Musings on Immigration

Special Immigrant Juveniles Will Now Face Years and Years of Wait Time Before Getting a Green Card Due to the high demand for Special Immigrant Juvenile Visas, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have already reached their yearly limit for available visas in the EB-4 category, the category in which the Special Immigrant Juvenile Visas fall. The fiscal year lasts until September 30. The May 2016 visa bulletin shows that on May 1, 2016, the date on which visas will be current for Special Immigrant Juvenile applicants, will regress back to January 1, 2010, for applicants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Applicants whose applications for Adjustment of Status are not decided by May 1, 2016, and whose Special Immigrant Juvenile Petitions were filed after January 1, 2010, will not be able to apply for Adjustment of Status until the visa becomes current again. Applicants whose applications for Adjustment of Status are decided by May 1, 2016, or whose Special Immigrant Juvenile...

Prior to this year, every undocumented immigrant or legal immigrant who was removable due to being undocumented, a criminal problem, or otherwise was detained upon any contact with immigration. However, there were and are over 11 million removable immigrants in the United States, and there was no priority for who we detained and deported first. That meant a single mom who was undocumented with five kids and no criminal history could be deported before an immigrant with felony convictions just by having contact with immigration first. Resources were stretched in all directions, and there wasn't enough of a focus on detaining dangerous criminal aliens. The Enforcement Priority System In response, on November 14, 2014, immigration announced the Civil Immigration Enforcement Priorities. Click here:  Civil Immigration Enforcement Priorities . These priorities created concrete system regarding which immigrants, who are removable, will be detained upon contact with immigration...

The LA Times Reports that apprehensions of undocumented migrants are down significantly this year , and appear to have dropped to levels not seen since the 1970s. In fact, the Yuma Sector of the Border Patrol reported not a single arrest for 2 days in December 2008. This from a Sector that was featured on that ridiculous show “Homeland Security” featuring migrants caught last summer. Apparently, there was no guarantee of catching anyone today! One has to ask: Is this a result of all the money the Bush, and now Obama Administrations have poured into border security and deterrence? Or, is there something much bigger at play here? What comes to mind immediately when these raw statistics are rehearsed is that old James Carville saying from the 1992 election: “Its the Economy Stupid.” The reality of the economic impact on the sharp reduction of undocumented immigration is played out in the last paragraph of this article when it becomes clear that while there are still folks wanting and eve...