The bill, S.2540 entitled Fair Day in Court for Kids Act of 2016, provides that the Attorney General may appoint attorneys at government expense to represent aliens in immigration proceedings and requires that appointed attorneys are to be given copies of case relevant DHS documents. The bill specifically provides that immigration court proceedings cannot go forward until the alien’s attorney has both received the relevant documents and has had time to review them. The bill mandates the appointment of attorneys at government expense for unaccompanied alien minors and vulnerable populations such as aliens with disabilities, or those who are the victims of abuse, or violence, or other have circumstances where appointment of counsel is needed to assure a fair hearing.
In addition, the bill mandates that all aliens who are detained in facilities supervised by ICE or the Border Patrol be provided access to attorneys no matter where such facilities are located, and detained persons be provided with information about legal services programs which may apply to them.
The chances for passage of the bill are limited in light of rhetoric of the 2016 presidential election.
The post Senate Bill Introduced to Provide Access to Counsel to Vulnerable Foreign Nationals first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The bill, S.2540 entitled Fair Day in Court for Kids Act of 2016, provides that the Attorney General may appoint attorneys at government expense to represent aliens in immigration proceedings and requires that appointed attorneys are to be given copies of case relevant DHS documents. The bill specifically provides that immigration court proceedings cannot go forward until the alien’s attorney has both received the relevant documents and has had time to review them. The bill mandates the appointment of attorneys at government expense for unaccompanied alien minors and vulnerable populations such as aliens with disabilities, or those who are the victims of abuse, or violence, or other have circumstances where appointment of counsel is needed to assure a fair hearing.
In addition, the bill mandates that all aliens who are detained in facilities supervised by ICE or the Border Patrol be provided access to attorneys no matter where such facilities are located, and detained persons be provided with information about legal services programs which may apply to them.
The chances for passage of the bill are limited in a 2016 presidential election year.
The post Senate Bill Introduced to Provide Access to Counsel for Vulnerable Foreign Nationals first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>As background, foreign students are admitted to the United States as nonimmigrants for the purpose of pursuing their studies at United States educational institutions. Students pursuing higher education are admitted in F-1 status and students pursuing vocational studies are admitted in M-1 status.
The Department of State has an Exchange Visitor program, which is multi-faceted and provides opportunities for nonimmigrant foreign nationals in diverse areas through programs for university students, professors and researchers, physicians, short term scholars, teachers and many others. Exchange visitor program participants are admitted to the United States in J-1 status.
The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) maintains information about all F-1, M-1 and J-1 nonimmigrants in the United States and the report draws its data from SEVIS.
The following are highlights of the report:
The current administration’s record of frantic deportations is speaking louder than its refrains of imminent immigration reform – maybe. If Obama is able to overcome his newest moniker of Deporter-in-Chief and explain to Latin American communities why he chose to delay executive action, perhaps something may get done during the final months of the year.
Deportation is continuing at a frantic rate, with the latest government publication revealing that in 2013, 438,421 people were sent back to their homelands, which included Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. That figure includes roughly 315,000 Mexican nationals and 198,400 individuals with criminal records. This is an increase of approximately 20,000 over the statistics from 2012.
The Rio Grande Valley is a major hub of illegal crossing attempts, with 154,450 people apprehended on the border in 2013. The Laredo and Tucson sectors nabbed 50,750 and 121,000 respectively.
The latest deportation figures, even though they are frighteningly high, seem to indicate that those being deported are recent illegal immigrants. There appears to be less of an emphasis on enforcement within U.S. borders. Is that a telling diversion from the usual ICE raids? The situation is continually in flux. Obama has consistently received opprobrium for deporting illegal residents who have lived in the United States for many years.
In truth, the attempt to keep deportations in step with enforcement is an almost impossible task, given the numbers of illegal immigrants trying to cross every year.
Republicans make it a point to harp continuously about lax enforcement policies. However, they never seem to have any better solutions. In reality, it will likely not matter who was in power in Washington when it finally comes time to actually do something about immigration reform.
The post Obama Administration Going For Broke on Deportation, But What About Enforcement? first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>