ILAP Community Update: March 7
March 7, 2025
Dear Community,
Following President Trump’s election in November, former ACLU legal director David Cole reminded us: “Without civil society, we would not have the rights we enjoy today. I have faith in its power and resilience.”
Civil society is all of us – the non-profits, community organizations, and individual people that create our own check on government and power grabs. As the Trump administration moves forward with laying the groundwork for mass surveillance of immigrant communities and revives the extraordinarily cruel practice of incarcerating immigrant families, we must remember to use our collective power.
Don’t stop calling your members of Congress, don’t stop raising your voices.
ACTION TO TAKE THIS WEEK
At the end of 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) put in place an important rule that allowed certain work permits – including for asylum seekers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and many others – to be automatically extended for 540 days.
This rule was needed to address processing delays at USCIS that resulted in people not having their new work permits in hand prior to their old work permits expiring - at no fault of their own. These delays were harming workers and businesses and had other related economic impacts. The rule saved approximately 800,000 workers across the country from needlessly losing their jobs, saved U.S. employers $3.5 billion in labor turnover costs, and saved $1.1 billion in federal tax revenue.
Tell Maine’s Senators to Protect Access to Work Permits & Maine Businesses
Now Congress is considering a measure that would overturn this rule. Contact your Senators today and tell them to protect Maine workers and businesses!
Immigration Law & Policy Updates:
Below is a summary of some key immigration law and policy developments from the week of March 2, 2025.
PLEASE NOTE: All updates are subject to rapid change.
Immigration Announcement:
Trump administration restarts cruel practice of family detention
What It Means:
Media this week reported that the Trump administration has restarted the exceptionally cruel practice of detaining families.
ILAP staunchly opposes the incarceration of children, which is shown to have serious long-term impacts on their physical and mental health and well-being.
Beneficiaries and sponsors file lawsuit challenging Trump administration’s end of humanitarian parole programs
In one of the Trump administration’s first Executive Orders, they announced the end of the Cuba Haiti Nicaragua Venezuela parole program and other categorical parole programs (like for Afghans and Ukrainians). The terminations affected 875,000 people and clearly demonstrate the Trump administration’s overall efforts to strip lawful status from people and put them on a path to deportation.
These programs had offered critical pathways to humanitarian protection in the U.S., as well as family reunification. In addition to ending the opportunity for new people to apply for these life-saving programs, the administration halted applications that were already in process.
In a new lawsuit, beneficiaries of the program as well as U.S. sponsors are challenging the termination of these parole programs. Learn more about the human impact here.
The Trump administration issued a new Executive Order that would designate English as the official language of the United States.
Advocates are concerned about what the implications could mean in terms of language access and current requirements of federal agencies to provide information in multiple languages.
Trump administration takes more steps to increase surveillance of noncitizens
Multiple news outlets have reported the Trump administration’s devastating deportations of hundreds of people to Panama. They include people from India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, with reports from lawyers that they are at risk for their lives if returned to their home countries.
Many of the people who were deported are being incarcerated inside a hotel, making signals and putting up signs to the windows begging for help.
The administration also deported Venezuelans being held at Guantanamo Bay back to Venezuela, a country facing extreme human rights violations and a total collapsed economy, leaving limited to no access to food and medicine.
President Trump announces plan for $5 million “gold card”
Last week, President Donald Trump announced another piece of his administration’s vision for the U.S. immigration system — the Trump gold card. Under the plan, people who can pay $5 million can buy permanent residency and a path to U.S. citizenship.
The gold card would include a tax loophole making it so its ultrawealthy beneficiaries are not subject to taxes on their overseas income, unlike other U.S. residents.
Check out this ILAP staff op-ed in the Bangor Daily News to learn more!
For previous updates from ILAP, check out the links below:
February 28, 2025: February Golden Door
February 14, 2025: Community Update
February 7, 2025: Community Update
Know Your Rights
An important step you can take now to protect yourself is to learn your rights! See ILAP’s resources here.
Stay Connected:
Follow ILAP @ilapmaine on social media for the latest updates:
Members of the Maine Bar can support ILAP’s work by donating to the Campaign for Justice, a special collaborative fundraising effort by Maine’s legal community to support legal aid.
