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Compassion and Due Process for Haitians 

September 22, 2021—Thousands of desperate Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas deserve due process and compassion. The United States has the capacity to give food, water, and shelter to those waiting under a blazing Texas sun. U.S. and international law require us to give a hearing to their pleas for asylum.  

Right now, the United States is forcibly expelling these asylum seekers, putting them on flights back to Haiti without allowing them any hearing or due process. U.S. law requires that persons who enter the United States and ask for asylum be given a hearing, not forced back to the country they fled. International law forbids refoulement, which is defined as the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution.  

Right now, children and adults sit under a bridge, unsheltered and without adequate water or food. Common human decency demands that we do not let people suffer and die on the doorstep of what is still a nation of plenty.  

“The migrants at Del Rio have crossed oceans and mountains and jungles, enduring tremendous hardship and risking their lives to come here,” said Veena Iyer, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. “We must respond with compassion rather than condemnation. We must provide the hearing required by our own laws, not expel people to a suffering country that has no capacity to receive them.”  

Just last month, the United States extended Temporary Protected Status to Haitians who arrived in the United States prior to July 29, saying that Haiti was a country “grappling with a deteriorating political crisis, violence, and a staggering increase in human rights abuses.” Haiti, torn by a recent 7.2 level earthquake, by the assassination of its president and continuing disarray of its government, by a growing food crisis, and by a wave of kidnappings and killings, cannot offer even minimal safety to those expelled by the United States.  

We can do better. We must do better.  

Tell Congress: Support a Pathway to Citizenship Now 

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Urge Congress to support a pathway to citizenship for people who are undocumented! Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representative. Or email your Congressional Representatives  or your Senators.  

Both the House and the Senate passed a budget resolution that includes a pathway to citizenship for many people who are undocumented: Dreamers, people with Temporary Protected Status, and essential workers, including farmworker. Because a path to citizenship would have a large budgetary impact, it should and can be part of the budget reconciliation process. The benefits to our economy are enormous. Congress also has the opportunity to alleviate severe immigrant visa backlogs through reconciliation.   

The Senate parliamentarian’s first ruling said that immigration does not fit in the budget reconciliation bill. Democrats have a chance to try another approach now. No matter what legislative strategy is chosen, we need to keep the pressure on Congress. As the House and Senate work on the specific legislative text, they hear from us. They need to know that their constituents support immigration reforms and a path to citizenship NOW—not next year, or next session, or next century.  

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Urge Congress to support a pathway to citizenship for people who are undocumented by contacting your legislators today! Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representative. Or email your Congressional Representatives or your Senators.  

Fact Sheet: Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)

This fact sheet is current as of August 17, 2021 

What is DED?  

  • Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) is a discretionary protection status.  
  • DED recipients are protected from deportation and are allowed to obtain work permits. DED does not provide a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship. 
  • DED is authorized under the president’s constitutional discretion to conduct foreign affairs. There is no statutory authorization.  
  • Only the president can extend or terminate DED. 

How does DED work?  

  • There is no application to apply for DED. Anyone who meets the requirements automatically has DED until it lapses or is terminated. 
  • DED is restricted to those people already residing in the United States at the time of designation. Those outside the United States who want to immigrate do not qualify for DED.  
  • Individuals must be a national of, or a person without nationality who last habitually resided in, the country designated for DED. 
  • DED is usually ordered for up to 18 months. After the designated time, the protection expires. 
  • The president can extend DED for additional time periods.  
  • Qualified immigrants must apply for Employment Authorization (EAD) under DED, pay a fee, and pass immigration screenings.  
  • Any DED-eligible person who wants to travel outside the country must apply for advance parole. 

Who has DED? 

  • Liberia DED is designated until June 30, 2022. 
  • Venezuela DED is designated until July 20, 2022.  
  • Hong Kong DED is designated until February 10, 2023 

Liberia has had DED for the longest period of time. In 2007, President George W. Bush directed that DED be provided for 18 months to certain Liberians (and noncitizens without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia) in the United States whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was expiring on Sept. 30, 2007.  In 2020, Congress passed a law granting Liberians, including those who had DED a path to permanent residence and citizenship. This law is called the Liberian Refugee Immigrant Fairness Act (LRIFA). Liberians must apply for permanent resident status under LRIFA before December 20, 2021. Click here to view ILCM’s fact sheet on LRIFA.  

Venezuela was designated for DED by outgoing President Donald Trump on January 19, 2021, citing the humanitarian crisis created by Nicolás Maduro’s government. Estimates of the number of Venezuelans present in the United States on January 19, 2021 and eligible for DED range from 94,000 to 200,000. BUT – the Biden administration granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Venezuelans. That is a legally different, but very similar, form of protection. 

Venezuelan applicants do not need to apply for both programs. Both TPS and DED protect Venezuelans against removal and allow the opportunity for a work permit. If unsure of what to do, speak to an immigration attorney for more information. 

Two important differences between DED and TPS:  

  1. The president declares or ends DED, based on his authority to conduct foreign policy. TPS, however, is established by statute and determined by the Department of Homeland Security.  
  2. Termination of TPS for a country is done by the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the State Department. Termination of TPS may be subject to court challenge.  

Hong Kong was designated for DED by President Joe Biden on August 5, 2021. President Biden said DED furthers U.S. interests in the region, because, “Over the last year, the PRC has continued its assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy, undermining its remaining democratic processes and institutions, imposing limits on academic freedom, and cracking down on freedom of the press.”  

Printable PDF version of this fact sheet

Leave No One Behind—Keep Evacuation Flights Going 

August 25, 2021— The U.S. evacuation effort has flown tens of thousands of Afghans and U.S. citizens to safety over the past few weeks. Thousands remain in danger. The August 31 deadline for ending evacuation is arbitrary and dangerous. Until everyone is evacuated, we must keep the Kabul airport open and planes flying. 

Tens of thousands of Afghans worked with the U.S. military, U.S. agencies, and U.S. contractors over the past 20 years. They and their families are at risk under the Taliban. Some of those brave allies have already been killed. Only a small fraction of their number have been able, over the years, to gain the protection of Special Immigrant Visas through a complex and backlogged process. With or without SIVs, their safety is our responsibility.  

“Our goal must be to leave no one behind: no refugee left behind, no SIV left behind, no U.S. citizen left behind, no U.S. lawful permanent resident left behind,” said ILCM Executive Director Veena Iyer. “We must evacuate allies, human rights defenders, women, LGTBQ+ people, and other at-risk groups.”  

The Biden administration must continue the humanitarian evacuation beyond August 31. The job is saving lives, not holding to a self-imposed deadline.  With the visa process impossibly slow and backlogged, DHS must use humanitarian parole to save lives. The State Department must help ramp up resettlement efforts for refugees. The United States must make an all-hands-on

Tell President Biden and Congress: Leave No One Behind 

For two decades, the U.S. Government has employed Afghan allies to serve alongside U.S. troops, diplomats, and other government employees as interpreters, translators, cultural advisors, drivers, and more. Because of their service to the U.S. mission, our allies’ lives and their families’ lives are at risk. Human rights defenders, women, LGTBQ+ people, and other at-risk groups are also at an almost certain threat of violence and persecution. 

The emergency U.S. evacuation program offers their best chance to live. We must continue this evacuation past August 31. The United States set that deadline. The United States can extend it.  

Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representative. Contact the White House through this email form. Demand that the administration: 

1) Continue the U.S. evacuation past August 31 to save the lives of our allies and of human rights defenders, women, LGTBQ+ people, and other at-risk groups.  

2) Direct emergency action and funding to support expanded refugee resettlement for Afghans as they arrive in the United States.  

Suggested message:  

I’m urging you to take action to continue the emergency evacuation from Afghanistan and to swiftly provide critical supports including expedited visa processing and access to the refugee resettlement process for family members of U.S. government employees, U.S. government employees not covered by the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, and other at-risk populations such as human rights defenders, women, LGTBQ+ people, and others.  

For more information, read ILCM Executive Director Veena Iyer’s statement here.  

We Welcome Afghan Refugees

August 24, 2021—ILCM Executive Director Veena Iyer’s statement on welcoming and supporting Afghan refugees:

Minnesota has a long history of welcoming refugees. Minnesota has historically been home to more refugees per capita and the number one state for “secondary migration” of refugees resettled to other parts of the United States. In short, Minnesota welcomes and supports refugees, and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is proud to be a leader among organizations supporting refugees.

As we watch events unfold in Afghanistan, ILCM stands with individuals and organizations around the world, in the United States, and in Minnesota for the rapid processing and resettlement of Afghan refugees, especially those who—like the Hmong, Laoatians, Vietnamese, and others before them—worked alongside and protected the U.S. military. Most immediately, the refugees of Afghanistan need all of us in the United States:

  • To advocate for the U.S. to do everything in its power to get Afghan refugees out of the country and to safety in the United States. We therefore encourage all of you to call your representatives and the White House to call for more resources to be devoted to evacuating and processing refugees and to cutting the red tape holding refugees back from safety.
  • To support international organizations that have the experience and infrastructure to get refugees out of the country and begin the process to immigrate to the U.S. You can provide financial support to the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as they work to support Afghan refugees displaced to third countries in the region, as well as the International Refugee Assistance Project, which specifically works with Afghans who have assisted the U.S. military to obtain special immigrant visas.
  • To support Minnesota refugee resettlement agencies help refugees restart their lives in Minnesota. With funding from the state Resettlement Programs Office, ILCM partners with local refugee resettlement agencies including Arrive Ministries, International Institute of Minnesota, Lutheran Social Services, and Minnesota Council of Churches.  Each of these agencies, along with Catholic Charities in Rochester, accepts donations and volunteer assistance in helping refugees rebuild their lives in the U.S.

As the United States and Minnesota prepare for an influx of refugees, ILCM stands ready to provide the support that refugees will need once they arrive, including:

  • Assisting Afghan refugees who arrive outside the formal resettlement process and who face the possibility of detention and deportation to obtain immigration status; and
  • Representing Afghan refugees who have resettled in Minnesota with obtaining lawful permanent residence and citizenship.

Over our 25 year history, ILCM is proud to have supported many generations of refugees—from refugees of the conflicts in Southeast Asia to refugees of civil wars in East Africa to refugees of the dictatorship in Myanmar—to obtain permanent legal status in the United States and to fully participate in our democracy. In this moment, we support the efforts of all of our sister organizations on the front lines who are working tirelessly to help Afghan nationals escape from immediate danger, and we stand ready to take the baton and assist our newest refugees to permanently establish their home in Minnesota.

ICE Out Hennepin County Campaign secures important protections for immigrant arrestees at the Hennepin County Jail

Media Advisory from Decriminalizing Communities Coalition

August 5, 2021—The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) has a long history of collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This relationship has been oppressive and has targeted immigrant residents of Hennepin County. In 2018, Sheriff’s Office candidate David Hutchinson campaigned on ending HCSO’s ICE collaboration, which was a major factor in his election victory later that year. For the past four years, the Decriminalizing Communities Coalition (DCC) has been challenging Minnesota counties to protect immigrants from detention and deportation.

Since his election, Sheriff Hutchinson’s HCSO has reported over a thousand immigrants to ICE, with hundreds ending up in immigrant detention centers and facing deportation. Being thrust into the deportation system has devastating emotional, cultural and economic impact on immigrant families. In 2020 alone, HCSO sent at least 221 immigrants to ICE custody, and many more remain vulnerable to these transfers.

On June 9, 2021, HCSO issued “Administrative Directive 21-02” (attached) which states that HCSO will no longer honor ICE detainer requests, nor will they notify ICE when an immigrant is being released from the county jail. In a July 14 meeting with the DCC coalition, Sheriff Hutchinson and his staff said:

“With the exception of when ICE has a judicial warrant for a person’s arrest, we no longer talk to ICE. That is all in the past. But, we will allow ICE agents into the jail on request.”

“While we commend Sheriff Hutchinson and the Sheriff’s Office for stopping its practice of calling ICE about our neighbors, we are concerned that the Sheriff still grants ICE access to the jail. This practice puts people in the vulnerable position of having to advocate for their rights from inside a jail, often in a language that is not their strongest language. We urge the Sheriff to stop this practice.” – Veena Iyer, Executive Director, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, DCC member

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“ICE has a history of arresting and detaining immigrants at the county jails and courts creating fear and uncertainty. Immigration enforcement criminalizes Black immigrants, immigrants of color and the most marginalized of us cannot live freely. DCC is asking the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners and HCSO to immediately enact a “Separation Ordinance” that prohibits collaboration with ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and any other federal agency with an immigration enforcement mission.” — Nekessa Opoti, Black Immigrant Collective, DCC member

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DCC includes over 30 community partners working at the intersection of immigrant and criminal injustice. Our collective seeks to end systems of oppression and the criminalization of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islanders. Ending all ICE collaboration in Hennepin County, including within HCSO, is key to this mission. Like “Decriminalizing Communities Campaign & Coalition” on Facebook for more information and updates on ICE Out. You can also learn more about the campaign and the coalition’s work at our website, https://decriminalize.squarespace.com/.