Immigration and Firm News

Drinking (or using drugs) and driving has huge consequences, whether you are an immigrant or a US citizen.  Aside from the obvious health and safety risks, financial cost, and emotional hardships to families, the following immigration consequences can happen. Non-US Citizens For immigrants, ICE has a policy of arresting people for DUIs (through detainers at jails) and confining defendants at immigration detention centers. You will be detained without bond!  It doesn't matter if you are … [Read more...]

USCIS has released some new instructional videos to help employers and their employees properly complete Form I-9s at time of hire. Since the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), it has been the law every employer must document on Form I-9 the work permission status of employees hired since November 6, 1986. The law applies to the hiring of US citizens as well. Employers are subject to audit (Notices of Intent to Inspect) that can result in fines for failure to … [Read more...]

In the world of immigration and citizenship law, our clients deal with many government agencies. My readers know that I like to cite directly to government sources; so, let's take a look at the contingency plans of various federal agencies in case Congress puts us all over the fiscal cliff into a government shutdown next week. Keep in mind that things are changing by the hour. If ever there is a time for it, should there be a shutdown, patience will certainly be a virtue while our crazy … [Read more...]

Below are highlights from today's opening Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on S. 744, the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act." Overall, the Committee considered 32 amendments to Title I concerning border security. The Committee adopted 21 amendments, of which 20 were adopted by a bipartisan vote. The debate and voting can be viewed on C-Span. The Committee will meet again at 10 o'clock next Tuesday. After first approving by 14-4 the Sponsors' amended … [Read more...]

It's been 27 years since Congress passed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) requiring employers to document the work permission status of ALL new hires, including US citizens, on Form I-9. After all those years, employers still contact our office wanting to hire, or continue employing undocumented workers, or they simply want to "help" an employee who they don't realize lacks permission to work. Many employers sound clueless about IRCA requirements, even when there is so much … [Read more...]

In an earlier post, Prosecutorial Discretion: "Backdoor Amnesty"? 9 Myths Debunked, I discussed the latest announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that it will work with the Immigration Courts to cull from its docket "low priority" cases. The August 18, 2011 announcement by Homeland Secretary, Janet Napolitano, makes reference to two June 17, 2011 memos from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) discussing the criteria ICE should be using to determine if and when it … [Read more...]

On August 18, 2011, Secretary Janet Napolitano, announced that her office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will work with the Immigration Courts in the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), to review over 300,000 pending court cases to determine which ones are "low priority" and can be closed or terminated. This will enable DHS and EOIR to focus scarce resources on dangerous criminals and terrorists. Locally, DHS has already been reviewing the detention status of … [Read more...]

An article in the Wall Street Journal and another in Packer News report that "in an email" to an unknown source, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) said it will issue I-9 audit notices to over a 1000 employers as part of its national strategy to get more employers to stop hiring workers without legal employment status. Notices to Inspect will be issued across industries. This should come as no surprise to employers. In my post last month, ICE to Establish I-9 Center and Increase Audits, I … [Read more...]

A Wall Street Journal article, Crackdown on Illegal Workers Grows, reports that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) will open a new "Employment Compliance Inspection Center" to handle an increase in I-9 audits of employers of all sizes, including large, major employers. Under the Bush administration, ICE focused on rounding up undocumented workers through surprise raids. By contrast, the Obama administration is conducting stealth, "silent" audits of employer documents. Where false … [Read more...]

Immigration enforcement legislation creates problems for U.S. citizens as well as for immigrants. Over the last few years, we have seen growth in our American citizen clientele because of new federal and state documentation burdens enacted under the guise of national security or to combat illegal immigration. The most common refrain we hear is: "I grew up in the U.S. I always thought I was an American but never had anything to show for it and I never needed the proof until now." Ironically, we … [Read more...]