California Supreme Court decision opens breathing room for migrants, alters typical political lineup

Last week, the California Supreme Court issued an important decision expanding the ability of migrants given poor advice about the immigration consequences of a conviction to obtain relief. In People v. Patterson, No. S225193, slip op. (Cal. March 27, 2017), the court unanimously held that a migrant isn’t barred from withdrawing a guilty plea that results in mandatory immigration detention and deportability simply because the plea form stated that conviction “may” result in adverse immigration consequences. Pursuant to Cal. Penal Code § 1016.5, all defendants are provided this generic [...]

DHS issues border policing plans

In response to President Trump’s January 25 executive order on border policing, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo with details about how it plans to carry out the president’s directives. The memo promises to further militarize the Mexican border, expand the nation’s already unprecedented immigration detention capacity, and skirt the immigration court system. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly signed the memo, titled “Implementing the President’s Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements Policies,” on February 20, 2017. The memo consists of instructions [...]

Limiting immigration imprisonment

Immigration imprisonment is undeniably a core feature of immigration law enforcement. Every year since President Obama took office, ICE has held somewhere in the vicinity of 400,000 people behind barbed wire simply because they are thought to have violated a civil provision of immigration law. Almost another 100,000 are confined while awaiting prosecution for an immigration crime, usually unauthorized entry or unauthorized reentry. States do their part too to ratchet up the likelihood that a migrant will wind up behind bars for doing something related to migration. Arizona has been most [...]

Justice Scalia’s Crimmigration Legacy

Andrea Sáenz Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent passing has spurred a wealth of commentary about his career and legal philosophy, including the recognition that the legendary conservative jurist issued a number of rulings sympathetic to criminal defendants [see here, here, or here]. What have attracted less notice so far are his consistent votes for noncitizens in cases involving the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, or for defendants in cases involving the sentencing consequences of prior convictions. In both types of cases, Scalia was an extremely reliable vote [...]

Developing Better, Fairer Bond Hearings: Next Steps After Lora v. Shanahan

By Andrea Saenz The Second Circuit’s recent decision in Lora v. Shanahan, No. 14-2343-pr-, slip op. (2nd Cir. Oct. 28, 2015), gives immigration detainees a lot to be hopeful about, and gives scholars and advocates a lot of new questions to chew on. In Lora, the Second Circuit held that noncitizens cannot be subjected to prolonged no-bond detention under INA § 236(c) while their deportation cases are pending, and therefore must be given a bond hearing within six months of their detention. As Alina Das wrote on this blog, the decision represents a resounding victory for core due process [...]

A Light at the End of A Long, Dark Tunnel: The Second Circuit’s Limit on Indefinite Detention in Lora v. Shanahan

By Alina Das Every day, tens of thousands of immigrants experience immigration detention as punishment. Although characterized in law as “civil”, “non-punitive”, and “administrative” in nature, immigration detention presents all the hallmarks of punishment—immigrants are routinely locked up in county jails or private prisons, many miles away (and too often across state lines) from their families and communities, forced to wear prison uniforms, shackled when they appear in court, at the mercy of the jail or prison guards with respect to their ability to seek medical care and myriad other [...]

Prison reform’s blind spot

By visiting a federal prison last week—the first time a sitting president has ever crossed the barbed wire threshold—President Obama amplified calls for prison reform like few others could do. His televised walk through the El Reno penitentiary illustrated the stark reality millions of people live in jails and prisons throughout the United States. Standing in front of a long row of cell doors, the President’s honest assessment of his own youthful drug use—and his vocalized assumption that many of the reporters in the press pool probably share similar criminal pasts—was a refreshing reminder [...]

10 Cir: Expands mandatory immigration detention

Earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit expanded the broad powers that immigration officials have to force migrants into mandatory immigration detention. Olmos v. Holder, No. 14-1085, slip op. (10th Cir. March 24, 2015). The court both endorsed and independently validated the Board of Immigration Appeals’ position that mandatory detention under INA § 236(c) is required even if the migrant is taken into ICE custody days after being released from criminal custody. This case involved a migrant convicted of state identity theft and two related crimes. After completing [...]