The Austrian Constitutional Court on Wednesday suspended the deportation proceedings of an unidentified Afghan national (“the Applicant”) upon request from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to do so earlier in the month. The Applicant was scheduled for deportation after two failed asylum applications and was held in a detention facility since April. Upon [...]

The Canadian government on Friday announced that it will resettle 20,000 vulnerable Afghans facing threats from the Taliban and being forced to flee as Taliban edges closer to assuming total control of Afghanistan. The Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stated that the government is deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and assured [...]

The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously held that a homeless person’s vehicle automatically qualifies as a homestead without the need for a declaration and that the impoundment of that vehicle and associated costs constitute excessive fines—a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution. The case involves Steven Gregory Long, a 56-year-old Native [...]

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a public health order on Wednesday requiring all school staff to show proof of full vaccination or in the alternative submit themselves for COVID-19 testing at least once a week. The order applies to all public and private schools, including K-12 schools, but does not apply to [...]

The Higher People’s Court of Liaoning (“appellate court”) in China on Tuesday upheld Canadian citizen Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s death sentence for methamphetamine smuggling. Initially, the Dalian Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Schellenberg to 15 years in prison for smuggling drugs. On Schellenberg’s appeal, the appellate court remanded the case for retrial concluding that the punishment was [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Monday upheld a New Jersey state law enforcement directive limiting local police interactions with, and/or barring its cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal passed Law Enforcement Directive 2018-6, also called the Immigrant Trust Directive (“the Directive”), in November 2018 to [...]

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Laurie Earl on Thursday refused to block California Governor Gavin Newsom from claiming in the official voters’ guide that the upcoming September recall elections was organized by Republicans and Trump supporters. The recall elections in California, scheduled for September 14, would be the second effort to recall a governor in the [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced a practice or pattern investigation into the city of Phoenix and its police department to determine whether Phoenix Police Department (“PPD”) uses excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, whether PPD engages in discriminatory policing practices in violation of federal laws and the Constitution, and whether [...]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new federal moratorium on evictions on Tuesday in counties with heightened levels of community transmission amid “unexpected developments in the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rise of the Delta variant.” The CDC’s previous moratorium on evictions expired Saturday and with the Supreme Court’s [...]

The Chairwoman of UK Home Affairs Committee (“the Committee”), Yvette Cooper, wrote a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday raising “serious concerns about the shocking conditions the Committee observed” during its visit to an immigration detention facility in Kent the previous day. The letter was made public on Friday and noted cramped and [...]