San Francisco, California (January 8, 2021) – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction blocking a sweeping Trump administration rule that would gut protections for people fleeing persecution and torture. The injunction halts the new rule’s implementation nationwide ahead of its scheduled effective date of Monday, January 11,…
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en español abajo Four immigrant rights organizations – Pangea Legal Services, Dolores Street Community Services, Inc., Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), and Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition – have requested a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit challenging a sweeping new rule that will eviscerate access to protection for people seeking refuge in the United States.…
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In recent court ruling, Harvard Law students help prevent more stringent federal immigration rule from going into effect.
For Immediate Release November 19, 2020 Judge Stops Trump Administration Efforts to Bar More from Asylum Just One Day Before They Were Slated to Go Into Effect, Federal Judge Enjoins Broad Rules That Would Have Vastly Expanded Categorical Bars to Asylum New York/Washington/San Francisco – On Thursday, a federal judge in the Northern District of…
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For Immediate Release November 2, 2020 Immigration Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration Efforts to Bar More from Asylum Groups Say Broad Rules Could Bar Asylum Seekers Convicted of Low Level Offenses and Even People Who Are Not Convicted of a Crime New York/Washington/San Francisco – Four immigrant rights organizations—Pangea Legal Services, Dolores Street Community…
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On August 27, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the appeal of Kenia Martinez-Mejia, a woman from El Salvador who came to the United States after fleeing gender-based and gang violence. Clinical students Benjamin Antillon Fernandez ’21 and Madeline Kane ’21 worked on an amicus brief submitted by the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program on October 25, 2019.…
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On August 8, our program submitted an amicus brief on behalf of legal service providers, law school clinics, and community organizations regarding the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). This inhumane policy forces asylum seekers to remain in Mexico as they wait to proceed with their asylum claims in the United States. Despite its name, the…
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The Trump administration has proposed yet another new rule that will be detrimental to the asylum system if it goes into effect. In this rule, the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security declare that any individual coming from or passing through countries with COVID-19 cases will be barred from asylum and withholding of removal protection. …
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On July 22, a federal court in Canada ruled that the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, the equivalent to the U.S. Bill of Rights in its constitution. Under this agreement, in effect since 2004, Canada has refused to consider refugee claims presented…
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HIRC Director Sabi Ardalan breaks down the many issues with the new proposed rule on asylum.