Derek Reinbold  //  4/16/17  //  Topic Update

Announcing the “Trump Era,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions heralds increased enforcement of immigration offenses (U.S. News).

• The press release can be found here.
• The memo can be found here.
• This announcement will hamper “local law enforcement’s mission to serve and protect,” argues Ali Noorani (Nat’l Immigration Forum).

The Department of Homeland Security has resurrected programs deputizing state and local police to enforce immigration laws, a moved strongly denounced by the ACLU.

States can do little to prevent problematic ICE arrests, but in some cases can innovate effectively to protect human rights, argues Jennifer Chacón (Take Care). 

Two new advisors in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have anti-immigration views and ties alarming to immigration advocates, explains Auditi Guha (Rewire).

• Meanwhile, President Trump’s naming of a pro-immigration economist to lead the Council of Economic Advisers has some of Trump’s more anti-immigration base concerned (ImmigrationProf Blog).

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has instructed federal prosecutors to make criminal immigration offenses a priority (ABA Journal).

The Trump administration is forging ahead quickly in its efforts to assemble a nationwide deportation force, reports David Nakamura (WaPo).

Sexual abuse and harassment in immigrant detention goes largely uninvestigated, writes Tina Vasquez at Rewire.

The National Immigration Project has offered practical guidance on defending against ICE courthouse arrests (Immigration Prof Blog).

Children who have had parents detained or deported rallied in North Carolina on Wednesday to ask Governor Roy Cooper to speak out against Trump Administration policies, writes Tina Vasquez (Rewire).

An advocacy group has filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security alleging rising sexual assault and harassment in immigration detention facilities (ImmigrationProf Blog).

• The complaint can be found here.
• Meanwhile, the Administration is seeking to reduce protections for detainees in order to entice more local law enforcement to make their jails available as spillover detention facilities (NYT).
• Likewise, the Administration is proposing speeding the hiring process for Borden Patrol agents by forgoing some polygraph tests that have traditionally been required for all hires (NYT).

A decorated Army veteran is facing deportation due to a felony drug conviction but trying to fight it by obtaining a pardon, highlights P.S. Ruckman, Jr. (Pardon Power).

A new lawsuit challenges President Trump’s border wall on environmental grounds (ImmigrationProf Blog).

• The complaint can be found here.

Trump Administration policies that make some communities less safe in the name of “national security” invite us to rethink the concept and scope of “national security” issues, argues Shirin Sinnar (ACSblog).

Customs and Border Protection is looking to use drones with facial recognition capabilities to prevent illegal immigration, writes Matthew Feeney (CATO Institute).

Sean Spicer's deplorable remarks about the Holocaust must be seen in the context of Trump Administration policies on Syria and immigration, explain Joshua Matz and Leah Litman on Take Care.

New York became the first state to provide lawyers for all indigent immigrants detained and facing deportation (Immigration Prof Blog).

President’s Trump plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants may violate international law principles, argues Ali Khan (Jurist).

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