DREAM Archives – Benach Collopy, llp

A First Look at the Biden/Harris Immigration Bill

Posted by Ava Benach
January 20, 2021

Hours before he takes the oath of office, President-Elect Joe Biden released details of the immigration bill his administration will send to Congress. The fact sheet distributed by his office reveals a bold bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people in the US, with priority for Dreamers, TPS holders and immigrant farmworkers. The bill seeks to make more visas available and expand migration opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics graduates.

An Open Letter to my Non-Black Latinx Community

Posted by Ava Benach
June 5, 2020

This is a special blog post by our Paralegal Diana Mateo, who has been inspired to write by the Black Lives Matter movement to speak out about anti-blackness in the Latino community. A version in Spanish is available here. Hi friends, this is Benach Collopy paralegal Diana. As a Latina immigration professional, I want to share some thoughts with our BC friends and clients on some troubling issues I’ve seen in our non-Black Latinx community and on ways we can be better allies to our Black siblings.

DACA is Back, Almost!

Posted by Ava Benach
April 25, 2018

DACA lives! Maybe? Yesterday, U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled that the Department of Justice’s termination of the DACA program rested on a lack of legal reasoning and was unlawful. Judge Bates was the third federal judge to rule that the administration’s termination of DACA was unlawful. However, Judge Bates went even further than the other courts and Judge ordered not only that the DACA program must stay in place, but that the government must accept NEW applications.

April 2018 Clients of Month Aldemar Segundo and Susan Matos

Posted by Ava Benach
April 2, 2018

We are thrilled with our April 2018 Clients of the Month, Aldemar Segundo and Susan Matos Segundo. Aldemar became a permanent resident in March 2018 and can live securely with his U.S. citizen wife, Susan, and their two children. Aldemar’s improbable journey is one of the most inspiring cases we have been a part of. When DACA was announced, Aldemar was like lots of other Central American immigrants without status in the U.S.

The DACA Injunction

Posted by Ava Benach
January 10, 2018

Last night, a U.S. District Court in California v DHS issued a nationwide injunction stopping the Trump administration from ending DACA as it relates to renewals. The court ordered DHS “to maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis on the same terms and conditions as were in effect before the rescission on September 5, 2017, including allowing DACA enrollees to renew their enrollments.” The administration has vowed to appeal and will likely seek to place this ruling on hold in the appellate court.

Moving Uptown

Posted by Ava Benach
December 20, 2017

What a year! 2017 will go down as one of the weirdest years we can remember. And for all the terrible news, we will remember this year as one of tremendous change and growth. On December 22, 2017, we will officially occupy our new office space at 4530 Wisconsin Avenue. While it is hard to leave downtown Washington DC, driving past the White House has lost nearly all of its charm this year.

DACA: Some Venting and Some Solutions

Posted by Ava Benach
September 11, 2017

Of all the stupid, dirty, slimy, no-good, treasonous, villainous, putrid, double-crossing treachery, low life, vengeful, mean-spirited, spiteful, nasty, pin-headed, pathetic, weak, ugly, traitorous, short-sighted, weak-kneed, unbecoming, dumb, awful, smelly, vile, cruel, vicious, unjustifiable, illogical, unfriendly, basic, ungrateful, pig-nosed, trashy, small-minded, ham-handed, mercenary, ruinous, bad, fallacious, godawful, crummy, abominable, bad trip, lame, poor, slipshod, cruddy, wicked, corrupt, mean, discouraging, unpleasant, sulfurous, harsh, rotten, scandalous and just plain uncool things that Donald Trump has done, his elimination of DACA, after promising to treat the Dreamers with “great heart,” has to be the worst, the lowest, the meanest, the weakest and the dumbest thing his administration has done.

End of DACA- What are the new rules?

Posted by Ava Benach
September 7, 2017

This is the first of several articles detailing the changes to the DACA program announced on Tuesday September 5, 2017. This is meant to give quick and dirty information, whereas the next one we will: (1) get our emotions out; (2) plan our resistance; and (3) offer ideas how DACA holders can protect themselves. Sandwiched between the natural disasters of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the Trump administration unleashed its own man made disaster by eliminating Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) on September 5, 2017.

What is going on with DACA?

Posted by Ava Benach
July 13, 2017

The future of President Obama’s program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is the subject of intense speculation and even more significant anxiety. Worry over the fate of the program increased significantly this week after Secretary of Homeland Security General John Kelly told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that it was not clear that DACA could survive a court challenge being threatened by ten states against the program.

Walls, DACA and Raids: What has happened in immigration since Trump’s inauguration?

Posted by Ava Benach
March 16, 2017

Back in November, we made some predictions about what might occur in a Trump presidency as it relates to immigration. Generally, we were very pessimistic and presumed that almost all areas of immigration would become more difficult and challenging for immigrants, families and communities. This has proven to be true, but not in all of the ways we anticipated. In some areas, such as refugees and admission policies, the administration has been as bad as expected.