Immigration Law

IMMIGRANTS OF THE DAY: IMMIGRANTS ON THE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Posted on June 09, 2009
Congrats to the Pittsburgh Penguins on competing in the 2009 Stanley Cup! The team, like all teams in the National Hockey League, is chock full of immigrant players. They include the following: Craig Adams - Right Wing - Canada (born in Brunei) Philippe Boucher - Canada Matt Cooke - Canada Sidney Crosby - Canada Pascal Dupuis - Canada Ruslan Fedotenko - Ukraine Marc-Andre Fleury - Canada Mathieu Garon - Canada Eric Godard - Canada Sergei Gonchar - Russia Dustin Jeffrey - Canada ? Tyler Kennedy - Canada ? Chris Kunitz - Canada Kristopher Letang - Canada Evgeni Malkin - Russia...

DHS FINALLY GETTING MESSAGE ON WIDOWS

Posted on June 09, 2009
Maybe the 60 Minutes story from a few months ago is making a difference. DHS finally agreed today to show some humanity and not proceed for two year with deporting widows and widowers of US citizens (often American soldiers who die in combat) who only were denied green cards because their spouses died before USCIS could finish processing their cases...

REID: WE'LL DO IMMIGRATION REFORM THIS YEAR

Posted on June 08, 2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is promising immigration will be one of three major legislative priorities this year (the other two are health care reform and energy). It's not news that Senator Reid wants to push for reform this year, but it is the first time I've seen him be this specific on where immigration reform ranks on the priorities list.

WHITE HOUSE IMMIGRATION MEETING PUSHED BACK TO JUNE 17TH

Posted on June 04, 2009
I got nervous when I heard the meeting was canceled due to a scheduling conflict. But at least it's just a week.

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FITZ: UNCHECKED IMMIGRANT BASHING IN THE GOP MAKES IMMIGRATION REFORM MORE LIKELY

Posted on June 04, 2009
Marshall Fitz, advocacy director at the American Immigration Lawyers Association's annual meeting in Las Vegas that Democrats could see passing immigration reform as a chance to lock down the allegiance of the surging Hispanic electorate in the coming years...

REFORM IMMIGRATION FOR AMERICA

Posted on June 04, 2009
A coalition of hundreds of organizations has come together for the worthy cause of pushing for fair immigration reform this year. RIFA has kicked off this effort with a summit in Washington leading up to next week's White House gathering on immigration...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: BERNARD WOLFSDORF - IMMIGRATION LAWYER

Posted on June 04, 2009
My old friend Bernie Wolfsdorf is at this moment addressing the American Immigration Lawyers Association where he takes the helm as the 10,000+ organization's newest president. Bernie came here 30 years ago from South Africa and has built up a great immigration practice in Southern California...

BLOGGING FROM VEGAS

Posted on June 04, 2009
I'm at the annual meeting of the American Immigration Lawyers Association here in Las Vegas. I'll be speaking tomorrow and will be reporting interesting news that I learn in the sessions and in the halls. I also wanted to let folks know that ILW.com, the host of this blog, is at AILA, but not in the exhibit hall...

POLL: 80% OF AMERICANS READY FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

Posted on June 03, 2009
Despite regular statements by pundits that lawmakers can't move an immigration reform bill in the middle of a recession, several recent polls show the public not only is ready, but that support for reform has actually been INCREASING. I've blogged on recent ABC/Washington Post and CBS/NY Times polls and yesterday I listened in on a media conference call hosted by the pro-immigration advocacy group America's Voice that featured Pete Brodnitz of the firm Benenson Strategy Group and Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners who discussed their recent public opinion research...

BIG NEWS: AG HOLDER REVERSES MUKASEY RIGHT TO COUNSEL DECISION

Posted on June 03, 2009
Kudos to President Obama and his Attorney General for standing up for the Constitution.

REMINDER: PASSPORTS NOW NEEDED FOR US CITIZENS AT LAND AND SEA PORTS

Posted on June 02, 2009
This one has been year's in the making and delayed numerous times. My guess is that a lot of people are still going to be completely surprised.

JUNE 10TH TELECON WILL COVER PORTABILITY

Posted on June 02, 2009
Our Next Scheduled Teleconference/Podcast: June 10 4 pm Eastern/3 pm Central/2 pm/1 pm Pacific Siskind Susser National Teleconference - "The ABCs of Portability: The Ins & Outs of AC21's, H-1Bs, and Adjustment Porting Rules" Greg Siskind & Lynn Susser chat about moving jobs if you're in H-1B status or have a green card application pending...

MEXICO'S FED SAYS REMITTANCES OFF 20%

Posted on June 02, 2009
More evidence suggesting that the number of illegally present immigrants from Mexico is declining rapidly.

TANCREDO AIDE PLEADS GUILTY IN BIZARRE RACIST ATTACK

Posted on June 02, 2009
From Talking Points Memo: Remember how Tom Tancredo went on CNN last week and called Sonia Sotomayor a racist, accusing her falsely of being a member of a "Latino KKK"? Well, if racism so offends him, how does he explain this? On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p...

SENATE TO HAVE HEARING ON UNITING AMERICAN FAMILIES ACT

Posted on June 02, 2009
Kudos to Senator Chuck Schumer for raising the profile of a serious issue - discrimination against same-sex partners in US immigration law. Even as several states are enacting marriage equality laws and anti-discrimination laws are moving forward around the US (including here in my home town of Memphis), the antiquated Defense of Marriage Act prevents USCIS from treating these families fairly...

NFAP REPORT: TIME FOR A NEW, PORTABLE WORK VISA

Posted on June 01, 2009
The National Foundation for American Policy has issued a report calling for the creation of a new work visa that would be based on bilateral treaties and allow workers to move freely between employers. The program would only be available to countries that closely cooperate with the US in enforcing our immigration laws...

H-1B WORKERS STUCK IN SECURITY CLEARANCE DELAYS

Posted on June 01, 2009
American Public Radio's Marketplace reports.

E-VERIFY CONTRACTOR DELAY COURT DOCUMENT

Posted on May 31, 2009
Thanks to my friend Dan Kowalski for forwarding this to me. And good luck to Dan on his new position as a partner with Reina, Bates and Kowalski! E-Verify Contractor postponement -

BUY MY BOOK!

Posted on May 29, 2009
OK, I don't normally plug my immigration practice or otherwise make this a commercial space. But it so happens that I've written a book that is co-published by ILW, the host of this blog, so this is Kosher. The new book is called the Employer's Immigration Compliance Desk Reference and it is co-published with SHRM - The Society for Human Resource Management...

ANTI-IMMIGRANT TANCREDO SAYS SOTOMAYOR PART OF LATINO KKK

Posted on May 29, 2009
One more nail in the coffin when it comes to the GOP's chances of getting Hispanic voters to consider returning to the party.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG, CORPORATE LEADERS ENDORSE DREAM ACT

Posted on May 29, 2009
Hizzoner and major companies like American Express, Macy's and Pfizer sign on to a letter urging Congress to move this bill. It's a similar letter to one signed recently by Microsoft. Bloomberg endorses DREAM Act -

E-VERIFY CONTRACTOR REG PUSHED BACK UNTIL 9/08

Posted on May 29, 2009
The litigants in the case over the legality of the E-Verify federal contractor have agreed to push back the effective date of the rule from June 30th until September 8th to give the new Administration more time to review the case and determine its position...

PODCAST: IMMIGRATION CONSEQUENCES OF LAYOFFS AND DOWNSIZING

Posted on May 28, 2009
Powered by Podbean.com As promised, here is the audio link to this week's teleconference. Hope you find it helpful. Soon we'll try and jazz it up with some theme music, etc.

THE HILL: DEMS CLOSE TO FILIBUSTER-PROOF MAJORITY ON DREAM ACT

Posted on May 27, 2009
Senator Durbin says the votes are there, but that a vote on DREAM is not likely right now. Instead, the legislation is seen as an attractive item to include in a comprehensive reform bill.

TEA LEAF READING: DOES SOTOMAYOR NOMINATION HURT CHANCES FOR IMMIGRATION BILL? OR HELP?

Posted on May 27, 2009
The pundits are already punditizing about something folks in my own office were debating yesterday - what the nomination of the first Hispanic to the US Supreme Court means for immigration reform this year. One camp believes that Obama has "thrown a bone" to the growing, increasingly powerful Hispanic community by nominating Sotomayor and it is intended to soften the blow when he decides to pass on pushing immigration reform this year...

REMINDER: TELECON ON IMMIGRATION ISSUES IN LAYOFF SITUATION

Posted on May 26, 2009
Just a reminder that I'll be hosting a teleconference today on the immigration consequences of downsizing and layoffs. If you have been laid off, are worried about being laid off or are an HR employee with a company or institution that may have to downsize and you're worried about how to not make a bad situation worse for your foreign employees, you'll want to listen to the call...

RESOLUTION WOULD RECOGNIZE S.S. ST. LOUIS TRAGEDY

Posted on May 26, 2009
The Senate has passed a resolution sponsored by Senators Kohl (D-WI), Voinovich (R-OH), Brownback (R-KS) and Wyden (D-OR) that recognizes June 6th, 1939 as one of the most shameful days in American immigration history. The text of S. Res. 111 tells the story: Recognizing June 6, 2009, as the 70th anniversary of the tragic date when the M...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: KARAN KLER - IMMIGRANT ADVOCATE

Posted on May 25, 2009
Indian-born Karan Kler is the executive director of the Coachella Valley Immigration Service and Assistance Inc., a nonprofit immigration counseling agency in Palm Springs, California. My friend Dan Kowalski forwarded me a really nice article on Karan's journey from an influential business and military family in India to heading a non-profit agency assisting immigrants in need.

BORDER ARRESTS AT LOWEST LEVEL IN OVER 30 YEARS

Posted on May 22, 2009
The Washington Post reports on data released from the Border Patrol. Among the findings: - The number of Border Patrol agents has more than doubled from 9,000 in 2001 to 20,000 this year - 626 miles of the border with Mexico are now covered by fencing and vehicle barriers which is about half of the planned coverage on the 2000 mile border...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: CARLOS SANTANA - ROCK ICON

Posted on May 21, 2009
Mexican-born Carlos Santana is definitely music royalty in his adopted country. He was inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and Rolling Stone Magazine listed him as #15 on the 100 greatest musical artists of all time. Tonight he was on American Idol's finale show...

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