Dallas-Fort Worth Immigration Lawyer
Proposed Changes For TN Visa Professional Workers
Category: Temporary Visas
Foreign nationals of Canada and Mexico seeking a temporary entry into the
U.S. as professionals may enter as TN non-immigrants under the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Under the TN visa, Canadian or
Mexican citizens must enter as professionals who have a minimum of a
bachelor's degree or appropriate professional credentials.
Currently, TN visa holders from Canada or Mexico are allowed to stay in the
U.S. for a maximum of one year, with an unlimited amount of extensions of
stay. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently published
a proposed rule to increase the maximum amount of time a TN professional
worker can stay - from one year to three years. In addition, the proposed
rule will allow TN visa holders seeking an extension of stay in increments
of up to three years.
For more information on TN visas, please call us at 214-999-9999.
Hispanic Population Continues To Increase
Category: Hispanic and Latino News
As reported in today's Dallas Morning News, the growth of the Latino population in the United States and in Texas is continuing at a rapid pace. Here are excerpts:
The percentage of Hispanics in Texas and the nation grew again last year, continuing a trend that has endured throughout the decade, new statistics show.
Today, the U.S. Census will release population estimates showing that Hispanics in the U.S. numbered 45.5 million in 2007, an increase of 1.4 million during the yearlong period beginning in July 2006. In Texas, the number of Hispanics has grown to make up 36 percent of the state's population, up from 32 percent in 2000.
Among the census' other findings:
• Hispanics made up 15.1 percent of the 301 million U.S. residents in 2007, compared to 12.5 percent eight years ago.
• In terms of births and migration into the United States, Hispanics arrived in numbers three times those of non-Hispanic whites.
• Since the last census, Texas has added 1.9 million Hispanics, or five of every eight new Texans.
Moreover, experts say, the trend won't end soon: The median age of non-Hispanic whites in Texas last year was nearly 40 years old, compared to about 27 for Hispanics. The disparity in most other states was larger.
Also, as immigrants learn English, they'll assimilate in terms of American culture and friends, and marry non-Hispanics, the experts said.
Tancredo Is Just Joking, Right?
Category: Border Enforcement
I don't know if his plan is to keep other citizens of Texas out of Brownsville or to keep Brownsville residents out of the rest of Texas, but Congressman Tom Tancredo made a very strange statement in Brownsville yesterday. Here's the story from the Channel 5 TV station in Weslaco:
BROWNSVILLE - A Colorado Congressman is under fire this morning for making a controversial statement to some Brownsville landowners.
Republican Tom Tancredo supports the border wall. The U.S. representative attended the hearing in Brownsville yesterday.
During the hearing, he told the Brownsville landowners, "I suggest that you build this fence around the northern part of your city..." implying that all of Brownsville should be on the Mexican side of the wall.
Right now NEWSCHANNEL 5 is working to get clarification from Congressman Tancredo.
Positive Changes For F-1 Students With "STEM" Degrees
Category: Temporary Visas
An optional practical training (OPT) authorizes F-1 students to receive up to 12 months of practical training either before or after completion of their studies. On April 8, 2008, an interim final rule was issued stating that certain F-1 students will be eligible to receive a 17-month extension following the completion of their OPT. Under the new rule, F-1 students with a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM), who are employed by employers enrolled in E-Verify, and who have received an initial OPT related to such a degree may apply for a 17-month extension of the OPT.
The student will file for the 17-month STEM extension on Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, and include a copy of the STEM degree, and Form I-20 endorsed by the Designated School Official.
F-1 students with STEM degrees may benefit from this final rule if they are the beneficiaries of an approved H-1B petition by automatically extending their F-1 status. This allows the student to remain in the U.S. and continue working until October 1, the start date of the H-1B petition.
For more information please contact us at 214-999-9999.
Visa Bulletin Contains Some Good News
Category: Visa Bulletin
The government has released the May 2008 Visa Bulletin, and there are some bits of good news in it.
EB2 categories for Mexico and for the Philippines are still current (we always worry about backsliding). India's cutoff date advanced a month, as did the date for China, to January 1, 2004. All things considered, the bulletin was a good one this time.
Immigration Agents Arrest Nearly 300 At Pilgrim's Pride Plants
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reports today that immigration agents raided several companies across the country, and arrested quite a few people for identity theft. Especially hard-hit was a Pilgrim's Pride plant in East Texas. Here are excerpts from the story:
Federal immigration officials on Wednesday arrested more than 280 workers employed at Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants in five states, including Texas, on suspicion of committing identity theft. The crackdown is part of a widening criminal investigation involving workers at the world's largest poultry processor.
"This case is a good example of our efforts to prosecute identity theft that harms credit and the good name of U.S. citizens," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary for the U.S. Homeland Security Department, in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.
"We have cooperated fully with the government," said Ray Atkinson, a Pilgrim's Pride spokesman, at corporate headquarters in Pittsburg, Texas.
Pilgrim's Pride also participates in a federal government program to voluntarily check Social Security numbers against workers' names in two government databases, Mr. Atkinson said. The program is known as E-Verify. It has been criticized as error-prone and because it can't detect workers who are using authentic Social Security numbers connected to a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident.
"Unfortunately, it does not detect ID theft situations," Mr. Atkinson said of E-Verify.
Identity fraud is a felony under federal law, and a growing problem as federal immigration efforts have intensified and workers in the U.S. illegally have looked for ways to avoid detection. Some U.S. citizens, and legal residents, rent or share their Social Security numbers, making detection even more arduous.
In Houston, Dallas and Washington, D.C., advocates for those detained denounced the law enforcement round-ups. Douglas Rivlin of the National Immigration Forum noted the U.S. arrival on Tuesday of Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI and the pontiff's message to President Bush on immigration.
"At the same moment that Pope Benedict XVI was admonishing President Bush that the U.S. must treat immigrants with dignity and humanity, the Bush administration was rounding up immigrant workers in raids in at least five states across the country," Mr. Rivlin said in a prepared statement. "What a black eye for the president and for the United States."
Pilgrim's Pride officials have been activists for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws. An attempt at such reform failed last year in Congress. It would have provided a path to citizenship for some of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, a guest worker program and toughened enforcement against employers.
Article Lists The 28 Laws Waived To Build Hidalgo County Border Fence
Category: Border Enforcement
The Dallas Morning News today reports that 28 separate federal laws or regulations were waived in order for Homeland Security to build the Texas-Mexico border fence. It looks like the waivers will be appealed to the Supreme Court. Here are exerpts:
The U.S. Supreme Court may get a chance to join the fractious debate over building fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
A legal challenge by two environmental groups seeking to limit enhanced Department of Homeland Security powers to suspend more than 30 laws to build the fence is gathering support in Congress.
But at least one constitutional expert said that although the legal challenge underscores the broad array of powers Congress has delegated to Homeland Security, "environmentalists face an uphill battle."
"There is a legitimate legal gripe here, in that there are serious questions about how much power Congress can delegate to other branches of government," said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law authority at George Washington University Law School.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the waiver of about three dozen environmental laws to expedite construction of the border fence in Texas and Arizona on April 1.
"This blanket waiver of laws like the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act is a clear and disturbing abuse of the secretary's discretion," said U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee. "Congress' efforts to seek justification for this waiver from DHS have been stonewalled, which leads me to believe none exists."
Congress also denied oversight by federal appeals courts to any challenges, except for a request to the Supreme Court to review.
In his announcement of the most recent waivers, Mr. Chertoff said that Homeland Security remains committed to environmental responsibility and that the agency "is neither compromising its commitment to responsible environmental stewardship nor its commitment to solicit and respond to the needs of state, local and tribal governments, other agencies of the federal government and local residents."
He stressed that his agency will continue to work closely with the Department of Interior and other federal and state resources management agencies to ensure that impact to the environment and cultural and historic artifacts is properly analyzed and minimized.
But the size and scope of the use of waivers to clear the path for construction of the border fence is virtually unprecedented, Dr. Turley said.
More troubling, he added, is the apparent dismissal of due process as "endless debate or protracted litigation."
Mr. Chertoff has said the waivers are necessary because "criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation."
But Dr. Turley said Congress has in recent years "become almost waiver happy."
"They see it as a form of no-cost legislating," he said. "But there is no evidence Congress considered the implications of giving Homeland Security such broad waiver power."
There are indications that Congress may be trying to regain some of the authority it gave away.
Hidalgo Couny: Laws in suspension:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived the following laws for construction of the border fence in Hidalgo County, Texas: 1. National Environmental Policy Act 2. Endangered Species Act 3. Federal Water Pollution Control Act 4. National Historic Preservation Act 5. Migratory Bird Treaty Act 6. Clean Air Act 7. Archaeological Resources Protection Act 8. Safe Drinking Water Act 9. Noise Control Act 10. Solid Waste Disposal Act 11. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 12. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act 13. Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act 14. Antiquities Act 15. Historic Sites, Buildings and Antiquities Act 16. Farmland Protection Policy Act 17. Coastal Zone Management Act 18. Federal Land Policy and Management Act 19. National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act 20. Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 21. Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 22. Administrative Procedure Act 23. Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 24. Eagle Protection Repatriation Act 25. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 26. American Indian Religious Freedom Act 27. Religious Freedom Restoration Act 28. Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977 SOURCE: Federal Register Online
International Adoptions And Hague Convention Countries
Category: Immigration News
International adoptions are back in the headlines again, and it is not because a celebrity has adopted another international child. On April 1, 2008, the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) became effective with respect to the United States. The Hague Convention is an international agreement between Convention member countries. Currently, there are 75 countries that have joined the Hague Convention.
U.S. parents seeking to adopt overseas will see new adoption procedures. Some of the pertinent changes are:
New forms must be used. Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country, and Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative are required as of April 1, 2008. All Hague Convention intercountry applications will be processed at the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services National Benefits Center.
U.S families will now be working with accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved adoption providers that provide adoption services;
U.S. families will be able to initiate a public complaint related to the intercountry adoptions.
New documents will be issued by consular officers overseas, The Hague Adoption Certificate or the Hague Custody Certificate. These documents will essentially state the requirements of the Convention have been met for an adoption or custody declaration completed overseas.
It is important to note that the new regulations apply only to adoptions that transpire between two countries that have approved and implemented the Hague Convention.
For more information, please call us at 214-999-9999.
H-1B Applicants Face Less Than 50% Chance Of Approval
Category: H-1B Visa
According to figures released today by USCIS, there were 163,000 applications filed for the 65,000 available H-1B visas. So if most of the applicants are actually qualified, each applicant has less than a 50-50 chance of being chosen in the lottery drawing. Pitiful. The United States has such a great need for qualified workers, but we continue to use an artificial cap to deprive ourselves of this productivity. Here is the USCIS press release:
USCIS Releases Preliminary Number Of FY 2009 H-1B Cap Filings
WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a preliminary number of nearly 163,000 H-1B petitions received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. More than 31,200 of those petitions were for the advanced degree category.
USCIS expects next week it will conduct the computer-generated random selection process, beginning with the selection of the 20,000 petitions under the advanced degree exemption. Those petitions not selected under the advanced degree category will join the random selection process for the cap-subject 65,000 limit.
USCIS will reject, and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, unless found to be a duplicate. USCIS will handle duplicate filings in accordance with the interim final rule published on March 24, 2008 in the Federal Register.
USCIS will provide regular updates as the processing of FY 2009 H-1B cap cases continues.
Violence Against Border Agents Up 47% In Past Six Months
Category: Border Enforcement
Here's a troubling bit of news from today's Dallas Morning News: Violence against U.S. Border Patrol agents is up 47 percent for the first six months of the fiscal year, as surveillance toughens along the 2,000-mile stretch of U.S.-Mexico border, David Aguilar, the nation's top Border Patrol official, said Tuesday.
"As we continue to gain control of our borders, we fully expected the violence to go up," said Mr. Aguilar, in Dallas for a quarterly gathering of about 50 sector chiefs and other leaders.
In the past six months, there have been nearly 500 incidents against Border Patrol agents, as varied as rock-throwing, physical assaults and gunfire. Smugglers "frankly thought they owned" the border region, and could operate with impunity, Mr. Aguilar said.
Border Fence May Cause Demise Of Two Texas Nature Preserves
Category: Border Enforcement
I posted recently about the Bush administration getting a waiver to bypass environmental regulations so work could proceed on the Texas-Mexico border fence. The Dallas Morning News published an article yesterday about two wildlife preserves that may disappear if the border fence is built. Here are excerpts:
Two nature preserves almost certainly will close after the announcement last week that the federal government would waive environmental protection laws for a fence along the border."We'll have to close," said Anne Brown, executive director and vice president of Audubon Texas. "Basically, you've moved the border."
The Sabal Palm Audubon Center and most of the Nature Conservancy's Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve would end up in the no-man's land between the fence and Mexico.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Tuesday that he would bypass more than 30 environmental laws and regulations to build the section of the fence, designed to stop illegal immigration and smuggling.
Bush Administration To Bypass Laws To Build Border Fence
Category: Border Enforcement
Well, this is one way to do it. I've written a lot on this blog about the resistance Texas landowners are showing toward the building of a new fence along the Texas-Mexico border. Now comes word today that the Bush administration will plow ahead with the fence regardless of any opposition by landowners, by laws, or by regulations. Here are excerpts from a story today in the Dallas Morning News:
The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday.
Invoking the two legal waivers -- which Congress authorized -- will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267 miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about it.
As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be completed by the end of the year to meet the department's goal. Of those, 267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and regulations, the officials said.
One waiver will address the construction of a 22-mile levee barrier in Hidalgo County, Texas. The other waiver will cover 30 miles of fencing and technology deployment on environmentally sensitive ground in San Diego, southern Arizona and the Rio Grande; and 215 miles in California, Arizona and Texas that face other legal impediments due to administrative processes. For instance, building in some areas requires assessments and studies that -- if conducted -- could not be completed in time to finish the fence by the end of the year.
Residents and property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border have complained about the construction of fencing. In South Texas, where opposition has been widespread, land owners refused to give the government access to property along the fence route. The government has since sued more than 50 property owners in South Texas to gain access to the land.
Some Immigrants Picked Up In ICE Raid Sent Back To Mexico
Category: Deportation and Detention
This is a follow-up on the last post about the immigration raid on security guards in Dallas. According to the Dallas Morning News:
Twenty-nine of 49 people picked up in a weekend Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweep targeting illegal immigrants who were working as state-licensed security guards have been sent back to Mexico, officials said Monday.
The U.S. attorney's office is evaluating what charges to pursue against the others still being held at the Bedford Jail, which ICE contracts to use as a short-term detention facility.
Those returned to Mexico were offered a "voluntary return" because none of them would have faced prosecution for criminal charges, ICE Dallas spokesman Carl Rusnok said. "Voluntary return is offered to noncriminal aliens or low-level criminal aliens" – such as for violations that usually result in a ticket, he said.
Immigration Agents Arrest 49 During Raids Of Dallas Night Clubs
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reports today that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided more than two dozen mostly Latino night clubs, restaurants, pool halls and other businesses Saturday night, arresting 49 undocumented immigrants employed as security guards. Here are excerpts from the story:
All of those arrested work for two local security companies, which authorities declined to identify Sunday.
At 11 p.m. Saturday, teams made up of local, state and federal officers simultaneously hit 26 businesses in the Love Field area, northwest Dallas, Old East Dallas and Lakewood. No injuries were reported.
Authorities recovered four pistols. Federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from possessing firearms.
Those arrested also face charges of being in the country illegally.
Five of the suspects face charges of document tampering in order to get licensed as a security officer and to carry a firearm, Ms. Bradfield said. That is a third-degree felony, and the punishment range is two to 10 years.
"Hopefully, this operation will help us send a message that we will not tolerate the falsification of documents for undocumented aliens under the guise of providing security," said Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in a statement Sunday.
Four of those arrested were from El Salvador, and the others were Mexican, authorities said.
In addition to ICE and the district attorney's office, the following agencies also participated Saturday night: the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Dallas Police Department; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission; and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas.
Businesses raided
1. Az De Oro Night Club, 3320 Samuel Blvd., Dallas
2. Far West Night Club, 7331 Gaston Ave., Dallas
3. Ojeda's Restaurant, 4617 Maple Ave., Dallas
4. El Penasco, 4601 Maple Ave., Dallas
5. Izalco Bar, 4605 Maple Ave., Dallas
6. Palacio, 4430 Maple Ave., Dallas
7. Metropolis, 8416 Denton Dr., Dallas
8. El Pulpo Restaurant, 2829 W. Northwest Hwy., Suite 330, Dallas
9. Los Compass Deli and Club, 2829 W. Northwest Hwy., Suite 216, Dallas
10. Taqueria Lupita's, Webb Chapel Ext., Dallas
11. Terry's Supermarket, 3025 Webb Chapel Ext., Dallas
12. Extravaganza Restaurant and Bar, 2905 Webb Chapel Ext., Dallas
13. Billares Puebla, 2900 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas
14. Guerrero Bar, 2900 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 220, Dallas
15. Exclusiva, 2900 Walnut Hill Ln., Suite 200, Dallas
16. La Frontera, 9744 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
17. La Pachanga, 9745 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
18. Los Corrales Restaurant and Bar, 10229 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
19. El Diamante, 4915 Singleton Blvd., Dallas
20. Club de Cache, 9100 N. Central Exp., Suite 300, Dallas
21. Oficina Billares, 10830 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
22. Viva Cafe and Billiards, 2829 W. Northwest Hwy., Suite 330, Dallas
23. Dallas Gentleman's Club, 2117 W. Northwest Hwy., Dallas
24. 039 Club, 1820 W. Mockingbird Ln., Dallas
25. Orienta Night Club II, 8120 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
26. La Tormenta, 9834 Brockbank Dr., Dallas
California Car Washes Use Illegal Immigrant Labor Without Paying Their Workers
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Los Angeles Times recently ran an interesting story about the abuse of unauthorized immigrants working in car washes in Southern California. Essentially, the immigrants work for tips only, allowing the employers to avoid paying wages or taxes of any type. Fear of deportation keeps the car wash workers from complaining. It's just one more way that mistreatment of illegal aliens allows Americans to pay lower prices for goods and services. Here are excerpts from the story:
A team of state inspectors strode into the Blue Wave Car Wash in West Los Angeles, past latte-sipping customers in electric massage chairs and into the gritty carwash tunnel.
"¿Cuánto gana usted?" the inspectors asked worker after worker, about 20 of them, most Latino immigrants. How much do you make? Each carwashero responded that he earned minimum wage or more -- just as the owner of the Blue Wave, one of the region's busiest carwashes, had told the inspectors.
Looking over payroll records, however, the regulators became suspicious. Employees who said they were full time were listed as working just 10 or 15 hours a week.
Inspector Martha Mendoza ushered Juan Cruz Santiago, a small man with salt-and-pepper hair, away from the others. During gentle questioning under a ficus tree, he admitted that most days, he and his 66-year-old father worked for tips only. So did nearly half the other employees, he said. It had been that way for at least six years.
"It's bad," the 41-year-old Oaxacan immigrant whispered to Mendoza, his eyes darting nervously toward his boss' office. "Other carwashes are the same, no?"
Many are. A Times investigation has found that hand carwashes, automotive beauty shops patronized by tens of thousands of Southern California motorists every day, often brazenly violate basic labor and immigration laws, with little risk of penalty.
Half or more of carwash owners flout the minimum-wage law, estimated David Dorame, the longtime lead investigator for low-wage industries at California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
"Tips only" is a requirement for some new workers until owners are satisfied that they can properly dry a car, laborers said. Their take is typically $10 to $30 a day.
Desperate for a toehold in the region's underground economy, many in the largely undocumented workforce are loath to complain for fear of being fired, physically threatened or deported.
Pedro Guzman, an undocumented Honduran immigrant, said a manager at a Hollywood carwash was able to keep employees washing at a furious pace -- 350 to 700 cars a day -- with two words in ungrammatical Spanish: "Quiere casa?" "Want to go home?"
Immigration authorities have done little to discourage the steady flow of undocumented workers into carwash jobs, affording owners an endless supply of cheap, eager and easily exploited laborers.
Despite the national debate over illegal immigration and a recent crackdown on some employers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they have not raided a single California carwash in at least four years.
Washington Post Proposes Temporary Solution To H-1B Crisis
Category: H-1B Visa
The Washington Post published a good editorial yesterday lamenting the nation's H-1B visa crisis, and proposed an interesting solution. Here are excerpts:
April's just around the corner, and that means it's H-1B preparation time once again. H-1Bs, which are visas for skilled foreign workers, are capped at 65,000, with another 20,000 given to foreign alumni of U.S. postgraduate programs. Last year, the cap was reached within hours on the first day that the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting applications. Because a bachelor's degree is required for these applications, most foreign graduates from the class of 2007 were among the tens of thousands who were shut out of the process. If nothing changes, America will miss out on another crop of talent this year.
H-1B visas are reserved for the world's best and brightest, and barring their entry is economic self-sabotage. The cap keeps out doctors, engineers and other specialists -- people who save lives and often create jobs for others in America. One need only look at the national origins of founders of companies such as Google and Sun Microsystems to realize that foreign talent has helped keep the U.S. economy on the cutting edge. These are talents the United States has been struggling to grow at home, given that more than a third of all science and engineering doctorates awarded in the United States go to foreign students (for whom the number of visas is not capped), according to the National Science Foundation.
The H-1B visa cap was set well before the tech boom and so does not reflect current needs. It was raised temporarily in 1999, but that increase was allowed to lapse a few years later. Since last year's debacle, there have been congressional attempts to increase the cap, but these have been held up by the political sensitivities surrounding immigration reform, and in particular reforms aimed at illegal and unskilled workers. Because lawmakers lack the political will to keep the world's talent in America, companies are following it overseas, setting up shop in Canada, India, Eastern Europe and other areas where the skills they need are plentiful. As a result, investment and jobs are being shipped abroad.
One solution that may be less politically inflammatory would be to recapture H-1B visas that Congress has already approved but that went unused during the post-Sept. 11 economic downturn. About 300,000 surplus visas could be doled out over the next several years to provide a short-term fix to the current shortage and could perhaps include an additional fee -- which employers would pay -- to create more revenue. A long-term solution is still necessary. Allowing the cap to stay so low effectively exiles not only the world's best and brightest but also the U.S. companies that employ them.
Did Farmers Branch Violate Court Order By Asking About Tenants' Legal Residency?
Category: Immigration News
The Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, entangled in litigation about the city's attempts to regulate illegal immigration at the municipal level, may have made an inadvertent error by asking for the legal status of tenants while enjoined from doing so by a federal court order.
Here are excerpts from a story today in the Dallas Morning News:
Farmers Branch acknowledged Monday that the city asked 11 apartment complexes to check whether prospective tenants were in the country legally, even though a federal judge has blocked enforcement of the city's ban on rentals to illegal immigrants.
City Manager Gary Greer called the situation, involving an annual application for a rental license, inadvertent and an "unfortunate error."
Management of seven of the 11 complexes signed the form, though two crossed out the improper language, Mr. Greer said.
It wasn't known whether anyone had been turned away from an apartment, though Mr. Greer said: "To my knowledge, there is not anyone that is carrying this out. We will be checking into that, to be sure they understand that they don't have to. ...
"I'm doing everything I can do right now to make sure it never happens again."
The city's voters overwhelmingly approved a measure last May to require apartments to obtain proof of legal status before renting to anyone.
But lawsuits challenged the constitutionality of the measure, and U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement until the legal issues can be resolved. The case hasn't yet reached trial.
Apartment complexes' licenses to rent units expire at the end of each calendar year, and they must submit a new application. The city sent a proper license application to every complex in November. It asked applicants to acknowledge that they had received a copy of the apartment ordinances and would abide by them.
But early this month, when resending applications to complexes that still hadn't renewed their licenses, the city inadvertently used the wrong form, Mr. Greer said. That version specifically mentioned a provision that requires landlords to verify that prospective renters are in the country legally.
Mr. Greer said the application form had been drafted in fall 2006, after the council first approved an ordinance banning apartment rentals to illegal immigrants. At the time, there were no lawsuits and no injunctions in place.
Latinos Seek Citizenship In Time For Voting
Category: Citizenship and Naturalization
According to a New York Times article, a lawsuit filed this month in a federal court in New York by Latino immigrants seeks to force immigration authorities to complete hundreds of thousands of stalled naturalization petitions in time for the new citizens to vote in November. Here are excerpts from the article:
The class-action suit was brought by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of legal Hispanic immigrants in the New York City area who are eager to vote and have been waiting for years for the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency to finish their applications. The suit demands that the agency meet a nationwide deadline of Sept. 22 to complete any naturalization petitions filed by March 26.
Latino groups hope to summon the clout of the federal courts to compel the Bush administration to reduce a backlog of citizenship applications that swelled last year. According to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, more than one million citizenship petitions were backed up in the pipeline by the end of December, the majority from Latino immigrants.
Despite protests over the delays from lawmakers, Latino groups and immigrant advocates, the immigration agency is currently projecting wait times of 16 months to 18 months to process the petitions.
“The reality is that large numbers of Latinos will not be able to vote in the elections because of these delays,” said Cesar A. Perales, president of the defense fund. “Now the world will know that the Latino community expects the Bush administration to get this done on time.”
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, asserts that the agency violated immigrants’ due process rights by routinely failing to finish their applications within a 180-day time period that Congress has set as a standard. It also asserts that the Bush administration did not follow regulatory procedures in November 2002 when it ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to deepen its background checks of citizenship applicants.
A fee increase, raising naturalization costs 80 percent to $595, went into effect on July 30. Legal immigrants were also spurred to seek citizenship by worries about the divisive debate over immigration and by citizenship campaigns by Latino groups.
“It is astonishing the government should be so unresponsive to immigrants who have enthusiastically taken all the steps to become Americans,” said Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino group that supported the suit.
Wall Street Journal Says Eliminate H-1B Visa Cap
The Wall Street Journal published an interesting editorial a few days ago about the need for increasing the number of H-1B visas allowable each year. Here are excerpts:
Bill Gates appeared before Congress again last week to make a simple point to simpler pols: The ridiculously low annual cap on H-1B visas for foreign professionals is undermining the ability of U.S. companies to compete in a global marketplace.
"Congress's failure to pass high-skill immigration reform has exacerbated an already grave situation," said the Microsoft chairman. "The current base cap of 65,000 H-1B visas is arbitrarily set and bears no relation to the U.S. economy's demand for skilled workers."
The Labor Department projects that by 2014 there will be more than two million job openings in science, technology, engineering and math fields. But the number of Americans graduating with degrees in those disciplines is falling. Meanwhile, visa quotas make it increasingly difficult for U.S. companies to hire foreign-born graduates of our own universities. Last year, as in prior years, the supply of H-1B visas was exhausted on the first day petitions could be filed.
Mr. Gates said his software company exemplifies this phenomenon. "Microsoft has found that for every H-1B hire we make, we add on average four additional employees to support them in various capacities," he told lawmakers. "If we increase the number of H-1B visas that are available to U.S. companies, employment of U.S. nationals would likely grow as well."
The preponderance of evidence continues to show that businesses are having difficulty filling skilled positions in the U.S. By blocking their access to foreign talent, Congress isn't protecting U.S. jobs but is providing incentives to outsource. If lawmakers can't bring themselves to eliminate the H-1B visa cap, they might at least raise it to a level that doesn't handicap U.S. companies.
Movie Discusses Immigration, But Focuses On Love
Category: General Information
This is the first-ever movie review in this blog, and probably the last, but a new movie got such a good review today in the Dallas Morning News that I wanted to mention it.
Under The Same Moon is directed by Patricia Riggen. Here are excerpts from the Dallas Morning News article:
Anti-immigration talk bubbles to the surface in election years and burbles from the mouth of Lou Dobbs seemingly every minute. It's been a rallying cry from the days of the 19th-century Know Nothing movement to today's skirmishes in Farmers Branch. But for those on the outside, the talk often lacks a human dimension. And that's where movies enter the picture.
Patricia Riggen, Guadalajara-born and Columbia University-educated, hopes her Under the Same Moon, which opens today at the Magnolia and Plano Angelika theaters, can be one of those movies.
On one level, it's the most basic and universal of stories: A child, separated from his mother, embarks on an epic journey to find her. "I want to remind people that it's about the human condition and the separation of loved ones," Ms. Riggen said recently in a Dallas hotel conference room.
But the dividing line of this particular separation is the U.S.-Mexican border. Rosario (Kate del Castillo) has journeyed to Los Angeles to make a living as a domestic. Her young son, Carlitos (Adrian Alonso), remains back home in Mexico with his grandmother – until she dies and the kid decides he needs his mom.
Finding mom. It's an impulse so basic that it makes talk of "illegals" sound like a dry policy debate.
"All of the conversations and controversy are always focused on the economic or political side of immigration and not on the human family side of it," Ms. Riggen says. "That's what I wanted to look at. I didn't want to do a political film. I just wanted to show the human side of this story that we hear every day."
She leaves the obvious unstated: It's harder to hate people once you've walked in their shoes. Even when you walk sitting down in a dark theater.
Movies that put children in jeopardy have to be handled in a delicate manner. There needs to be enough danger for the audience to become invested in the story. Too much danger, and the movie becomes manipulative or even exploitative.
Ms. Riggen's film could have been a forum for a political debate about immigration laws. There are a few mentions, but never enough to distract from the movie's central message: what we will do for love.
For Rosario, it is the willingness to be away from her only son to be able to give him a better standard of living. She shows a real strength when a simple solution to her problem presents itself. But the script by Ligiah Villalobos takes that plotline in a refreshing direction.
It would be easy to dismiss Under the Same Moon as being of interest only for those who understand or care about immigration issues. But the heart of the film is a story of how love can make people move mountains. And that is a universal theme.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Spouses Of Deceased U.S. Citizens
Category: Citizenship and Naturalization
A spouse of a deceased US citizen may file a petition on his/her behalf and qualify as an immediate relative. Certain eligibility requirements must be met before filing the petition:
The widow was married to the US citizen for at least two years;
The deceased spouse must have been a US citizen at the time of death;
The US citizen and widower were not separated at the time of the citizen's death;
The widow has not remarried at the time of filing.
The widower must self-petition on Form I-360, and submit supporting documentation establishing the deceased spouse's citizenship, and evidence illustrating the relationship between the deceased spouse and widower. This may include a marriage certificate, divorce decrees of earlier spouses, the US citizen's birth certificate or naturalization certificate and death certificate.
The widower need not be residing in the United States to file the petition. If the widower is outside the U.S., the petition will be filed at the Immigration Service's overseas offices or at the U.S. consulate with jurisdiction over the alien's place of residence.
To learn more please call us at 214-999-9999.
Naturalization And Marriage To A U.S. Citizen
Category: Citizenship and Naturalization
Generally, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR's) may be eligible for naturalization upon meeting the naturalization criteria. In order to qualify, an individual must satisfy the following:
1. Must be an LPR;
2. Must be over 18 years of age;
3. After becoming an LPR, must have continuously resided in the U.S. for five years;
4. Must maintain residence for three months in the state where the application is filed;
5. Must have basic English language skills and knowledge of U.S. history and government.
If an LPR does not want to wait five years to apply for naturalization, the LPR may apply for naturalization after three years if he or she is married to a U.S. citizen. If the LPR is married to a U.S. citizen, the continuous residence requirement is three years only if the U.S. citizen spouse has been a citizen for three years and the parties have been married for three years and continue to be married at the time of naturalization. An LPR need not be living with the U.S. citizen spouse after filing the naturalization application, but must continue to be married at the time of naturalization.
Although the continuous residence requirement may be changed from five years to three years (if married to a U.S. citizen), the other requirements must still be met to qualify for naturalization.
If you want to learn more about naturalization and the continuous residence requirement based on marriage to a U.S. citizen, please call us at 214-999-9999.
Claiming Citizenship
Category: Citizenship and Naturalization
Did you know that you may claim citizenship if you are under the age of 18, and either of your parents are U.S. citizens, but you were born abroad? You may apply to the Immigration Service for a certificate of citizenship. In order to be issued a certificate of citizenship the following requirements must be met:
1. At least one parent is a U.S. citizen either by birth (acquired citizenship) or naturalization (derivative citizenship);
2. The child must be under 18 years of age;
3. The child is in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission, or outside of the U.S in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent and is temporarily present in the U.S. pursuant to a lawful admission and is maintaining lawful status; and
4. The U.S. citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States for at least five years (at least two years of which were after the parent reached 14 years of age); or the child's grandparent must meet the five year physical presence requirement.
If you meet these requirements before your 18th birthday, call us at 214-999-9999 to learn more about how to apply for a certificate of citizenship.
After The War, A New Battle To Become Citizens
Category: Immigration News
The New York Times has reported that many members of the U.S. military are seeing their citizenship applications delayed, despite government promises that they would be given expedited treatment. The article is lengthy, and interesting. Here are excerpts:
Despite a 2002 promise from President Bush to put citizenship applications for immigrant members of the military on a fast track, some are finding themselves waiting months, or even years, because of bureaucratic backlogs. One, Sgt. Kendell K. Frederick of the Army, who had tried three times to file for citizenship, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq as he returned from submitting fingerprints for his application.
About 7,200 service members or people who have been recently discharged have citizenship applications pending, but neither the Department of Defense nor Citizenship and Immigration Services keeps track of how long they have been waiting. Immigration lawyers and politicians say they have received a significant number of complaints about delays because of background checks, misplaced paperwork, confusion about deployments and other problems.
The long waits are part of a broader problem plaguing the immigration service, which was flooded with 2.5 million applications for citizenship and visas last summer -- twice as many as the previous year -- in the face of 66 percent fee increases that took effect July 30. Officials have estimated that it will take an average of 18 months to process citizenship applications from legal immigrants through 2010, up from seven months last year.
But service members and veterans are supposed to go to the head of the line. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush signed an executive order allowing noncitizens on active duty to file for citizenship right away, instead of having to first complete three years in the military. The federal government has since taken several steps to speed up the process, including training military officers to help service members fill out forms, assigning special teams to handle the paperwork, and allowing citizenship tests, interviews and ceremonies to take place overseas.
At the same time, post-9/11 security measures, including tougher guidelines for background checks that are part of the naturalization process, have slowed things down.
Over all, 312,000 citizenship or green card applications are pending name checks, including 140,000 that have been waiting more than six months, immigration officials said. This month, immigration authorities eased background-check requirements for green cards, saying that if applicants had been waiting more than six months, they could be approved without an F.B.I. check, and approvals could be revoked later "in the unlikely event" that troubling information was found.
Government To Increase Fines For Hiring Illegal Immigrants
Category: Immigration News
The Associated Press is reporting today that the government will increase the fines levied against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. The increase will be 25 percent, and is the first incrase in nearly a decade. Excerpt from the article:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for investigating illegal hirings, has stepped up its enforcement of the employer sanctions law in the past year, leading to a dozen major busts. Currently, fines range from $2,000 to $10,000 depending on the offense. The agency says some penalties could include at least six months in jail.