Tag: obama

Executive Action Update: FAQ on the Fifth (5th) Circuit Ruling on the DAPA & DACA Injunction

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November 12, 2015
Executive Action Update: FAQ on the Fifth (5th) Circuit Ruling on the DAPA & DACA Injunction What just happened in the 5th Circuit? The U.S. Court of Appeals formally upheld Judge Hanen’s injunction prohibiting the administration for implementing DAPA & DACA.  The injunction prohibited the administration from implementing DAPA and expanded DACA until the litigation brought by Texas and twenty six other states was resolved.  Injunctions are sought to preserve the status quo while the legality or proposed actions is resolved.  Judge Hanen ruled that Texas presented evidence of the possible injury if DAPA or DACA went forward and that Texas was likely to succeed in challenging DAPA and expanded DACA. 

Injunction Against the Dysfunction of Family Detention

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February 23, 2015
Injunction Against the Dysfunction of Family Detention Artesia. Karnes. Dilley.  Before the administration decided it would be a great idea to lock up Central American women and children fleeing from persecution, these towns were unknown.   Artesia was the hometown of our government’s rejuvenation of family detention.  The makeshift facility, warmly referred to by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) as the Artesia Family Residential Center, was the hub of so many human rights violations that it was ultimately shut down. 

Nine Ways Obama Could Make Immigration Law Better Without Bothering to Wake Congress

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March 13, 2014
Nine Ways Obama Could Make Immigration Law Better Without Bothering to Wake Congress The House of Representatives passed the Enforce Act yesterday.  This piece of legislation, which is never going to become law, provides a cause of action to Members of Congress to sue the President for failure to enforce the laws as they see fit.  The Enforce Act is aimed squarely at the President’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has given hope to so many young undocumented immigrants. 

Strong Presidents are Great Presidents

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February 17, 2014
Strong Presidents are Great Presidents On this President’s Day, we wish to add a historical perspective to the robust exercise of executive authority.  The President routinely tells audiences that he does not have the power to act unilaterally on immigration reform.  Frustration and anger have mounted as the toll from deportations rises, and the lost opportunities due to the lack of immigration reform are compiled.  The President’s claim of impotency is in direct conflict with how the right wing of the GOP (is there another wing?)

An Open Letter to Rep. Spencer Bachus

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March 21, 2013
  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.  By stating and asking “it looks to me like there is an overuse of detention by this administration.  If these people are not safety risks . . . why are we detaining them?,

The Leaked White House Immigration Bill: the Legalization Component

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February 20, 2013
The Leaked White House Immigration Bill: the Legalization Component It took only three years longer than promised—and a leak that may or may not have been intentional—but the White House has finally produced a legislative proposal to fix the immigration system. Dubbed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2013, the bill would create a pathway to citizenship for most of the 11 million removable noncitizens in the country, mandate the eventual use of E-Verify for most employers, and dull many of the draconian provisions enacted in the 1996 immigration bill.

The Whine of the ICE Bureaucrats

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February 3, 2013
The Whine of the ICE Bureaucrats It has been a tough week for the ICE bureaucrats who have sought to undermine the political leadership of this country to pursue their own restrictivist and nativist agenda.  Regular readers of this blog (my wife and my mother), will know that we have sought to document the efforts of bureaucrats within ICE to stymie intelligent immigration enforcement through insubordination, lawsuits, leaks, and more generic tactics like refusal to complete trainings and sick-outs. 

Does President Obama want to drop the one year asylum rule?

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February 1, 2013
  There is a single line in the President’s immigration proposal that has escaped a lot of attention.  As the idiotic “back of the line” concept and the path to citizenship dominate the headlines, the language of the proposal indicates that the administration would like to eliminate one of the most onerous obstacles to asylum for thousands of applicants- the notorious one year rule.  If this became law, the President will preside over a vast improvement in U.S.

Immigration Reform 2013: The President’s Plan

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February 1, 2013
What a week it has been.  There has been more positive discussion of immigration reform in the last week than in the past decade and while none of it is perfect, it is a huge improvement over Mitt Romney endorsing self-deportation and SB 1070.  Hard to believe that that was just six months ago.  In the past week, there has been two major comprehensive overhaul plans, word of a third, and the introduction of independent bills that would make discrete but needed improvements to the system. 

Opportunity Lost- Administration Seeks Supreme Court Review of De Osorio

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January 26, 2013
On the same day that the immigration world was abuzz with news that the President would unveil his immigration reform plan next week, the administration filed a brief to preserve the unnecessary family separation caused by its cramped  understanding of the Child Status Protection Act reflected in the Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of Wang.  The juxtaposition of the prospect of common sense immigration reform with the wholly unnecessary appeal of the U.S.