Immigration and Firm News

On September 5, 2017, a day of infamy, and in an act of extreme cowardice, President Trump failed to keep his word when he terminated the DACA program for DREAMERS. After indicating he would have “heart” and that he "loves the DREAMERS," his lies were shown for what they are. He cowardly outsourced his announcement to terminate the program to his anti-DACA in chief, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose speech was filled with lies about the program and its recipients. With no notice at all, the … [Read more...]

Update 9/3/17 pm - No sooner did I post the article below, then rumors started coming out in the press that President Trump will end DACA in six months.  I will post more when there is a formal announcement and we know the details for sure. Nonetheless, my tips for being prepared below and continuing to fight remain the same. Don't panic! Your calls and emails to Congress are essential and urgent. ----------------- President Trump has said he will make an announcement on Tuesday, September … [Read more...]

Over the last few days, there have been reports about ICE raids or "enforcement actions" in several states, but pinning down fact from rumor has been somewhat difficult.  The American Immigration Lawyers Association reports the following: AILA has received information that ICE has once again commenced targeted enforcement actions by re-instituting "Operation Cross Check." The operation is focused on three populations: Fugitives - Anyone with an outstanding order of removal; … [Read more...]

On January 27, 2017, President Trump issued another Executive Orders on immigration. This one, though, entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” basically bans from entry people "from" seven countries, suspends refugee admissions temporarily, and reduces overall refugee admissions for FY2017.  The Executive Order (EO) also imposes ideological vetting, and provides some exceptions only for non-Muslim refugees.  More Executive Orders are expected to be … [Read more...]

On January 25, 2017, President Trump issued two Executive Orders on immigration, both of which are focused on enforcement at the border and the interior and address some issues concerning visas and refugees. More Executive Orders are expected to be forthcoming addressing legal immigration and other topics. It is important to note that much of this is political in nature and intended to appeal to his voter base. The orders clearly have their origin from the 79 Stroke of a Pen playbook from the … [Read more...]

On January 25, 2017, President Trump issued two Executive Orders on immigration, both of which are focused on enforcement at the border and the interior and address some issues concerning visas and refugees. More Executive Orders are expected to be forthcoming addressing legal immigration and other topics. It is important to note that much of this is political in nature and intended to appeal to his voter base. The orders clearly have their origin from the 79 Stroke of a Pen playbook from the … [Read more...]

On August 31, USCIS will announce a forthcoming proposed regulation at 8 CFR 212.19 creating a new benefit called “International Entrepreneur” or “significant public benefit parole for entrepreneurs.” I am really excited about this proposal in part because in my many years of immigration practice, this is the first new major business immigration benefit in ages, maybe decades. There are a lot of immigrant entrepreneurs who fall between the cracks of our existing business immigration categories … [Read more...]

On July 22, 2015, USCIS issued proposed rules in the Federal Register that expand Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility.  Anyone can submit comments on or  before September 21, 2015. They should be sent to uscisfrcomment@dhs.gov using "DHS Docket No. USCIS-2012-0003" in the subject line. Note, your comments will be publicly available.  The proposed rule stems from one of President Obama's Executive Actions announced in November 2014 in which he stated that he wanted to expand … [Read more...]

USCIS is asking that all DACA recipients of three-year work authorization cards (EADs) issued on or after February 16, 2015    return the EAD cards to USCIS no later than July 31, 2015.  The reason for the recall is that the three-year extensions were part of President Obama's November 2014 Executive Order to expand the DACA program to more recipients and to extend their stay from two years to three years at a time. However, this extended DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) … [Read more...]

Today, USCIS held a teleconference “listening session” with stakeholders in order to get feedback and ideas about how to implement President Obama’s proposed "significant benefit" entrepreneur parole program. USCIS officials merely listened to ideas and gave very few comments except to clarify the points they were most interested in learning about. Anyone can submit suggestions or ideas to public.engagement@uscis.dhs.gov. They are particularly interested in feedback about minimum investment … [Read more...]