Immigration Law

BREAKING NEWS: BUSH ORDERS ALL EMPLOYERS DOING BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENT TO USE E-VERIFY

Posted on June 09, 2008
Wow! All businesses with federal contracts are going to have to use E-Verify. That's a lot more businesses than most people realize. The vast majority of health care employers are subject since they take Medicare. All universities that participate in the federal student loan programs are government contractors...

BORDER PATROL CONTRACTOR ACCUSED OF ACCEPTING BRIBES

Posted on June 09, 2008
$2500 gets you dropped off on the north side of the border.

ARIZONA LAW FACES MAJOR TEST

Posted on June 08, 2008
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will become the first federal appeals court to hear a challenge on a state immigration law when it hears arguments Thursday concerning the constitutionality of Arizona's tough employer sanctions law. Arizona mandates all employers use E-Verify and can suspend the business licenses of employers found to have knowingly hired illegally present immigrants...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: HUDA ZOGHBI - SCIENTIST

Posted on June 08, 2008
CBS' 60 Minutes had a fascinating story tonight on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute which quietly funds the research of 300 outstanding scientists in the US. In the story, one of the scientists interviewed about the work of HHMI is Lebanese-born Dr...

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ANOTHER VALEDICTORIAN TOLD TO SHIP OUT

Posted on June 07, 2008
Well, isn't America really better off? These people are just lazy and just want our welfare, right? This kid is a lawbreaker and who really cares if he came to the US at age two and doesn't even know the language of his native Armenia. Sadly, these are just the arguments you'll hear the antis make...

BECAUSE WE LIKE EXPENSIVE FOOD

Posted on June 07, 2008
Goes nicely with our expensive gas and our depreciating homes. Thanks Congress. "Enforcement first" really is delivering dividend for the economy. As I love to tell folks, if you like depending on imported oil, you're going to love imported food even more.

CATO V. DHS PART 3 - THE E-VERIFY DEBATE CONTINUES

Posted on June 05, 2008
DHS contends using E-Verify is simpler than ordering a book on Amazon.com. Cato's Jim Harper reminds us that when you order a book on Amazon, you don't sign an 8 page contract that, among other things, allows government officials to come unannounced to your office and go through all of your business records...

THREE YEARS

Posted on June 05, 2008
I had a consultation this afternoon with an American citizen who filed a green card petition for his wife in 2004. The case was ready to process at the US consulate in the country where his wife was working, but she then had to move back to her home country before the 2005 interview date...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: HENRIK ZETTERBERG - HOCKEY PLAYER

Posted on June 05, 2008
Congrats go to the Detroit Red Wings, the winner of the 2008 National Hockey League Stanley Cup. Swedish-born Henrik Zetterberg has been named the Most Valuable Player for the Red Wings and is our Immigrant of the Day. Zetterberg scored the winning goal in last night's victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins...

JUDGE BLOCKS OKLAHOMA IMMIGRATION LAW FROM TAKING EFFECT

Posted on June 05, 2008
Wow. Oklahoma passed one of the nation's toughest immigration laws and the Sooner state's legislation has been the model for anti-immigrant groups around the country. And now Robin Cauthron, a US District Court Judge, has granted a preliminary injunction suspending the law from taking force due to concerns that the plaintiffs, the US Chamber of Commerce and various civil rights groups, are "substantially likely to establish" that the Oklahoma law is preempted by the Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986...

NEW PROGRAM ALLOWS FOR ADVANCED PROCESSING OF ENTRY PAPERS FOR VISA WAIVER APPLICANTS

Posted on June 05, 2008
This sounds like a good thing. DHS has announced a new program where Visa Waiver Program applicants can submit their entry application (the green form you fill out on the plane) online before leaving on your trip. The big advantage is that it allows DHS to pre-screen you before you fly and if you're going to be flagged for trouble based on security concerns, you will know ahead of time.

LOU DOBBS V. LOU DOBBS

Posted on June 04, 2008
From TruthinImmigration.org.

IN DEFENSE OF FRAGOMEN

Posted on June 04, 2008
While some overly competitive immigration lawyers might derive some pleasure from the recent news that Fragomen, the nation's largest immigration law firm, is having all of its PERM green card cases audited by the Department of Labor, wiser folks realize that the Department of Labor is launching phase two of a broad attack on the right to representation by legal counsel and they've chosen the nation's biggest law firm in order to send a message of intimidation to the immigration bar...

SOUTH CAROLINA BECOMES LATEST STATE TO PASS IMMIGRATION LAW

Posted on June 03, 2008
Here's my summary of the employer sanctions provisions in the new law. There are some other immigration provisions I have not summarized including a bar on unauthorized immigrants attending state colleges. Also, here's a link to the Word version of S...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: PETR SYKORA - PENGUIN

Posted on June 03, 2008
I'm taking a break from the lawyers series to note the accomplishment this evening of Czech-born Petr Sykora, the right wing for the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penquins were down to the wire in the Stanley Cup finals - down 3 games to 1 against the Detroit Red Wings...

ANTI-IMMIGRANT KRIKORIAN SHIFTS ANGER TO THE $5 BILL

Posted on June 03, 2008
Mark Krikorian, the head of the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies, has been posting some amusing stuff lately on the web site of the ultra-conservative National Review. Apparently, the new $5 bill has him spooked. Probably not as much as anyone with a foreign accent, I suspect...

FIGHTIN' TED "FEELS LIKE A MILLION BUCKS"

Posted on June 03, 2008
Senator Ted Kennedy, the chair of the Immigration Subcommittee and the head of America's royal family of politics, had major brain surgery today aimed at removing as much of a malignant brain tumor as much as possible. Kennedy is hoping to be back at work soon...

FAILING US IMMIGRATION SYSTEM BENEFITS INDIA AT AMERICA'S EXPENSE

Posted on June 03, 2008
Bloomberg reports that multi-year waits for green cards are causing the best and brightest Indians to re-think remaining in the US.

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY - SERGIO GALVIS - LAWYER

Posted on June 03, 2008
Continuing our series honoring immigrants on the National Law Journal list of the 50 most influential minority lawyers in the country, today's Immigrant of the Day is Colombian-born Sergio Galvis. Mr. Galvis, a Harvard Law School graduate, is one of the nation's top international financial lawyers and practices with well-known firm Sullivan and Cromwell...

NYT: THE GREAT IMMIGRATION PANIC

Posted on June 03, 2008
The newspaper of record has another excellent editorial on the costs to the country of the war on illegal immigration. Here's the compelling opening of the piece: Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration. We don?t mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions...

DEMOCRATS NOMINATE SON OF AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AS PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

Posted on June 03, 2008
A historic day for America.

DOL DECLARES WAR ON FRAGOMEN

Posted on June 02, 2008
I'm analyzing the legal issues in the press release below and will have more to say shortly, though a quick read leaves me scratching my head trying to figure out exactly what Fragomen is alleged to have done that would violate DOL regulations: U.S. Department of Labor auditing all permanent labor certification applications filed by major immigration law firm Department acts to protect employment opportunities for American workers WASHINGTON ? The U...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: HOWARD CHAO - LAWYER

Posted on June 02, 2008
Today's Immigrant of the Day is the latest lawyer I wanted to highlight who is named in the National Law Journal's list of the 50 most powerful minority lawyers in America. Taiwan-born Howard Chao is the partner in charge of West Coast mega-firm O'Melveny and Myers Asia practice...

PROTECTIONISTS FILE SUIT TO BLOCK OPT LAW

Posted on June 02, 2008
The anti-immigrant Programmers Guild filed a suit to overturn the recently released regulation allowing F-1 students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields to seek extensions of their employment authorization for 17 months claiming the Bush Administration lacked authorization to issue the rule...

LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE FIGHTS TO KEEP PRIEST

Posted on June 02, 2008
Barack and Hillary are not the only ones facing a fight in South Dakota. Father Cathal Gallagher, a priest who has presided over a congregation in the town of De Smet, South Dakota, faces deportation due to a very minor status gap several years ago that resulted from slow processing at USCIS...

GEE, DON'T YOU FEEL SAFER?

Posted on June 01, 2008
This is who we're trying to keep out. And lest you think that this sort of thing is a one off occurrence, here's another story with similar facts.

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: PREETA BANSAL - ATTORNEY

Posted on May 29, 2008
Preeta Bansal is the second lawyer I'm recognizing from the just released National Law Journal list of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America. The Indian-born Bansal heads the appellate litigation department at Skadden Arps, one of the world's best known law firms...

STRATEGERY

Posted on May 29, 2008
The Wall Street Journal analyzes why Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), a long time pro-immigration advocate, blocked AgJobs and H-2B reforms that were backed by the pro-immigration community. They conclude, and I concur, that the substance of the proposals was not the problem despite the insistence of the Senator...

IMMIGRATION HUMOR FROM WALT HANDELSMAN AT NEWSDAY

Posted on May 29, 2008
Click on the graphic to see the full-size image.

FEDERAL JUDGE IN TEXAS RULES ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN REGULATE IMMIGRATION

Posted on May 29, 2008
A federal district court judge has ruled against the Dallas suburb of Farmer's Branch in a case challenging the municipalities ordinance barring the rental of apartments and homes to illegally present immigrants. The court's decision ruled that state and local regulation of immigration law is unconstitutional and while the decision only pertains to this town's law, the decision certainly raises the question of whether the whole range of laws popping up around the country affecting employers, landlords and others.

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