Emma Tuohy Featured as Expert Source in the Inquirer’s Reporting on Record Deportation Orders
August 13, 2026
Partner Emma Tuohy was recently interviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer for their investigation into the sharp rise in deportation orders coming out of immigration courts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. In a piece published August 13, 2026, reporter Joe Yerardi turned to Emma — a past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Philadelphia chapter — to help explain what the numbers look like from inside the courtroom.
The Inquirer’s analysis found that orders of removal or voluntary departure at the Philadelphia immigration court climbed 71% between May and June, reaching the highest monthly figure since at least late 1997. Emma told the paper how she is seeing removal orders in cases where they would not have expected them before, and that, in addition to the increase, “cases are getting more difficult to win.”
She pointed to a line of Board of Immigration Appeals decisions that has accelerated case timelines and narrowed the paths to relief. Under those rulings, she explained, judges are in some circumstances directed to order a person removed before that person has had a full hearing — meaning cases are being written off as meritless before anyone has had the chance to develop the evidence or prepare the argument. Emma also noted that the rise in detention compounds the problem on the representation side: a detained person is not earning an income, which pushes the cost of counsel onto family members and makes hiring an attorney a much harder decision.
That last point is borne out in the data. The Inquirer found that individuals with legal representation are far more likely to avoid a removal or voluntary departure order — yet the share of people in these proceedings who have a lawyer has fallen sharply, from roughly 57% in January 2025 to under 24% this June.
Read the full Inquirer article here.
October 8, 2026
Microsoft, Adobe, and Others Suspended From Submitting PERM Applications On October 8, 2026, at a White House press conference with Vice President JD Vance, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced...MoreOctober 8, 2026
DHS Proposes $70,000 Fee for OPT Work Authorization On October 8, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a new $70,000 fee for Optional Practical Training, the popular...More
190 N. Independence Mall West, Suite 501 (6th and Race Sts.) Philadelphia, PA 19106
P: 215.925.0705 F: 215.925.5105 | info@lhscimmigration.com
