News & Updates
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 9, 2019 Contact: Ahlam Moussa, ahlam@asistahelp.org ASISTA Response to President Trump’s National Address Suffield, CT – The following is a statement from Cecelia Friedman Levin, Senior Policy Counsel at ASISTA Immigration Assistance, regarding President Trump’s National Address: President Trump’s remarks last night again demonstrate his misinformed, divisive, and anti-immigrant agenda and ignore the real…
Read MoreASISTA applauds the federal court decision yesterday which restores critical protections for asylum seekers fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality. The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and ACLU challenged the Administration’s harmful expedited removal policies which instructed asylum officers to generally deny domestic violence and gang violence-related claims. ASISTA is proud to have supported the…
Read MoreIn November 2018, ASISTA fought back on harmful USCIS changes to fee waiver practices and forms. USCIS is creating barriers to equal access to survivor protections, especially for survivors who have few financial resources of their own. ASISTA created a template comment for advocates to share how these damaging changes affect survivors, and you can…
Read MoreASISTA weighs in on how harmful changes to immigration policy impacts immigrant survivors of violence. Read more here.
Read MoreASISTA strongly condemns USCIS’ decision to implement the updated Notice To Appear (NTA) policy for survivor-based protections on November 19th. This means that domestic and sexual assault survivors, survivors of human trafficking, children eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and other victims whom Congress intended to help could now face deportation hearings if their cases…
Read MoreASISTA’s own Cecelia Friedman Levin, commenting on USCIS’s recent drastic departure from prior practice and policy, and how it will discourage survivors from coming forward. Read more here.
Read MoreAnnotated Notes on NTA Memo Implementation On November 15, 2018, USCIS held a stakeholder engagement call on the implementation of the NTA memo on survivor-based protections. ASISTA, AILA and ILRC compiled these annotated notes and practice pointers based on USCIS’ responses during that stakeholder call.
Read MoreNew USCIS Guidance will create a chilling effect on survivors coming forward to access protection. Yesterday, USCIS released Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens (Updated NTA memo) which vastly expands the circumstances in which USCIS will issue NTAs or refer cases to ICE. …
Read MoreHere is the amicus brief we filed to the AAO with Her Justice and ICWC, Debevoise & Plympton doing the heavy lifting (and excellent crafting) for us. Thanks to all involved, great job! Click here to download the amicus brief in word version. We suggest you use this framework when making your “not-obvious” victim arguments.…
Read MoreASISTA, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-based Violence, Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network, and Tahirih Justice Center issued a joint statement to the divisive and inaccurate White House statement and DOJ and DHS report issued this week, which among other things, requires the agencies to report on acts of gender-based violence committed by foreign nationals. The administration’s…
Read MoreOn January 9, 2018, the National Taskforce to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (of which ASISTA is a co-chair of the immigration sub committee) issued a statement denouncing the Administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for El Salvador. If expelled from the United States, many of the 200,000 individuals now protected by Salvadoran…
Read MoreMany thanks, again, to Chuck Roth for NIJC for leading this effort. Baez-Sanchez reiterates the 7th Circuits findings in L.D.G. v. Holder, 744 F.3d 1022 (7th Cir. 2014), where it found that the BIA and IJs had (d)(3) waiver authority as to U visas. The BIA later disagreed in Matter of Khan, 26 I&N Dec. 797…
Read More“President Trump’s policies are forcing undocumented immigrants who suffer domestic abuse to decide which is riskier: staying with their abusers, or going to court and possibly being detained by immigration agents.” Read full article here.
Read MorePost-Election Q & A for Advocates and Attorneys Serving Immigrant Survivors of Gender-based Violence
It is important for attorneys and advocates working with immigrant domestic violence/sexual assault survivors to understand what the anticipated changes in immigration policy might mean for the individuals and families they serve. For this reason, this post-election Q &A was prepared to explain how the anticipated changes may effect immigrant survivors of domestic and sexual…
Read MoreThe Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers (ACFRC) was established on July 24, 2015, and is comprised of experts in the fields of primary education, detention management, detention reform, immigration law, family and youth services, trauma-informed services, and physical and mental health. ASISTA’s Sonia Parras Konrad was appointed as a…
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ASISTA opposes DHS Proposed Rule on Public Charge
On December 10, 2018, ASISTA filed a Comment on DHS’ Proposed Rule on Public Charge. DHS’ proposed rule will harm immigrant survivors of domestic and sexual violence as well as survivors of human trafficking. Access and use of public benefit programs may make the difference in whether survivors and their children can escape abuse. ASISTA opposes the…
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