Home  Blog  Immigration Law

Immigration Law

Battle Over Enlist Amendment To Defense Appropriation Ensues

, Posted in Immigration Law

A Republican Congressman from California, Jeff Denham, has resumed his commitment to forge a path to legal status for undocumented aliens who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. The co-author of the ENLIST Act, Rep. Denham has once again sought to attach an amendment creating the Act to the annual defense appropriation act known as the NDAA, or National Defense Authorization Act. He faces opposition from his own party whose members claim that the bill authorizing…

Read MorePosted on

Problems With Immigration Services Computer Systems Partially Fixed

, Posted in Immigration Law

The U.S. Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR) announced on May 19 that they had repaired “bugs in their computer systems which hindered or prevented immigration authorities from performing many of their duties.  They managed to get their computer systems running again after suffering a “catastrophic hardware failure that had plagued their case management system for deportation cases. In a prepared statement, however, they did note that the Executive Office for Immigration Review continues…

Read MorePosted on

Florida Legislature Passes In-state Tuition For Children Of Undocumented Aliens

, Posted in Immigration Law

The Florida Legislature just passed legislation allowing children of immigrants who came here as youths to pay in-state tuition rates to attend the state’s public colleges and universities. The passage of the bill which the governor intends to sign marks a shift for the state’s legislative bodies which, just three years ago, focused its attention towards enforcement issues when addressing immigration matters. Since that time, however, some parts of immigration laws passed by other states, such…

Read MorePosted on

Prosecutor Moves To Dismiss Illegal Re-entry Case Against Ohio Man

, Posted in Immigration Law

An Erie, Pennsylvania federal prosecutor requested dismissal of a criminal case against an Ohio resident named Alfredo Ramos Gallego. Mr. Gallego was charged with illegal re-entry in to the United States back in February. Subsequently, a group of immigration activists demonstrated in Erie against the prosecution demanding the charges be dropped. When making his announcement that his office would ask the court to dismiss the charges, the US Attorney David J. Hickton indicated that the case…

Read MorePosted on

Filling The Need For Nurses From Overseas

, Posted in Immigration Law

Just as a shortage of IT professionals in the United States precipitates the need for employers to seek skilled workers from other countries to fill job positions in the science and technology sector via the H1-B visa process, hospitals and doctors must do the same for nurses. Despite recent increases in the number of students seeking nursing degrees in American colleges and universities, the demand outstrips the current supply of trained nurses here. Accordingly, the USCIS…

Read MorePosted on

Lack Of Retroactivity Prevents Defendant From Getting Conviction Vacated

, Posted in Immigration Law

The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, once again addressed the issue of whether warnings given by an attorney to his client, a criminal defendant who could be potentially subject to deportation, were sufficient.  In this instance, an Ecuadorian citizen was arrested for four counts of drug offenses. His attorney negotiated a plea with the prosecutor under which he would plead to one of those counts and receive a three-year sentence. He would become eligible…

Read MorePosted on

Mexican National Denied Asylum By Successive Tribunals

, Posted in Immigration Law

A Mexican citizen who came to the United States on a short seventy-two hour visa in 2000 has been repeatedly denied asylum in this country for both procedural defects in his application and because his case does not establish the substantive grounds for asylum. He failed to take any action to seek asylum in the United States until 2009 when the government commenced removal proceedings against him.  At that juncture, he admitted that he was subject…

Read MorePosted on

Supreme Court Refuses To Review Harboring Ban Struck Down By Lower Court

, Posted in Immigration Law

The United States Supreme Court exercised its discretion to refuse certain appeals when it decided not to review a lower court’s decision striking down parts of Arizona’s controversial immigration law. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year invalidated the portion of the law, S.B. 1070, which authorized the police to arrest those who harbor undocumented aliens residing in the state.  That appellate court had determined that federal law already contains a prohibition against harboring such…

Read MorePosted on

Haitian Refugee Act Provides Haitians With Chance To Stay In United States

, Posted in Immigration Law

Haiti has for many decades been among the poorest on the planet. For many years the country suffered from coups which caused its elected political leadership to be forced out of the country. Back in 1998 Congress passed the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) to establishes the procedures that eligible Haitians will use to file for adjustment to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status pursuant to section 902 of that statute.  The purpose of the statute…

Read MorePosted on

Iranian Citizen Denied Asylum Repeatedly Despite Removal Of Group From Terrorist

, Posted in Immigration Law

An Iranian national has repeatedly sought asylum here in the United States where she has resided since 1996. The woman, Laila Rajabi, initially petitioned for asylum after coming here and appealed the denial of her petition to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). They refused to overturn the denial. But they did reconsider the case years later when it was determined that a taped interview she gave was not included in the original case. However, a…

Read MorePosted on