Legalization

AIC Events at AILA's Annual Conference - Boston

The American Immigration Council is the non-profit partner of
the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Each year, the Council contributes to AILA's annual conference in a wide variety of events.

From training and panels to celebrations and socials,
the Council provides many different ways to learn how our work
and the network we're creating is creating a stronger voice for the AILA community. Read more...

DOJ Report Slams Sherriff Joe Arpaio and DHS Restricts 287(g) and Secure Communities Programs

Released on Thu, Dec 15, 2011

Washington D.C. - After a three-year investigation into the abusive practices of Sherriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County Sherriff’s Office (MCSO), the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today that it had found a pattern and practice of civil rights abuses, including extreme cases of racial profiling. The enormity of the violations, the majority of which were experienced by immigrants and Latinos, has led the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to suspend its cooperation agreement (under section 287(g)) with the sheriff’s office and restrict the MCSO’s access to immigration databases through the Secure Communities program.

The dual announcements from DOJ and DHS reinforce what many in Arizona and the broader immigration community have long argued: the practice of allowing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law increases the likelihood of racial profiling and pretextual arrests which leads to disastrous results for entire communities.

The DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez commented on the investigation noting “MCSO’s systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections has created a wall of distrust between the sheriff’s office and large segments of the community, which dramatically compromises the ability to protect and serve the people. The problems are deeply rooted in MCSO’s culture, and are compounded by MCSO’s penchant for retaliation against individuals who speak out.” Read more...

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Hate - alive and well in Phoenix, Arizona.

Published on Fri, Aug 21, 2009

Just the other day, I had an email from a young woman, a former student, who is trying to do what she can to pursue a nursing degree. Committed to helping others, she is a regular volunteer at Hospice of the Valley.

Published in the The Examiner

Employment Authorization and Asylum: Strategies to Avoid Stopping the Asylum Clock

Released on Wed, Oct 17, 2012

LAC Practice Advisory on Employment Authorization and Asylum:
Strategies to Avoid Stopping the Asylum Clock

Washington, D.C.—The Legal Action Center (LAC) released an updated practice advisory, Employment Authorization And Asylum: Strategies To Avoid Stopping The Asylum Clock. This practice advisory provides an overview of the work authorization process for asylum applicants, addresses the operation of the “asylum clock,” which is used to track the 180-day waiting period during which an applicant cannot apply for work authorization, and discusses possible solutions to several common asylum clock problems. The practice advisory also discusses the policies and practices the LAC and co-counsel are challenging in a class action filed on behalf of asylum applicants harmed by the asylum clock process.

For additional resources related to the LAC’s work on employment authorization for asylum applicants, including information about the class action, visit our Asylum Clock webpage.

For a complete list of all LAC practice advisories, please visit the LAC’s website.

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For more information contact [email protected].

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A Perfect Performance For Two Local Schools

Published on Mon, Apr 20, 2009

In the fall of 2008, the Immigration Law firm of De Mott, McChesney, Curtright & Associates announced its sixth year of local participation in “Celebrate America”, an annual writing contest for 5th graders sponsored by the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) as part of its continual ongoing efforts to educate the public about the benefits of immigration to our society.

Published in the OPEN PR

LAC Releases Updated Practice Advisories on the CSPA and the APA

Released on Fri, Jun 21, 2013

For Immediate Release

LAC Releases Updated Practice Advisories on the Child Status Protection Act and
the Administrative Procedure Act

The Child Status Protection Act. The CSPA was enacted to provide relief to children who “age-out” as a result of both visa backlogs and delays by USCIS in processing visa petitions and asylum and refugee applications. This practice advisory provides an overview of the CSPA, its effective date, and its interpretation and implementation by USCIS, the U.S. Department of State, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the courts.Read more...

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Are children of illegal aliens bankrupting Maryland?

Published on Sat, Dec 05, 2009

Maryland’s foreign-born population has grown by 34.6 percent while its native-born population has increased by 3.3 percent. .Public school enrollment of students who require special instruction in English has soared even more, rising by 93.5 percent from 2000 to 2008 while overall enrollment declined slightly.

Published in the The Examiner

Coming Soon

Coming Soon: American Immigration Council

In the meantime please visit www.ailf.org for news and updates from the American Immigration Council (formerly American Immigration Law Foundation

Study: Money sent out of U.S. beneficial

Published on Fri, Feb 12, 2010

A new report by a University of Rhode Island professor concludes that remittances sent by foreign workers from the United States to their home countries “yield surprising benefits” to the U.S. economy, rebutting critics who say they are a drain because the money is not spent in the United States.

The report, “Many Happy Returns: Remittances and their Impact,” by political science professor Kristin Johnson, was released Tuesday by the Immigration Policy Center, a nonpartisan research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council in Washington.

Published in the The Providence Journal

Immigration reform must be President's priority

Published on Fri, Apr 02, 2010

In the midst of the gossip and grumblings about the U.S. Congress being unable or unwilling to agree on any bill or plan on the table, one is primed to think that President Obama will accomplish a whole lot of nothing in his four years in office.

The latest Gallup poll showing a 52-week low in an approval rating of 46 percent shows that Americans aren’t happy with the way things are going up on Capitol Hill. In his push to see the health care bill through the senate, it seems that the Obama administration is willing to put everything on the back burner in the mean time. But what about those people, living and working in the U.S., for whom health care isn’t an option in the first place?

Published in the Whitworthian