Updated 5/18/2020 Due to the Covid-19 cases in Iowa City, our office is currently closed for in-person meetings. However, we will be checking our phones, emails, and working remotely. We are still accepting phone appointments. Please leave a voicemail if you are unable to reach us and we will return […]

Expanding expedited removals – The Trump Administration published a notice in July announcing an expansion of immigration authorities’ use of expedited removals to deport immigrants from the United States. Expedited removal is a process that allows immigration officers to bypass the immigration-court system and order the deportation of immigrants apparently subject […]

President Trump spoke late last week about his administration’s plan to “modernize” and reform the nation’s immigration system.  During his remarks, Trump identified two primary goals for the plan: 1) to stop illegal immigration and secure the nation’s border; and 2) to shift the immigration system away from primarily family-based […]

On Monday, President Trump issued a presidential memorandum calling for the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to propose new regulations aiming to enhance border security and “strengthen asylum procedures to safeguard our system against rampant abuse of our asylum process.” The memo specifically calls […]

The Supreme Court of the United States recently issued a ruling that is thought to broaden the power of immigration officials to detain criminal immigrants. In the 5-4 decision, Nielsen, et al. v. Preap, et al., the Court ruled that immigration officials are not required to detain an immigrant with […]

The government announced on January 24, 2019 a new policy that will force some migrants to wait in Mexico for their immigration court hearings.  Instead of being permitted to enter the United States and wait for their immigration court hearings, the new policy will allow immigration officials to return the […]

Today is the 30th day of the partial government shutdown, and there appears to be no end in sight following the President’s weekend proposal to reopen the government and provide a three-year extension of DACA and TPS in exchange for $5.7 billion of funding for his border wall, a proposal […]

The Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments today in the case of Nielsen v. Preap (16-1363), a case in which the Court will decide the issue of “[w]hether a criminal alien becomes exempt from mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. 1226(c) if, after the alien is released […]

US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that beginning October 1, 2018, it will begin implementing a June 28, 2018 policy memorandum intended to effectuate President Trump’s immigration policies. On January 25, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13768, Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, detailing his […]

The United States Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General issued a report on September 27, 2018, following a surprise inspection of a privately-run immigration detention facility in Adelanto, California. The detention facility in Adelanto, California is owned and operated by the GEO Group, and houses up to […]