Paterson Move May Help Immigrants Facing Deportation - NYTimes.com

Paterson Move May Help Immigrants Facing Deportation - NYTimes.com


ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Monday that the state would accelerate consideration and granting of pardons to legal immigrants for old or minor criminal convictions, in an effort to prevent them from being deported.


RAD~ Read the article before you decide whether this makes sense. There shouldn't be a need for this policy - but because of intransigence at the federal government level there is.

Court Cases noted in CLE presentation "Criminal Convictions and Immigration Consequences"

For those intrepid few who wanted to follow up on the cases listed as "attached" at the end of my presentation here are the links:

Padilla v. Kentucky

Matter of Cota

Matter of Perez Ramirez

Matter of Pickering

Matter of Adetiba

Carachuri Rosendo v. Holder (decision forthcoming from SCOTUS)

Lopez v. Gonzales

Matter of Yanez

Matter of Torres Varela

Matter of Lopez Meza

Hope you enjoy the reading!

Immigration: Could it solve Social Security, Medicare woes? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Immigration: Could it solve Social Security, Medicare woes? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

I'm glad somebody figured this out! - Immigration is the best way out of the demographic conundrum of the babyboom retirement. Of course Robert Reich could have just read my posting: Two reasons why pragmatism must trump passion on immigration reform (from last October)
 http://wiggiblawg.blogspot.com/2009/10/editorial-comment-on-immigration-reform.html#links

...but late is better than never. Kudos also to the CSM (after I just finished sending them a "sternly worded" email for seeming to have only negative coverage of immigration) I happily stand corrected.

NHBA Immigration Law Seminar

I will be presenting at this seminar for members of the NH Bar Association along with attorney Movafaghi and many other capable immigration law practitioners including Immigration Judge Paul Gagnon and Mark Furtado of the Department of Homeland Security (ICE division).

Here is the information presented by the NHBA:

Immigration Law, including the legal status, rights, and obligations of non-citizens, is a current political “hot potato,” and affects more areas of U.S. society than most people realize. This program for attorneys with a variety of practice concentrations features a faculty panel of experienced New Hampshire practitioners, and Federal government officials.



Topics will include:
• Employment based permanent residence
• Employment based non-immigrant visas
• Family based permanent residence
• Violence Against Women Act
• Immigration consequences of criminal convictions
• Access of the undocumented to the U.S. justice system
• Consular processing and visa waivers
• Work site enforcement of Immigration Laws, including obligations of employers and employer sanctions
• Introduction to Department of Homeland Security, and specifically
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency

6.0 Total NH MCLE, 1.0 of which may be applied toward NH Ethics
NHBA Seminar Room, Course No. OT147L

2 Pillsbury Street, Concord, NH 03301
Thu, 9:00A 4:30P May 13, 2010

Hope to see you there...

New Americans in the Granite State | Immigration Policy Center

New Americans in the Granite State Immigration Policy Center


From the Immigration Policy Center (IPC)

Washington D.C. -The Immigration Policy Center has compiled research which shows that immigrants, Latinos, and Asians are an important part of New Hampshire and Vermont's economies, labor force, and tax base. Immigrants and their children are a growing economic and political force as consumers, taxpayers, and entrepreneurs. With the nation working towards economic recovery, Latinos, Asians and immigrants will continue to play a key role in shaping the economic and political future of the Granite and Green Mountain States.

Highlights from New Hampshire include:

Immigrants made up 5.1% of Granite Staters (or 67,735 people) in 2007.

The purchasing power of Latinos totaled $902.4 million and Asian buying power totaled nearly $963.2 million in New Hampshire in 2009.


If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from New Hampshire, the state could lose $893.2 million in economic activity and $396.7 million in gross state product.

click the title to see more from IPC

How to find a Doctor "Civil Surgeon" to perform the Immigration Medical Exam for USCIS

Here is a link to the USCIS Civil Surgeon locator. It works by entering your zip code - if you live close to a state line you might want to try the zip code of a nearby town in your neighboring state. For example their is only one recognized civil surgeon in Southern New Hampshire and sometimes it is hard to get an appointment with her office. There are a few doctors in Northern Massachusetts however and they can also perform the immigration medical exam and physical.

https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=offices.type&OfficeLocator.office_type=CIV

USCIS - Revised Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and Revised Filing Locations

USCIS - Revised Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and Revised Filing Locations


Revised Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and Revised Filing Locations

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced that it has posted a revised Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, Form I-485. In addition to a revised form, there are new filing locations. The changes are part of an overall effort to transition the intake of USCIS benefit forms from Service Centers to Lockbox facilities. Centralizing form and fee intake allows USCIS to provide the public more efficient and effective initial processing of applications and fees.

Beginning February 25, 2010, most applicants must submit Form I-485 to a USCIS Lockbox facility, depending on the eligibility category under which they are filing, as provided in the form instructions. USCIS Service Centers will forward all Form I-485 applications to the appropriate Lockbox facility until March 29, 2010. USCIS will accept previous versions of Form I-485 for until March 29, 2010. After March 29, 2010, USCIS will only accept the Form I-485 dated “12/03/09.”Any previous versions of the the form that are submitted will be rejected. After the transitional period, the Service Centers will return any incorrectly filed Form I-485 with instructions to send the application to the correct location.

At this time, applicants should not concurrently file Form I-485 with an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Form I-140) at a USCIS Lockbox facility. Refer to the Form I-140 filing Instructions for information on how to file forms concurrently.

When filing Form I-485 at a Lockbox facility, you may elect to receive an email and/or text message notifying you that USCIS has accepted your application. To receive notification, you must complete an E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance (Form G-1145), and attach it to the first page of your application.

For more information on USCIS programs, visit www.uscis.gov or call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.

RAD~See my comments on the I-765 change of filing location.

Visa Bulletin Department of State

OK one last link for now to promote...

The Department of State issues a Visa Bulletin every month.  This publication explains how visas are allocated for different classes of family-based and employment-based immigrants and what the waiting times are.  These waiting times are based on "priority dates", that is when the case was accepted by the government for processing and placed in the immigration queue.

See the link in the right hand sidebar to go to the DOS Visa Bulletin page...

Immigration Case Status Check

While we are on the subject of useful links... you may want to check the status of your immigration case with USCIS.

If you have your receipt number you can check your case online with USCIS by clicking the link in our useful links section in the right hand sidebar.

Slain veteran’s family leaves U.S. as wife’s visa is set to expire | Stars and Stripes

Slain veteran’s family leaves U.S. as wife’s visa is set to expire Stars and Stripes
from Stripes.com -

Hotaru Ferschke said it was her husband’s wish that the child be raised as an American, but the State Department refuses to recognize the couple’s July 2008 marriage because it was never consummated.


Michael Ferschke, 22, a team leader with the Okinawa-based 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, married his wife by telephone during a deployment to Iraq and was killed a month later while conducting house-to-house searches.

His wife and son moved from Okinawa in February to live with Ferschke’s family in Maryville. But without recognition of a legal marriage, they faced deportation when her one-year visa expired.

The Ferschke family had been holding out hope on two bills introduced in Congress last year.

Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., sponsored a House bill to give permanent residency status to Hotaru Ferschke. A similar bill was sponsored in the Senate by Jim Webb, D-Va., Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Mark Udall, D-Colo.

As of Friday, the bill was still in committee in both the House and Senate.

RAD ~ This is another aspect of our enforcement happy immigration policy in the US of A. If you take a look at how these Senators and Congressmen voted on various immigration reform bills in the past how do you suppose it would jibe with their efforts on behalf of this family? 

Immigrants More Likely to Have Jobs Than Native Born: Report | NBC Los Angeles

Immigrants More Likely to Have Jobs Than Native Born: Report | NBC Los Angeles

Foreign-born residents are more likely to have jobs than native-born citizens, according to the report from the California Immigrant Policy Center. Also, immigrants put more into the economy than they take out of it, the Daily Breeze reported.




Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich's office criticized the report for making no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants in the report.

FY 2009 Federal Prosecutions Sharply Higher; Surge Driven by Steep Jump in Immigration Filings

FY 2009 Federal Prosecutions Sharply Higher; Surge Driven by Steep Jump in Immigration Filings

RAD ~ It is time for restrictionists like "FAIR" to stop complaining. When criminal prosecutions of immigration violations make up the majority of the federal trial docket (and the Circuit Courts are also flooded with petitions for review of immigration cases) you know it is time for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

All I want for Christmas is Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR)

Here is a summary (by the Immigration Policy Institute) of the Gutierrez bill on CIR. Of course it is a long way from the introduction of this bill to a completed new immigration law (just look at health reform). But it is a start!

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/CIR_ASAP_2009_Summary.pdf

USCIS Bedford - New Hampshire Immigration office construction update

So the new immigration office is progressing nicely...I will ask them when they hope to move in next week. It's too bad they aren't going to be within walking distance to our North Commercial Street office anymore - but a nice new building with sufficient parking is always good. I wonder if they would have room for an immigration judge in there somewhere?

Immigration Detention System Lapses Detailed - NYTimes.com

Immigration Detention System Lapses Detailed - NYTimes.com

Growing numbers of noncitizens, including legal immigrants, are held unnecessarily and transferred heedlessly in an expensive immigration detention system that denies many of them basic fairness, a bipartisan study group and a human rights organization concluded in reports released jointly on Wednesday.

RAD~This is not news to immigration attorneys or the families of immigrants - but thanks Nina Bernstein, the Constitution Project, and Human Rights Watch for putting this system, and its flaws, in the public eye. 

The boon of immigration: Newcomers to America more than pull their economic weight

The boon of immigration: Newcomers to America more than pull their economic weight

The need for combining secure borders with a rational policy for admitting newcomers is as pressing today as it was when the last attempted remake went down in flames under President George W. Bush, victim largely of the myth that immigration is a drain on the economy and a threat to native-born workers.
The truth is just the opposite. As documented by the Fiscal Policy Institute, immigration has, in fact, been a vital force in the American economy. Even in tough times, immigrants boost or replenish the labor pool and inject entrepreneurial energy that opens businesses and creates jobs.Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/11/30/2009-11-30_the_boon_of_immigration.html#ixzz0YNpESCVX


RAD~ Wow, I agree with the NY Daily News!

Update on USCIS moving to Bedford NH

Here is the latest photo of the building...well would'ya believe of the foundation? Progress is being made though - the land is cleared the foundation appears to be in.  The entrance is apparently not going to be on Palomino (the vantage point of the photo) but rather on Ridgewood at the far side of the frame. You saw it first, here on WiggiBlawg!

Dad in 'balloon boy' case turns himself in - CNN.com

Dad in 'balloon boy' case turns himself in - CNN.com

What's this got to do with immigration?

Here's a snippet from the article --

The threat of deportation for Mayumi Heene was a factor in the plea deal negotiation, the attorney's statement said.

"Mayumi Heene is a citizen of Japan. As such, any felony conviction or certain misdemeanors would result in her deportation, even though her husband and children are Americans," the statement said.

"It is supremely ironic that law enforcement has expressed such grave concern over the welfare of the children, but it was ultimately the threat of taking the children's mother from the family and deporting her to Japan which fueled this deal."

Prosecutors in the case could not be immediately reached for comment.

1,200 janitors fired in 'quiet' immigration raid | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

1,200 janitors fired in 'quiet' immigration raid Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

I think this story shows that immigration enforcement is alive and well under the Obama administration. This sort of enforcement is more effective and cost effective than the swat like raids of previous years. It is also more humane than surreptitiously whisking away parents into immigration detention while the children are still at school (as happened in the Bianco raids in Massachusetts).

Still, if this is not as emotionally disruptive to families - it is still disruptive of business.  Perhaps some out of work US citizens or legal residents will end up with janitorial jobs now.  But they won't stay in those jobs - and there won't be 1200 of them hired.  The 1200 people who have lost their jobs will now stop contributing to the local economy. Some additional number of homes will likely now be foreclosed on. Some will leave and some will simply find other jobs (probably for lower wages in this economy).

So although this type of enforcement is much to be preferred over "cowboy justice" -- legalization and reform of our immigration and employment laws are needed to avoid prolonging this recession.

DHS readies plan to track foreigners flying from U.S. - washingtonpost.com

DHS readies plan to track foreigners flying from U.S. - washingtonpost.com

by Spencer S. Hsu

The Department of Homeland Security is finalizing a proposal to collect fingerprints or eye scans from all foreign travelers at U.S. airports as they leave the country, officials said, a costly screening program that airlines have opposed.
The plan, which would take effect within two years, would collect fingerprints at airport security checkpoints, departure gates or terminal kiosks, allowing the government to track when roughly 35 million foreign visitors a year leave the country and who might be overstaying their visas, DHS officials said. The department plans to send the proposal to the White House as soon as next month for review and inclusion in President Obama's next budget.


Well, security is important - I'll grant that. But if I was a potential tourist looking to visit the USA I might start looking for somewhere else to spend my vacation money. Somewhere that doesn't treat guests like criminals.