Immigration

The pressure for speed means immigrants would have to move quickly to find an attorney.  Without an attorney, the likelihood of deportation increases. Nationally, about 58 percent of immigrants are represented by attorneys, according to the Syracuse research center. But in Texas, only about a third of the immigrants have legal representation. … [Read more...] about Immigration judges, attorneys worry that Sessions’ quotas will cut into justice in clogged court system

"Bottom line we have to secure our border, but before we do anything we need to fix the immigration laws in this country," Timmerman said. "Before we go build a wall, before we get the National Guard, we need to fix what has been so screwed up from the very beginning."  … [Read more...] about ‘Farther north, people just don’t get it’: Feelings about Trump and immigrants on the Mexico border aren’t simple

It will be up to individual U.S. attorneys to decide how many of the migrants will face criminal charges. In the past, limits on the number of government attorneys or courtroom capacity led authorities to instead route most people caught at the border through the traditional deportation process without convicting them of a crime first. Last week Sessions announced that the Justice Department hired 35 more assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute immigration crimes in the five federal districts that touch the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigration prosecutions have taken up roughly half the federal criminal docket since 2008, after policy changes pioneered by George W. Bush, institutionalized under Barack Obama and now enthusiastically embraced by Trump. … [Read more...] about Trump Administration To Divide Immigrant Families To Prosecute Parents For Illegal Entry

The other option for GOP leaders is to simply ignore the Freedom Caucus demands and press ahead, hoping that adoption of some individual amendments could be enough to win over just enough Republicans. Plus, the farm bill isn’t exactly must-pass legislation. Congress could end up doing a one-year extension of existing programs, which might happen regardless of whether the House passes the farm bill if the Senate doesn’t take up the measure. … [Read more...] about Conservatives Cook Up Farm Bill Gambit to Get Vote On Hardline Immigration Bill

Now the government could be facing an influx of children, many of them likely to be younger than the average age of minors who traveled without parents. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is taking steps that could deter some sponsors from coming forward to take in children. The ORR previously checked fingerprints of potential sponsors to conduct background checks, and now it has a memorandum of understanding to share that information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which could have a chilling effect for undocumented parents already in the U.S. whose children came to join them. … [Read more...] about Trump’s Crackdown On Immigrant Parents Puts More Kids In An Already Strained System