Musings on Immigration

Hay muchas personas que estas confundidas con la decisión de la Corte Suprema de Justicia en el caso de DAPA y DACA.  Para resolver todas sus inquietudes, voy a contestar las preguntas más comunes con referencia al tema.   Cual fue la decisión de la Corte Suprema de Justicia y que significa?      La Corte Suprema de Justicia decidió no tomar una decisión en el caso.   El caso no trataba de decidir si el DAPA and DACA eran legales y constitucionales sino de decidir si el Juez del Distrito de Texas podía suspender esos programas temporalmente hasta que el tomara la decisión final.       La decisión de la Corte Suprema de Justicia acaba por completo el DACA, DAPA, y DACA ampliada?    El DAPA y la expansión de DACA están temporalmente suspendido hasta que la corte del Distrito de Texas tome una decisión final.   La corte del Distrito de Texas no tomara la decisión hasta en el otoño.   Es más seguro que la corte del distr...

Todas las personas en los Estados Unidos, incluidos los extranjeros y aun los con ordenes de deportacion, tienen ciertos derechos básicos que deben ser respetados por los agentes de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE). Estos derechos se derivan tanto de la Constitución de los Estados Unidos. y las leyes de Estados Unidos. Como extranjero, usted tiene los siguientes derechos: SU DERECHO A DENEGAR LA ENTRADA A SU CASA Usted tiene el derecho de negar la entrada a un agente de ICE a su casa sin una orden válida. Esta orden debe ser firmado por un juez. Usted puede negarse a abrir la puerta, o se puede cerrar la puerta después de descubrir que el agente no tiene una orden válida. Los agentes del ICE generalmente no vienen con una orden judicial. Estos agentes suelen venir a la casa de alguien con una orden final de deportación, muy temprano en la mañana. Si alguien está golpeando en su puerta a las 6:00 am, no le es requerido abrir la puerta. Mirar fuera de primera. Si es un agente de...

November 2014, after a stinging defeat at the polls, and with little left to lose in his political legacy, Obama announced a series of DHS policy memos that, when implemented, would rearrange his deportation priorities (after becoming the Deportation President with more than 2.5 million people deported), and create formalized system of Deferred Action to help long term resident undocumented people (the backbone of much of our service sector) to obtain work permits (DAPA).  Obama apparently preferred to do this policy changes by memo, arguing that they were not "substantive" changes to regulation, and thus did not need to go through the formal Administrative Procedures Act (APA) rulemaking processing (which takes about 6 months, or less, done properly). State Attorney Generals, led by Texas promptly brought suit, under a series of novel theories, arguing that this was no mere policy change, but rather a substantive fix with massive benefits and enormous costs to the states...

Why is there no decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of appeals on the Obama administration's appeal of the District Court order temporarily stopping DAPA (Deferred Action for Parental Accountability)?  This is the question on the minds of millions of undocumented parents of US Citizens.  President Obama announced DAPA on November 20, 2015, with much fanfare and gave a sense to the immigrant communities around the US that he would finally attempt to fulfill his empty campaign promises on Immigration Reform. I have blogged previously about how Obama could solve the problem raised by the District Court Judge by simply creating and implementing regulations, something he could have EASILY done in February when the District Court stopped the DAPA memo from moving forward, but which until today, six months later, he has not done (and it would have been in effect now)!  Don't expect Obama to help the immigrant community by moving forward in the regulatory path any time soon,...

Todo el mundo sabe que hay una "línea" para obtener la residencia permanente legal en los Estados Unidos. La mayoría de los estadounidenses no saben que esta línea puede durar décadas, y que mucha gente en esta línea son en realidad ya residentes en los Estados Unidos, tanto legales como sin papeles. Cada mes, el Departamento de la Oficina de Visas del Estado publica la lista de fechas que están siendo aceptadas para la aprobación de residente permanente. Esta información se publicará en el "Boletín de Visas." A principios de septiembre de 2015, el Boletín de Visas contenía un nuevo segundo conjunto de fechas. En primer lugar, estaban las fechas para los que podrían ser aprobados para la residencia permanente. En segundo lugar, hubo una serie de fechas para los que lo haría, mientras que actualmente no autorizable, podría solicitar el ajuste de estatus para ser aprobado en un futuro próximo. Este fue un cambio importante en el Boletín de Visas, y fue recibido ...

We found out this week that the "new" panel that will hear the actual DAPA appeal in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is actually the old panel.  Judges Smith and Elrod were the majority decision in motions panel which declined to lift the stay put in place by Judge Hanen from the Federal District Court in Texas.  Using polemics better suited for a political rally, Judge Hanen put a stop to DAPA and expanded DACA just as they were about to go into effect.  Judges Smith and Elrod, although less "dynamic" in their political tilt, made it clear that they were swayed by Judge Hanen and not by the rather lackluster lawyering of the Department of Justice, and refused to lift the stay. Most advocates for reasonable immigration reform (and quite of few active Republicans) were deflated when news broke on the makeup of the panel.  There had been much hope created when the panel earlier in June had asked for briefings from both sides on whether or not the appeals panel to h...

THE GOP AND IMMIGRATION REFORM The GOP will control both the Houses of Congress come January 19, 2015.   Mitt Romney , in a massive shift from his 2012 presidential campaign position, says that one of the first things the GOP will do is pass some sort (unclear what exactly) of "immigration reform" and put it on the President's desk in 2015.  Two things about this. First, if Mitt Romney had said this during the campaign in 2012, we would be calling him President Romney today.  It is rather off of Romney to say this now, particularly since he is taking heat from the likes of Glenn Beck in doing so.  If Romney really believed this, one has to ask, did he have a change of heart? Or, is he cynically duping people into supporting GOP candidates, with no real intention to address a key part of our economic future as a country? Second, what does "immigration reform" mean when used by Mitt Romney and the GOP today? Inspired by the classic line uttered by Inigo Mont...

A group of immigration attorneys and others interested in immigration have been brainstorming about what President Obama could do to "fix" some of the problems in our broken immigration system. These are some of the smartest, most forward thinking individuals I know in the area of immigration law. Their ideas are specific, detailed, and easy to implement These ideas involve mostly policy change, not a lengthy regulatory fix.   The nightmare scenario for many immigrants dealing with our current immigration system is not always caused by the laws enacted by Congress (some are),  Rather, these are problems either created by current administration policy, or by policies adopted by prior administrations. The President can change no laws. But, he can change regulations and policies.  And, while our laws are indeed "broken" in many ways, the regulations and policies themselves are the source of many of the issues current plaguing our legal immigration system, and stra...

Much has been written in the last two days about the Obama Administration's release of its FY 2013 official "removal statistics."  Some have noted that the number of removals (this means displacement of people to foreign countries that they may have had no contact with for decades) went down by 10% from FY2012's record level. Yet, Obama's ICE still deported 369,000 men, women and children (yes children) in the 12 months of 2013. That is 30,750 people a month, 1,111 people a day, 42 people every hour, or almost one person, every 90 seconds, of every day, all year long.  This "lower" number of deportations is a higher number of people deported in one year than President Bush ever deported in one year in his entire presidency.  Let's not kid ourselves. Obama's ICE is a people deportation machine. Every part of that machine is well-oiled to either convince people to accept deportation by deceptive means (e.g. you have no relief), force them to accep...

"Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country" - President Obama, Inaugural Address, January 21, 2013. In one simple and lofty sentence, President Obama made a commitment to make comprehensive immigration reform a priority.  Again.  He has enacted some positive measures on behalf of the immigration community.  He allowed ICE to use discretion to deport those that pose a real threat to American society.  He finally created a provisional waiver for families that have been truly afraid of not coming back to the United States if they leave for an immigrant visa interview abroad.  He created a program for the immigrant youth who were brought to the United States, through no fault of their own, to stay in the United States with a work permit, provided th...

President Obama announced a significant change in its previously announced prosecutorial discretion program. Effective immediately (although without a process to use yet), any person who meets the f ollowing criteria can be considered for an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, can live free of the fear of deportation, can get a work permit: came to the United States under the age of sixteen; has continuously resided in the United States for a least five years preceding June 15, 2012, and is present in the United States on June 15, 2012; is currently in school, has graduated from high school, has obtained a general education development certificate, or is an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States; has not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, multiple misdemeanor offenses, or otherwise poses a threat to national security or public safety; and is not above the age of thirty. Here is t...

There has been a lot of casting of blame for this last weekend's vote against a sensible and compassionate immigration bill that would have given hope and a future to hundreds of thousands of immigrant children. Most of the pointing fingers direct blame at the Republicans for their "filibuster" of the DREAM Act. Without dispute the Republicans have, in fact, adopted a virulent anti-immigration position that will ultimately lead to minority status for the party . But Republicans are not the reason the DREAM Act failed. Everyone knew that Republicans would not vote for the DREAM Act. The only three Republicans who did vote for the DREAM Act either are leaving Congress or do not have a concern about the right wing of the party. So, if the Republicans are not to blame, who is? President Obama and the Democrats. Really. Here are 5 reasons why President Obama is to blame for the failure of immigration reform. 1. Five Democratic Senators abandoned the party and voted a...

President Obama has always insisted that immigration reform is a top priority for the president’s first term. The president’s position on was recently reiterated by White House spokesman Nick Shapiro who said that “the president has consistently said that he wants to start the discussion later this year because our immigration system is broken … but the economy comes first.” The big “but” is what generally concerns all those who are pushing for reform. However, another spokesperson for the president informed the press that the president intends to try to take comprehensive immigration reform to the floor later this year, probably in the fall. Cause for hope. Additional reasons for hope include the following: First, the president considers himself to be a great “multi-tasker.” (See the president’s rebuffing of candidate McCain who proposed that the debates cease so they could focus on the economic crisis). This goes to the fact that the president can work both on the economy and the bro...