Loading... Taking too long? Reload document | Open in new tab Download [689.60 KB] Link to Enhanced Library Card The post Legislative Explainer: Knowing the Basics about SB4 to Help Protect Against It appeared first on Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative ..read more

In furtherance of HILSC’s strategic planning goal: “Equitable Access to Services” we have been using out convening superpower to organize ” Holistic Immigrant Services” to facilitate a discussion related to access to services. We brought together representatives from different service providers that work with immigrants to discuss what we learned about providing services in the pandemic era, how we are providing services now, and if there are any lessons learned we can apply to how services can be offered.     HILSC is aware, however, that access to services has two perspectives—two ..read more

In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, TPS provides a limited lifeline. Nearly 1.5 million individuals gain protection from deportation and employment authorization under the designation of temporary protected status during the past twelve months. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a program authorized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to provide temporary deportation reprieve for nationals of designated countries who because of natural disasters, armed conflict, or other “ extraordinar ..read more

Today, I stand before you as an immigrant, a student, and an active beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. I want to share with you the consequential impact that the recent decision by Judge Andrew Hanen, declaring DACA as an unconstitutional executive program, has had on my life, the lives of thousands like me, and its relation to the founding principles of this country. I have been under the protection of DACA since 2013, at the time I was a junior in high school. I was not aware of my undocumented status until I tried to enlist in the US Air Force. I reme ..read more

High number of deportations amidst a record number of crossings. A Democratic president promising positive change to immigration policy that never comes. Limited capacity at every nonprofit legal service provider. You would be forgiven for guessing whether we were talking about 2012 or 2022. Over the 10 years since the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative (HILSC) was founded, the immigration space has roiled under the relentless, demeaning attacks by politicians and populists eager to exact suffering on a marginalized group of people to push their agenda. However, the community th ..read more

Photo by Olia Gozha on Unsplash As alluded to in the prior blog posts in this series, Title 8 of the U.S. Code is once again the controlling law over immigration policy at the border. However, the policy did not return to the status quo after Title 42 expired. Instead, the Biden administration’s asylum final rule, known as Circumvention of Lawful Pathways, went into effect upon Title 42’s expiration, adding Section 208.33 to Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations. As seems inevitable in today’s immigration world, the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways (CLP) rule was the subject of litiga ..read more

This is the third in a five part series featuring the staff of HILSC and their experiences with belonging. Chris Dupree – One November day in sixth grade, I forgot my lunch so I used the office phone at school to call my mom to bring it for me. It is a memory I would have forgotten by now if not for what happened next. The following week, I found myself at school in the office of a woman whom I had never met asking me a series of questions in Spanish. I spent the next few weeks in successive speech tests, both at the school and at a clinic my father took me, to prove if I knew Engl ..read more

Photo by Barbara Zandoval on Unsplash The Trump administration’s invocation of Title 42 was not unprecedented.[1] However, this drastic measure was inconsistent with the Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic generally. While stoking fears of migrants introducing and spreading the virus into the U.S. without evidence to support such claims, the Administration continually and aggressively downplayed the threat of the virus generally, consistently undermining the advice and expertise of health experts and stifling the country’s ability to respond generally. On the other hand, Pres ..read more

Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash. Two months have passed since Title 42’s expiration. In the months and days leading up to its ending, certain national politicians and news media organizations created the impression through a constant drum beat of warnings of a “surge” of thousands upon thousands of migrants at the Southern U.S. border. They warned that a perceived, relaxed immigration policy threatened to overwhelm America’s robust border security apparatus. However, this unmanageable, anarchic situation failed to materialize—federal officials did not see a “major influx” of migrants when T ..read more

This is the second installment of a five part series featuring the staff of HILSC and their experiences with belonging. Belonging … on this Independence Day The concept of belonging has almost always eluded me. For most of my life, I never felt that I fit in any one place. My only sanctuary was my family home –the place my parents built together and vehemently guarded to help my siblings and I feel protected. Stepping out of my comfort zone was always anxiety-provoking and I hardly ever allowed myself to explore anything outside of what was considered “safe.” Admittedly, writing this blog po ..read more