If you have questions about asylum, expedited removal, the new Biden Administration revival of old Trump policies, and more — the National Immigrant Justice Center has answers.
[National Immigrant Justice Center] “Is There Any Legitimate, Lawful Basis For Limiting Asylum Access Based On Where Or How People Cross The Border?
“No. U.S. law guarantees access to asylum to people arriving at the border regardless of manner or location of entry. However, like the Trump administration, Biden plans to restrict the right to asylum to people who manage to make it through already overwhelmed ports of entry. As noted by the federal court of appeals that enjoined the Trump version of this rule, the 1951 Refugee Convention (which the U.S. incorporated into domestic law) prohibits penalizing asylum seekers for their manner of entry.”
And in other news
After a televised plea from his six-year-old daughter Alida, Julio Patricio Gomez was released from immigration detention, and his deportation was put on hold.
[NY1] “Gomez is a single father and works as a supervisor for a construction company. He says he came to the U.S. from Ecuador more than 20 years ago and applied for asylum. However, he missed a court date in 2010 and a judge issued an order of removal.
“Gomez says immigration authorities told him they learned where he was when he applied for his driver’s license.
“That led to an arrest, which is when Make the Road New York joined his case.
“Their lawyers appealed his deportation and posted a petition for his release, asking to have the deportation put on hold until his appeal can be heard — all of this has now been granted.”
Out of the spotlight, African immigrants also struggle to survive in New York City.
[New York Times] “You wouldn’t know from the outside of Imam Omar Niass’s house, but the tidy brick building on a residential block in the Bronx is filled to capacity. Every night, nearly 70 men, newly arrived African migrants, sleep squashed together on the floor in an airless basement, a tangle of arms and feet and fitful dreams. …
“’I don’t care who you are or where you’re coming from, I can’t let people sleep in the street,’ he said on his drive home to the Masjid Ansaru-Deen Islamic house of worship from the airport, where he had picked up the latest arrivals, a group of Senegalese men. …
“But unlike the Latino migrants who have been sent north by Republican governors, thereby becoming the face of the migrant crisis and gaining attention from news outlets and city officials in New York, the African and Caribbean migrants have been largely overlooked.”
A new form issued by the State Department allows Afghan parolees to apply for family reunification.
[CNN] “With this new form tens of thousands of Afghans who came to the US around that time are eligible to apply for reunification with their immediate relatives. This specifically includes an Afghan’s spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21, according to the State Department.
“’In November, the Department of State announced the launch of a new resource for individuals in the United States who are seeking to reunify with their family members, depending on their immigration status or method of entry to the United States. Today, we launch Form DS-4317 for parolees to file to seek family reunification, including those subsequently granted temporary protected status,’ the department spokesperson said. …
“Until now these Afghans in the US did not have a legal way to bring their family members into the country to join them.”
Immigration news 