Latest news with #AILA
Al Jazeera
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘Explosive': US Supreme Court deals blow to those challenging Trump's power
Washington, DC – The United States Supreme Court has dealt a major blow to those challenging Donald Trump's use of presidential power, in what the president and his allies have hailed as a major victory. In its decision on Friday, the nine-member panel weighed whether courts could block an executive order on birthright citizenship. The court did not rule directly on the president's order, which would limit citizenship for US-born children based on their parents' immigration status. But in a six-to-three ruling, the court's conservative supermajority did severely curtail the ability of judges to issue so-called universal injunctions: blanket bans on presidential actions stemming from legal challenges. The court's move, according to Allen Orr, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), is nothing short of 'explosive'. 'For lawyers and people who practice law, this is a drastic change from the way we've had courts run in the past,' he told Al Jazeera. 'It's weakening the judiciary yet again, as a balancing act [against the executive branch].' No immediate change to birthright citizenship Friday's ruling lifts the nationwide block on Trump's executive order that seeks to redefine birthright citizenship, which generally allows those born on US soil to be recognised as American citizens. However, Trump's order, signed just hours after he took office for a second term on January 20, would restrict citizenship for individuals born to undocumented parents in the US. That 'opens the door to partial enforcement' of Trump's order, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of several groups that have challenged the attempted policy. That is, at least until the Supreme Court makes a determination on whether birthright citizenship is indeed protected by the US Constitution, as proponents – and the court's own precedents – have long maintained. If no further action is taken, in theory, the order could be blocked in the handful of states where judges have already issued injunctions related to at least 10 individual lawsuits. But it could go into effect in dozens of other states where judges have issued no such injunction. The Supreme Court's ruling says Trump's order will not be enforceable for at least 30 days. But Leon Fresco – a former deputy assistant attorney general who oversaw immigration at the Justice Department under President Barack Obama – warned that, after that 30-day period, there could be grave consequences for the newborn children of immigrants. 'If there isn't an injunction in your jurisdiction that prevents the executive order from being implemented and you're born to a parent without a status that confers you citizenship, then the government could deny you either a passport, if you apply for a passport, or a Social Security number,' he told Al Jazeera. Class action challenge The decision on Friday does not completely remove the possibility of a judge issuing a nationwide injunction to an executive order. Legal experts say it just severely restricts the avenues. Prior to the decision, groups and individuals could launch a panoply of legal challenges in federal courts across the country, any of which could result in nationwide injunctions. Now, a judge can only issue a blanket pause in response to a class action lawsuit, which is a complaint brought on behalf of an entire 'class' of people. The process is typically more complex, time-consuming and costly. The Supreme Court's majority opinion, Fresco explained, also clarified that only one nationwide class action lawsuit can represent a specific challenge. 'There wouldn't be this ability, which happens now, where plaintiffs can file cases in five or six different courts, in hopes of getting one judge in any of those courts to issue a nationwide injunction,' he said. 'With the class action, you'll only have the one time to win,' he added. 'If you lost, you'd have to hope that the appellate court changed it, or that the Supreme Court changed it.' Class action lawsuits also have stringent requirements for who can participate. A judge must agree that all plaintiffs are pursuing the same case and that there are no substantial differences in their claims. Shortly after Friday's ruling, the plaintiff, CASA Inc, an immigration advocacy group, swiftly refiled its legal challenge against Trump's birthright citizenship order. Now, it is pursuing the case as a class action lawsuit. Critics, meanwhile, took aim at the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority. Even Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal judge on the nine-member panel, criticised her colleagues for ruling on national injunctions but not on Trump's executive order, which she called blatantly unconstitutional. 'The majority ignores entirely whether the President's Executive Order is constitutional, instead focusing only on the question whether federal courts have the equitable authority to issue universal injunctions,' Sotomayor wrote. 'Yet the Order's patent unlawfulness reveals the gravity of the majority's error.' Absent a class action lawsuit, individuals and groups will be forced to launch their own lawsuits to get individual reprieves from potentially illegal presidential orders. That's because the conservative supermajority ruled that court injunctions in most cases should only apply to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit at hand. In a post on the social media platform X, Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrote that the Supreme Court's decision allows Trump to 'rip away birthright citizenship, forcing individuals to file burdensome lawsuits to get it back'. Wider implications But Friday's decision not only restricts who is protected by a given court injunction, it also has sway over how much the judicial branch of government can continue to serve as a bulwark against the executive branch. Critics of universal injunctions have long accused federal judges of overstepping their authority by blocking presidential action. Among those celebrating Friday's decision was Senator Chuck Grassley, who has spearheaded legislation on the issue. In a statement, he called such injunctions an 'unconstitutional affront to our nation's system of checks and balances' that 'ought to be stopped for good'. Proponents, however, say the ability for judges to issue swift, wide-reaching pauses on controversial policies is needed to safeguard against presidential overreach. Many see Trump as taking the expansion of presidential powers to a new level during his second term. Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has issued 164 executive orders, surpassing the 162 issued by former President Joe Biden during his entire presidency. That number – for a span of about five months – is rapidly approaching the total for Trump's entire first term: 220. Meanwhile, federal judges issued at least 25 national injunctions to Trump's orders during his first 100 days in office, some of which paused cuts to federal funding, attacks on diversity initiatives and overhauls to the US immigration systems. Some of those court cases will likely be re-challenged in light of the latest ruling, experts said. In a post on X, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat, warned the courts ruling 'will only embolden Trump and his dismantling of our federal government'. 'It will create an unworkable patchwork of laws that shift depending on who you are or what state you're in.' Orr, the former law association president, agreed with that assessment. 'This decision does not build consistency across the United States at a time when people need these standards,' he said. 'People do not have time or money to wait to have these issues resolved.'
Sydney Morning Herald
05-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
This tiny CBD garden provides an oasis for the office-weary
The small green space in the courtyard of 120 Collins Street is vibrant and leafy. It seems to go unnoticed by most commuters as they walk by. But it's just picked up a prize at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture's (AILA) Victorian awards. 'It's a really beautiful garden. Really dense and lush, and it's not necessarily something you find in the city all the time. So it's offering a really different experience to the public,' said AILA Victoria's jury chair and landscape architect Bridget Keane. Other projects that received accolades at Thursday night's ceremony included Richmond High School, Deer Park Station and the redevelopment of Ballarat's Bridge Mall. But Keane and the other judges were impressed with the efficient use of the site's small 310-square-metre space. It includes a range of indigenous and exotic plants, chosen with the help of staff at the Royal Botanic Gardens. There's also plenty of seating, as well as a smaller rooftop garden on an upper level that acts as a viewing space. Loading 'We have Treasury Gardens and other gardens surrounding the city … But this shows us how within this type of … podium environment, we can really have an amazing contribution to green space,' Keane said. '[It's] acknowledging how much can be packed into a small place and how many different things it can do.' Susie Quinton, the principal landscape architect at Hassell, the company that designed the garden, called it an oasis that looks to offer refuge to those in the CBD. In a recent international survey of more than 2500 office workers, Hassell found the most valued amenities were green spaces and fresh air. 'We know the healthcare benefits of landscape and greenery,' Quinton said. 'It's so important for workers and the public to have that opportunity within the really formalised, structural grid of Melbourne. 'It doesn't take much. The green space [at 120 Collins] is not big, but it really challenges green infrastructure and small spaces, and that public realm to work harder,' she said.
The Age
05-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
This tiny CBD garden provides an oasis for the office-weary
The small green space in the courtyard of 120 Collins Street is vibrant and leafy. It seems to go unnoticed by most commuters as they walk by. But it's just picked up a prize at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture's (AILA) Victorian awards. 'It's a really beautiful garden. Really dense and lush, and it's not necessarily something you find in the city all the time. So it's offering a really different experience to the public,' said AILA Victoria's jury chair and landscape architect Bridget Keane. Other projects that received accolades at Thursday night's ceremony included Richmond High School, Deer Park Station and the redevelopment of Ballarat's Bridge Mall. But Keane and the other judges were impressed with the efficient use of the site's small 310-square-metre space. It includes a range of indigenous and exotic plants, chosen with the help of staff at the Royal Botanic Gardens. There's also plenty of seating, as well as a smaller rooftop garden on an upper level that acts as a viewing space. Loading 'We have Treasury Gardens and other gardens surrounding the city … But this shows us how within this type of … podium environment, we can really have an amazing contribution to green space,' Keane said. '[It's] acknowledging how much can be packed into a small place and how many different things it can do.' Susie Quinton, the principal landscape architect at Hassell, the company that designed the garden, called it an oasis that looks to offer refuge to those in the CBD. In a recent international survey of more than 2500 office workers, Hassell found the most valued amenities were green spaces and fresh air. 'We know the healthcare benefits of landscape and greenery,' Quinton said. 'It's so important for workers and the public to have that opportunity within the really formalised, structural grid of Melbourne. 'It doesn't take much. The green space [at 120 Collins] is not big, but it really challenges green infrastructure and small spaces, and that public realm to work harder,' she said.
Los Angeles Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
ICE agents wait in hallways of immigration court as Trump seeks to deliver on mass arrest pledge
MIAMI — Juan Serrano, a 28-year-old Colombian migrant with no criminal record, attended a hearing in immigration court in Miami on Wednesday for what he thought would be a quick check-in. The musty, glass-paneled courthouse sees hundreds of such hearings every day. Most last less than five minutes and end with a judge ordering those who appear to return in two years' time to plead their case against deportation. So it came as a surprise when, rather than set a future court date, government attorneys asked to drop the case. 'You're free to go,' Judge Monica Neumann told Serrano. Except he really wasn't. Waiting for him as he exited the small courtroom were five federal agents who cuffed him against the wall, escorted him to the garage and whisked him away in a van along with a dozen other migrants detained the same day. They weren't the only ones. Across the United States in immigration courts from New York to Seattle this week, Homeland Security officials are ramping up enforcement actions in what appears to be a coordinated dragnet testing out new legal levers deployed by President Trump's administration to carry out mass arrests. While Trump campaigned on a pledge of mass removals of what he calls 'illegals,' he's struggled to carry out his plans amid a series of lawsuits, the refusal of some foreign governments to take back their nationals and a lack of detention facilities to house migrants. Arrests are extremely rare in or immediately near immigration courts, which are run by the Justice Department. When they have occurred, it was usually because the individual was charged with a criminal offense or their asylum claim had been denied. 'All this is to accelerate detentions and expedite removals,' said immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen, who has represented migrants at the Miami court for decades. Three U.S. immigration officials said government attorneys were given the order to start dismissing cases when they showed up for work Monday, knowing full well that federal agents would then have a free hand to arrest those same individuals as soon as they stepped out of the courtroom. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared losing their jobs. AP reporters on Wednesday witnessed detentions and arrests or spoke to attorneys whose clients were picked up at immigration courthouses in Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, Seattle, Chicago and Texas. The latest effort includes people who have no criminal records, migrants with no legal representation and people who are seeking asylum, according to reports received by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, known as AILA. While detentions have been happening over the past few months, on Tuesday the number of reports skyrocketed, said Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, practice and policy counsel at AILA. In the case of Serrano in Miami, the request for dismissal was delivered by a government attorney who spoke without identifying herself on the record. When the AP asked for the woman's name, she refused and hastily exited the courtroom past one of the groups of plainclothes federal agents stationed throughout the building. The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of Homeland Security, said in a statement that it was detaining people who are subject to fast-track deportation authority. Outside the Miami courthouse on Wednesday, a Cuban man was waiting for one last glimpse of his 22-year-old son. Initially, when his son's case was dismissed, his father assumed it was a first, positive step toward legal residency. But the hoped-for reprieve quickly turned into a nightmare. 'My whole world came crashing down,' said the father, breaking down in tears. The man, who asked not to be identified for fear of arrest, described his son as a good kid who rarely left his Miami home except to go to work. 'We thought coming here was a good thing,' he said of his son's court appearance. Antonio Ramos, an immigration attorney with an office next to the Miami courthouse, said the government's new tactics are likely to have a chilling effect in Miami's large migrant community, discouraging otherwise law abiding individuals from showing up for their court appearances for fear of arrest. 'People are going to freak out like never before,' he said. Serrano entered the U.S. in September 2022 after fleeing his homeland due to threats associated with his work as an adviser to a politician in the Colombian capital, Bogota, according to his girlfriend, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested and deported. Last year, he submitted a request for asylum, she said. She said the couple met working on a cleanup crew to remove debris near Tampa following Hurricane Ian in September 2022. 'He was shy and I'm extroverted,' said the woman, who is from Venezuela. The couple slept on the streets when they relocated to Miami but eventually scrounged together enough money — she cleaning houses, him working construction — to buy a used car and rent a one-bedroom apartment for $1,400 a month. The apartment is decorated with photos of the two in better times, standing in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York, visiting a theme park and lounging at the beach. She said the two worked hard, socialized little and lived a law-abiding life. 'He didn't even have a speeding ticket. We both drive like grandparents,' she said. The woman was waiting outside the courthouse when she received a call from her boyfriend. 'He told me to go, that he had been arrested and there was nothing more to do,' she said. She was still processing the news and deciding how she would break it to his elderly parents. Meanwhile, she called an attorney recommended by a friend to see if anything could be done to reverse the arrest. 'I'm grateful for any help,' she said as she shuffled through her boyfriend's passport, migration papers and IRS tax receipts. 'Unfortunately, not a lot of Americans want to help us.' Goodman and Salomon write for the Associated Press. AP reporters Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, Calif., contributed to this report.
Chicago Tribune
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
ICE agents wait in hallways of immigration court as President Donald Trump seeks to deliver on mass arrest pledge
MIAMI — Juan Serrano, a 28-year-old Colombian migrant with no criminal record, attended a hearing in immigration court in Miami on Wednesday for what he thought would be a quick check-in. The musty, glass-paneled courthouse sees hundreds of such hearings every day. Most last less than five minutes and end with a judge ordering those who appear to return in two years' time to plead their case against deportation. So it came as a surprise when, rather than set a future court date, government attorneys asked to drop the case. 'You're free to go,' Judge Monica Neumann told Serrano. Except he really wasn't. Waiting for him as he exited the small courtroom were five federal agents who cuffed him against the wall, escorted him to the garage and whisked him away in a van along with a dozen other migrants detained the same day. They weren't the only ones. Across the United States in immigration courts from New York to Seattle this week, Homeland Security officials are ramping up enforcement actions in what appears to be a coordinated dragnet testing out new legal levers deployed by President Donald Trump's administration to carry out mass arrests. While Trump campaigned on a pledge of mass removals of what he calls 'illegals,' he's struggled to carry out his plans amid a series of lawsuits, the refusal of some foreign governments to take back their nationals and a lack of detention facilities to house migrants. Arrests are extremely rare in or immediately near immigration courts, which are run by the Justice Department. When they have occurred, it was usually because the individual was charged with a criminal offense or their asylum claim had been denied. 'All this is to accelerate detentions and expedite removals,' said immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen, who has represented migrants at the Miami court for decades. Three U.S. immigration officials said government attorneys were given the order to start dismissing cases when they showed up for work Monday, knowing full well that federal agents would then have a free hand to arrest those same individuals as soon as they stepped out of the courtroom. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared losing their jobs. AP reporters on Wednesday witnessed detentions and arrests or spoke to attorneys whose clients were picked up at immigration courthouses in Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, Seattle, Chicago and Texas. The latest effort includes people who have no criminal records, migrants with no legal representation and people who are seeking asylum, according to reports received by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, known as AILA. While detentions have been happening over the past few months, on Tuesday the number of reports skyrocketed, said Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, practice and policy counsel at AILA. In the case of Serrano in Miami, the request for dismissal was delivered by a government attorney who spoke without identifying herself on the record. When the AP asked for the woman's name, she refused and hastily exited the courtroom past one of the groups of plainclothes federal agents stationed throughout the building. The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of Homeland Security, said in a statement that it was detaining people who are subject to fast-track deportation authority. Outside the Miami courthouse on Wednesday, a Cuban man was waiting for one last glimpse of his 22-year-old son. Initially, when his son's case was dismissed, his father assumed it was a first, positive step toward legal residency. But the hoped-for reprieve quickly turned into a nightmare. 'My whole world came crashing down,' said the father, breaking down in tears. The man, who asked not to be identified for fear of arrest, described his son as a good kid who rarely left his Miami home except to go to work. 'We thought coming here was a good thing,' he said of his son's court appearance. Antonio Ramos, an immigration attorney with an office next to the Miami courthouse, said the government's new tactics are likely to have a chilling effect in Miami's large migrant community, discouraging otherwise law abiding individuals from showing up for their court appearances for fear of arrest. 'People are going to freak out like never before,' he said. Serrano entered the U.S. in September 2022 after fleeing his homeland due to threats associated with his work as an adviser to a politician in the Colombian capital, Bogota, according to his girlfriend, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested and deported. Last year, he submitted a request for asylum, she said. She said the couple met working on a cleanup crew to remove debris near Tampa following Hurricane Ian in September 2022. 'He was shy and I'm extroverted,' said the woman, who is from Venezuela. The couple slept on the streets when they relocated to Miami but eventually scrounged together enough money — she cleaning houses, him working construction — to buy a used car and rent a one-bedroom apartment for $1,400 a month. The apartment is decorated with photos of the two in better times, standing in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York, visiting a theme park and lounging at the beach. She said the two worked hard, socialized little and lived a law-abiding life. 'He didn't even have a speeding ticket. We both drive like grandparents,' she said. The woman was waiting outside the courthouse when she received a call from her boyfriend. 'He told me to go, that he had been arrested and there was nothing more to do,' she said. She was still processing the news and deciding how she would break it to his elderly parents. Meanwhile, she called an attorney recommended by a friend to see if anything could be done to reverse the arrest. 'I'm grateful for any help,' she said as she shuffled through her boyfriend's passport, migration papers and IRS tax receipts. 'Unfortunately, not a lot of Americans want to help us.'
