In May and June 2025, ASISTA joined partners at Boston College School of Law, Harbor COV, and Tahirih to submit an amicus briefs to the First and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeals in cases challenging the executive order on birthright citizenship. ASISTA and partners highlighted the importance of maintaining a preliminary injunction against implementing the order. If the order were implemented, many immigrant mothers of U.S.-born children would only be able to prove their child’s citizenship by submitting documentation about the child’s father’s immigration status. For survivors of intimate partner violence, just knowing the need for this documentation could make it difficult or impossible to leave the abusive relationship. For survivors of sexual assault or trafficking, contacting the perpetrator for the paperwork could put them and their families in immediate physical danger. Using real-life examples, the brief illustrates the stakes if immigrant parents were forced to choose between maintaining their safety and establishing their children’s rights. It urges the court not let this become reality. Read the First Circuit Brief, Doe v. Trump , here ; read the Fourth Circuit Brief, Casa, Inc., et al. v. Trump , here .
On March 14, 2025, President Trump attempted to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify carrying out deportations without the due process of immigration proceedings. Since then, multiple federal courts have ruled the invocation was unlawful, but the government continues to fight for its usage, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 16, 2025, the Supreme Court maintained a temporary prohibition on the deportations planned in Texas and sent the issue back to the lower courts. ASISTA celebrates the positive rulings but notes with condemnation that the push against them is ongoing. Check ASISTA’s alert: The Fight to Protect Survivors from the Alien Enemies Act Continue.
ALERT : Despite misinformation out there, VAWA, U and T visa programs have NOT been cancelled or terminated! These bipartisan protections were created by Congress and the Administration cannot unilaterally take them away. While there is news that ICE has changed its guidance on enforcement actions related to potential or actual beneficiaries of victim-based benefits, we want to be VERY clear that the VAWA, U and T visa programs have NOT been cancelled or terminated. Please consult with a trusted immigration attorney in your area with any questions. You can find a qualified immigration attorney at the National Immigration Legal Services Directory .
In conjunction with the new fee rule that went into effect on April 1, 2024, USCIS updated immigration forms, including the I-918 and related forms. Starting June 3, 2024, USCIS will only accept the new version of the form. This short grace period will create significant hardships and hurdles for those who have sought or obtained signed certifications on the previous version of the form.
On June 23, 2023, ASISTA and Tahirih Justice Center submitted a comment to the Proposed Medicare and Medicaid Services rule that would extend health benefits under the ACA to DACA recipients, welcoming the change and advocating for inclusion of U petitioners prior to BFD/waitlist adjudication. Click here to access the letter.
On April 20, 2022, ASISTA submitted this comment in response to the “Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension, Without a Change, of a Currently Approved Collection: Petition To Remove the Conditions on Residence,” initially published in the Federal Register on October 15, 20211 and reopened for 30 days for additional public comments on March 21, 2022.
Click here to access ASISTA’s full comment on USCIS Policy Manual Changes: Volume 3: Humanitarian Protection and Parole, Part D, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
On October 18, 2021, ASISTA submitted a comment to DOS in response to a Request for Public Input identifying barriers that impede access to immigration benefits, fair and efficient adjudications of these benefits, and recommendations on how to remove these barriers. We focused our comment on the challenges immigrant survivors and their derivatives face when consular processing. Thank you to our members across the country for providing their insights on barriers at consular posts. ASISTA’s Comments to Docket Number DOS-2021-0017 can be viewed here .
On October 4, 2021, ASISTA hosted a White House Listening Session to share insights and recommendations to the White House as they develop the U.S.’s first National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence. Click here to access the session recording & here to access the presentation materials .
As usual, there have been several important policy and practice updates over the last few weeks. From a new ICE directive on victim-centered approaches, to litigation updates, new calls for examples and stakeholder engagements. Read more about some of these updates in our latest edition of ICYMI here .
Last month, the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) sent a letter signed by 105 organizations to Senate leadership to strengthen protections for immigrant survivors in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 2021. For over 25 years, VAWA has served as a rare example of how a bipartisan Congress can protect survivors and strengthen their ability to overcome abuse. Now, as the Senate considers its next actions on VAWA, we urge them to continue the tradition of safeguarding protections for all survivors, including immigrant survivors who are experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other crimes.
On December 28, 2020, ASISTA submitted two comments in response to two proposed Department of Justice, Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR rules) which would limit access to relief for immigrants with matters in Immigration Court, including survivors.
On August 13, 2020, ASISTA together with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) , Freedom Network USA and the Tahirih Justice Center joined over 140 national, state, and local organizations called on USCIS to stop its harmful policy of rejecting applications for blank fields on forms. Currently, this policy applies to asylum seekers, as well as U and T visa applicants, all forms of relief for vulnerable populations. We call on USCIS to end this harmful policy that causes needless barriers for applicants, the advocates who serve them, as well as U visa certifying agencies.
While we continue to advocate and await further guidance, we have prepared this Practice Pointer, Filing Deadlines for RFEs, NOIDs, NOIRs, and I-290Bs , to assist you in the meeting deadlines during this national emergency. We encourage you to also visit our partners pages on COVID-19, CLINIC and CAST .
by: Cecelia Friedman Levin, ASISTA Policy Director with Grace Huang, Policy Director, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-based Violence
On April 7, 2020, ASISTA supplemented its initial letter to USCIS regarding its recommendations in light of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic. Immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and other serious crimes already face myriad barriers accessing services and assistance, and these barriers have been exacerbated during this unprecedented emergency. We call on USCIS to take additional steps to ensure that survivors can fully access protections during this COVID-19 crisis.
ASISTA has updated its practice advisory regarding U visa application rejections due to blank spaces on the Form I-918 and I-918A. This updated advisory has filing practice pointers, as well as suggestions for re-filing rejected forms.
This week, ASISTA, along with our partners, submitted an amicus brief in the case Northwest Immigrant Rights Project v. U.S.Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. This brief challenges USCIS’s sweeping changes to fee waiver policies which limit access to critical immigration relief for immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and other crimes.
On January 21, 2020, ASISTA submitted comments in response to a proposed rule issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security establishing several new bars to asylum, including creating barriers for immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. Read ASISTA’s comment here .