- News reports on Monday revealed a new threat to the Department of Justice’s Recognition and Accreditation (R&A) program. R&A is a decade’s old process through which non-attorneys associated with non-profits can apply for permission to practice immigration law. Staff may be accredited to practice immigration law if they can demonstrate that both the organization and the individual staff member applying meet minimum requirements for both legal knowledge and professional conduct. According to the Department, the program “aims to increase the availability of competent immigration legal representation for low-income and indigent persons, thereby promoting the effective and efficient administration of justice.” However, according to the news reports, the DOJ has transferred all attorneys qualified to adjudicate applications for R&A to other positions within the Department. This means that both new applications and applications for renewal, which must be submitted every three years, are not currently being processed. With immigrants across the country facing increasing legal attacks, this is the wrong time for this administration to block expanded legal capacity for the most vulnerable, although it is both expected and in keeping with the administration’s efforts to severely restrict immigration.
The DOJ has made no public statements about changes to the R&A application process and is still accepting both initial and renewal applications. Those seeking to renew their accreditation will maintain their status while their renewal application is pending
- Negotiators in the Senate have so far been unable to reach a compromise to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats in the chamber are demanding reforms to ICE and CBP, including ending warrantless entries of homes and businesses, wearing identifying information, and ending the use of masks. Both sides have floated the idea of funding other agencies within DHS, such as the TSA, while negotiations continue, but they cannot reach agreement on which agencies to continue funding. This protracted battle has already stretched into its fifth week, with long lines at airports creating pressure on both sides to come to an agreement.
- Senators are also at odds over the SAVE Act, which would require one to provide both proof of citizenship to register to vote as well as a photo ID at the polls. President Trump has been pushing for the bill to be included in any DHS funding package, while opponents of the bill worry that it will place onerous burdens on many voters who lack ID who have changed their names at some point in their lives. A procedural vote last week narrowly allowed the bill to advance for debate in the Senate, but there is little hope that the bill would be able to get the 60 votes it would need to overcome a filibuster.
- On Monday, a federal judge in Boston blocked a Trump Administration policy that would have detained thousands of refugees already admitted to the country. Under the administration’s proposed policy, refugees who have not obtained their green cards within one year would be subject to detention and re-examination. However, those admitted as refugees are not eligible to apply for a green card until they have been here for one year, meaning that the policy would require all refugees to be subject to detention while awaiting processing of their green card applications. A similar decision had already been issued by a federal judge in Minnesota, however that ruling only applied to refugees living in that state. This new ruling applies to refugees anywhere in the country.
- In a blow to immigrant rights, a second federal appeals court has ruled in favor of detaining immigrants without the opportunity for bond. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling found that federal law requires the detention of people suspected of violating immigration law. They joined the 5th Circuit which had come to a similar conclusion last month. These are widely regarded as the two most conservative appeals courts in the country, and these rulings will upend a legal system in which 400 federal judges have already ruled in favor of bond in over 5,000 cases across the country.