Musings on Immigration

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...

           On June 5, 2014 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the process for individuals to renew enrollment in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has submitted an updated form allowing individuals previously enrolled in DACA, to renew their deferred action for a period of two years. USCIS will also continue to accept initial applications for DACA from individuals who have not previously applied.              Individuals may request DACA renewal if they continue to meet the initial criteria and the additional guidelines below: INITIAL CRITERIA 1.     Arrived in the United States prior to age 16 and before June 15, 2007; 2.     Remained in the United States since June 15, 2007 and were present on June 15, 2012 when the program was announced; 3.     Under 31 years of age on June 15, 2012; 4. ...

Corporate Immigration Policies: A Survey Immigration is a key component of many companies forward-looking strategy for workplace competitiveness. American employers who currently hired foreign national workers, and those who plan to do so in the future, need to have a formal corporate immigration policy to ensure that they are competitive in the marketplace and can attract and hold top foreign talent. A US employer can legally hire foreign nationals under a variety of visa categories, but each visa category has one commonality--many of these foreign national employees want to remain permanently in the United States.  Just as important, given training and lost opportunity costs associated with departing "star" employees, most companies want to keep the foreign talent they have already sponsored for a work visa.  Give the lengthy waiting period for so many immigrant visa categories, many employees want to start as soon as possible on their "green card" proce...

This morning the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced newly proposed rules that will allow the spouses of highly skilled workers to work in the United States.   This came as welcome news to many eagerly awaiting Obama’s promise of comprehensive immigration reform, which seems to have stalled in Congress. Proposed changes in the regulations aim to attract and retain highly skilled immigrants to the United States, and, as Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker stated, to “unleash more of the extraordinary contributions that immigrants have always made to America’s innovation economy.”   Presently, spouses of these highly skilled workers are able to enter the U.S. to join their spouses but are not permitted to work.   DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated that the proposed change will help keep America strong, enhancing our country’s competitiveness and supporting economic growth by attracting highly trained workers in science, technology and engineering ...

The American Immigration Lawyers Association announced yesterday that ICE will no longer require a detained foreign national’s signature on Form G-28s, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative. This is a welcome announcement as some local offices were refusing to speak to a detained individual’s attorney under the excuse that the detained individual had not signed a Form G-28.  Detained foreign nationals are routinely moved during their first few days of detention with no notice to their families. For example, in Georgia, detained foreign nationals are commonly moved between two rural locations (Lumpkin, Georgia, and Irwin, Georgia). This constant movement, combined with the rural locations and lack of notice, made it effectively impossible to obtain a signed G-28 in the first few days of a foreign national’s detention. Thus, detained foreign nationals were denied the benefit of an attorney and their families were unable to obtain legal updates on t...

Justin Bieber can finally stop holding his breath.   The White House has finally responded to the “Deport Justin Bieber and Revoke His Green Card” petition.   As I’m sure you all remember from my previous post, “angry” citizens had petitioned the White House to have Bieber deported following his arrest in Miami on DUI and resisting arrest charges.   As I pointed out in that post, the petition was misguided in that Bieber is in the United States on an O visa, not as a green card holder.   I also boldly predicted the White House would pass the buck saying they don’t comment on specific cases.   I don’t get tired of saying, “I was right.” Though the White House statement was a typical non-answer, it was at least amusing, which is not typical of the White House.   After saying that they were “sorry to disappoint, but [they] won’t be commenting on this one,” referring to the petition, the White House used the opportunity to push for immigration reform. ...

On February 28, 2014, the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedent decision opening new avenues of relief for many individuals with old criminal convictions they otherwise thought would forever prevent them from seeking relief before an Immigration Judge.  See Matter of Ezzat H. Abdelghany , 26 I&N Dec. 254 (BIA 2014) .  This BIA Decision held that "[a] lawful permanent resident who is otherwise eligible for relief under former section 212(c) of the Act may apply for such relief in removal or deportation proceedings without regard to whether the relevant conviction resulted from a plea agreement or a trial and without regard to whether he or she was removable or deportable under the law in effect when the conviction was entered".  Id. Until this Decision was issued, those who were found guilty of a crime after a jury trial entered before April 24, 1996, were not eligible to apply for discretionary relief under former section 212(c) of the Act.  Former 212(...