CGRS is launching a new project—a searchable database of qualified and pre-vetted country specialists and health professionals who serve as expert witnesses to support asylum seekers in the United States. This service will be offered to attorneys and experts alike, free of charge. In addition to improving our referrals, which we have been providing through our technical assistance program for many years, CGRS will ramp up trainings for attorneys and experts on the use of expert testimony in immigration court to expand the pool of qualified experts and increase protection for individuals fleeing persecution.
CGRS joined by 10 other non-profit organizations and pro bono counsel Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis LLP, filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Osorio-Martinez, et al. v. Sessions, on appeal from denial of a preliminary injunction by a federal District Court. The case concerns the fate of four mothers and their children who have been detained at the Berks County family detention center in Leesport, Pennsylvania since 2015. CGRS presented arguments and country conditions information to assist the court in considering the likely risk of serious harm that the families face if removed to their countries-of-origin in the Northern Triangle region of Central America.
The Supreme Court announced yesterday it would hear arguments in October on President Trump’s travel ban and allowed a narrow portion of the ban to go forward. The high Court’s decision, however, largely preserves the lower court injunctions staying President Trump’s Executive Order. Specifically, it prevents the Administration from enforcing the ban against “foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” Those individuals can continue to travel here while the case before the Supreme Court remains pending.
