Musings on Immigration

Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Sergey who lived in a faraway land known as the Soviet Union. He lived in Central Moscow in a tiny apartment with his mother, his father and his grandmother. Sergey’s father Michael was very smart, especially in math and physics, and always dreamed of being an astronomer. However, because Sergey and his family were Jewish, they were often denied many opportunities; and so his father was not allowed to study physics or attend graduate school to achieve his dreams. One day, Michael had to attend a conference in Warsaw, Poland, for his job. In Poland, he met dozens of other mathematicians like him, from places like France, England and the United States. Michael came back to his family and Moscow and said to them, “We must leave the Soviet Union and look for a better life somewhere else.” His wife agreed, and Michael applied for exit visas in order to leave the country. Once the government found out that Michael had applied for visas for himsel...

I had a very upset client contact me this last week. He was angry . . . at the Visa Bulletin. He could not understand how, after the start of the new fiscal year, there was essentially no movement in the visa numbers. I tried to calm him by telling him that he just needed to be patient. Then I realized how patronizing that sounded. How much longer did he need to wait? He has an approved immigrant visa petition (EB-3) with an early 2005 priority date in the worldwide category. So, I decided to try to figure out when he might actually get his green card. I ask that you bear with me through this process. This is a LONG post, but one I think you will appreciate reading. I have to warn you now, this math is a shot in the dark. I do NOT have all of the numbers of pending and approved cases in each category of employment based immigration. However, some estimate, based upon some pretty good numbers, is better than mere guesswork. Let me walk you through this analysis. However, I first ask you...

Trick-or-treat! Immigration is stirring up trouble again in Congress. Just when we thought we were safe to put the issue on the back-burner for another few months, Republican Senators David Vitter (LA) and Bob Bennett (UT) have found a way to sneak it back into some upcoming legislation. And this time, the new alliances are being formed and the new lines are being drawn are almost spooky. Sens. Vitter and Bennett are trying to attach an amendment to an upcoming Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill that would freeze Census Bureau funds if the organization does not add a question about the citizenship status of respondents to the more than 425 million forms before the once-a-decade count begins this coming April. The Senators claim that the bill is necessary in order to exclude illegal immigrants from the census count so their numbers won’t affect congressional appointment or legislative redistricting, both of which are based on population. Vitter says that the inclusion of ...

Over the course of the last year, the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (”BALCA”)has been posting a series of appeal decisions. These BALCA decisions routinely deny the labor certification appeal, even for minor, de minimis errors of the employer and/or counsel. An example of today’s postings include the following: BALCA Affirms Denial Based on Lack Of FEIN on Date of Filing for Domestic Household Employer http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=30340 BALCA affirms denial based on the fact that the employer, a domestic household, lacked a valid FEIN on the date of filing the labor certification. Matter of Edward J. Tierny, 2009-PER-00314 (7/13/09). AILA Doc. No. 09102061. BALCA Affirms Denial Because the Job Order Was Conducted Outside the 180 Day Requirement http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=30342 BALCA affirms the PERM denial based on the fact that the application was filed 187 days after the job order was placed, and consequently, the job order was con...

1. I have paid my relative’s Cobb County bond- why can’t he get out? Cobb County has implemented a 287 (g) program. Under this program, state and local law enforcement are authorized to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain people who may have violated the immigration laws. Once you pay the Cobb County bond, your relative will be placed under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer. The detainer provides ICE with a period of time to interview and assess the alien. This means that even if you pay the bond, he can’t leave the jail for 48 hours. 2. If I pay the county bond, what will happen? Your relative should be interviewed by an ICE official in Cobb County within 24 hours of the payment of the county bond. Your relative will be moved to a section of the jail designated for immigrants and will be transferred out of the jail- generally within 48 hours of bond payment. Note that the ICE official may issue an immigration bond – payment of which will result i...

What a horrible name for a post, but I am simply quoting the comment of DLG to an article published today by the Associated Press noting that the soaring number of deaths on the Southern Border so far this year. DLG’s full quote is as follows: Good, let them die. Maybe if enough of them die, they will start to think it isn’t worth it to sneak over the border. It isn’t our country’s job to make sure that they are safe sneaking in. We have to understand, as someone who recognizes that a broken immigration system is one of the principal reasons why these people (and they are people, real human beings with families and children and parents) keep dying in our southern desert. Now, in case you think this is an isolated sentiment, here is the comment of “Illegal Foreign Nationals”: Gotta love the news media and the ACLU, they keep calling these criminals immigrants by mistake. At least those that die aren’t stealing from america and the citizens of this country, except in funeral costs and r...