Deportation Tales

The purpose of Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is to allow immigrants who are under 30 and came to the U.S. when they were under 16 to be able to attain work permits and avoid deportation. But driving is an essential part of being able to work and the states, not the federal government, decide who gets a drivers license. Connecticut and Illinois are the latest states to grant driver’s licenses to immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children and qualify for deferred deportation. The decisions mark another small victory for immigrant rights activists who have pressed harder for state governments to offer ID cards and in-state tuition to the undocumented immigrants who qualify for DACA. Not all states have responded favorably to DACA, however. Civil rights groups sued Arizona in November, after Gov. Jan Brewer issued an executive order on Aug. 15 saying the state would not provide ID’s to undocumented immigrants, whether they quali...

Despite the lack of immigration reform (few seriously expected it to come in an election year), 2012 was far from quiet on the immigration front. While the issue was not discussed as often as some would like during the presidential campaign, immigration did play a part in the political conversation. The year started out with candidates trying to out-conservative each other in the Republican primaries and ended with voters flatly rejecting Mitt Romney's proposal of "self-deportation" and fresh promises from the re-elected president to pursue comprehensive immigration reform in 2013. Outside the rhetoric, both President Obama and the U.S. Supreme Court spoke on the matter, with the former extending deferred action to certain childhood arrivals and the latter striking down the majority of Arizona's anti-immigrant SB 1070. Of course, President Obama also oversaw a record number of deportations in 2012. Regardless of the fears expressed by some, immigrants c...

Prosecutorial discretion has been a major part of the immigration debate going back at least to the infamous Morton Memo from the Summer of 2011. In truth, the concept is anything but new. Prosecutorial discretion is the ability of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and others to make decisions about how to best apply the law they are charged with enforcing while also taking into account the resources of their respective law enforcement agencies. Prosecutorial discretion is common throughout the U.S. criminal justice system. A great example is when a police officer stops someone for speeding but decides to issue a warning in lieu of an actual ticket. Immigration is no different. While immigration agents and trial attorneys have had various options in determining whether or not to place individuals in removal proceedings for some time, and concepts such as deferred action, stays of removal and administrative closure have been around for years, prosecutorial discretion in the ...

On Friday, June 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its sub-agencies, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), announced a new policy of deferred action for immigrant youth. In a nutshell, the government has chosen to focus its enforcement resources away from individuals who were brought to the U.S. as children and focus those resources elsewhere. Like most new immigration policies, this has generated several questions from the general public, those who might qualify for benefits and attorneys. Isn’t this just amnesty? This is not amnesty, it is an enforcement priority. DHS made an informed decision about which classes of immigrants to pursue for deportation based on the agency’s limited resources. It should be made clear that this is deferred action. In other words, the government has decided to defer taking any deportation act...

With the announcement yesterday of the Obama administration's shift in deportation policy, Inform US Citizens contributor Nathan Bogart was given the opportunity to speak about the issue with Kansas City's local CBS affiliate, KCTV5: Below, feel free to check out the president's announcement again: At Inform U.S. Citizens, we fully support any and all positive steps forward with regards to the rights and safety of immigrants in the United States. The president's announcement carries with it the potential to significantly reduce the fear and uncertainty millions face everyday. At the same time, we will continue to advocate for not only "policy changes" and smart enforcement measures, but also substantive legal reform that provides a legitimate pathway to citizenship for this exceptional group of Americans.

In a stunning turn of events, the Obama administration has announced its intention to grant deferred action to many individuals brought to the United States as children, known by many as DREAMers because of their potential eligibility in the event the federal DREAM Act were ever to be passed. Deferred action is a a choice on the part of the government to delay the removal of an individual. It is a form of prosecutorial discretion, and does not confer lawful immigration status, at least not in the same sense as lawful permanent residence, citizenship, temporary protected status, etc. Individuals receiving deferred action are eligible to receive employment authorization valid for the period of deferred action, which in this case is two years. In a memo released today, and accessible here , the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the following criteria for any individuals who consider applying: The individual must have come to the U.S. prior to tu...

One would think that if our politicians could come to an agreement on any form of immigration reform, it would involve benefits for the families of those willing to lay down their lives for the benefit of our country. Sadly, such is not the case. However, in the last couple of years, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has begun conferring some benefits to military members and their families. One such benefit is parole in place. Why Parole in Place? In most cases, individuals who enter the United States without inspection cannot apply for adjustment of status from within the United States even if they have married a U.S. citizen. Instead, they must return to their home countries where they apply for and are interviewed for admission into the United States. Known as consular processing, this ordeal can lead to very lengthy family separations. Parole in place is a process that allows immediate relatives of active duty military servicemen and women to remain in ...