FacebookXYouTube

immigration reform

8 08, 2018

Trump Administration Looking Into Penalizing Immigrants Receiving Public Benefits

By |2020-05-01T16:15:33-05:00August 8th, 2018|Categories: Citizenship / Naturalization and the N-400 Application, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Family-Based Immigration Law, Green Cards, Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, immigration reform, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published August 8, 2018   “Public Charge” provisions have been a part of our nation’s immigration laws for more than a century, thus the reason all family based immigration applicants are required to have a financial sponsor who provide an “Affidavit of Support” to guarantee the new immigrant will not become dependent on certain government benefits.   In sum, foreign nationals who are deemed likely to become a “public charge” are “inadmissible” under U.S. immigration law and ineligible for permanent residence (green card).  The Trump Administration is now considering the implementation of new and expansive rules penalizing lawful immigrants who avail of […]

Read More
29 06, 2018

Attorney General Sessions: Domestic and Gang Violence Are Not Bases for Asylum

By |2020-05-01T16:33:39-05:00June 29th, 2018|Categories: Asylum in the United States, Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), immigration reform, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published June 11, 2018    Foreign nationals are eligible to be accorded asylum status in the U.S. if they fear return to their home countries due to:  a) persecution they face on account of their race, religion, political belief or social group AND b) the persecution is carried out by their government or government agents, or groups the government cannot or will not control. In recent days, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in overturning an Obama administration ruling, issued an order limiting the circumstances under which members of particular “social groups,” including domestic violence victims and some LGBTQ claimants, have a […]

Read More
29 05, 2018

New Rules Impacting Immigration Judges and Removal Proceedings

By |2020-05-01T16:38:52-05:00May 29th, 2018|Categories: DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, immigration reform, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published May 29, 2018 In recent weeks the Attorney General of the United States, Jeff Sessions, issued a directive limiting the powers of immigration judges to “administratively close” or otherwise delay final decision-making for the cases of individuals facing removal from the U.S. due to their undocumented status.    Instead, as ordered by Sessions, the judges are required, without delay, to issue decisions on all cases, no matter how sympathetic the individual’s circumstances might be or how clean their criminal record is. The most common use of administrative closure involves cases of individuals who are living in the U.S. in violation of our […]

Read More
7 05, 2018

Immigration Services That Seem Too Good To Be True

By |2020-05-01T16:40:43-05:00May 7th, 2018|Categories: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., General, Green Cards, immigration reform, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Uncategorized, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published May 7, 2018 The Office of the Illinois Attorney General recently filed civil lawsuits against 2 women representing themselves as providers of legitimate immigration services but who, according to the complaints, bilked victims out of thousands of dollars.  According to the lawsuits, the women made false promises to unsuspecting undocumented immigrants who thought they were paying for bona fide services that would lead to the legalization of their immigration status. In the first lawsuit, filed in Cook County, Illinois, the Illinois Attorney General charged Elizabeth Olvera, a volunteer and assistant life coach to members of the Chicago area’s Spanish-speaking community, […]

Read More
15 03, 2018

More DACA Drama

By |2020-05-01T16:54:21-05:00March 15th, 2018|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., General, immigration reform, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation|

Published March 15, 2018 The processing of applications for employment authorization documents for hundreds of thousands of young adults under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an Obama era executive initiative, was supposed to come to a halt by now.   But thanks to 2 separate, federal court rulings issued in recent weeks, the program has been given new life, albeit with a most uncertain future. DACA was put into action back in 2012, following Congress’ failure to agree on immigration reform legislation, including a law to establish a path to legalization for our nation’s 11 million undocumented individuals.   The […]

Read More
7 02, 2018

The Forecast Calls For No Government Shut Down and No DACA

By |2018-02-07T12:09:00-06:00February 7th, 2018|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), General, immigration reform, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published February 7, 2018   As of Wednesday afternoon, the stars seem to have lined up for our nation to avert a government shutdown.   It appears a bipartisan consensus has been reached so that funding for our government operations can continue for the next two years.  The new budget features major increases in military and domestic spending, including for disaster relief programs for Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.     So far, the consensus is limited to the U.S. Senate.  However, the House of Representatives is also expected to join on, and if so, there is every reason to believe the President […]

Read More
23 01, 2018

Our Budget Impasse and Immigration

By |2020-05-01T17:11:04-05:00January 23rd, 2018|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Family-Based Immigration Law, immigration reform, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published January 23, 2018   Our country endured a brief government shut down in recent days, and there is a decent chance for a repeat performance in the coming weeks.    At the core of the debate is our nation’s budget as well as major immigration law issues, including border wall funding, DACA and fundamental changes to our family based immigration system.     The political stakes are enormous, with our nation and elected officials deeply divided on sensitive issues such as who is shielded from deportation and who gets to come to live in the U.S. in the future.   First, we must take […]

Read More
1 01, 2018

The Unknown Future of DACA

By |2020-05-01T17:17:45-05:00January 1st, 2018|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., General, immigration reform, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published January 1, 2018   The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals measure implemented by President Obama has come to represent an issue bigger than just the undocumented young adults it protects and benefits.  Instead, it reflects on who we are as a nation and how we want to treat a population of individuals who arrived in the U.S. as children and through no choice of their own and who now have come to call the U.S. their home, their only home.  With President Trump’s decision to wind down DACA, confusion, panic and fear have set in for the 800,000 young adults […]

Read More
19 10, 2017

Trump Administration Looks to Impose Quotas on Immigration Judges

By |2020-05-01T17:34:31-05:00October 19th, 2017|Categories: DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, immigration reform, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published Ocotber 19, 2017     Without question, immigration law enforcement in the U.S. has been on the rise since the election of President Trump.  Heightened immigration enforcement was one of the big promises that helped propel Trump into office after successive administrations on both sides of the aisle maintained a fairly consistent immigration enforcement level.  Interestingly, despite all of Trump’s inflammatory accusations directed against him, it was President Obama who, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics, was the most active immigration law enforcer among modern day Presidents. In a controversial move announced last week, the Trump administration is now […]

Read More
6 09, 2017

The Winding Down of DACA

By |2020-05-01T17:45:48-05:00September 6th, 2017|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., General, Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, immigration reform, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published September 6, 2017   In 2012 President Obama implemented an Executive Order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which led to the issuance of 2 year work permits and a shield against deportation for hundreds of thousands of undocumented young adults brought to the U.S. as children.    President Obama’s action was a direct response to Republican congressional leadership’s refusal to call a vote on a promising bipartisan immigration reform bill that would have put in place a path to legalization for most of our country’s undocumented population.    Now, following up on one of his campaign promises, President Trump […]

Read More
Toggle Sliding Bar Area
Go to Top