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Weekly Round-Up: Biden’s Proposes Immigration Reform; Judge Blocks New Immigration Court Fees; Supreme Court Considers Indefinite Detention of Certain Noncitizens Friday, January 22, 2021
Biden’s Sweeping New Immigration Proposals
President Joe Biden, sworn into office on Wednesday, will present Congress with a sweeping immigration reform bill. This bill represents a reversal of many of the previous administration’s immigration policies.
The most prominent feature of the bill is an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States without legal status. Specifically, the bill would allow undocumented immigrants living in the United States as of January 1, 2021, to have a five-year path towards lawful permanent residency, provided that they pass background checks, pay taxes, and fulfill additional basic requirements. Following that, there would be an additional three-year path
Chronicle investigation: U.S. Justice Department lacks strong harassment oversight for judges
WASHINGTON One judge made a joke about genitalia during a court proceeding and was later promoted. Another has been banned for more than seven years from the government building where he worked after management found he harassed female staff, but is still deciding cases.
A third, a supervisor based mostly in San Francisco, commented with colleagues about the attractiveness of female job candidates, an internal investigation concluded. He was demoted and transferred to a courtroom in Sacramento.
The three men, all immigration judges still employed by the Justice Department, work for a court system designed to give immigrants a fair chance to stay in the U.S. Every day, they hear some of the most harrowing stories of trauma in the world, many from women who were victims of gender-based violence and who fear that their lives are at risk if they are deported to their native countries.
Joe Biden s Reversal of Donald Trump Immigration Policies Doesn t Satisfy Migrant-Rights Advocates
By Gabriel Thompson
On 1/19/21 at 1:02 PM EST
This story is co-published with Capital & Main
In 2011, then-President Barack Obama held a roundtable with Latino journalists at the White House, where they pressed him on his reluctance, given the deadlocked Congress, to wield the administrative powers of his office on behalf of immigrants. We live in a democracy, Obama chastised the group, arguing that his hands were tied. You have to pass bills through the legislature, and then I can sign it.
In fact, as Obama would finally demonstrate in his second term when he enacted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and a scaled back Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the administrative powers of the executive branch relating to immigration are enormous, a lesson President Donald Trump has certainly underscored during the past four years.
Immigrant Groups Sue Trump Administration Over “Last Ditch” Rule Change
arrow A 2018 protest in lower Manhattan against ICE, family separations and US border policies. M Stan Reaves/Shutterstock
With just over a week to go before the end of the Trump Administration, immigration advocates filed a federal lawsuit in the Washington, D.C. district court against a Department of Justice rule they claim would create “devastating” new barriers to those with cases in immigration court.
The rule, which was announced in December, is set to take effect on Friday. It is being challenged by five immigration advocacy organizations around the country, including Brooklyn Defender Services.
Several Groups Sue Trump Administration Over Immigration Courts Fee Increase, Access to Justice indiawest.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiawest.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.