Archives for November 2014

President Obama's November 20, 2014 announcement of Executive Action actually included 12 memos to various agencies with instruction to create or amend administrative policies or to issue new regulations.  One of those memos deals with expansion of the provisional stateside or family unity waiver for unlawful presence.  By way of background, waivers are additional applications required of nonimmigrants visa applicants or permanent resident applicants who are inadmissible to the US or removable … [Read more...]

In one week, the immigration alphabet soup boiled over with news about humanitarian relief: TPS, DACA and a new DAPA program.  (Okay: TPS stands for Temporary Protected Status, and DACA refers to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).  More on these later.  But, among these acronyms, DAPA is the newest program known as Deferred Action for Parental Accountability.  (How do they come up with these names?)  DAPA is a new form of deferred action, i.e., delay or deferment of removal for people who … [Read more...]

President Obama's November 20, 2014 Executive Action plan expands his 2012 DACA program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.  This is one of two deferred action programs announced by the President last week.   The Deferred Action and Parent Accountability (DAPA) program is a separate program and will be reported in another blog post. As a reminder, Deferred Action is not a visa; it is not a green card or permanent residence; it is not a path to citizenship or citizenship.  It is stepping … [Read more...]

Below is a summary of the various Executive Actions announced by President Obama on November 20, 2014 concerning legal immigration to the USA.  Most of the press coverage has been about the hot-button topic of what to do with the millions of people who are in the USA already in undocumented status. There has been virtually no coverage of the President's plans concerning legal immigration.  While he is constrained by Congressional statute and Congressional inaction to fix legal immigration, there … [Read more...]

President Obama announced tonight in very broad terms that he would expand "deferred action" to millions of undocumented immigrants beyond the DACA program of 2012 (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The new program, to begin in 2015, will benefit the following groups of people who choose to step forward out of the shadows for a less than perfect immigration status. Deferred action is NOT a green card/permanent residence, a visa, citizenship, amnesty nor legalization. It just defers or … [Read more...]

President Obama is scheduled to announce his plan for Executive Action on immigration tonight at 5pm PST. Most of the networks will NOT be carrying his speech. However, CNN, MSNBC, Telemundo and Univision among others will, although this could change later today. If you miss it, the White House will have a recording here. Most of the controversy between the Democrats and Republicans is over what to do with the millions of people living in the US without legal papers. However, Executive Action … [Read more...]

A short summary of President Obama's announcement tonight on Executive Action is on my advocacy blog, Seattleimmigrationlawyerblog.  Information in the form of policy memos, FAQs and more is starting to pour in from the various agencies about how they will implement the program. However, many details remain to be seen and will be forthcoming in the coming weeks.  The Administration's plan calls for expansion of deferred action, expansion of those who can file for provisional stateside waivers of … [Read more...]

Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC interviewed immigration lawyer, elder statesman and guru, Leon Wildes, about his representation of John Lennon of the Beatles. The US government threatened to deport him because of a cannibis resin conviction in the UK.  In this interesting segment, O'Donnell and Wildes discuss the history of the use of the government's exercise of prosecutorial discretion.  During his representation of John Lennon, Wildes filed a Freedom of Information Act request and discovered … [Read more...]

President Obama is scheduled to announce his Executive Action Plan tomorrow, Thursday night.  Meanwhile, today, the Senate is debating immigration reform and President Obama's anticipated announcement.  Besides offering some relief for families, we are hoping to see some other administrative fixes that deal with the legal immigration system.  See my two blog posts on proposals for family and business fixes that can be accomplished administratively without the need for Congressional Action.  As a … [Read more...]

Here at the Seattle immigration Law Office of Bonnie Stern Wasser, we are committed to serving the men and women in uniform and their families.  On this Veterans Day, we take pride in honoring our clients who are serving or who have served in the military, and the organizations that we assist in their help for military families.  In 2014, I have had the pleasure to serve on the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Military Assistance Project (MAP) Task Force.  The Task Force oversees … [Read more...]