Justice Kagan recusing herself, the Supreme Court, by a 4-4 vote, affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Flores-Villar v. United States. The plaintiff, Flores-Villar, was born in Mexico to an U.S. citizen father and Mexican mother; the parents were not married. Current law provides that, in order for a child…
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The Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedential decision that states opposing governmental corruption may give rise to an asylum claim. In Matter of N- M- [pdf], 25 I&N Dec. 526 (BIA 2011), the BIA stated: (1) Opposition to state corruption may, in some circumstances, constitute the expression of political…
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A recently naturalized U.S. citizen, Dafna Linzer, writes about the litany of poorly worded questions and answer choices on the U.S. naturalization test. Some of the answer choices are flat-out incorrect: Question 1: What is the supreme law of the land? The official answer: “the Constitution.” A friend and legal…
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From the NYT: Alabama has passed a sweeping bill to crack down on illegal immigrants that both supporters and opponents call the toughest of its kind in the country, going well beyond a law Arizona passed last year that caused a furor there. […] “This bill invites discrimination into every…
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The National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Asian Law Caucus and a coalition of other civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit [pdf] yesterday challenging Georgia’s discriminatory anti-immigrant law passed last month and inspired by Arizona’s notorious SB 1070.…
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From El Diario: Governor Cuomo’s decision to suspend New York’s participation in the so-called Secure Communities program not only brings relief to vulnerable immigrant families but also helps build their confidence in government and the police. Since former Governor David Paterson signed onto Secure Communities, community organizations, elected officials and…
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The Illinois DREAM Act (SB2185), legislation that would offer undocumented youth better access to higher education, passed in the Illinois House of Representatives on a bipartisan 60-54 vote. SB 2185 was sponsored in the House by Rep. Edward Acevedo. The Illinois DREAM Act will establish a privately-funded Illinois DREAM Fund,…
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Mexican-born Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta was killed on November 15, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, where he heroically smothered a grenade explosion with his body saving the lives of six fellow Marines. Peralta came to the U.S. as a teen without legal documentation. Sgt. Peralta was not given the Medal of…
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