Since then survivors spend their days digging through rubble looking for the bodies of family members and digging mass graves for the thousands of victims. People are reeling from losing their entire families who were crushed to death in their homes. Zaher, a 56 year old father, told CNN how he lost 13 family members. […]
Afghan Refugees in Pakistan Face the Risk of Deportation and Human Rights Abuses
The spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern over Pakistan’s plan to deport undocumented Afghan refugees on November 1st. This will disproportionately affect more than a million Afghans who moved to Pakistan for safety. The plan for mass deportation was announced earlier this month, after which, 59,780 individuals left […]
Poll Reveals Majority of Americans Support Upholding the “Pledge” to Afghan Allies. Afghan Allies Remain in Limbo With Thousands Still Awaiting Evacuation.
A new poll conducted in early October by With Honor Action and Ipsos found that 89% of Americans said they support keeping our pledge to Afghans who helped U.S. forces against the Taliban, with 56% of Americans “strongly” supporting the claim. 92% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans agreed, demonstrating strong bipartisan support for our […]
Pakistan Threatens to Deport All Afghan Refugees, Violating Refugee Rights and Putting Afghans at High Risk
Last week, Pakistan ordered all “illegal” migrants to leave the country, leaving millions, including long-term residents with valid documents, vulnerable to being returned to Afghanistan. According to Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti, “illegal” Afghan migrants are those without Proof of Registration (PoR) cards or expired Afghan Citizen cards (ACC) issued by the Pakistani government. The […]
The Costly Price of Gender Apartheid: Afghanistan’s Brain Drain in the Face of Taliban Rule
Afghanistan faces a bleak future as the Taliban’s oppressive regime takes hold, exacerbating the country’s brain drain crisis, with educated Afghans seeking safety elsewhere, leaving behind a fractured society struggling to retain its intellectual capital. Many Afghans have sooner or later come to realize that the Taliban’s empty promises of a reformed leadership were crafted […]
Afghan Refugee: “Our lives in Pakistan are no lives at all” On World Refugee Day, Recognize the Struggles of Afghan Refugees.
Earlier today, Amnesty International released a statement for World Refugee Day imploring the Pakistani government to “stop harassing and arbitrarily arresting Afghans seeking refuge.” Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, many Afghans have fled to the bordering countries of Pakistan and Iran, becoming refugees. While Amnesty International’s statement focuses on […]
Biden Administration Proposes New Rule to Protect DACA
The Biden administration published a rule Tuesday that could help to preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the administration’s latest attempt to protect the program from legal challenges. The rule would cement DACA, protecting hundreds of thousands of people without documentation who were brought to this country as children from losing their ability […]
Thousands of Haitians Deported from Texas While Some are Released into U.S. as Border Crisis Continues
Nearly 14,000 Haitian migrants have come to the U.S. border near Del Rio, Texas in recent days hoping to be admitted to the United States. The Biden administration has already deported over 1,000 people since the weekend, while some Haitians have been released into the U.S. for immigration processing. Haitian migrants have created an enormous […]
Biden Administration Will Raise Refugee Cap to 125,000 for the Upcoming Fiscal Year
The State Department announced Monday that the Biden administration plans to raise the maximum number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S. in the upcoming fiscal year to 125,000 people, fulfilling President Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to reverse Donald Trump’s restrictive refugee policies. Starting October 1, the refugee admission cap for the 2022 fiscal year […]
Biden Administration Appeals Ruling that Found DACA Illegal
The Biden administration appealed a federal district court ruling on Friday that declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program illegal and blocked new applicants from receiving the program’s benefits. The appeal challenges a ruling made by Texas federal district Judge Andrew Hanen in July. Judge Hanen ruled that DACA was unlawful because it […]
Supreme Court Denies Biden Administration’s Request to Pause Reimplementation of “Remain in Mexico” Policy
The Supreme Court ordered the Biden administration Tuesday to reimplement former President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that requires migrants to wait in Mexico until their immigration hearing in the United States. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Texas ordered the Biden administration to revive the policy, which had been formally ended by the […]
Texas Federal Judge Orders Biden to Reimplement Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” Migrant Policy
A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that the Biden administration must reimplement former President Trump’s border policy that requires migrants to wait in Mexico until their immigration hearing in the United States. The Migrant Protection Protocols policy, or “remain in Mexico,” forces migrants, many of whom are not originally from Mexico, to stay in […]
Federal District Judge Rules DACA Illegal and Blocks New Applications
Judge Andrew Hanen, a federal district judge in Texas, ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was unlawful on Friday. While the decision will not immediately affect current DACA recipients, it will temporarily prevent new applicants from being admitted to the program. Former President Obama created the DACA program in 2012 by executive […]
DACA Application Backlog Puts Thousands of Recipients at Risk of Losing Work Permits
As a result of a paperwork backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) application and renewal process has been significantly delayed, preventing undocumented people from receiving DACA benefits and existing DACA recipients from being able to work due to expired permits. Over 62,000 first-time DACA applications had been […]
Biden Administration Directs ICE to Stop Detaining Most Pregnant, Postpartum, and Nursing People
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a new guidance that says ICE will no longer arrest or detain individuals who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless there are special circumstances. “Generally ICE should not detain, arrest, or take into custody for an administrative violation of the immigration laws individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum or […]
Biden Signs Series of Executive Orders Reversing Trump Era Immigration Policies
On Tuesday, President Biden signed three executive orders aimed at reversing the “zero tolerance” immigration policies of the Trump administration. Biden said during the signing that “I’m not making new law. I’m eliminating bad policy.” One of the orders establishes a task force that will work to reunite migrant families that were separated at the […]
President Biden Issued 17 Executive Orders and Directives on His First Day in Office
Yesterday, within a few hours of his inauguration, President Joe Biden signed 17 directives and executive orders, many of which were aimed at undoing the harm left behind by the Trump administration. At the top of his priority list was racial justice and LGBTQ+ equality actions. Importantly, Biden will end the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission, […]
President-Elect Joe Biden Promises Progressive Policies on Day One
Since Joe Biden announced his bid for the Presidency almost two years ago, he has spoken about his plans for his early days in office, many of them being plans to reverse regressive Trump policies. As tomorrow is Biden’s first day as President, he has announced a specific list of promises that he will enact […]
Los Angeles County Agrees to Pay $14 Million to Settle Immigration Suit
Yesterday, Los Angeles County voted to pay out $14 million to settle a class action suit that claimed that the Sheriff’s Department illegally held more than 18,500 people in jail beyond their release dates. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to settle, so the only thing left is a judge’s approval. This lawsuit […]
Trump Administration Will Stop Blocking Pregnant Minors in Custody from Accessing Abortion
According to a judge-approved agreement from Wednesday, the Trump administration will cease blocking immigrant teens in federal custody from accessing abortion care. The policy follows an ACLU lawsuit from 2017 on behalf of a 17-year-old from Central America seeking an abortion, referred to as “Jane Doe”. The ACLU claimed that the government’s abortion ban has […]
