November/December 2018 Washington Letter

Criminal

New bipartisan prison reform bill emerges during lame duck

Congress is racing against time during the lame duck session to take up bipartisan prison and sentencing reform legislation introduced Nov. 15 that has garnered the support of the president.

ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security hosts 28th Annual Review conference

Hundreds of participants gathered in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1-2 for the 28th Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law.

Immigration

ABA opposes proposed regs on unaccompanied children

ABA President Robert Carlson submitted comments Nov. 6 urging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to withdraw proposed regulations governing the apprehension, processing, care and custody of alien minors and unaccompanied children.

Homelessness

Bill would bar income-based housing discrimination

Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced legislation in November that would prohibit discrimination against individuals based on their lawful source of income.

Criminal

Criminal Justice Section Fall Institute

The Criminal Justice Section’s Eleventh Annual Fall Institute brought experts together Nov. 1-2 to discuss pressing issues in criminal justice.

Criminal

Second Chance Act reauthorization bill introduced in Senate

ABA President Robert M. Carlson sent a letter Nov. 16 thanking Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for introducing S. 3635, legislation to reauthorize the Second Chance Act, which helps individuals transition from correctional confinement to productive lives.

Immigration

ABA expresses concerns about revisions proposed by ICE that would alter immigration detention standards

The ABA suggested changes Nov. 26 to draft revisions to national detention standards being considered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), emphasizing that is essential that “all facilities housing immigration detainees are safe and protect detainees’ statutory and constitutional rights.”

Immigration

Immigration

In a Nov. 27 statement, ABA President Robert M. Carlson urged Congress and the White House to “craft a comprehensive, peaceful resolution to our nation’s immigration challenges and to devote more resources to alleviate the backlog of asylum claims on the border and in the United States’ immigration courts.”

Elder

Guardianship

The Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing Nov. 28 to examine the findings and recommendations of a new committee report entitled “Ensuring Trust: Strengthening State Efforts to Overhaul the Guardianship Process and Protect Older Americans.”