Immigration Law

ENFORCEMENT FIRST IS WORKING

Posted on December 04, 2008
Now some of my pro-immigration cohorts may be upset with me for saying this - but I think the Center for Immigration Studies is right about something important. We know from various government and other reports that the number of unlawfully present immigrants in this country has been rapidly declining over the last year or so...

ACTING USCIS HEAD RESIGNS

Posted on December 03, 2008
Jock Scharfen is departing as USCIS' Acting Director just six months after taking the position. Now USCIS, ICE and the AAO are all leaderless.

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: RAMON SAMPSON - DRUMMER

Posted on December 03, 2008
Not every immigrant of the day needs to be famous. Some will likely find fame later on, like 18 year old Ramon Sampson, a recent immigrant from South Africa to my home town of Memphis. Ramon was recently profiled in the Memphis Commercial Appeal for his fabulous drumming skills...

STATE DEPARTMENT GETS ALL HIP ON US

Posted on December 02, 2008
Actually, this is a pretty cool. DOS has created a social networking site for J-1 exchange visitor to share their experiences. I was also impressed by the free speech on the site. Take this post from a frustrated visa applicant:In one of the sides, Department of state talks about the open doors and secured borders policy, and encourages international students to study in U...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

THE SHERIFF JOE SHOW

Posted on December 02, 2008
America's Voice has noted that Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been given a reality television show on Fox television. Paco Fabien, AV's communications director explains why we should care: ?This reality series won?t capture the reality of the Latino population living in Maricopa County...

HOW MANY AMERICANS WILL GET FALSELY CAUGHT IN E-VERIFY?

Posted on November 30, 2008
I've made this point before and usually the antis come out screaming that I'm making things up and E-Verify is perfect. But you've been warned.Incidentally, I am not against continuing E-Verify. But I certainly want a system set up where a worker protesting the findings will have the right to continue working until the matter is resolved once and for all...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: LUOL DENG - PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER

Posted on November 29, 2008
Sudanese-born, British citizen Luol Deng is a forward for the NBA's Chicago Bulls. As a youngster, his father moved the family to Egypt to escape war in his native land. In Egypt, Luol met fellow Sudanese national Manute Bol, who would later become an NBA player and who served as Luol's mentor...

HOW THE THE CIA'S WORK PRODUCT CAN HELP YOU DOCUMENT YOUR IMMIGRATION CASE

Posted on November 27, 2008
I love the title of this blog post -57 Awesome Things You Can Find in the (Public) CIA FactBook.The CIA Factbook has been around for years and I've used it to document country conditions for asylum cases, J-1 hardship briefs and other kinds of petitions...

PERMANENT RESIDENTS SUE DMV OVER SEIZED GREEN CARDS

Posted on November 27, 2008
Good. One of the unintended side effects of states around the US changing drivers license rules to require people to document their legal status is that many people who are, in fact, legal, are being challenged by motor vehicle department officials. I'm sure that in most cases we're dealing with poor training...

IMMIGRATION SHOULD BE PART OF THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROGRAM

Posted on November 26, 2008
One idea that's being discussed is creating a retiree visa for wealthy individuals who buy property in the US and don't need to work or receive any public benefits. The International Herald Tribune discusses that concept and why the time might be right for an idea that has been kicking around awhile.

HISPANIC PANIC

Posted on November 25, 2008
Conservative hand wringing over the implications of the dramatic shift of Hispanic votes away from the GOP is becoming more evident. There have been a slew of articles in both general news publications and in the conservative press discussing the point...

NEO-NAZI GROUPS FINDING NEW HOME IN ANTI-IMMIGRATION MOVEMENT

Posted on November 25, 2008
The Immigration Policy Center has an interesting post discussing how skinheads, militias, the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups are becoming involved in the country's anti-immigration movement. Given that FAIR, the country's leading anti-immigrant group, has already been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the country's main extremist group watchdog organizations, this is not exactly a surprise.

RUH ROH!

Posted on November 24, 2008
Watch out Sheriff Joe!

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: CHARLES LIANG - ENTREPRENEUR

Posted on November 24, 2008
Taiwanese-born Charles Liang is the co-founder and CEO of Super Micro Computer, a company that received very favorable coverage in this morning's New York Times. Super Micro Computer is now 15 years old and has 850 employees. The company sells $600 million a year of servers to major companies like Yahoo! and eBay...

60 MINUTES WIDOWER STORY NOW ONLINE

Posted on November 24, 2008
In case you missed it. Thank you CBS News for bringing this story to the public's attention. Watch CBS Videos Online

IMMIGRATION HUMOR: THE ORIGINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS

Posted on November 24, 2008
I posted this last year, but its Thanksgiving so here goes.

REID: IMMIGRATION REFORM WILL BE EASY TO DEAL WITH IN THE NEXT CONGRESS

Posted on November 24, 2008
Wow. So much for everyone saying immigration needs to be put off because the Democrats don't want to get in to a bruising fight or because the issues are too complicated. Here's what Reid said about immigration reform to the Detroit Free Press:Q: With more Democrats in the Senate and the House and a Democrat in the White House, how do you see congressional efforts playing out on such issues as health care and immigration?A: On immigration, there's been an agreement between (President-elect Barack) Obama and (Arizona Republican Sen...

FAQ'S FOR THE NEW NEW R-1 RELIGIOUS WORKER REGULATION

Posted on November 24, 2008
This one's a biggie. The regulation was in the works for years, but Congress gave the final push by making releasing the reg a condition to extending the special immigrant immigrant category for religious workers. I worked through the 88 page advance copy of the regulation over the weekend and here' my question and answer document on the new R-1 religious worker program...

22 MEMBERS OF ANTI-IMMIGRANT CAUCUS IN HOUSE WON'T BE BACK IN 2009

Posted on November 22, 2008
Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Here is the list of casualties:Richard Baker (R-La.), 60, 11 termsNancy Boyda (D-Kan.), 53, 1 termBud Cramer (D-Ala.), 61, 9 terms Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.), 61, 7 termsDavid Davis (R-Tenn.), 48, 1 termJohn Doolittle (R-Calif...

The conventional wisdom of many

Posted on November 22, 2008
The conventional wisdom of many in the Democratic Caucus is that members of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate and conservative Democrats are likely to vote with Republicans against pro-immigration measures. But do the voting records of the 47 members of the Blue Dog Coalition really back this up? If we look at the ratings from the anti-immigrant NumbersUSA organization (www...

IMMIGRATION HUMOR

Posted on November 22, 2008

VELAZQUEZ TAKES LEADERSHIP HELM OF CONGRESSIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS

Posted on November 21, 2008
NY Democratic Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez will take over leadership of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the next Congress. Congresswoman Velázquez is a strong advocate for immigration reform and will no doubt play a leading role on the issue in the next Congress...

60 MINUTES TO RUN STORY ON WIDOW PENALTY

Posted on November 21, 2008
CBS' 60 Minutes is running a story on a little known, but very serious problem in US immigration law:FOR BETTER OR WORSE - Foreigners who marry Americans are entitled to become permanent residents of the U.S., but in a stricter post-9/11 world, hundreds of widows are being asked to leave the country because their husbands died - even some whose children were born in the U...

A THANKSGIVING READING

Posted on November 21, 2008
We've just had my firm's annual Thanksgiving potluck lunch and I'm just a little sleepy from all the great food. My colleague Jack Richbourg read a nice reading that he heard at his church and which was certainly appropriate given the kind of work we do and I thought I'd share it with you...

ARIZONA GOVERNOR JANET NAPOLITANO TO HEAD DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Posted on November 20, 2008
Arizona's Governor Janet Napolitano will be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. Governor Napolitano has signed some of the nation's toughest immigration laws, but she has also spoken out on the need to for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform...

STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR VISAS INCREASING

Posted on November 20, 2008
Some good news after years of bad. F, J and M visa issuance was up to a record high 710,631 in fiscal year 2008 which ended September 30th. That's extraordinarily good news for the US. Those that stay will help to rebuild out economy and bring vital skills needed for us to compete globally...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: WAYNE KRAMER - FILMMAKER

Posted on November 20, 2008
The writer/director of Crossing Over, the film whose clip I posted just now, is South African immigrant Wayne Kramer. Kramer has directed major films like The Cooler and Running Scared. He's a really versatile filmmaker with credits for writing, directing, producing, editing and storyboard artist...

MAJOR NEW HOLLYWOOD MOVIE TAKES ON THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Posted on November 20, 2008
When Harrison Ford, Sean Penn, Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta are in a movie, you know it's must see. According to IMDB, Crossing Over is a multi-character canvas about immigrants of different nationalities struggling to achieve legal status in Los Angeles...

ZOGBY POLLS FOR HATE GROUP

Posted on November 20, 2008
Zogby International used to be considered one of the more reliable polling organizations in the US. But the firm has come under considerable fire of late for who it accepts money from and the nature of the polling work it is doing for these groups. Earlier this week, the firm drew fire for what appears to be "push polling" conducted for an extreme right wing web site...

OBAMA NAMES TRANSITION ADVISORS ON IMMIGRATION POLICY

Posted on November 20, 2008
They're going to be Alex Aleinikoff and Tino Cuéllar. To the extent immigration reform is an important part of the new President's early agenda, these two folks will play a key role. Here's the Obama team's bios on the two:T. Alexander Aleinikoff has been Dean of the Georgetown University Law Center and Executive Vice President of Georgetown University since July 2004...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.