Ben Johnson

Staying Brave is Hard for Immigrants and Attorneys Alike AILA Elected Director Heather Prendergast describes a recent consultation that deeply affected her as a young Venezuelan couple faces detention and removal after a routine traffic stop upended their l...

AILA Elected Director Heather Prendergast describes a recent consultation that deeply affected her: a young Venezuelan couple faces detention and removal after a routine traffic stop upended their lives. Read on the #ThinkImmigration blog. https://bit.ly/3WxICpa

Think Immigration: What’s New In Your AILA Law Journal? As part of our efforts to amplify the AILA Law Journal, Editor-in-Chief Cyrus Mehta shares highlights as he describes the key topics from articles published in the newly released Fall 2025 issue of th...

NEW on #ThinkImmigration: AILA Law Journal Editor-in-Chief Cyrus Mehta describes the key topics from articles published in the newly released Fall 2025 issue of the AILA Law Journal. https://bit.ly/3L5k9F5

Think Immigration: Our Immigration “Courts” Need a New Boss AILA Past President Jeremy McKinney writes for the Think Immigration blog on the need for an independent immigration court system: “Put immigration adjudication where it belongs: under an independent ...

"Put immigration adjudication where it belongs: under an independent Article I court, led by judges whose duty is to the law—not to a political boss." Read more on #ThinkImmigration from AILA Past President Jeremy McKinney. https://bit.ly/4hkX4KQ

Noem's South Dakota neighbors hit with an immigration audit that decimates their workforce • South Dakota Searchlight Dairy farm audits in South Dakota under the Trump administration’s escalated immigration enforcement efforts have “created unrest."

A DHS audit just gutted most of a South Dakota dairy’s workforce, hardworking people who kept the operation running for decades. This is what happens when enforcement replaces reason: rural economies and American businesses suffer.

Think Immigration: AILA’s Citizenship Day in Chicago: Uplifting Communities in a Time of Adversity In this blog post, AILA Chicago Chapter Citizenship Day Coordinator Megan Davis describes how the Chicago Chapter partnered with community organizations and held a successful and inspiring AILA Citize...

AILA Chicago Chapter Citizenship Day Coordinator Megan Davis describes how the Chicago Chapter partnered with community organizations to hold a successful & inspiring 2025 AILA Citizenship Day, helping people toward naturalization. #ThinkImmigration https://bit.ly/46TUIOa

ICE Targets Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, Offering Payment for Deportation ICE confirmed its plan to pay unaccompanied immigrant children in exchange for their agreement to be deported.

"Advocates have urged immigrants, especially children, not to sign any documents that attempt to threaten or incentivize children to waive their rights without first seeking legal advice." https://bit.ly/4pTEtt1

Late yesterday, trusted sources warned that an effort to threaten the security of unaccompanied children between the ages of 14-18 might start today. We do not have confirmed reports that this effort is underway, but we continue to monitor the situation.

The Trump administration's immigration policies targeting highly skilled immigrants threatens to weaken the U.S. economy through undercutting innovation and not providing ample opportunity for potential talent to stay and contribute. New AILA policy brief: bit.ly/42JzjWL

Practice Alert: What Happens When the Government Shuts Down AILA National shares information on how federal agencies may be affected as a result of the government shutdown. This page will continue to be updated as more information is received.

Government Shutdown and Immigration: Immigration enforcement continues unabated, while some other areas are affected; here is @aila.org's updated resource about impacts on immigration law and policy.

Think Immigration: Zealously Representing Clients in the Face of Trump Administration Attacks AILA Past President Kathleen Campbell Walker describes how the Trump Administration's rapid changes to immigration agency policies, such as arming USCIS agents, combined with 'eviscerating existing lo...

AILA Past President Kathleen Campbell Walker on #ThinkImmigration: USCIS’s new enforcement authority disrupts the long-standing separation between benefits adjudication and enforcement, creating complex challenges for immigration lawyers and their clients. https://bit.ly/42KeJVQ

There was no legitimate reason to terrorize H-1B workers and alarm their employers causing 24 hours of panic. The failure to provide a legally sound proclamation and the haphazard messaging caused unnecessary chaos and fear along with human and material cost.

These announcements attempt to rewrite laws created by Congress, which clearly established the parameters and purpose of the H-1B program and employment-based green cards, their fees, and the formal process for making changes. It will not stand up in court.

Think Immigration: Excluding International Students Hurts Agency Efficiency and the National Economy AILA Policy and Practice Associate Mariah Ferguson details how the changes to policies affecting international students will not only affect the students themselves, but also agency efficiency, instit...

AILA Policy & Practice Associate Mariah Ferguson details how changes to policies affecting international students will hurt agency efficiency, institutions of higher education, American students & the national economy on today’s #ThinkImmigration https://bit.ly/4nCs6Q0

60 violations in 50 days: Inside ICE’s giant tent facility at Ft. Bliss As the Trump Administration rushes to open massive makeshift holding centers nationwide, one former official called the list of violations at Fort Bliss among the worst she’s ever seen.

This Washington Post story documents the lack of due process and access to counsel as well as unsafe and inhumane conditions at Ft. Bliss/Camp East Montana - share this piece with your networks and speak out against these abuses. Congress needs to act.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of AILA Citizenship Day! Our members have helped change lives and foster community through this important and inspiring pro bono effort. There is still time to get involved, find out how on #ThinkImmigration https://bit.ly/48b0kWl

Every American should be gravely concerned that the nation’s highest court has given a green light to racial profiling.

For 30 years, across 5 Presidents, the “plain language” of the statute at issue was universally read to hold the opposite of this new ruling. The only thing that has changed is the increasing willingness of the immigration courts to follow Donald Trump instead of the law.

This alarming development is another example of the administration’s singular focus of creating a hostile environment for all immigrants and their attorneys. Instead of solutions for the American people, they are closing America’s doors to the world.

In this latest destructive move to undermine the immigration courts, the Trump Administration is reviving a long-abandoned rule to allow temporary immigration judges with no background in immigration law.

Think Immigration: Citizenship as a Weapon: Is Denaturalization an Increasing Threat? Gunda Brost, Past Chair of the AILA IA-NE Chapter, describes how citizenship and denaturalization have been used by nations over human history and what the new actions around denaturalization efforts ...

New on #ThinkImmigration, AILA member Gunda Brost considers the future of denaturalization as an immigration enforcement priority in the wake of the Trump administration's June 2025 memo. https://bit.ly/466n2fH

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.