Removal Proceedings Archives – Page 2 of 4

ICE’s New Facility for Trans Detainees Promises More of the Same Abuse

Posted by Ava Benach
May 31, 2016

Even as the Obama administration takes steps to protect transgender children in schools and provide access to health care for trans people, the President’s illiberal approach to immigration continues to affect trans women in predictable and violent ways. As accolades were heaped on the administration from transgender advocates, the administration announced the creation of a new detention facility designed to hold trans detainees in Alvarado, Texas. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a 36 bed enclave in the 700 bed facility that will be dedicated to trans detainees and will, in the words of ICE, operate along the most advanced lines of transgender care.

Benach Collopy Announces Summer Fellowship for Law Students Interested in Trans Asylum Issues

Posted by Ava Benach
March 7, 2016

I have been so lucky to get to know so many brave, hard-working, family-oriented, and generous people from all over the globe. They all shared one thing in common: a willingness to take a chance to come to the U.S. to be the person they knew they were meant to be. -Ava Benach Description of Fellowship Surging violence against transgender and gender nonconforming communities worldwide continue to force a record number of individuals to seek protection at U.S.

How to Protect Yourself in Case of an ICE Raid in Your Home

Posted by Ava Benach
December 28, 2015

Este aviso tambien disponible en español. Happy New Year! Have an ICE raid! By now, everyone has heard that the Obama administration plans to celebrate the new year by rounding up families and removing them to Central America. The administration hopes that the images of Central American families coming off of planes in San Salvador and Tegucigalpa will dissuade thousands of Central Americans from fleeing the violence and persecution that threaten their lives on a daily basis.

Muslim Immigrants to US Were Abused before Trump Started Name-Calling

Posted by Ava Benach
December 9, 2015

Let’s start here: Donald Trump is an abomination. From his slander of Mexicans as rapists to the violence he incites and tolerates at his rallies to his latest outrages of suggesting a database and a ban on admission of Muslims to the United States, there is no public figure more odious or contemptible than Donald Trump. And he is a danger. He incites people to violence, encourages hate and discrimination, and generally contributes to the dumbing down of our culture.

Clients of the Month December 2015- Rudi and Alba Reyes

Posted by Ava Benach
December 4, 2015

Sometimes our work is in fixing the errors of previous attorneys. That is what happened to Rudi and Alba Reyes, who walked into our offices with removal orders entered by an immigration judge in Baltimore, MD. The immigration judge ordered them removed after their lawyer failed to file an application for a waiver of inadmissibility with the court as requested by the court. The removal order potentially meant that this couple who have lived in the U.S.

Client of the Month for September 2015- Aura Carrera

Posted by Ava Benach
September 3, 2015

For September 2015, we are proud to present Aura Carrera of Heber City, Utah as our client of the month. Her green card arrived last month and she is heading home to Guatemala for the first time in over twenty years, a resident returning to visit family after nearly a quarter century. Aura’s case was a fight from the beginning. When she came to Ava Benach, Aura had a removal order from an immigration judge in Salt Lake City, Utah and a determination for the U.S.

Under Pressure over Family Detention, the Administration Finally Agrees to Exercise a Little Humanity

Posted by Dree Collopy
July 14, 2015

Since last summer, when the Obama Administration hastily resurrected the concept of family detention to jail refugee women and children seeking asylum, thousands of women and children have languished in inhumane conditions, have been refused meaningful access to counsel and interpreters, have been hurled through bond proceedings with predetermined results, and have been sent directly and expeditiously back to the danger from which they fled – all in violation of U.S.

July 2015 Client of the Month- Franklin Crespo

Posted by Ava Benach
July 6, 2015

Franklin Crespo is our Client of the Month for June 2015. BR attorney Dree Collopy has been representing Mr. Crespo and his family since 2009. At that time, Mr. Crespo’s adjustment of status and extreme hardship waiver under section 212(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act had been denied by the Immigration Judge, his appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals had been dismissed, and Mr. Crespo had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Guest Blog: Catholic University Law Students Win Asylum for Dual-Faith Egyptian by Malissa Tucker and Alexandra Early

Posted by Ava Benach
June 5, 2015

Benach Collopy often turns this space over to law students and other friends to discuss their cases. Malissa Tucker and Alexandra Early are law students at the Catholic University Law School, where they are part of the immigration law clinic taught by Dree Collopy and Michelle Mendez. We met our client Muhammad shortly after the fall semester began. We were so nervous to meet this stranger who we knew desperately needed our help that all we could do was scribble down some extra notes about what we wanted to ask him and prepare steaming hot Styrofoam cups of mint tea – our way of saying “we are here to take care of you.”

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

Posted by Ava Benach
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, Moones Mellouli faced the possibility of deportation for possession of a sock. Mellouli, who came to the U.S. on a student visa from Tunisia in 2004, graduated with honors from U.S.