Removal Proceedings

The Caucus represents a limited number of immigrants in removal proceedings before the San Francisco Immigration Court. We focus on defending very low income and mentally disabled lawful permanent residents with long-term residence and extensive family ties to the United States.

The Caucus also provides legal advice and assessment to immigrants in removal proceedings, and gives referrals to private attorneys who may agree to accept removal cases at reduced rates based on inability to pay.

Legal Immigration Reform

Two-thirds of the Asian American population is foreign-born, and changes to immigration laws are therefore of major concern to many community members. In 1996, Congress passed a series of harsh laws, including the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which have had a significant impact on the rights of immigrants. The laws include severe restrictions on public benefit eligibility for new immigrants, stiff penalties for unlawful presence, and substantial expansion of the grounds for mandatory deportation.

Through our clinics in San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento, and specially written legal information handouts, the Asian Law Caucus has been a primary resource of immigration information for the Asian Pacific American community. The Caucus is also an active advocate for positive, pro-immigrant legislative reform.

The Caucus has also published know-your-rights flyers on Alabama’s HB 56, the nation’s toughest anti-immigrant law, in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean.

Naturalization and the Disability Waiver (Form N-648)

In response to federal welfare reform legislation and the growth of anti-immigrant sentiment, the Asian Law Caucus has increased its efforts to help immigrants-particularly the elderly and disabled-to naturalize. The outreach component of the citizenship project includes increasing public understanding of the naturalization process through community workshops, presentations and media strategies, and providing technical assistance to community organizations whose clients have naturalization problems.

More recently, the citizenship project has included a focus on helping those most vulnerable to harsh anti-immigrant legislation: the elderly and the disabled. By law, persons with a disability which prevents them from learning sufficient English and U.S. history for naturalization may receive a waiver of those requirements. INS implementation of this ‘disability waiver’ was characterized by delay and inconsistency. In 1996, the Caucus became co-counsel in a class action against the INS, Chow v. Meissner. Since the issuance of formal regulations in 1997, the Caucus has conducted trainings for doctors, nurses, lawyers and other immigration advocates working with disabled naturalization applicants. The Caucus has directly represented well over 200 immigrants with mental, physical or developmental disabilities in successfully applying for disability waivers and becoming naturalized U.S. citizens.

Late Amnesty Settlements (CSS and Newman/LULAC)

The Caucus is presenting a series of workshops to assist eligible community members in applying for legal status under the recent settlement agreements in CSS v. Ridge and Newman/LULAC v. USCIS. The agreements established a one-year legalization filing period beginning May 24, 2004 for certain undocumented immigrants who first arrived in the United States prior to January 1, 1982. This filing period has now been extended to December 31, 2005. The settlements apply only to those who tried to obtain or file an amnesty application under the Immigration Reform and Control Act between May 5, 1987 and May 4, 1988, but were turned away by INS or a community group authorized to act on INS’ behalf, based on having traveled outside the United States.

Immigration Law and Battered Women

Through the advocacy efforts of countless community groups, including the Asian Law Caucus, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (1994) and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (2000), which together extend immigration protection to immigrants who are victims of battering or extreme cruelty by their U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. National advocacy has also ensured that many of the post-1996 restrictions on immigration and welfare eligibility include exceptions for battered spouses and children. The Caucus continues to represent survivors of domestic violence in applying for immigration relief, including permanent resident status and asylum.

Immigration Law and the Southeast Asian Community

Established in 2001, the Southeast Asian Task Force (SEATF) was created to address issues that disproportionately affect the Southeast Asian (SEA) community. In 2003, SEATF became the Coalition for Southeast Asian Community Action (CSEACA). Some of the Caucus’ projects for CSEACA include:

* Providing community education on the 1996 deportation amendments of IIRIRA and AEDPA, as well as efforts to restore immigration judges’ discretion not to deport long-term lawful permanent residents;

* Providing community education on the Cambodian Repatriation Agreement;

* Conducting clinics to assist Public Interest Parolees (PIPs) in filing for Adjustment of Status under Section 586 of Public Law No.106-429;

* Conducting monthly immigration clinics at Cambodian Community Development, Inc. in Oakland and at the Southeast Asian Assistance Center in Sacramento.

Cambodian Repatriation Agreement

On March 22, 2002, the Cambodian government agreed to allow the INS to forcibly deport to Cambodian refugees with decades of legal residence in the United States. The Cambodian Repatriation Agreement (CRA) exacerbates the effect of two 1996 laws, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), which require the issuance of deportation orders for anyone convicted of a specified crime, including certain misdemeanors.

The CRA has rapidly shattered hundreds of families in the Cambodian American community. Many Southeast Asian permanent residents had accepted deportation orders in order to be released from immigration detention, after informal assurances that there was no need to worry because Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam would never take them back. For Cambodian Americans, the CRA now makes it possible for the U.S. to carry out those old deportation orders without any consideration of deportees’ rehabilitation or the impact on their spouses, parents, or children.

The Caucus recognizes the need for activism in this area and is currently working with its community partners in CSEACA to educate and involve the community in efforts to amend mandatory deportation laws.

Public Interest Parolee (PIP) Adjustment of Status (AOS) Filings

Section 586 of the Foreign Operations, Export, Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2001 allows Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese nationals who were paroled into the U.S. as public interest parolees (PIPs) to adjust their status from parolee to lawful permanent resident. Although approximately 15, 000 – 20,000 PIPs were admitted to the United States, the law originally authorized only 5,000 PIPs to be granted lawful permanent resident status under Section 586. The application period began on January 27, 2003.

The Caucus is currently providing community education and assistance in applying for adjustment to lawful permanent resident status under Section 586. It was also part of a recently successful national effort to persuade Congress to eliminate the 5,000-person cap and make the program available to the full number of PIPs admitted to the United States. On December 8, 2004, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law No. 108-447) was signed into law. Section 534 of the Act eliminated the 5,000-person limit on acquiring permanent resident status, and also eliminated the three-year deadline set by the original law.

Policy on Legal Advice and Representation
Because immigration law is so complex and each person’s situation is unique, it is our policy at the Asian Law Caucus not to provide legal advice via e-mail or telephone. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, we invite you to visit our Immigration Clinic on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, beginning at 5:30 p.m. You may make an appointment by calling (415) 896-1701. We offer legal information, advice, referral, and/or brief services in the areas of adjustment of status, asylum, deportation, domestic violence, naturalization, and family-based immigrant visa petitions.

On occasion, we also accept cases for full legal representation.
back to the top