Closes Gap with Federal Law to Expand Courts’ Jurisdiction. By Michelle Mendez

August 25, 2014

This blog post was written by FOBR Michelle Mendez, Senior Managing Attorney at Immigrant Legal Service of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington. On April 8, 2014, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law...

California Drops a Day and Improves the Lives of Immigrants

July 22, 2014

In a move that will help thousands of immigrants, California governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1310 into law today. This law imposes a maximum sentence of 364 days in prison for those convicted of misdemeanors...

Arizona loses again, but its citizens win

June 17, 2013

Today, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. that the state of Arizona cannot separately require an individual to prove he is a citizen in order to register...

An Open Letter to Rep. Spencer Bachus

March 21, 2013

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgscE9lFZN4&w=560&h=315] Dear Congressman Bachus, Thank you very much for speaking out about the overuse of detention by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in civil proceedings to determine the removability of individuals in the U.S. ...

Howdy, Trey Gowdy!

December 21, 2012

Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) was named the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, a committee that will presumably have a lead role in developing any new immigration law in the...

This is Personal

November 30, 2012

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/39893818 w=400&h=300] One of the burdens I carry is the knowledge that I come from one of the country's anti-immigrant hotspots. No, I am not from Arizona, Alabama, Postville, Iowa or Hazelton, Pennsylvania. I...

I Can See Maryland from My House

October 29, 2012

As Hurricane Sandy crawls through the Washington, DC area, and the kids clamor for yet another game of Who Shook Hook?, now seems as good a time as any to prepare a thoughtful post on...

Time to go, Sheriff Joe!

October 3, 2012

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet Paul Penzone, a Phoenix police officer for the past 21 years, who is running for Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. Now, ordinarily, I don't have a lot of...

Oh No, he didn’t! Romney endorses anti-immigrant wingnut Steve King.

September 10, 2012

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of67SW_r2VU] On Friday, Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney endorsed Steve King (R-IA) for another term in Congress. King, who once compared selecting immigrants to dog breeding, represents the worst of nativist sentiment and ...

The Problem with Non-citizen Voting

August 27, 2012

There is a lot in the news about unlawful voting these days. Many states have enacted laws that require specific forms of voter identification before one can step into a voting booth. Voting experts state...