REDIRECT: Immigration Law and Perspectives

Matthew and I have decided to hang up the headphones and wanted to shove off with one final show. Thanks to all the listeners and patrons who supported us along the way. We truly appreciate it.  I wish I had more time to dedicate to this space, but unfortunately we're both so busy and frankly feeling pretty burned out with work and life stuff. There are lots of good immigration podcasts out there, so give them a listen. 

This week on Redirect Matthew and I are joined by Professor Michael Kagan (@MichaelGKagan) from UNLV about pleadings in immigration court. It has become accepted as part of immigration law "culture" that allegations are admitted to at the beginning of removal proceedings in order to move things along and maintain cordial relations with immigration judges and ICE prosecutors, but is this always best practice? Should practitioners approach these matters more carefully? (Spoiler alert, yes)  Help keep the show alive by becoming a patron at patreon.com/redirect. Give us a follow on Twitter (@yakimaabogado, @MattArchambeau1) and tell your friends about the show.   

This week Matthew and I discuss the recent State of the Union address. Republicans scare monger about fetanyl and house prices. Blaming your troubles on immigrants is as American as apple pie, but the rhetoric does seem to be ramping up. Is it worse than in years past, or are we suffering from recency bias?  Support the show by becoming a Patron at patreon.com/redirect  Leave us a review on itunes Or check out the merch at redirect.threadless.com

This week Matthew and I talk about a a recent announcement by the Biden administration that they will provide certain relief to immigrants who are exploited in the work place. The announcement can be found here.  We share stories from our clients about their deplorable working conditions, and discuss the current state of T and U visas, which can be certified by the Department of Labor.  Also, what song will be playing when we die and go to hell.  Support the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/redirect Grab yourself a Redirect t-shirt, sticker, and/or leggings at https://redirect.threadless.com

This week Matthew and I showed up and recorded something. We broke up the band and got back together in the same episode. We talked about the current state of immigration lawyering. It turns out we're both feeling a bit burned out and exhausted. However, we've decided to dust off our gym shoes and get back to it with some new years resolutions. This includes regularly scheduled shows, you know, actual content. It's a revolutionary idea.  We're also joined by friend of the show Austin Kocher to talk about his work at TRAC, the surveillance state, how numbers at the border are crunched, and more.  Support the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/redirect Grab yourself a Redirect t-shirt, sticker, and/or leggings at https://redirect.threadless.com Follow Austin's work over at https://substack.com/profile/14591254-austin-kocher You can learn more about TRAC here: https://trac.syr.edu

After the midterms democrats in the senate have vowed to take up the DREAM Act. It doesn't seem like they have the votes, which is depressing. Opposition to the DREAM Act is often wrapped up in "concerns" about "floodgates," or "border security," but these are simply ways to offuscate and avoid a serious conversation about how to help people and fix our immigration system. Give this episode a listen. 

Democrats don't carrot all and the republicans want to stick them in camps. This week Matthew and I talk about HSI and marriage fraud, "United for Venezuela" and the expansion of Title 42. A series of unforced errors! 

This week we're joined by fellow immigration attorney Matt Cameron (@matt_cam) to discuss the fall out of the Ron Desantis Martha's Vineyard "stunt." Deterrence policy is always cruel, and this was no exception. Like most rightwing jokes, it was also extraordinarily stupid.  We also took a crack at the congressional republican's "Commitment to America" and it's extremely detailed four point immigration plan. Big brained ideas galore! 

This week Matthew and I are joined by fellow immigration attorney Taylor Levy to talk about the situation on the border. Taylor is one of the most knowledgable attorneys when it comes to what is actually happening on the U.S./Mexico border.  We also asked about the recent series of bussing/private-jetting stunts carried about by republican governors. Just this week Florida Governor Ron Desantis appears to have lured a group of about 50 Venezuelan immigrants to Martha's Vineyard in an effort to own the libs. Very serious policy work!  This is a great episode for understanding the basics of what's going on at the border and what we need to do to fix it. If you enjoy the episode, consider sending a couple dollars to Taylor, who is great:  Venmo: @taylorklevy (#9700), CashApp: $taylorklevy PayPal/QuickPay/Zelle/Mentoring: taylorlevylaw@gmail.com

This week Matthew and I get together to check in on the status of her Majesty and to discuss developments in our immigration practices. DACA, removal proceedings, our relationships with ICE and more.    

I quibbled and squabbled over scrabble and tribbles. This week we're happy to be joined by Sonia Lenegan, an immigration advocate and solicitor in the U.K. Sonia works as a legal and policy director at a charity helping asylum seekers.  We wanted to see which country has the worse immigration system, and while it was a close call we ultimately gave our guest the "win."   

This week on Redirect: Immigration Law and Perspectives we're joined by Dr. Reece Jones, author of Nobody is Protected: How the Border Patrol Became the Most Dangerous Police Force in the United States.  Dr. Jones is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography and Enviroment at University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. His new book about the border patrol is a must read for immigration activists and anyone trying to understand how and why we ended up in this place. 

This week we're joined by Austin Kocher to talk abou the growing surveillance aparatus being used by ICE.  Austin Kocher is an Assistant Professor at @TRACReports @SyracuseU, Graduate of @OSUGeography and friend of the show.

This week we're joined by Sarah Pitney, fellow immigration attorney extraordinaire, to discuss the intersection of LGBTQ issues and immigration. This was a great conversation and I learned a lot.  Sarah Pitney is a Senior Attorney at Benach Collopy LLP. Sarah joined Benach Collopy after serving as an immigration attorney for two years Miami, Florida. They have represented clients in various proceedings on both the detained and non-detained dockets before the Immigration Courts. In addition to their experience in deportation defense, Sarah has also represented clients in family-based petitions, adjustment of status, waivers, asylum, and naturalization cases before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

This week Matthew and I discuss the administration's efforts to speed up the asylum application process. For a system as broken as this one, these changes amount to window dressing. But it is at least a step in the right direction? 

This week we're joined by Austin Kocher (@ackocher), assistant professor at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) to talk about "Alternatives to Detention." As it turns out, these technologies are rarely used as "alternatives," but rather "in addition to" detention.  TRAC has some interesting data here: https://trac.syr.edu/whatsnew/email.220217.html… https://reuters.com/world/us/private-prison-company-test-us-house-arrest-program-immigrants-2022-02-16/…  

This week Matthew and I work our way through a couple of recent immigration stories. The owner of a marijuana dispensary has her naturalization application denied for a lack of "good moral character," an attorney tweeting about MPP hearings is asked to take down her tweets, and more. 

This week Matthew and I try to play catch up. It's been just over a year with the Biden administration, and with a few exceptions things remain . . . pretty terrible? The administration continues to defend some of the worst Trump policies in court, while the agencies remain deeply scarred from the previous four years. 

We're going to be taking a little break from the podcast. A recent cancer diagnosis in the family has me stretched for time, and frankly not in the right headspace for "entertaining." Hopefully it's a short break, but we'll see.  Thank you so much for all the kind words of support from over the years. It's been a real pleasure to get to know some of you and to hear how the podcast has influenced you in your thinking when it comes to immigrants.  Let's talk again soon under better circumstances. 

This week we're happy to have back Jason Dzubow, fellow immigration attorney and the author of The Asylumist: How to Seek Asylum in the United States and Keep Your Sanity.  Jason talks about his recent experiences with Afghan asylum seekers, practice pointers for old timers like Matthew, and more. 

This week we're joined by Professor Reece Jones to talk about his latest book,White Borders: The History of Race and Immigration in the United States from Chinese Exclusion to the Border Wall.   

This week Matthew and I discuss the new DHS enforcement memo, disarray at the department, and we try out our tin foil hats for a minute.

NEIGH! Yes, all horses are bastards which is why we here are Redirect are thrilled with the recent announcement by the White House that horses will no longer be used (for now) on the border (a particular stretch of the border that is). Problem solved!  This week we're thrilled to be joined by Lindsay Toczylowski from ImmDef, a social justice law firm in Los Angeles, California. We try to wrap our heads around Title 42, Haitians on the border, the not-rocket-docket rocket docket, and more. 

This week we're joined by Matthew Hoppock to talk about the Supreme Court forcing Biden to reimplement the "Migrant Protection Protocols," A Trump era policy designed for force asylum seekers to wait out their case processing in Mexico. We also talk about a federal judge who blocked the implementation of certain Biden enforcement guidelines, leading to more absurdities all around. It turns out everything is absurd! 

Sharifa Abbasi and Alexa August from The HMA Law Firm join us this week to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan and how it is affecting immigrants and current citizens. Matthew and I compare the struggles that are ubiquitous within the system, discuss chronic issues for immigration from Afghanistan and other Muslim countries, and discover several new and more acute challenges which have arisen since the Taliban takeover.

This week we're joined by Silky Shah (@silkys13) from the Detention Watch Network to talk about ongoing efforts to end immigration detention. In Matthew's neck of the woods a group of lawyers have written a letter to try and keep one detained court *open,* and the New Jersey Bar Association came out against a bill that would prevent ICE from expanding their detention practices within the state.  You can find out more about the Detention Watch Network here, follow them on Twitter @detentionwatch, like subscribe etc. etc. 

This week we're joined by Dara Lind (@dlind), an immigration reporter from Pro Publica who wrote a great piece about how the new Biden "prosecutorial discretion" memo is (or isn't) being implemented. You can check out her writing here. 

This week I'm joined by Jorge Baron from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to discuss the recent DACA ruling, immigration reform through reconciliation, and more. 

Matthew is on vacation this week and I'm flying solo, talking about reconciliation and the hope of immigration reform, a federal judge putting the breaks on DACA, and the cruelty of the legal immigration system. 

This week we're joined by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick from the American Immigration Council to talk about border myths, moats, and black paint. What's going on with the crisis at the border? Why is title 42 still in place? All this and SO much more this week on Redirect.

This week Matthew and I discuss the recent changes by Merrick Garland in rolling back Matter of AB and LEA, developing prosecutorial discretion and more.

This week on Redirect Matthew and I discuss the Vice President's recent trip to Guatemala where she admonished would-be migrants not to come, and to pursue "legal" avenues instead. It turns out asylum *is* legal. Oh well.  Also, ICE prosecutors are finally armed with some real guidance on how and when to exercise prosecutorial discretion. However, the Attorney General still has not rolled back critical Trump-era decisions. Is there more to come? 

This week we're joined by fellow immigration attorney Sophia Gurule from the Bronx Defenders to talk about deportation abolition, how to frame our push for immigration reform, and more.   

This week we're joined by Professor Alison Peck to talk about her new book, The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction. It's an excellent read for anyone who is interested in just how we got to this point. Buy it at local bookstore near you. 

This week we're joined by Liz Keyes, associate professor of law at the University of Baltimore, and Austin Kocher, a research associate professor with the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a research institute that uses Freedom of Information Act requests to study the federal government. Liz and Austin start things off by crushing my hopes and dreams, but then we segue into a very interesting conversation about open borders, changing the immigration conversation, and more.  If you like the show sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/redirect

We're back for another episode of Redirect, Immigration Law and Perspectives, and John Boehner is back! He's here to sell books and express frustration and confusion over the rise of nutty nut jobs in the Republican party. Who could have predicted this, other than anyone with a brain?  Boehner wants you to know how much he cares about immigrants, melting pot and what not. It's a shame that this brave republican was in no position to do anything about immigration reform back in 2013. :-(  George Bush is also back! He's also distraught about division, and immigrants. Unfortunately another brave soul who was never in a position to do anything about these issues. Sad.  Matthew shares some evidence that was recently submitted by ICE to the immigration court, including this blog post about how Mexican gaycations are totally safe. Immigration Court! 

Matthew and I drag ourselves to the recording studio to talk about how disappointing things have been. 

This week Matthew and I discuss the Farm Worker Modernization, a bill that aims to . . . "preserve our rural heritage"? While there are a lot of benefits to be reaped, it was clearly written and designed by growers who are focused on suppressing wages and bringing cheap labor from abroad. Not great.  The Dream and Promise Act is much better, still with some issues to be addressed.   

This week Matthew brings his sunny disposition but Stephen reminds him why things are still terrible.  Also, we’re joined by Taylor Levy (@taylorklevy), an incredible immigration who works in El Paso to talk about what the H is going on at the border. Listen and learn!

Cages. Facilities. Processing Centers. We get an important update on the status of family and child detention with one of our favorite colleagues, Bridget Cambria. 

This week Matthew and I parse over the "day 1" immigration reform that recently dropped. It's pretty good!  Also, the Biden administration backs off their deportation pause and day 1 enforcement priorities.  Check out our patreon at patreon.com/redirect, subscribe, comment, etc. etc. 

This week on Redirect we’re joined by Curtis Morrison to discuss how Trump managed to (quietly) end most immigration in 2020, and how so far the Biden administration has stood by those policies. Early grades for the Biden administration and #freebritney Don’t forget to become a patron at Patreon.com/redirect, leave a review on iTunes, share with a friend, etc. etc.

This week we're joined by Professor Alina Das from NYU to discuss Biden's first week in office, whether we're allowed to feel "good," and how to best push our representatives towards a more fair immigration system. 

This week on Redirect, Immigration Law and Perspectives we're talking to friend-of-the-show Matthew Hoppock (@MatthewHoppock). We chat about feeling totally burned out, trying to keep up with immigration changes during the Trump administration, and how the Immigration Court is broken beyond repair.  Check out our Patreon at patreon.com/redirect and help support the show! 

On today's show Matthew and I discuss the year 2020, getting burned out as immigration attorneys, COVID, and our hopes for the new year. 

This week we’re joined by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick from the American Immigration Council for our annual festivus show. Leaf blowers, weather, ICE and more.

This week we’re joined by friend of the show Hassan Ahmad to talk about the Trump administration’s torching of the immigration system on their way out the door, the restoration of DACA, and keeping a hopeful mentality in these tough times. 

This week the Executive Office of Immigration Reform, also known as the Immigration Courts, published a memo that aims to fast track removal cases. I immediately thought of former Immigration Judge Paul A. DeFonzo who was very meticulous and deliberate in how he handled his docket. I was able to get ahold of him and he agreed to come on the show.  Judge DeFonzo explains how and why he believes the Immigration Courts should be reformed and shares his unique perspective as an IJ who came from the private bar.

This week we’re joined by Nora Phillips and Diego Aranda Teixeira to give thanks and talk smack.

This week on Redirect, Matthew tries to "both sides" the ongoing coup, we discuss what we can expect from a Biden administration, and more. 

This week we're joined by Austin Kocher (@ackocher) and we engage in some wild speculation about the next three months, what a Biden administration might do, and how best to advocate for those changes. We also recorded a live CLE with Alina Das (@Das_Alina), immigration activist, lawyer, and professor of law at NYU. Her book, No Justice in the Shadows: How America Criminalizes Immigrants, is a must read. Get a copy for yourself and for everyone you know.