Coming tomorrow: part II of the series on credibility in asylum law.

We just had our first community member assessed a $5,000 "alien apprehension fee". Anybody have experience with this? Recommendations?

Inhospitable -- a report from UNITE HERE revealing how these White House immigration policies are creating a crisis in America’s hospitality industry. unitehere.org/inhospitable/

Latest post from Immigration Law Explained: "Shellacking a judge", a four-coat takedown of an immigration judge's attempt to find an asylum seeker "not credible." samsramblingss.substack.com/p/shellackin...

Immigration appeal denied because the petitioner didn't say the magic words. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/whats-the-...

"Mr. Aguilar wasn’t targeted because he was a business owner. He was only targeted because he owned a business." Sometimes the law is weird. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/law-is-weird

Seeing an absolute FLOOD of habeas wins in the district courts. Never get tired of reading this: “Respondents must immediately RELEASE Petitioner from custody immediately, and may not re-detain Petitioner without notice and an opportunity to be heard."

This one opinion contains so much judicial misconduct that it’s challenging to write about. I’ll do my best to break it down. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/a-judicial...

Wow, it's as cold outside as an inappropriate simile.

Diaz arrived on August 27, 2005, heading for the Gulf Coast. Two days later, Hurricane Katrina made landfall. The levees failed. New Orleans was under water. 1,400 people died. Adjusted for inflation, the cost of the damage was almost 0.3 Musks. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/and-to-thi...

In the U.S., informing on a gang would have been brave. In El Salvador, it was nothing short of heroic. Ms. Gonzalez defied the gang. She trusted the police, they betrayed her. Her family paid a terrible price. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/greater-an...

Lots of organizations have been putting together KYR resources. Austin Kocher pulled them together into a single curated list. austinkocher.substack.com/p/know-your-...

1/3: The last few years, I've worked on a lot of SIJS petitions. When I'm helping to draft the affidavit, I always ask the kid what they want to do when they grow up. It's become an unofficial, unscientific, and subjective poll. The results:

Amazing story from an immigration attorney defending a DV survivor. unfunnylawyer.substack.com/p/seeds-plan...

After ten years of litigation, the Circuit Court rebuffs the BIA and grants asylum. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/the-saga-o...

ICE is furious because the Hilton cancelled their reservation because of ICE’s immigration enforcement activities.

The first genuinely nuanced view of the Venezuela strikes that I've found: behindtheborder.substack.com/p/listening-...

A big win on "cancellation of removal", with commentary from Shanta Driver of the United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund (UEAALDF). samsramblingss.substack.com/p/justice-de...

A client was released and will sleep in his own bed tonight. Everything Is Terrible etc but I am grateful for the great writ of Habeas Corpus and federal judges who apply the law and smart lawyers I can rely on and learn from. May the coming year be better than 2025. Have a peaceful one, y’all.

Snowy hike up Mt. Abe this morning.

Your kid invites an undocumented friend over for a sleepover. Are you guilty of "alien harboring"? Legal guidance for churches, nonprofits, individuals, and anybody else who interacts with or provides services to an immigrant community. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/harboring-...

Merry Christmas. The court concludes that his continued detention offends due process. Accordingly, the court grants the petition, and orders the respondents to provide him with a constitutionally adequate bond hearing in Immigration Court as soon as possible. scholar.google.com/scholar_case...

DetentionReports.com has been updated. Detention trends for a total of 233 facilities can be found on the website. Of those, the 216 facilities that ICE identified on the most recent list have data updated through December 11.

Warrant needed to enter defendant's room at transitional homeless center to arrest him, NY trial court rules. It's not a traditional home, but Payton still applies, so physical fruits of search suppressed. www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3ds...

Coming tomorrow -- "Harboring in Cahokia", an exploration of the harboring law, with guidance for churches and nonprofits which serve undocumented communities. Subscribe for free and get a post every week. samsramblingss.substack.com

I've been reporting on the criminal justice system for over a decade and have lived in an authoritarian country overseas, but I've never seen anything like the police presence in ICE-occupied Memphis. Here's my dispatch: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Vera’s ICE Detention Trends dashboard offers additional insight into the vast immigration detention network. Without data transparency, ICE’s operations—and their harms—will continue behind closed doors. Explore the tool:

Great piece from the Times on the recent crackdown on Sikh long-haul truckers in the United States (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...

More on Sikh persecution in Punjab here: samsramblingss.substack.com/p/hell-be-fi...

Loving these habeas petitions. Wish they weren't necessary. The Court GRANTS the Petition. Respondents shall release Petitioner immediately, and shall not re-detain Petitioner without first providing a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. scholar.google.com/scholar_case...

Solstice sunrise from the top of Beacon Mountain.

Fight or Flight? The first decision in nearly every removal case is whether to do the case at all. #asylum #immigration www.asylumist.com/2025/12/17/f...

As someone on the ground, I cannot emphasize how horrific this is. 90% of the cases I witnessed yesterday were pretermissions. Parents with their children being told they needed to defend against being deported to a third country. Trans asylum-seekers threatened with deportation to Uganda.

In Nigeria, Ozurumba was kidnapped, held prisoner, and coerced into serving as a cook for a terrorist group. After escaping, he was hunted across the country until he fled to the United States. ... and had his claim denied for "providing material support" samsramblingss.substack.com/p/where-do-t...

“Lucy did not know where she was, nor did she understand the words being spoken around her… and yet, under the system we have built, she was the one required to answer." I witnessed the kids docket at immigration court. It’s cruel and inhumane beyond belief. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Lots of immigration news feels bad. This is about one of the brightest areas in a dark moment: habeas is working well for many, if they can get access. Good series, good reporting. How a ‘Habeas Machine’ Reunited One Family That Was Pulled Apart by ICE  talkingpointsmemo.com/news/how-a-h...

This is probably an unpopular position at various points in the political spectrum, but I don’t think someone’s right to migrate and live in this country should be determined by a calculation of their economic contribution

NEW: ICE has hired the infamous for-profit prison company GEO Group to help its immigrant bounty hunter program. GEO Group now stands to make money both tracking down immigrants and imprisoning them. theintercept.com/2025/12/19/i...

BIA in Matter of L-T-A-, 29 I&N Dec. 362 (BIA 2025), held that having a legal right to enter, live, work, and own property indefinitely in a third country shows “some other type of permanent resettlement” and triggers the firm resettlement bar. www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1...

Harboring law: "Mr. Garcia burned his hand and wrist in a hot oil spill in the Tokyo Dragon kitchen, and Ms. Yan took him to the hospital. A nurse became suspicious and alerted authorities. The government began investigating Tokyo Dragon." samsramblingss.substack.com/p/they-play-...

Total victory on this issue; members of Congress will again have the right to conduct surprise inspections of ICE detention centers.

Third Circuit too -- Paul Matey is big on this line of "reasoning". samsramblingss.substack.com/p/un-persons

I was in a tribunal a week ago where DHS moved to pretermit every single asylum case on "safe third country grounds." Every. single. one. At one point, a judge scheduled a second master for a man to prove he would be in danger in Honduras. Confused, he said "No, Peru. I'm from Peru."

ICE Accidentally Publishes A 'Watch List' Of Immigration Lawyers, Which Is Definitely A Normal Thing For The Government To Do - Above the Law

Congratulations to @russcontreras.bsky.social for being featured on the White House Recommended Reading List. He was featured for his reporting on how the administration has gutted major pillars of America’s civil rights protections. www.whitehouse.gov/media-bias-r...

Congratulations to @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social for being featured on the White House Recommended Reading List. He was featured for his reporting on Patel's use of FBI resources for a private security detail. Thanks to Trump for elevating this important story. www.whitehouse.gov/media-bias-r...

Congratulations to @carolleonnig.bsky.social for being featured on the White House Recommended Reading List. She was featured for her reporting on Patel's use of FBI resources for a private security detail. Thanks to Trump for elevating this important story. www.whitehouse.gov/media-bias-r...

Are you waiting to hear back from the U.S. government about an immigration application? USCIS is putting a significant number of applications on hold and even threatening to reopen some applications it's approved in the past few years. @daralind.bsky.social explains what you need to know.

No biometrics = no way to apply “If a person is incarcerated and only has a USCIS benefit pending (and not an EOIR application), USCIS will not send officers to the detention facility to collect biometrics, even if requested by family members or an attorney” migrantinsider.com/p/scoop-sile...

Great post from Emily K. Abel re. the public charge rule from a public health context. "The proposal is cruel but not surprising." andreasankar1.substack.com/p/another-ex...