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First Dreamer Admitted To New Jersey Law Bar

By Edward Shulman, Posted on January 30, 2018January 31, 2018Posted in DAPA/DACA

Last week, New Jersey welcomed its first DACA recipient to the New Jersey Law Bar. Parthiv Patel, a 27-year-old immigrant from India who came to New Jersey when he was five years old, became the first “DREAMer” to join the cadre of lawyers in the State, sworn in by State Attorney General Grewal. Patel, who graduated from Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law in 2016 and subsequently passed both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania…

Read MorePosted on January 30, 2018January 31, 2018

Governor Murphy To Join DACA Lawsuit

By Edward Shulman, Posted on January 25, 2018January 30, 2018Posted in DAPA/DACA

Phil Murphy, New Jersey's new Democratic Governor, announced that New Jersey intends to join a multi-state lawsuit challenging President Trump’s decision to terminate the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program for DREAMers. This is a noteworthy and critically important policy shift in that Murphy's Republican predecessor, Governor Christie, had joined with other GOP governors in a lawsuit that sought to have the DACA program declared void back in 2015. The lawsuit that Murphy intends to join,…

Read MorePosted on January 25, 2018January 30, 2018

Federal Court Orders Dhs To Maintain DACA Program

By Edward Shulman, Posted on January 11, 2018January 30, 2018Posted in DAPA/DACA

Following the Trump Administration's announcement that they would terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program set forth by President Obama via Executive Order, the University of California filed a formal legal complaint challenging the rescission of the DACA program. A fortuitous outcome came on January 9, 2018 when Federal Judge William Alsup, in his 49-page ruling, issued an order directing the government to partially maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis. Calling Trump's…

Read MorePosted on January 11, 2018January 30, 2018

Trump Terminates TPS For 200,000 El Salvadorans

By Edward Shulman, Posted on January 8, 2018January 30, 2018Posted in Immigration Law

A profound sense of demoralization and dread has gripped El Salvadorans, their families, their employers, and their communities across the United States today. In President Trump's latest reversal of immigration policies that seek to terminate humanitarian programming, in concert with his new Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, they officially announced that an estimated 200,000 individuals with protected status from El Salvador for more than a decade must now leave the United States. This decision arrives weeks…

Read MorePosted on January 8, 2018January 30, 2018

Governor-elect Phil Murphy’s Vision For 2018 Immigration In New Jersey

By Edward Shulman, Posted on January 2, 2018January 30, 2018Posted in Immigration Law

The political landscape for immigrants in 2017 under Trump was bleak, with widespread anticipatory anxiety regarding the fate of DREAMers, TPS recipients, individuals from Muslim backgrounds, beneficiaries of chain migration, and the undocumented currently residing in some 300 "sanctuary cities" around the United States. No doubt the apprehension has been exacerbated by statistics that include the fact that there was a 37% increase in the number of arrests of illegal immigrants in the United States last…

Read MorePosted on January 2, 2018January 30, 2018

Public Support For Immigration Increasing Paradoxically

By Edward Shulman, Posted on December 20, 2017January 30, 2018Posted in Immigration Law

The Trump administration's hard-line on immigration, from Muslim bans to the termination of the DACA program, may actually be having a paradoxical effect when it comes to public opinion. Indeed, polls are showing increasing support for giving unauthorized immigrants a path to citizenship rather than deporting them and for allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to remain in the country and avail themselves of certain benefits. Indeed, several recent polls from the…

Read MorePosted on December 20, 2017January 30, 2018

Possible Daca Replacement Bills

By Edward Shulman, Posted on December 13, 2017January 30, 2018Posted in DAPA/DACA

Following the Trump Administration's decision to terminate the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program effective March 6, 2018, there are four possible DACA replacement bills that are currently being considered by Congress: the BRIDGE Act, the RAC Act, the SUCCEED Act, and the DREAM Act. The expediency of the decision-making process of Congress will be critical to the lives of an estimated 700,000 dreamers who are living and working legally in the United States under…

Read MorePosted on December 13, 2017January 30, 2018

Some New Jersey Immigration Cases Being Heard In Puerto Rico

By Edward Shulman, Posted on December 4, 2017January 30, 2018Posted in Immigration Law

Despite the fact that many regions within Puerto Rico remain without power post-hurricane, the devastated island still continues to run a live video stream between an immigration court in Guaynabo, and the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey due to a significant backlog in the U.S. Immigration system. Indeed, for many immigration detainees, they will "meet" their adjudicating Judge who will decide their fate via video hookup on a television monitor. When interviewed about the situation,…

Read MorePosted on December 4, 2017January 30, 2018

Celebrity Actor Gives Voice To DACA Struggle

By Edward Shulman, Posted on November 30, 2017February 1, 2018Posted in DAPA/DACA

Bambadjan Bamba, an actor and filmmaker best known for his roles on the "Sopranos," "Suicide Squad," and "Grey's Anatomy," in addition to his recurring role on the NBC sitcom “The Good Place” and for his upcoming role in Marvel's "Black Panther" movie, made a decision to formally reveal his immigration status this week. The reasons for his decision to go "public" are apparently threefold in nature: 1) it stems from a personal place of fear about…

Read MorePosted on November 30, 2017February 1, 2018

Trump Ends TPS For Nicaraguans

By Edward Shulman, Posted on November 10, 2017January 30, 2018Posted in Immigration Law

The Trump Administration formally announced its plan to put an end to the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program that has allowed certain Nicaraguans to live and work in the United States. TPS status is granted to eligible nationals of certain countries who are already in the United States due to conditions in their home country that temporarily prevent them from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of…

Read MorePosted on November 10, 2017January 30, 2018