This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
Michelle, a 35-year-old New York City resident and new mother, applied to renew her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program status in February — months before it was due. She has been renewing her status carefully every two years since 2014. But in May, Michelle’s DACA status expired with no sign of renewal, stripping her ability to live and work in the U.S. Even though Michelle’s maternity leave will end this week, she can’t legally return to work, and could be deported if she tries to do so. Michelle’s story is an example of the drastic short-term and long-term consequences DACA application processing delays can have. U.S. News & World Report
In other local immigration news…
Marijuana May Still Be Risky for Immigrants Despite New York Legalization
📍 Documented Original
Noemi Peña’s son was ready to be picked up from a New Jersey courthouse after being arrested in January 2017 for marijuana possession. But he never made it to Peña’s car that day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took her son, Marvin Jerezano Peña, from the courthouse and held him in custody for a year before he was released on bond. After living in the U.S. for 15 years, Peña is in ICE detention and is set for deportation back to Veracruz, Mexico, at the end of July, leaving his entire family behind. He was originally detained at the Bergen County Jail, but was transferred to the Buffalo Service Processing Center in Batavia, New York. Read more at Documented.
Remembering Judge Robert Katzmann, a Pioneer in Providing Legal Counsel for Immigrants
📍 Documented Original
Camille Mackler, an executive director of the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, wrote an obituary for the late Judge Robert Katzmann, who died June 9. Katzmann’s passion for immigration began in the late 2000s when he was on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He was shocked by the number of appeals immigrants filed and the poor legal representation they had. “The fact that he, while sitting on the Second Circuit, saw what he saw — a real crisis of justice for immigrants in our legal system — from appellate briefs and then made it his mission to change that dynamic speaks volumes about who he was as a judge and a person,” said Lindsay Nash, a former law clerk of Katzmann’s. Read more at Documented.
Nonprofit Proposal Could Help Homeless CUNY Students
Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter, an organization that provides housing for young people getting out of foster care, aims to help thousands of City University of New York students who are homeless. A 2019 survey of CUNY undergraduates revealed that 14 percent were homeless the previous year, including 18 percent of community college students, while 55 percent were experiencing housing insecurity. Many CUNY students are low-income New Yorkers, immigrants and first-generation college students. Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter and CUNY officials say the housing proposal is in its early stages, but the pilot program would focus on students attending Bronx schools and could begin as early as Spring 2022. City Limits
Documented Talks: The Future of Immigration Courts
📍 Documented Event
After four years of the Trump administration upending immigration courts, Documented is about to explore what the new administration will do differently. On Friday, July 23 at 1 p.m., Documented will hold a Zoom discussion about the future of immigration courts with Immigration Judge Amiena Khan, President of the National Association of Immigration Judges, and The Marshall Project’s Contributing Writer, Julia Preston. The two will discuss where the judge’s union stands in the decertification fight, what judges want to see from the Biden administration and what the lasting impacts will stem from the past four years.
Register here for the free Zoom event on Friday, July 23 at 1 p.m.
