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DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

19 03, 2020

U.S. Immigration Offices and Courts – Confusion, Delay and Finally Some Definite News

By |2020-11-14T12:46:22-06:00March 19th, 2020|Categories: Asylum in the United States, Citizenship / Naturalization and the N-400 Application, Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings|

Published March 19, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, even a hailstorm, of information, misinformation, panic and confusion. On the most basic level, the lack of definite information about the extent of the coronavirus in general has been alarming. Of course there was and is so much we do not and could not know. On the other hand, the amount of knowable, concrete information that was not disseminated or acted upon when this crisis started to unfold was far from insignificant. Consistent with this state of affairs, the manner with which our federal government [...]

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5 03, 2020

U.S. Supreme Court: Providing False Information on Form I-9 Can Lead to State Criminal ID Theft Charges

By |2020-11-14T12:46:54-06:00March 5th, 2020|Categories: 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, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published March 5, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. Form I-9 is the document employers and employees complete and sign to confirm an employee’s eligibility to be lawfully employed in the U.S.  For foreign nationals residing and working in the U.S. without immigration status, completion of the  I-9 often involves a complicated and perilous set of decisions, especially when the worker is submitting a job application under an assumed name and/or social security number.  Now, according to the U.S. Supreme Court in Kansas v. Ramiro Garcia, individual states have legal authority to use false information contained in I-9’s to support criminal, identification [...]

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31 12, 2019

2 or More DUI Convictions Are Now a Greater Obstacle for Immigration Applicants

By |2020-05-01T13:52:10-05:00December 31st, 2019|Categories: Citizenship / Naturalization and the N-400 Application, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation|

Published December 31, 2019 In a recent ruling, the Attorney General of the United States announced a policy that will make it more difficult for foreign nationals with 2 or more driving under the influence of alcohol convictions to defend against deportation proceedings or ever become a U.S. citizen. The directive arose in the context of defining “good moral character” for purposes of undocumented foreign nationals fighting removal proceedings (also known as deportation proceedings) and seeking the relief of “cancellation of removal”. This defense, if successfully presented, serves to not only terminate removal proceedings but also lead to green card issuance. [...]

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14 11, 2019

DACA Argued Before The U.S. Supreme Court

By |2020-05-01T14:01:47-05:00November 14th, 2019|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., immigration reform, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published November 14, 2019 In 2012, President Obama issued an executive order allowing undocumented foreign nationals who arrived in the U.S. under the age of 16 to be shielded from deportation and issued an employment authorization document.  Eligibility for coverage under the Executive Order – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) depended on a number of factors, including whether the applicant had a serious criminal background and was physically present in the U.S. for the requisite period. DACA has been a huge success, allowing some 700,000 undocumented young immigrants to come out of the shadows, attend universities, assume jobs and otherwise [...]

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15 10, 2019

Immigration Judges Union Alleges Unfair Labor Practices

By |2020-05-01T14:08:42-05:00October 15th, 2019|Categories: DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published October 15, 2019 In all, there are more than 400 immigration judges in the U.S., and they are employed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review (DOJ/EOIR) to preside over removal proceedings and essentially decide who gets to remain in the U.S and who must depart.  Of course, there are laws that govern the decision-making process, and the judges making these decision are charged with applying a long list of statutes, regulations and case-law fairly and efficiently.  But as is no secret, the strain on this government function these days is at unprecedented levels, with the [...]

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22 09, 2019

Deferred Action Comes to an End

By |2020-05-01T14:15:33-05:00September 22nd, 2019|Categories: 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, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published September 22, 2019 In an abrupt, yet not surprising policy decision, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it is putting a halt to a Deferred Action program that has been a part of the immigration law and prosecutorial discretion landscape for more than 4 decades.  The political reasons for this announcement are obvious, but there exists no real practical reason for the program’s termination since it’s been employed so sparingly during its life. What is Deferred Action?   It is a formal statement by the Executive Branch of our government via U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that it will not [...]

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11 08, 2019

H-1B Visas Make News in the Courts

By |2020-05-01T14:22:38-05:00August 11th, 2019|Categories: DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Foreign Exchange Student Visas to the U.S., Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation|

Published August 24, 2019 D.C. Federal Court Reverses H-1B Visa Petition Denial In the past week, a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Citizenship and Immigration Services (US CIS) must reverse its decision denying an H-1B visa petition filed on behalf of a data analyst by Lexis Nexis, a legal publishing company.  The court concluded that the petitioning employer, Lexis Nexis USA, presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the position qualified as a “specialty occupation” and thus was approvable for classification for H-1B visa status. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that US CIS [...]

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25 07, 2019

Expedited Deportation for Undocumented Recent Arrivals

By |2020-05-01T14:26:47-05:00July 25th, 2019|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Asylum in the United States, Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 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 July 24, 2019 The number of foreign nationals living in the U.S. in violation of our immigration laws is estimated to be in the area of 12 million. Whether they overstayed their visa status or entered without any visa or inspection at all, these are the individuals our society deems “undocumented”, or in some circles, “illegal aliens”.  No matter the label, the vast majority of these individuals have a right to a hearing before a judge where a variety of defenses can be considered, including cancellation of removal (for longtime undocumented residents with qualifying U.S. family) and asylum. Among the [...]

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11 07, 2019

DACA’s Future Hangs in the Balance At the U.S. Supreme Court

By |2020-05-01T14:31:00-05:00July 11th, 2019|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., Green Cards, immigration reform, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Uncategorized, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published July 11, 2019 In recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it has accepted several consolidated DACA related cases for consideration and in October will hear arguments about DACA’s future. Obama Giveth, Trump Seeks to Taketh Away: To review, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was instituted in 2012 by way of then President Obama’s Executive Order.  Through the DACA program, individuals who arrived in the U.S. while under the age of 16, completed high school here (or equivalent), are without any serious criminal convictions and met other requirements, became eligible to obtain a version of legal [...]

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29 06, 2019

Deporting Millions, Deporting 2,000 – Same Thing

By |2020-05-01T14:35:34-05:00June 29th, 2019|Categories: Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), General, Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, immigration reform, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Uncategorized, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

Published June 29, 2019 On June 17, 2019, President Donald Trump tweeted one of the scarier official presidential communications I have heard in my lifetime: “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people.......” Once I read this, I was trying to figure out exactly what that meant.   I know there are approximately 12 million foreign nationals residing in the U.S. [...]

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