Immigration Law

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: IRIS GOMEZ - AUTHOR, LAWYER

Posted on July 24, 2010
Not to many immigration lawyers have their books reviewed by Oprah Winfrey, but Colombian-born Iris Gomez has. That's probably because she's written the hot-selling novel "Try to Remember" about a teenage teenage Colombian immigrants struggles in her new country...

EIGHT MORE UTAH STATE EMPLOYEES ADDED TO HIT LIST

Posted on July 23, 2010
The anti-immigration drum beat has been loudly blaring in Utah so is this news really all that surprising?

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: IGNACIA MOYA - MATRIARCH

Posted on July 23, 2010
OK, the hiatus of Immigrant of the Day is officially over. Send me your suggestions and I look forward to highlighting the accomplishments of immigrants contributing to America in many ways. Congrats to Mexican-born Ignacia Moya who at 106 years old has become a naturalized American...

FIRST COURT ARGUMENTS HEARD OVER ARIZONA LAW

Posted on July 22, 2010
From the ACLU which is part of the coalition that is behind this suit: Implementation Of Arizona's Racial Profiling Law FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 22, 2010 PHOENIX ? At a hearing today in a federal court in Phoenix, the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of civil rights groups argued that Arizona's discriminatory new law, known as SB 1070, should be blocked pending a final court ruling on its constitutionality...

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REID CONSIDERING DREAM ACT VOTE BEFORE ELECTION

Posted on July 22, 2010
Others have suggested this, but we're now hearing that Majority Leader Reid is looking at trying to get a DREAM Act vote before the November election. According to Roll Call (subscription required): In an interview with La Opinion, the Nevada Democrat said he is largely leaving it up to reform advocates to tell him when a comprehensive bill is no longer viable and that the Senate should instead move to the narrower DREAM Act...

ARIZONA FILES BRIEF TO BLOCK INJUNCTION

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Governor has filed her response to the motion argued in court today to delay the implementation of Arizona's SB1070 law on July 24th. Reader USC has discussed some of the arguments in the comments. In short, Arizona is arguing that illegal immigration is costing the state serious money and delaying implementation will economically damage the state...

ACLU SUES FREMONT, NEBRASKA OVER ANTI-IMMIGRANT ORDINANCE

Posted on July 21, 2010
While there are some politicians genuinely concerned about the subject of immigration who are backing anti-immigration laws because they believe in the cause, there are many more who have jumped on the anti-immigration bandwagon to score political points (John McCain - I'm talking to you)...

2010 USCIS OMBUDSMAN REPORT TO CONGRESS

Posted on July 18, 2010
Here's the report from the official watchdog agency monitoring the performance of USCIS. USCIS Ombudsman 2010 report to Congress -

BREAKING: UTAH BLACKLIST AUTHORS IDENTIFIED

Posted on July 16, 2010
No details yet, but big news. [UPDATE] Two state workers apparently illegally accessed state databases. Hope they like the way they look in an orange jumpsuit.

SHERIFF JOE'S JURISDICTION ONLY AREA WHERE CRIME IS UP IN ARIZONA

Posted on July 15, 2010
Thanks to reader Adi for the link. Huffington Post reports on a data compiled by America's Voice showing crime in Arizona dropping dramatically across the state for most of the last decade EXCEPT for the area controlled by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio...

SENATORS PROPOSE LEGISLATION TO BAR ARIZONA LAWSUIT

Posted on July 15, 2010
The main logic seems to be that since public opinion polls show majority support for the measure, that outweighs the constitutional problems. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and David VItter (R-LA) usually are the ones harping most loudly against "activist" judges and for 2nd Amendment gun rights...

AUGUST VISA BULLETIN SHOWS BIG ADVANCES

Posted on July 14, 2010
Lots of positive news in the August 2010 DOS Visa Bulletin. Not sure why we're seeing big jumps but I expect we'll get an explanation soon. Generally good news for family numbers except for Mexicans in categories other than 2A. Family 1st - Advancement of worldwide, Dominican Republic, China and India numbers by four months to 01 AUG 2005...

"CONCERNED CITIZENS" START TURNING IN THEIR NEIGHBORS IN UTAH

Posted on July 14, 2010
For those who think that the anti-immigration groups are benign and simply want better enforcement of our immigration laws, consider what has just happened in Utah, a state that is as active as Arizona when it comes to passing anti-immigration measures, but has not been getting the same press...

REPUBLICAN HOUSE MEMBERS: WE'RE READY TO PASS IMMIGRATION REFORM

Posted on July 10, 2010
Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (yes, there is such a group and, yes, it makes perfect sense for true, small government conservatives), had a strategy call this week. Here's a key comment from the call: Congressman Lincoln Diaz Balart stated, ?We?re ready in the House?There is a variety of thinking in both parties on this issue...

COURT ORDERS SHERIFF JOE TO PAY HALF MILLION DOLLARS TO PROTESTORS

Posted on July 09, 2010
Sweet! From the Arizona Republic: Seven political activists claiming their civil rights were violated after they were arrested and cited for protesting against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration policies recently were awarded nearly $475,000 by Maricopa County...

THE STRATEGY

Posted on July 08, 2010
While racial profiling has been the main topic of contention with Arizona's SB1070, the Justice Department is focusing on preemption. This is a constitutional argument and basically means that if the Constitution reserves a power for the federal government, states can only regulate in the area to the extent Congress permits...

ARIZONA-MEXICO RELATIONS TAKE ANOTHER HIT

Posted on July 08, 2010
If a store you regularly shopped at announced that it was going to start frisking customers from your ethnic group (or just vaguely resembling your ethnic group), chances are you would steer clear of that crazy shop.And that's pretty much how Mexico sees Arizona where it spends billions of dollars a year...

THE UNITED STATES V. ARIZONA

Posted on July 06, 2010
Not a shock (and already mentioned in the comment). The Obama Administration is officially challenging SB1070. This was strongly suggested in various White House comments over the last few weeks, but it's nice to see something official.

COLBERT: COME ON AMERICANS, TAKE OUR FARMWORKER JOBS

Posted on July 04, 2010
Leave it to comedian Stephen Colbert to send home the point that comprehensive immigration reform - particularly plans to legalize millions of farm workers - will not result in Americans losing jobs. From the AP:In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farm workers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert to challenge unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs...

DROP DEAD DIVA

Posted on July 04, 2010
A few months back, I was contacted by a writer for the Lifetime dramedy Drop Dead Diva, a television show about a law firm in Los Angeles. They were interested in doing a story that related to immigration law and I helped out as a technical consultant...

HEALTH CARE REFORM NEEDS IMMIGRATION REFORM

Posted on July 04, 2010
I've written an op-ed piece for the Memphis Commercial Appeal with my colleague Elissa Taub on the need for reforming the laws governing the immigration of doctors and nurses. The 2,700-page health care bill approved by Congress certainly doesn't lack detail in describing how it plans to extend coverage to 32 million more Americans...

JEB BUSH: WE NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB WELCOMING IMMIGRANTS

Posted on July 04, 2010
Happy Independence Day everyone! Jeb Bush, the former Florida Governor and potential presidential candidate, has an informative opinion piece in yesterday's Washington Post that reminds Americans that most of the antis' complaints about immigration are as old as the Republic and that we need to pay attention to our past in order to maximize the benefits of immigration.

AILA BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Posted on July 02, 2010
Many readers of this blog are my colleagues in the immigration bar. I want to let folks know that I was successful in my run for the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Many thanks to all those who voted for me. I'm looking forward to serving the organization!

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Posted on July 01, 2010
Not a lot new, but an inspiring speech. Will it change the politics? I'm skeptical, particularly since the President didn't mention timetables or explain any Administrative fixes to show a seriousness about fixing immigration (other than enforcement)...

LIVEBLOGGING THE OBAMA IMMIGRATION ADDRESS

Posted on July 01, 2010
The President is about to address an audience at American University in Washington on the need for comprehensive immigration reform. I'm watching the speech here at the American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual meeting and there is a lot of interest in the President's remarks...

POLL: 70% OF AMERICANS FAVOR DREAM ACT

Posted on June 30, 2010
First Focus, a non-profit organization that advocates for children in federal policy and budget decisions, just commissioned a new poll showing most members of both parties supporting the DREAM Act.

BREWER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE ALL SMUGGLING DRUGS

Posted on June 30, 2010
It's hard to have an intelligent conversation on immigration when the Arizona Governor makes statements like this. Even John McCain said this was going too far.

OBAMA MAKING NOISE ON IMMIGRATION

Posted on June 30, 2010
President Obama is acting like he cares about passing a major immigration bill. He met earlier this week with pro-immigration groups to press on the need for Congress to quickly take up a reform bill. Of course, he's said this before - usually followed by comments from senior Administration people basically saying the President really didn't mean THIS year...

SHOWDOWN: SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE ON ARIZONA'S 2007 EMPLOYER SANCTIONS LAW

Posted on June 29, 2010
This is a huge deal and immigration laws in dozens of states could be deemed to violate the Constitution. Arizona's 2007 law allows the state to revoke a company's business license if it is found to have employed illegally present immigrants and mandates all employers in the state use E-Verify...

GUTIERREZ: NOT ENOUGH DEMS TO PASS REFORM THIS YEAR

Posted on June 26, 2010
Not surprising, but surprising that Luis would admit it. And if this is the case (and I think it is), then the question is whether we wait until 2011 or later to push again or finally decide it's time to look at other strategies like piecemeal reform (pass DREAM, AgJobs, legal immigration reform now and deal with legalization later) or look at administrative actions like TPS or parole and a moratorium on deportations for people who would otherwise meet the requirements of a proposed legalization program.

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