Musings on Immigration

In another staggering blow to the U.S. immigrant community, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which has protected nearly 900,000 young unauthorized immigrants from deportation over the course of its existence, has been rescinded. In her recent memorandum to USCIS officials, Elaine C. Duke, acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, rescinded the June 15, 2012 memorandum that created the DACA program. Effective immediately, all initial requests for DACA will be rejected by USCIS unless they were accepted by Sept. 5, 2017. Also, USCIS will no longer approve advance parole requests associated with DACA. All DACA renewal requests will be rejected unless they are received by Oct. 5, 2017 from current beneficiaries whose benefits expire between Sept. 5, 2017 and March 5, 2018. Also, all applications for Employment Authorization Documents associated with new DACA cases will be rejected unless they were filed by Sept. 5, 2017. U...

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement suspects that a person is an undocumented immigrant, it can issue a “detainer request” to law enforcement officers, which is essentially a request to hold the person in a local jail until ICE officers can arrive. The purpose of this procedure is to remove undocumented immigrants who have committed criminal offenses from the country, but opponents argue that under certain circumstances, it violates people’s Fourth Amendment rights. Some law enforcement officers, such as Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, have chosen to ignore detainer requests unless a suspect faces serious felony charges. In 2014, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that ICE detainers were voluntary. Texas, however, is located in the Fifth Circuit, and on April 27, it became the first state to pass a bill that requires law enforcement officers to honor ICE detainer requests. That means officers like Sheriff Sally Hernandez who deny detainer requests coul...

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program gives foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents in the United States by making a qualifying investment. In order for an investment to qualify, it must be made in either a new commercial enterprise or a regional center. As U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services explains, investing in a regional center offers a number of advantages over investing in a new commercial enterprise. For example, regional centers were set up to manage EB-5 investments, which means the immigrant will probably have fewer management responsibilities. Also, indirect jobs count toward the job creation requirement if the capital goes to a regional center. There are strict eligibility guidelines that must be met for a foreign entrepreneur to obtain an EB-5 visa. If your petition is successful, you will have two years to fulfill the requirements of the EB-5 visa program, or you and your family could face removal proceedings. If you are in...

Justice was served today at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (“ICE”) office in Atlanta, Georgia.   Our clients, a mother and her minor child, were facing imminent deportation to their native country, Guatemala.   Their deportation had been scheduled for Monday at 7:00 am, but thanks to our amazing immigration attorneys, Mario Guevara from Mundo Hispanico, and the General Counsel of Guatemala in Atlanta, Georgia, our client will stay in the country and have an opportunity to present her case before an immigration judge. Our client and her child came to the U.S. in 2014, after fleeing her native country and fearing for her life.   She hired a local attorney, who did nothing but take her money.   He failed to request a credible fear interview, failed to submit an asylum application, and failed to inform ICE officers of our client’s fear to return to her native country.   This placed our client in a big predicament that almost got her sent b...

People with pending applications with the U.S. Citizenship and immigration services often need a "travel permit" or "advance parole" document before leaving the U.S. This will prevent applicants from having their applications deemed "abandoned" for having departed the country without asking first for permission while waiting a final decision on their applications.    Practically speaking, getting an advance parole document is not complicated: you pay the fee, fill out a form, and your travel permit is issued within a few weeks. What's complicated about this process is actually knowing if traveling outside the U.S. is in your best interest when you know you have a pending application. USCIS will gladly take your fee and issue a travel permit, but that doesn't necessarily mean you are actually eligible to travel abroad without complications. Only an attorney can give you a definite answer on whether you should--or shouldn't--travel abroa...

by Danielle Conley , Partner It is safe to say that although October has been quite a busy month in Immigration Court, it has been well worth it!   Just today, I won my sixth of six merit hearings on behalf of six different individuals and their families who now have the privilege of remaining together in the United States!      It all started on October 2, 2012, when the Atlanta Immigration Court correctly found that a mother and son who were both in removal proceedings were each in their own right entitled to green cards in the United States as a result of the impact that their loss would have had on the mother’s two teenage daughters.   Her eldest son became the man of the family after they were devastated by the deportation of their father in 2008, and the judge simply could not bear the thought of the emotional impact on the two girls if they then lost their mother and brother after everything they have already been through.   ...