121A: Recommends that the Executive Office for Immigration Review establish, through rulemaking, standards and procedures by which the Attorney General may certify cases to himself or herself.
121B: Recommends that the Executive Office for Immigration Review create an exception to the strict thirty day deadline for filing an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals for pro se applicants.
121C: Recommends that the Executive Office for Immigration Review continue the implementation of an integrated, system-wide electronic filing and case management system nationwide, with adequate funding from Congress.
121D: Recommends that an individual who is not subject to mandatory detention under the Immigration and Nationality Act may obtain release from immigration detention including bond, parole, and release on recognizance or under an order of supervision.
121E: Recommends that the Circuit Court of Appeals establish or expand pro bono programs to provide pro bono representation to pro se appellants to help efficiently resolve immigration cases.
121F: Recommends that the Executive Office for Immigration Review amend regulations to eliminate the automatic termination of voluntary departure when an applicant appeals their case and also to implement an automatic stay of removal or deportation pending judicial review.
Midyear Meeting - Las Vegas, Nevada
109A: Urges the Attorney General to rescind the “Zero Tolerance” and “Operation Streamline" immigration policies and allow for individualized determination on whether to file criminal charges.
2018
Annual Meeting - Chicago, Illinois
119: The COI's 2018 Standards for the Custody, Placement and Care; Legal Representation; and Adjudication of Unaccompanied Alien Children in the United States.
2017
Midyear Meeting - Miami, Florida
10B: Reaffirms policies with respect to admittance of refugees and asylum seekers.
10C: Urges the Executive Branch to observe certain provisions with respect to border security.
113: Urges the United States Department of State to interpret the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1401, to recognize those children born to intended parents, even if those legally recognized parents do not have a biological (genetic or gestational) relationship to the child, so long as at least one of the intended parents is a U.S. citizen who is legally recognized as the child’s parent by the country of birth or the intended parents state of domicile and the relevant resident or physical presence requirements are met.
301: Urges Congress to protect due process and provide safeguards for immigrant, asylum-seeking children who entered the United States without parents.
2016
Annual Meeting - San Francisco, California
110 (Page 348): Urges federal, state, local and territorial law-enforcement authorities to provide an accurate translation of the Miranda warning in Spanish.
2015
Midyear Meeting - Houston, Texas
113: Supports the appointment of counsel for unaccompanied minors in all immigration proceedings and special training for state and other courts that hear related cases.
111 (Page 594): Adopts amendments to the 2012 ABA Civil Immigration Detention Standards from August 2014 to urge that segregation only be used as a last resort in ICE custody.
2014
Annual Meeting - Boston, Massachusetts
108 (Page 399): Supports initiatives that marshal the resources of newly-admitted lawyers to meet the unmet legal needs of underserved populations in sustainable ways.
2013
Annual Meeting - San Francisco, California
109 (Page 253): Adopts the black letter Standards for Programs 2 Providing Civil Pro Bono Legal Services to Persons of Limited Means, dated August 201 3 to 3 supplant the Standards adopted August 1996.
2012
Annual Meeting - Chicago, Illinois
102: Adopts the ABA Civil Immigration Detention Standards, dated August 2012, which govern the treatment of persons in the U.S. immigration detention system.
107B: Urges prosecutors to fulfill their traditional prosecutorial functions and further protect the public through the use of a broad spectrum of strategies to discharge that duty and urges increased funding for prosecutors to achieve these objectives.
107C: Urges defender organizations and criminal defense lawyers to address clients’ inter-related criminal, civil and non-legal problems and urges funding for these purposes.
113: Urges the Department of Homeland Security to create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program and immediately begin paroling into the United States already-approved Haitian beneficiaries of family-based visa petitions.
2011
Annual Meeting - Toronto, Ontario
103B: Supports modifications to immigration laws that take into account the best interests of minor children who may be affected by a parent, legal guardian, or primary caregiver’s immigration detention or removal.
103C: Supports policies for detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregivers of children to have meaningful participation with their attorneys at judicial proceedings involving their children; and that those involved in family and juvenile courts be educated regarding the connection between state child welfare laws and immigration laws.
103D: Supports prompt screening upon apprehension, that repatriation include formal intercountry child welfare agency involvement, and full access to documents for unaccompanied immigrant children.
103A: Supports laws to protect the rights of minors who are victims of human trafficking.
2010
Annual Meeting - San Francisco, California
100c: Urges federal, state, territorial, tribal and local governments to provide funding to state and federal public defender offices and legal aid programs specifically for the provision of immigration advice about the immigration consequences of criminal proceedings to indigent non-U.S. citizen defendants, and about any available relief from such consequences.
104: Adopts the ABA Model Access Act, dated August 2010, which is a model statute for implementing jurisdictions to establish and administer a civil right to counsel, consistent with ABA policy adopted in August 2006.
300: Supports full implementation of legislation by Congress to provide for the creation of Start-up visa (by way of the creation of the EB-6 Visa Program, the reformation of the EB-5 Visa Program or similar creation, reformation and/or restructuring of the current U.S. immigration regime) to provide for a mechanism whereby immigrant-founders of businesses can obtain legal status in the U.S.
Midyear Meeting - Orlando, Florida
104a: Urges the United States, state and territorial governments to work to ensure that the fundamental protections of Article 36 to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (“Article 36”) are extended fully and without obstacle to foreign nationals within United States borders.
114a: Urges the Department of Homeland Security to implement specific policies and procedures within the immigration removal adjudication system and urges Congress to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act regarding the removal of noncitizens convicted of certain crimes.
114b: Supports measures to improve immigration courts and create a more professional, independent and accountable immigration judiciary, including a provision to increase the number of immigration judges by at least 100, increase the number of law clerks to a ratio of one clerk per judge, increase the number of support personnel and increase the number of Assistant Chief Immigration Judges, and expand their deployment to regional courts.
114c: Supports improving the efficiency, transparency and fairness of administrative review by the Board of Immigration Appeals through increasing the resources available to the Board, including additional staff attorneys and additional Board members.
114d: Supports the restoration of federal judicial review of immigration decisions and urges Congress to enact legislation to ensure that noncitizens are treated fairly in the adjudication process and also to provide oversight for the government’s decision-making process.
114f: Supports the creation of an Article I court, with both trial and appellate divisions, to adjudicate immigration cases, which should have features substantially consistent with specific guidelines, or as an alternative to an Article I court, supports the creation of an independent agency for both trial and appellate functions.