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The President’s Promise And Realigned Congress Reignites Immigration Debate

, Posted in Immigration Law

With the midterm elections now in the rearview mirror, the debate over comprehensive immigration reform and the President’s willingness and authority to act unilaterally come back to the fore. The Republican Party has now taken control over the United States Senate and strengthened its majority position in the House of Representatives. Last year the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill, which seeks to enhance border security, provide a path to eventual citizenship for undocumented individuals,…

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Attendance By Migrant Children At Immigration Hearings Higher Than Expected

, Posted in Immigration Law

Over the last several months as children from Central America arrived at the southern border to be apprehended by border agents, these children – as well as some of the adults accompanying them – were released to various shelters or private residences. But they were given notices to appear at court dates in cities which, in some instances, were quite far from where they were temporarily residing. Critics of these placements suggested that few of the…

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Counties Devise Differing Policies Regarding Ice Detainers

, Posted in Immigration Law

During the last several months county sheriffs in a vast array of jurisdictions have adopted policies refusing to enforce detainers on inmates held in their jails issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Joining that list now is the largest county in the Baltimore area. Montgomery County officials said Tuesday they will no longer comply with federal requests to hold illegal immigrants beyond their scheduled release date unless ICE can demonstrate the person is likely…

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USCIS Revamps Self-service Verification System For Employees

, Posted in Immigration Law

Last year the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) renamed its self-service E-Verify Self Check program to myE-Verify. Now this online system which enables individuals to check the status of their eligibility to work in the United States is being expanded and revamped. The USCIS just announced that its new website will be “a one-stop shop for employees to create and maintain secure personal accounts and access new features for identity protection. Although myE-Verify will only…

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Colorado Sheriffs Refuse Collectively To Enforce Immigration Holds

, Posted in Immigration Law

Sheriffs from across the state of Colorado have announced that they no longer intend to honor ICE detainers placed on county inmates when such individuals are otherwise eligible for release from their jails or penitentiaries. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency issues these detainers against individuals held in custody by county sheriffs all over the country. Until recently, these sheriffs in Colorado routinely kept these detainees incarcerated beyond the duration of whatever local or state…

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Permanent Residence For Family Members

, Posted in Immigration Law

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the immigration system seeks to foster family ties by allowing certain family members of those already in the country as citizens to achieve the status of permanent residence. The law provides multiple ways by which these family members can obtain a green card. Eligible immediate relatives include the U.S. citizen’s: Spouse Unmarried child under the age of 21 Parent (if the U.S. citizen is over the…

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Knowing Falsification Of Asylum Bars Subsequent Relief For Removal

, Posted in Immigration Law

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a denial of relief for a petitioner who was claimed to have falsified material information on his petition seeking asylum in the United States.  The petitioner Gade Niang, a native and citizen of Senegal, had claimed he was from the Ivory Coast where he had been persecuted on account of his ethnicity and his political opinion in his application for asylum filed in 2005.  At the time of filing,…

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Attempt In Congress To Block Potential Future Executive Action Fails

, Posted in Immigration Law

For three months the White House telegraphed messages that the President intended to unilaterally take executive action to address some of the nation’s immigration problems. At the beginning of the summer President Obama himself proclaimed that, if Congress did not pass a comprehensive immigration reform package by the end of the summer, he would have no choice but to use his own powers to stem deportations, enhance border security and expand the issuance of temporary work…

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Congress Passes Spending Bill Limiting Appropriations For Refugee Children

, Posted in Immigration Law

Last month Congress included – as part of a continuing resolution to extend funding for the federal government – measures aimed at addressing the presence of children from the countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala where persistent violence persuaded parents there to send their kids on a dangerous and grueling trek through Central America and Mexico to the southern border of the United States.  But the solutions sought by the Obama administration to bolster the…

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Parishes In Louisiana Taking In Central American Minor Refugees

, Posted in Immigration Law

Many children who took the harrowing trip across Mexico to the southern border of the United States have now found a temporary place to reside in Louisiana. Five parishes – the equivalent of counties in other states – have agreed to provide shelter for many of these children. From January to July, the Federal Office of Refugee and Resettlement placed 173 children in East Baton Rouge Parish, 533 children in Jefferson Parish, 51 children in Lafayette…

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