Immigration Law

RELIGIOUS GROUPS URGE USCIS TO EXPEDITE PETITIONS OF SUNSETTING RELIGIOUS WORKERS

Posted on August 01, 2008
On September 30th, one of the major religious worker green card categories expires. Cases not adjudicated by that date will automatically be voided and applicants with pending adjustment applications could have their petitions denied and instantly be considered illegally present in the US...

UH, YEAH

Posted on August 01, 2008
Gee, the late night talk show host jokes can literally write themselves with this one. ICE has announced a brilliant new program to "encourage" illegally present immigrants to report for deportation. Here's ICE head Julie Myers description of the grand plan: Myers told the network that "Operation Scheduled Departure" will allow illegal immigrants without criminal records a chance to literally "self-deport" by turning themselves in to her agents...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: GIUSEPPE LANZONE - OLYMPIC ROWER

Posted on August 01, 2008
La Punta, Peru native Giuseppe Lanzone immigrated as a teenager with his family after his mother secured a work visa opportunity in Virginia. Lanzone's story is not unusual. A lot of children whose parents come to the US to work are able to prosper in our very welcoming country...

REPORT SLAMS DOL FOR CREATION OF RUBE GOLDBERG LABOR CERTIFICATION PROCESS

Posted on July 31, 2008
The National Foundation for American Policy has issued a report criticizing the massive, confusing, anti-business waste of taxpayer dollars that is the permanent labor certification process.The report notes that Congress never intended for a system like we have, the Labor Department's process has no connection to economic reality and the program that exists has been "badly mismanaged...

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IS ILLEGALLY PRESENT IMMIGRATION POPULATION DECLINING?

Posted on July 31, 2008
And if so, why? The Center for Immigration Studies, the anti-immigrant center that generates studies for FAIR and other anti-immigrant groups, has released a report claiming that the number of people illegally present in the US has declined by nearly 1,300,000 over the last year, a decline the group believes is about 11%...

E-VERIFY EXTENSION PASSES THE HOUSE

Posted on July 31, 2008
And by a fairly wide margin - 407-2 (one of the two being maverick GOP Congressman Ron Paul). Basically, E-Verify gets five more years. Note, however, that the Senate has not extended and they've got about a month before they take off until after the inauguration of the next President...

THE US SHOULD FOLLOW AUSTRALIA'S LEAD

Posted on July 30, 2008
Australia will no longer jail asylum applicants who are not deemed security risks.

IMMIGRATION HUMOR: THE JUDGES SCANDAL

Posted on July 30, 2008
The Onion polks fun at the DOJ scandal regarding playing politics with the hiring of immigration judges.

BREAKING: DEAL TO EXTEND E-VERIFY REACHED IN HOUSE

Posted on July 30, 2008
The major terms - 1. A five year extension of E-Verify 2. DHS and SSA must reach an agreement where DHS provides SSA with funds needed to execute SSA's responsibilities. 3. GAO to conduct studies on erroneous nonconfirmations and the impact of E-Verify on small business...

REPORT: NUMBER OF IMMIGRATION JUDGES DECLINING

Posted on July 30, 2008
If enforcement activity is increasing, why do we have fewer judges than two years ago, especially when the Justice Department promised to increase the numbers? A Syracuse University study found In summary, TRAC's analysis found that there has been no actual increase in the number of funded Immigration Judge positions since the Attorney General's proposals were announced, although some temporary positions that were first funded in 2006 prior to the Attorney General's announcement were subsequently made permanent...

BUSH SIGNS BILL ENDING HIV TRAVEL BAN

Posted on July 30, 2008
It's official. The provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act barring HIV+ individuals from traveling to the US is officially no longer. However, HHS still has discretion to include HIV on the list of communicable diseases that can bar travel. Hopefully, they'll get the message that this ban should be ended.

HOUSE IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE TO MARK UP KEY BILLS TOMORROW

Posted on July 30, 2008
On Thursday, the House Immigration Subcommittee will be marking up three key bills: 1. H.R. 6020 - Soldiers' bill (makes a number of changes to improve immigration processing for members of the armed services). 2. H.R. 5882 - recaptures employment-based visas lost due to USCIS delays 3...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: KAYLA BASHORE - OLYMPIC FIELD HOCKEY PLAYER

Posted on July 29, 2008
South Korean-born Kayla Bashore is one of two foreign-born players on the US Olympic field hockey team. Bashore plays for Indiana University where she serves as the team's captain and helped lead her team to its most successful season ever. She's been on the US team since 2006 and Beijing is her first Olympics...

CONTROVERSIAL CONVICTIONS OF BORDER PATROL AGENTS UPHELD

Posted on July 28, 2008
I have not written nearly as much about this case as others, but the blogosphere will no doubt be abuzz about the upholding of convictions against to Border Patrol agents convicted of assault and other charges relating to the shooting of a drug smuggler...

DOJ REPORT: TOP OFFICIALS ILLEGALLY BLOCKED DEMOCRATS FROM IMMIGRATION JUDGE AND ATTORNEY APPOINTMENTS

Posted on July 28, 2008
Wow.This is pretty serious stuff and could result in indictments. Monica Goodling, the DOJ liaison to the White House, appears to be in the greatest jeopardy, based on the DOJ report (see below), but others are in trouble as well including the former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales...

MCCAIN'S HISPANIC PROBLEM

Posted on July 28, 2008
The Politico reports that the McCain camp is polling barely half what President Bush earned in 2004 and with Hispanics expected to turn out in larger numbers this year than any election in the past, this could spell disaster for the GOP. Why the drop in support? You guessed it...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: PHIL DALHAUSSER - OLYMPIC BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYER

Posted on July 28, 2008
6'9" Phil Dalhauuser, a Swiss native, towers over most of his beach volleyball competitors. His partner Todd Rogers and he have been winning titles left and right over the past few years and Dalhausser is one of the most highly ranked players on the tour...

DOBBS VERSUS MEDIA MATTERS

Posted on July 28, 2008
Watch Dobbs go nuts when he's challenged by Paul Waldman of Media Matters on his failure to air a single positive story on immigration.

HIV TRAVEL BAN WON'T END WHEN BUSH SIGNS LAW

Posted on July 28, 2008
I've been reporting that Congress has just eliminated the law requiring HIV be on the list of medical conditions that automatically make someone inadmissible. And President Bush will likely sign the bill as early as this weekend. But the Department of Health and Human Services still has the discretion to keep HIV on the list and they must act to take it off...

LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT AWARDS

Posted on July 27, 2008
It's not immigration, but I know a lot of immigration lawyers read this blog. I've been a judge for the last two years for the InnovAction Awards granted by the College of Law Practice Management. Law firms from around the world enter the competition each year and many of the entries are truly impressive...

WILL E-VERIFY KILL THE FEDERAL STUDENT LUNCH PROGRAM?

Posted on July 26, 2008
Farmers in California are worried about the impact that a new executive order requiring businesses that contract with the federal government must use the E-Verify electronic employment verification system. The Sacramento Bee reports one group that is concerned is the state's association of 500 peach growers...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: PHILLIP DUTTON - OLYMPIC EQUESTRIAN

Posted on July 26, 2008
Australian-born Phillip Dutton has won two gold medals (1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney), but he is competing on the US team for the first time this year. He has trained in the US since 1991 and recently became a US citizen. Dutton lives with his wife and three children in Pennsylvania where he owns, manages and trains horses...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: PHILLIP DUTTON - OLYMPIC EQUESTRIAN

Posted on July 26, 2008
Australian-born Phillip Dutton has won two gold medals (1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney), but he is competing on the US team for the first time this year. He has trained in the US since 1991 and recently became a US citizen. Dutton lives with his wife and three children in Pennsylvania where he owns, manages and trains horses...

WILL AMERICA ABANDON THOSE WHO HAVE RISKED THEIR LIVES FOR US?

Posted on July 25, 2008
Simply shameful. Regardless of how the typical America feels about the war in Iraq, most would agree that individuals who have served as translators, medics and in other jobs aiding the US armed forces in the country should be granted safe haven in the US given that they face a ruthless and quick execution if they are left unprotected...

HIV TRAVEL BAN ELIMINATED BY HOUSE

Posted on July 25, 2008
The House of Representatives passed the PEPFAR AIDS funding bill which includes a provision finally doing away with the HIV bar to admission. The margin was 303 to 115. The Senate has already passed this bill which means that all that stands in the way of ending the bar is the President's signature...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: BOB MALAYTHONG - OLYMPIC BADMINTON PLAYER

Posted on July 24, 2008
The other day I named Howard Bach, the Vietnamese-born badminton Olympian as my Immigrant of the Day. Today, I'm honoring Khan Bob Malaythong, his doubles partner. Malaythong is a Laotian native who came to the US when he was eight years old. He only naturalized in 2006 and it was the inability to naturalize in a timely manner that knocked the player Malaythong replaced out of contention for the Olympic team...

NY TIMES PRAISES EMPLOYERS' INCREASING ASSERTIVENESS ON IMMIGRATION

Posted on July 21, 2008
A nice follow up editorial in response to the great Julia Preston article I blogged about last week.

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: HOWARD BACH - OLYMPIC BADMINTON PLAYER

Posted on July 21, 2008
Howard Bach doesn't sound like a Vietnamese name, but this Vietnamese-born American has a familar Vietnamese-American story. His family immigrated in 1982 as refugees when Bach was just three years old. His father was a political dissident in their country and also an aspiring badminton player who never was able to realize his dream of competing in an Olympics...

FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN BILLIONAIRE PRAISES IMMIGRANTS

Posted on July 21, 2008
A reader sent me this link to a Tampa Bay Business Journal profile article on Sheila C. Johnson. Ms. Johnson is one of the most successful business owners in America. She owns major real estate interests and professional sports teams and she is also a major philanthropist...

MAYORS TO BUSH: STOP THE RAIDS AND PUSH THROUGH IMMIGRATION REFORM

Posted on July 21, 2008
The US Conference of Mayors passed the following resolution at its recent meeting in Miami: CALLING FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM WHICH PROMOTES THE REUNIFICATION OF FAMILIES, PROVIDES LEGAL STATUS WITH A PATH TO EARNED CITIZENSHIP, AND A PLAN FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE IMMIGRANT WORKERS WHEREAS, The U...

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