The Biden administration’s new rule, which took effect yesterday and has already been challenged in court, will unjustly prevent refugees from accessing protection at the southern border in violation of domestic and international law. The inhumane and unlawful rule will lead to the return of vulnerable refugees, including women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other survivors of…
Read more
On November 29, our program submitted public comments voicing our support for a proposed rule regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”). The comments, which were primarily crafted by the HLS Immigration Project and the Harvard Representation Initiative, also advocate for updates to the proposed rule in order to further protect the rights of current…
Read more
On October 19th, our Program, in collaboration with the HLS Immigration Project and the Immigration Coalition of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, submitted comments on a proposed rule regarding asylum procedures and credible fear screenings. While the proposed rule claims to “streamline” the asylum process, we believe that it would instead undermine asylum seekers’ due process rights…
Read more
Want to get the latest news from the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program? Check out our Spring 2021 newsletter here. In this newsletter, we have updates on policy advocacy and litigation efforts, student and staff achievements, case victories, and more. If you would like to sign up to receive our newsletter via email, you can…
Read more
On October 13, our Program submitted a comment on the proposed rule regarding the collection and use of biometrics by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This rule would greatly expand the current information collection powers of the Department of Homeland Security, thereby creating a database that could easily be abused by DHS and other…
Read more
On September 25, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program and the HLS Immigration Project (“HIP) submitted a public comment opposing a proposed rule which would alter the handling of appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) and, ultimately, undermine the rights of immigrants. The proposed rule would enact a number of troubling changes, including…
Read more
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. …
Read more
On March 30th, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) submitted comments opposing the proposed rule of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) that would increase filing fees charged for certain EOIR forms. HIRC argues that these fee increases are excessive and unjust, and could ultimately deny many immigrants access to justice. In…
Read more
The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) recently submitted comments urging the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to withdraw their proposed amendments on asylum procedures and bars to asylum, which jeopardize the lives and safety of countless refugees. The proposed rules would add seven categorical bars to asylum, including to…
Read more
On November 4th, the Policy Team of the Harvard Law School Immigration Project (HIP), in partnership with the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic (HIRC), submitted a public comment opposing DHS’ proposal to ask for social media handles and identifiers in a range of immigration-related forms, including applications for naturalization (Form N-400), lawful permanent resident status…
Read more