Immigration Law Outside News

Where Individuals Enter ICE Custody: State-by-State Details

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:13:00 -0400

"On a typical work day Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took 1,509 individuals into custody, according to the latest available ICE data from November and December 2012. During weekends, the volume of detentions decreased to an average of 471 people a day placed in ICE custody. This means that nearly 8,500 individuals were picked up across the country and detained by ICE during a typical week.[1] If activity levels continue at this pace, ICE will detain around 400,000 individuals during the current fiscal year. This report focuses on where these individuals were first detained by ICE based on their initial custody locations." - TRAC, May 20, 2013.

A Family Divided

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:10:00 -0400

Arizona Republic three-day series: "For almost six years, Ivonne Gil has lived apart from her husband, Mario Gil, and their 13-year-old son, Daniel, on opposite sides of the border. She was deported in 2007 and hasn’t been able to return legally to the U.S. since. Mario and Daniel drive to Nogales every weekend to visit Ivonne. Their family's separation has taken a toll on the couple's marriage and disrupted their son's life. But they hope one day soon that Ivonne will be able to return to the U.S. legally, possibly benefitting from an immigration bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in April by a group that includes Arizona Republicans John McCain and Jeff Flake."

http://www.pbs.org/pov/ballad/

Sen. Franken Helps Small Businesses and Regular Folks with the I-9 Process

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:20:00 -0400

"[H]e persuaded his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee to adopt by voice vote an amendment (Franken 4) to the Gang of Eight's comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill, S. 744. If CIR is enacted with Franken 4 included, it would establish within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) an "Office of the Small Business and Employee Advocate" (the SBE Advocate), whose purpose would be to "assist small businesses [firms with 49 or fewer employees] and individuals in complying with the [Form I-9 (employment-eligibility-verification) requirements" of the immigration laws, "including the resolution of conflicts arising in the course of attempted compliance with such requirements."

The new role for the SBE Advocate complements the letter, dated May 16." - Elise Foley, May 18, 2013.

MPI Report Examines Credential-Recognition Barriers Immigrant Professionals Face

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:21:00 -0400

"Foreign-trained professionals in the United States often encounter significant obstacles on their path to professional practice, among them difficulties in demonstrating the value of their past work experience and qualifications. Many must be formally recertified in the United States before they can legally practice their profession.

Because of the United States’ decentralized federal system, no single structure governs professional certification in regulated occupations — resulting in a profusion of overlapping and sometimes contradictory national, state and local rules and exams that are often costly, complicated and time-consuming for immigrant professionals to navigate.

A new Migration Policy Institute report, Credential Recognition in the United States for Foreign Professionals, examines the U

Scholars to Senate: Grassley Amendment 53 Unconstitutional

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:22:00 -0400

"As law professors and scholars of constitutional and immigration law, we urge you to oppose Senator Grassley’s Amendment 53, the “Keep Our Communities Safe Act of 2013.” The amendment is unconstitutional because it would require prolonged detention without a bond hearing for many people with pending immigration proceedings, and because it would permit the Department of Homeland Security to indefinitely detain many people who cannot be deported." - 67 leading constitutional and immigration law professors and scholars, May 15, 2013.

Traffic Stops Become Immigration Stops in Delaware Valley

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:33:00 -0400

"[T]raffic operations designed to catch unlicensed drivers are provoking allegations of racial profiling across the Delaware Valley. The concerns stem from ICE officers working hand-in-hand with local police, which immigrant rights advocates say is an end-run around state and federal law specifically prohibiting police from enforcing immigration laws. According to citation records obtained by a public records request, 60 percent of the nearly 100 drivers ticketed by the Norristown Police Department during two checkpoints conducted jointly with ICE last summer had Hispanic surnames. These figures are particularly striking given that Hispanic residents make up only 30 percent of Norristown's population, according to the 2010 Census. ... ICE's regional office confirms they have participated in ten traffic checkpoints in 2012 within its area of responsibility. That region covers Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware. ... Back in Norristown

American Wins Ten-Year Battle For Citizenship [UPDATED]

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:07:00 -0400

"Nothing, not the threat of deportation, not the ensuing 10-year legal battle, not even six years in the Batavia detention center, made Carlos Garcia waver. Even while representing himself – he didn’t get a lawyer until a federal appeals court appointed one eight years into his case – he never gave up on his dream of becoming a U.S. citizen. Three weeks ago, federal immigration officials finally relented and, after a decade-long battle to deport Garcia, reversed themselves and agreed to grant him citizenship." - Buffalo News, May 16, 2013.

2009 court decision here.

2011 court decision

You Have NOT Been Unsubscribed!

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:56:00 -0400

Sad to say, a 'server error' resulted in no email for the past two days from the ILC. Techs in the basement (or the cloud?) tell me the problem should be fixed and today's email blast should be distributed as usual. Fingers crossed...

DOJ Remands Another DHS 'DOMA Denial'

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:06:00 -0400

"Just before Mother’s Day this North Carolina family learned that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) rejected the denial of the marriage-based green card petition they had filed last year. The BIA sent the case back to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Field Office in Charlotte, North Carolina for further processing with orders to conduct complete fact-finding, including an interview, to determine whether they would be eligible for a green card if not for Section 3 of DOMA. This is the thirteenth time that a married same-sex binational couple, participating in The DOMA Project’s pro bono legal challenge to DOMA, has received a “remand” from the BIA after the USCIS denied their green card case because of DOMA." - Managing Illegal Immigration to the United States: How Effective Is Enforcement? - "The authors examine U.S. efforts to prevent illegal immigration to the United States. Although the United States has witnessed a sharp drop in illegal border crossings in the past decade alongside an enormous increase in government activities to prevent illegal immigration, there remains little understanding of the role enforcement has played. Better data and analyses to assist lawmakers in crafting more successful policies and to support administration officials in implementing these policies are long overdue." - Council on Foreign Relations Press, May 2013

Do We Still Need PERM? - The Merits-Based Points System in BSEOIMA

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:10:00 -0400

"We continue to analyze the provisions of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, s. 744 (BSEOIMA), which seeks to bring about dramatic changes to the existing immigration system in the United States. One of the most transformative changes that BSEOIMA will bring, if enacted, is a merits-based points system." - Gary Endelman & Cyrus D. Mehta, May 13, 2013.

Members of Congress, Meet the Campbells!

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:44:00 -0400

"Let me tell you a little about Jio’s history. Try to put yourself in her place. She was born in Mexico, and was brought across the border to the U.S. by her parents at the age of 3. A few years later, her uncle died in the U.S., and her parents wanted to bury him in Mexico. So they brought Jio to Mexico with them for a few months, and then crossed her back to the U.S. Surely, no one would want to penalize a young child for unlawfully entering the U.S. with her parents. Right? Fast forward to age 23. Jio is a senior at one of the Cal State universities. She is also a Marathoner and an All-American Girl. ... The rest of the story was told by Jio in her narrative of her 16 months in Mexico, or if not, you’ll have to wait for the movie Suffice to say that on January 5

No Time for Rich-Whining, CIR Advocates Must Stay Focused on the Senate

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:38:00 -0400

"The point of this post is not that revelry over the fall of xenophobes and eugenicists is wrong; rather, it is that celebrations of that sort are unaffordable luxuries. That wine is just too rich at this late hour.

Advocates for enlightened CIR must instead keep eyes peeled on the Senate Judiciary Committee and its fast-and-furious consideration of amendments which will profoundly reshape in ways unforeseeable the rules for employment- and family-based immigration. This week's action will focus on Title IV which would transform (in good and bad ways) many of the most heavily-used nonimmigrant visa categories and create new classifications whose contours will be decided in the coming weeks, perhaps as soon as Memorial Day.

So save your gloating for another day. Now, keep the Congressional feet to the fire. Let the word go out in Twitter feed and Facebook update, in radio/TV talk shows on cable, broadcast and satellite networks, in blog

Federal Judge Grants Preliminary Approval of Settlement Agreement in National Class Action Lawsuit on Work Authorization for Asylum Seekers

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:47:00 -0400

NWIRP, May 8, 2013 - "On May 8, 2013, a federal district court issued an order preliminarily approving a settlement agreement in a nationwide class action lawsuit that challenged the denial of work authorization to asylum seekers who have been waiting six months or more for a decision on their asylum applications. The lawsuit is called B.H. et al v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, et al(also referred to as “ABT”). This lawsuit was filed by the American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center (LAC), the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI, and the law firm Gibbs Houston Pauw. As the Notice to Class explains, individuals have 30 days to submit written objections to the settlement. The Notice to class

Southern District of Texas Leading in Record Year for Immigration Prosecutions

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:20:00 -0400

TRAC, May 10, 2013 - "Very timely Justice Department data show that during the first six months of FY 2013, the rate of federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses is up 9.8 percent over the previous year, with 50,468 such prosecutions reported as of the end of March. If this pace continues, more individuals will have faced criminal immigration charges this year than at any other time in United States history.
Regionally, the Southern District of Texas (Houston) now leads the nation with 17,022 immigration prosecutions so far this year. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is in second place with 13,379 prosecutions. Arizona, the district with the most immigration prosecutions in FY 2012, has slipped to third place with 11,476. Arizona is also recording the largest decline -- 22 percent -- of any district in

Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:55:00 -0400

"The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment

USCIS to Expand Entrepreneurs in Residence Initiative

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:43:00 -0400

USCIS, May 8, 2013: "In just over one year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) innovative Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) initiative has produced real benefits that will strengthen agency policies and practices relating to job-creating immigrant entrepreneurs who help advance American economic growth. USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas will discuss the EIR team’s Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, co-author of Immigration Law and Procedure, the 21-Volume 'Bible' of immigration law that has been cited in over 300 federal court decisions in cases from across the U.S. circuit courts of appeals, federal district courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court, was quoted recently in Politico and the CBO updated 15 of the 20 exhibits contained in that report and added one new exhibit. Those exhibits that could be updated in their entirety have been, and a few others have been updated partially. In some instances, the period covered was altered to focus on the time span since the previous report. CBO’s updated exhibits regarding the immigrant population, along with a list of the agency’s recent reports and selected recent cost estimates for legislation related to immigration, accompany a letter to Congressman Paul Ryan<

Report: Fearing Police Links to ICE, Latinos Less Likely to Report Crimes

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:38:00 -0400

"Many Latinos say they are less likely than before to report crimes because local police are increasingly involved in enforcing immigration laws, leading to a sharp increase in deportations, according to a new study. About 44% of Latinos surveyed said they were less likely now to contact police if they were victims of a crime because they fear officers will inquire about their immigration status or the status of people they know. The figure jumps to 70% among Latinos who are in the country unlawfully. “There is fear that is really widespread,” said Nik Theodore, an associate professor of urban planning and policy at University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of the study. The report, “Insecure Communities: Latino Perceptions of Police Involvement

Conservatives Battle Over CIR Narrative

skiramen@gmail.com (Daniel M. Kowalski) — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:56:00 -0400

A new report from the conservative Heritage Foundation claims immigration reform would cost the nation trillions of dollars.

Yet in 2006 the Foundation argued precisely the opposite.

And the Cato Institute argues persuasively that the methodology of the Heritage report renders it worthless.

WaPo recaps the give-and-take