Immigration Law

MARCH 2011 VISA BULLETIN RELEASED

Posted on February 11, 2011
As promised, reader "Legal and Still Waiting" has helped out our community and examined visa number movement. Here is his summary. Thanks LASW! Family 1st ? no improvement for most countries; one week advance for Mexico and four and a half months advance for Philippines...

USCIS TO COMBINE WORK AND TRAVEL DOCUMENTS IN GREEN CARD CASES

Posted on February 11, 2011
Some good news. USCIS has made the sensible decision to combine employment authorization documents and advance parole travel documents in adjustment of status cases into a single card. Here's the press release. Lots of questions arise and not much information is available...

Feb 11 - More Articles Fast

Posted on February 11, 2011
-----------------IMMIGRATION DAILY FROM ILW.COM------------------ February 11, 2011 http://www.ilw.com/immigrationdaily/digest/2011,0211.shtm ITEMS 1. Comment: More Articles Fast Since we moved to a more compact format for Immigration Daily, we have streamlined our article production process...

FIGHT OVER STAR PLAYER'S IMMIGRATION STATUS JEOPARDIZES TEAM'S SEASON

Posted on February 08, 2011
The Miami Herald reports that a dispute over the ability of an F-1 visa holding high school basketball player has ended up in the courts and a team's chances of winning the state playoffs are on the line. Incidentally, this is the high school for the neighborhood I grew up in (though it opened after I left for college so I'm not an alumnus).

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

ARE MCCAIN AND GRAHAM REALLY WORKING ON IMMIGRATION REFORM AGAIN?

Posted on February 08, 2011
Apparently, Lindsey Graham and John McCain are working behind the scenes with Senator Chuck Schumer to revive immigration reform efforts. It's hard to get too excited given the history here, but maybe they know something we don't. I

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: MOHAMED EL-ERIAN - CEO

Posted on February 08, 2011
Egyptian-born Mohamed El-Erian is the Chief Executive Officer and co-Chief Information Officer for PIMCO, the world's largest bond investor. The company manages over $1 trillion dollars of assets (yes, that's a "t"). I get monthly statements from PIMCO for my retirement savings, so I'm rooting hard for Mr...

ABC NEWS SEGMENT QUESTIONS HOW ORDINARY PEOPLE WILL REACT TO SB1070 IN ACTION

Posted on February 08, 2011
An interesting segment from ABC News' John Quinones. This is from the "What Would You Do?" series and the question explored is how customers in a restaurant will react to a security guard asking Latinos for their identification in a restaurant in southern Arizona...

COLORADO SKI RESORTS WORRIED ABOUT ARIZONA-STYLE IMMIGRATION BILL

Posted on February 08, 2011
They're right to be worried. Passing laws like SB1070 is playing with fire if you're a state that depends on international tourism.

CHIPOTLE PROBE EXPANDS

Posted on February 08, 2011
I was pretty enthusiastic when the news hit that Memphis was getting its first Chipotle. The restaurant is opening in a few weeks and it's right around the corner. Definitely good news for burrito fans like myself. Unfortunately, while the 1100-restaurant chain has a lot of fans, the folks at ICE are apparently not any of them...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: ATARI BIGBY - GREEN BAY PACKER

Posted on February 06, 2011
You gotta be careful when you pick cities with wintry weather for a Super Bowl. Dallas' airport was closed this morning due to snowy weather (which is on the way to my hometown of Memphis). But Steelers and Packers fans can certainly handle a little cold weather...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: JOSEPH CHIRLEE - SOLDIER, RUNNER

Posted on February 04, 2011
Private Joseph Chirlee, a soldier in the US Army, is doing his country proud. The Kenyan-born naturalized US citizen is also one of the world's best marathon runners. Soldier athletes have a long history of competing for our country, but regretably Joseph is being prevented from running in competition...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: CHRIS KEMOEATU - PITTSBURGH STEELER

Posted on February 04, 2011
Yesterday we honored Green Bay Packer Atari Bigby. And today we honor the Steelers' lone immigrant player Chris Kemoeatu. The Tonga native has spent his entire career (2005 to present) playing offensive guard for the Steelers. Kemoeatu moved at the age of three to Hawaii and went on to be named 2000 Hawaii High School Defensive Player of the Year...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: BENJAMIN MILLEPIED - DANCER, ACTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER

Posted on February 03, 2011
After a long hiatus, I've decided to revive Immigrant of the Day. Can't promise there will be an Immigrant of the Day every day, but send me your suggestions and I'm happy to add them to the queue. Today's IOTD is Benjamin Millepied, who is profiled in this morning's New York Times...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: RUPERT MURDOCH - PUBLISHER, BROADCASTER

Posted on February 03, 2011
There is probably no more famous media magnate in the world than Rupert Murdoch. Immigration advocates have mixed feelings about the Australian-born founder and CEO of News Corp. His Fox News Channel has had a dreadful record when it comes to immigration, though his leading American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, has been much more balanced...

WHAT PART OF ILLEGAL DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND

Posted on February 02, 2011
Funny how the only laws that matter to Russell Pearce and his Arizona nut brigade are those in the Immigration and Nationality Act.

IMM SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR COMPARES ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO SNUFF FILM PEDDLERS

Posted on February 01, 2011
Stay classy, Elton. From HuffPost Hill. IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS?....OR SNUFF FILM PEDDLERS?!?!?! - Suzy Khimm has dug up a 2009 op-ed by the newly-minted Immigration Policy and Enforcement Subcommittee Chair Elton Gallegly in which the California Republican links an increase in undocumented workers to the dissemination of snuff films...

ARIZONA BILL ARCHITECT FACING RECALL EFFORT

Posted on January 28, 2011
Good.

TEA PARTY SENATORS INTRODUCE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL

Posted on January 28, 2011
Rand Paul (R-KY) and David Vitter (R-LA) have introduced a bill to amend the US Constitution to restrict citizenship to those born to US citizens or permanent residents. If you claim bigotry, you'll be shouted down as hysterical, but why do the most virulent anti-immigration moves in Congress tend to come from white Southerners? Have immigrants raplaced blacks as the targets because blatant racism is so politically incorrect today while immigrant bashing is still okay? For those who think I'm imagining things, look at the votes on the recent comprehensive immigration reform measures and you'll see that the anti-immigrant votes...

PRESIDENT PUSHES DREAM, STEM IMMIGRATION REFORM IN STATE OF THE UNION

Posted on January 26, 2011
Here's what the POTUS had to say: Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet live every day with the threat of deportation...

NOMINATE SOMEONE FOR THE FREEDOM FROM FEAR AWARD

Posted on January 26, 2011
My friend Will Coley sent me this and I'm happy to spread the good word. Nominate those unsung heroes and feel free to pass on this information. The Freedom From Fear Award is a new national award that will honor fifteen ordinary people who have committed extraordinary acts of courage on behalf of immigrants and refugees?individuals who have taken a risk, set an example, and inspired others to awareness or action...

H-1B CAP IN FINAL DAYS

Posted on January 24, 2011
USCIS is reporting that 62,800 cases have been counted against the cap. Given the pace, this is probably the last week before the cap gets hit. Then employers will need to wait until April to file for October 1st start dates.

IMMIGRATION OBSTACLES PREVENTING TRANSPLANT DONORS FROM ENTERING US

Posted on January 21, 2011
Seriously? Let's hope a high profile story in the New York Times will get the attention of State Department and Homeland Security officials to come up with a more streamlined way to handle these emergency situations. Hat tip to reader USC for the link.

ICE I-9 FINES INCREASE 1000% OVER LAST TWO YEARS

Posted on January 20, 2011
For those who think employers are being ignored in the immigration enforcement effort.

FEBRUARY VISA BULLETIN

Posted on January 20, 2011
Not a lot of positive news. Thanks to Zack Kisber at our firm for helping crunch the numbers. Family 1st ? no improvement for most countries; two week advance for Mexico and one month advance for Philippines. Family 2A ? most countries stalled at January 2008; Mexico stalled at April 2005...

ARIZONA IMMIGRATION OBSESSION HURTING BUSINESS RECRUITMENT

Posted on January 20, 2011
You don't get jobs if you can't recruit business to your state. That's why every state in the union has an agency for economic development that works hand in hand with local chambers of commerce. When your state has a reputation for being full of gun-toting, immigrant bashers, that makes the job a lot tougher.

GAO REPORT DISCUSSES STATE OF E-VERIFY

Posted on January 20, 2011
The Government Accountability Office has released a new report studying the accuracy of the E-Verify database. According to the report, the number of tentative non-confirmations has decreased by 5% over the last two years, an indicator that the system has more complete records than in the past...

NFAP: GAO REPORT CONFIRMS H-1B WORKERS PAID AS MUCH AS COMPARABLE AMERICANS

Posted on January 19, 2011
The National Foundation for American Policy has released a policy brief regarding the new GAO report on the H-1B program and notes that the GAO blows a torpedo through the common complaint that the H-1B program is just a way to bring in cheap guest workers...

MISSISSIPPI SENATE APPROVES ARIZONA-STYLE BILL

Posted on January 19, 2011
My neighbors to the south remind Americans why they have the reputation they do.

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RELEASES REPORT ON H-1B PROGRAM

Posted on January 15, 2011
A fat report and one with some helpful recommendations and statistics. Here are some of the more interesting items I found - - Of the top 150 H-1B employers, 24 were deemed H-1B dependent (a high percentage of workers on the H-1B) and 9 had prior H-1B violations...

A BRAIN GAIN

Posted on January 15, 2011
A new report from the Brookings Institute Center for Technology Innovation argues that US immigration policy should focus on prioritizing high skilled workers rather than family immigration categories. The report calls on Congress to increase H-1B numbers for those completing science, technology, engineering and math programs in the US...

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