Ben Johnson

Trump administration can lift deportation protections for thousands from Afghanistan and Cameroon, court says An appellate court allowed the Trump administration to end a program that grants temporary deportation protections and work permits to more than 10,000 people from Afghanistan and Cameroon.

A federal court just let the Trump admin move forward with ending TPS for Afghans and Cameroonians despite unsafe conditions and U.S. travel warnings. Stripping protections now puts lives at risk. This is cruel, calculated harm.

State Department enacts widespread layoffs, cutting 1,353 staff as part of reorganization The involuntary staff reductions include 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service employees, according to a notice sent to employees Friday morning.

See also:

More immigration judges are being fired amid Trump's efforts to speed up deportations Several more immigration judges have been fired, even as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement, and after Congress gave the Department of Justice $3 billion, in part to hire judges...

The mass firings of immigration judges and State Dept. personnel are reckless. Backlogs will grow, legal immigration will slow, and the U.S. has lost invaluable talent and experience across the globe. This is sabotage, not strategy.

Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order in Class-Action Challenge

The fight to protect the 14th Amendment isn’t over: A federal judge blocked Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship nationwide, allowing the case to proceed as a class action. Though there's much work to be done, this is a win for constitutional rights.

Supreme Court blocks part of Florida's immigration law Immigrant rights organizations sued the state arguing that its new law conflicts with federal immigration law, and under longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states must bow to federal law in the eve...

SCOTUS has rejected Florida’s emergency request to enforce barring undocumented immigrants from entering the state. Congratulations to the AILA members and partners in Florida who fought against this harmful law.

DHS ends Temporary Protected Status for thousands from Nicaragua and Honduras Some 76,000 people from Nicaragua and Honduras were covered by TPS, which provides protection from deportation and grants work permits to people from certain nations affected by war or natural disaste...

Ending TPS for nearly 80,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans after 25 years is cruel. These families have built lives, contributed to communities, and known no other home. Stripping their protection dishonors our humanitarian values.

America deserves an immigration system that reflects our values and our interests, not one that undermines the rule of law and weaponizes enforcement against our own neighbors. This is unacceptable. The American people must hold those in Congress who passed this bill to account.

US judge blocks Trump asylum ban at US-Mexico border, says he exceeded authority A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying Trump exceeded his authority when he issued a proclamation declaring illegal immigration an emergency and setting aside existing legal processes.

Judge Moss’s ruling is a powerful reminder: executive power has limits. The asylum system exists to protect the vulnerable and not to be discarded in moments of political theater. We applaud this decision.

AILA Denounces Passage of Draconian Immigration Spending Bill: A $150 Billion Blueprint for Mass Deportation and Fear AILA ED Ben Johnson responded to the Senate budget reconciliation bill passage: “AILA urges the public, legal community, and policymakers to resist this dangerous shift toward an enforcement-only syst...

READ our statement: AILA Denounces Passage of Draconian Immigration Spending Bill: A $150 Billion Blueprint for Mass Deportation and Fear

Opinion | Trump Floats a Mass Deportation ‘Temporary Pass’ The President says he wants a reprieve from migrant raids for farmers, hotels and some others..

With Trump’s recent “temporary pass” proposal & Congress inching closer to funding $100B+ for mass deportations, the real question is: who’s truly running the show—Trump or Stephen Miller?

WSJ clearly agrees that continuing Miller’s mass deportation is harming families & businesses across the U.S.

Think Immigration: The Fourteenth Amendment Survives in 22 States: Trump v. CASA, Inc. Call to Action! How much does culture influence creative thinking?

"This is a call for zealous advocacy, innovation, and for collaboration among the immigration bar," write Jeremy L. McKinney, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, and Brian S. Green in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA. Read more on #ThinkImmigration.

President Trump touring “Alligator Alcatraz” today is a chilling symbol of how far we’ve strayed from our values. What we're seeing is cruelty as spectacle. This facility will not increase security for the American people.

U.S. to revoke immigration status of Haitian migrants in September The Trump administration will revoke the legal status and work permits of hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants in early September.

The U.S. gov’t says Haiti is too dangerous for American tourists but somehow safe enough to deport half a million Haitians back to gang-controlled streets, famine, and total state collapse. This isn’t policy. It’s cruelty cloaked in bureaucracy.

Birthright citizenship is not ambiguous, nor is it a vague legal question; it is a cornerstone of American democracy enshrined in the Constitution. This decision fails us all, fails the courts, and fails our Constitution.

Think Immigration: Riley v. Bondi – Riley’s Silver Lining Jeremy L. McKinney, Brian S. Green, Robert Cohen, and Rekha Sharma-Crawford write up the SCOTUS decision in Riley v. Bondi, noting 6 practical takeaways the decision means for immigration attorneys in...

NEW on #ThinkImmigration: Jeremy L. McKinney, Brian S. Green, Robert Cohen, and Rekha Sharma-Crawford break down today's SCOTUS decision in Riley v. Bondi, noting 6 practical takeaways the decision means for immigration attorneys in the removal context.

AILA President: Conservative Majority Strips Constitutional Protections from Migrants, Congress Must Act AILA President Jeff Joseph raised concerns at the SCOTUS decision to allow the Administration to deport noncitizens without due process protections, stating “By enabling the executive branch to bypass...

NEW: In response to yesterday's Supreme Court ruling allowing third country deportations, AILA President Jeff Joseph condemned the decision as a threat to due process and democracy, urging Congress to act and defend immigrants' constitutional rights.

U.S. Supreme Court allows -- for now -- third-country deportations A federal judge had previously said people must get at least 15 days to challenge their deportations to countries they're not originally from.

SCOTUS just gave a green light to secret deportations, stripping people of notice, hearings & the right to ask for protection against being sent to countries that we know are dangerous. This isn’t immigration enforcement. It’s lawless, cruel & un-American.

Free speech is not a crime, and dissent is not basis for deportation.

Judge orders release of Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil Khalil will be released on bail while his case challenging his deportation orders plays out in the courts.

In yet another blow to the administration’s aggressive actions, Mahmoud Khalil is finally going to be free, but he shouldn’t have been detained in the first place. The arrest and confinement of Khalil was, today’s federal judge ruled, likely an unconstitutional punishment for his political speech.

Trump directs immigration authorities to prioritize deportations in Democratic-run cities President Trump has instructed immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities.

The Administration’s immigration enforcement is driven by vindictiveness, not public safety. This blatant abuse of power targets the vulnerable to score political points. AILA & our members stand ready to defend the rights of those in impacted communities.

Trump administration weighs adding 36 countries to travel ban, memo says U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is considering significantly expanding its travel ban by potentially banning citizens of 36 additional countries from entering the United States, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters.

Banning travelers from 36 more countries isn’t about safety or security, it’s about discrimination and exclusion. A just immigration system upholds individual rights, not blanket bans based on nationality.

These immigrants filled essential jobs and paid taxes. Ending their legal status overnight will rip apart families, wreak havoc on employers, and destabilize communities. (/2)

Trump administration tells migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela that their legal status is terminated | CNN Politics The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday told hundreds of thousands of migrants that their permission to live and work in the United States had been revoked and they should leave the country, a...

Terminating the CHNV parole program is counter to US interests. Over 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans & Venezuelans were vetted, came legally, and contribute to our economy but Trump is making them “illegal”. This isn’t security—it’s manufactured chaos. www.cnn.com/2025/06/12/p... (1/

Sen. Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference in Los Angeles Noem was in L.A. to address the ongoing demonstrations against President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

The images of Senator Padilla being thrown to the floor and handcuffed are shocking. The Administration's intolerance for criticism, refusal to disclose information, and disrespect for any authority other than Donald Trump is unacceptable and dangerous. nbcnews.to/43JcuDi

SCOTUS got this wrong, and the human cost will be staggering.

Trump Administration Halts Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students

Revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students is a reckless abuse of power and blatant government overreach. This undermines higher ed, immigration law, and due process and undoubtedly damages America’s global standing.

Supreme Court allows Trump to cancel protected status for Venezuelans Trump officials asked the justices to lift a lower-court order that barred the administration from ending TPS for Venezuelans while litigation continues.

The hypocrisy is astounding. The Trump administration argues that the Venezuelan government has been so corrupted by gangs that it warrants a national emergency, but is fine with sending otherwise legal residents back to face the threat of violence and corruption.

Supreme Court blocks Trump administration from deportations under Alien Enemies Act for now The Supreme Court on Friday said it will continue to block the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan men detained in northern Texas.

Importantly, the 7-2 SCOTUS decision confirms that undocumented individuals are entitled to due process! This is a powerful rebuke to any effort to sidestep fundamental rights based on immigration status.

Supreme Court blocks Trump from restarting Alien Enemies Act deportations | CNN Politics The Supreme Court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump from moving forward with deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act for a group of immigrants in northern Texas, siding with Venezuelans w...

SCOTUS did the right thing today. The Alien Enemies Act was never meant to bypass due process, and repurposing it to sidestep modern legal protections and deport Venezuelans to El Salvador was dangerous overreach. Rule of law still matters.

The Supreme Court’s ruling will shape not just birthright citizenship, but the power of courts to defend rights nationwide. Constitutional protections can’t depend on your ZIP code or parentage. Nationwide injunctions are vital to uphold justice for all.