Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, originally started on June 15, 2012, exactly four years ago. Under DACA, unauthorized immigrants who came to the country before age 16; were under age 31 at the time of the announcement; and had been in the country for five years when the initiative was announced are eligible to apply for a two-year reprieve from deportation and a work permit. Building on the success of DACA, in November…
Read MorePosted onUnlawful presence (ULP) is an immigration status violation that applies to individuals who have been unlawfully present in the United States, either after the expiration period of an authorized stay or any presence without being formally admitted or paroled into the United States. Simply stated, unlawful presence starts when a foreign national does one of two things: (1) enters without inspection, or (2) overstays a visa. Unlawful Presence is triggered upon one's departure from the United…
Read MorePosted onIn the past several months, our Immigration Law Office has received many phone calls and e-mails expressing frantic apprehension that all Hispanics will be deported. These fears and concerns are not unjustifiable given the recent anti-immigrant rhetoric set forth by Republican Presidential candidates and due to the plan for Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to engage in "sweeping raids" in May and June to deport immigrant families who entered the country illegally. In January, the administration…
Read MorePosted onWith a 4-4 Supreme Court deadlock as a looming possibility, with four conservative justices and four liberals seemingly divided along ideological lines, the question that many eligible DAPA and EXPANDED DACA candidates are asking is: What will be the possible immigration consequences of a deadlock? A 4-4 decision would essentially leave in place the Appeals Court ruling that blocks the Executive Order and deny President Obama's chance to revive it while he completes his term in…
Read MorePosted onAs the Supreme Court begins to hear the DAPA and EXPANDED DACA Immigration case today, the first item on the agenda is to determine if, in fact, the States are even allowed to sue? Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argues for the administration that the States do not have the legal right to even present this case before the Supreme Court because Immigration is a Federal Issue, not a State issue, and that the States cannot show…
Read MorePosted onSecretary of Labor Thomas Perez said in an interview today that the President has full executive authority on immigration decisions and issues. "There has been a longstanding precedent in the Supreme Court that the federal government, the executive branch, has authority in immigration matters," Perez said. Perez strongly defends the legality of President Obama's immigration executive actions, which will be argued before the Supreme Court this coming Monday, April 18th, as the Justices examine the case…
Read MorePosted onPresidential hopeful and Democratic Primary Front-Runner Hillary Clinton announced yesterday that if elected President, she would create a new "Office of Immigrant Affairs." She explained that she would dedicate a place in the White House in which to coordinate integration policies across the Federal Government, explaining that her goal would be to ensure that "immigrants, refugees, and children become fully integrated members of their communities and country." The New York State Immigrant Action Fund, who has…
Read MorePosted onLater this month, when the Supreme Court hears oral argument in United States v. Texas, the challenge to President Obama’s executive action on immigration, all eyes will be on Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Although Roberts is a conservative and there is some suggestion that the Justices will rule along their traditional conservative versus progressive lines, there is also speculation that Chief Justice Roberts may actually rule in favor of DAPA and expanded DACA. If…
Read MorePosted onA new paper published in the Journal on Migration and Human Security, and released in March of 2016 by the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), offers a statistical analysis of the potential beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program, the original Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program implemented in 2012 (“original DACA), and the expanded DACA program announced in 2014. Most striking was the finding that the majority of…
Read MorePosted onJudge Merrick Garland is President Obama's nominee for the vacant Supreme Court seat. Given that the high court is set to rule on President Obama's executive orders on immigration in June, the question that presents itself is: What are Merrick Garland's views on immigration and how might he vote on expanded DACA and DAPA? With Justice Scalia's passing, one vote can make an enormous difference, impacting the fate of Obama's Immigration actions significantly. Immigration clients eligible…
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