Immigrant Daily

Obama Supports Bush Administration’s Showy Raids on Law-abiding Employers

Nizam Soofi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:59:20 +0000

Passing off the buck seems to be the order of the day, once a strong critic of his predecessor on showy raids on law-abiding employers to round up illegal workers, President Obama seems to be heading down a similar blame-the-employer path. This was divulged last week when he decided to expand a program that requires businesses to verity the legal status of workers against flawed government database. The E-Verify program launched as a voluntary program where employers can verify employment eligibility of new hires may soon become mandatory for federal contractors. Ever since, January the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been delaying the implementation of the program and this has provided ammunition to the critics of the program to question its veracity. According to the government, currently the error rates are down and 96 percent of queries are confirmed within 24 hours. However, the employers have objected, citing independent evaluations that showed E-Verify to be slow and inaccurate. Last year Intel reported finding errors in 12 percent of responses to its queries and other independent analyses have found database error rates are 30 times higher for foreign-born workers than for natives, and nearly 100 times higher for naturalized citizens.

For complete information, please click Blame the Employers

ACLU’s Relentless Fight Against 287(g) Rages On

Nizam Soofi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:58:23 +0000

By Utilizing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a request for new documents governing the continued delegation to state and local law enforcement agencies of federal immigration enforcement authority. According to ACLU, Section 287(g) program is fundamentally flawed and has been associated with serious civil rights abuses and public safety concerns.

Secretary Napolitano had last week announced the introduction of a new standardized Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for use in delegating authority under 287(g) and the inclusion of 11 additional law enforcement agencies in the program. Reacting to the announcement, ACLUs Immigrants’ Rights Project’s staff attorney Omar Jadwat, said, “No amount of tinkering with the 287(g) program is likely to solve the fact that it threatens public safety and undermines the basic guarantee of equal treatment by increasing profiling of people who look or sound ‘foreign.”

The ACLU has long sought to end the 287(g) agreements between DHS and state or local agencies. It claims 287(g) agreements have encouraged illegal racial profiling and civil rights abuses as well as the mistaken and unlawful detention and deportation of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as reflected in a series of lawsuits, all while diverting scarce resources from traditional local law enforcement functions.

For complete information, please click ACLU Demands Disclosure of New Parameters for Flawed State and Local Immigration Enforcement Program

Criminal Arrests by ICE on SW border is Heading North

Nizam Soofi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:57:42 +0000

The latest update from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals 17 percent increase in criminal arrests on the Southwest Border in first three quarters of Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, compared to the same period in FY 2008. From Oct. 1, 2008 through June 29, 2009, ICE made 6, 834 criminal arrests compared with 5, 802 arrests during the same period last year. Throughout the nation, ICE has returned more than 18 percent aliens to their countries of origin in FY 2009. Numbers wise from Oct 1, 2008 until June 30, 2009, ICE has deported or returned more than 271,200 aliens, compared to the 229,800 aliens removed during the same time period in FY 2008. Other ICE statistics also showed significant gains. ICE’s Criminal Alien Program (CAP) issued more than 168,800 charging documents to aliens following their arrest on criminal charges. This figure is up a percent point compared with the record breaking statistics of FY 2008. Similarly, in the first eight months of ICE’s new Secure Communities program more than 445,000 individuals’ fingerprints were screened resulting in 56, 300 hits in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases.

For detailed information, please read: Criminal Arrests by ICE on SW border is Heading North

OIG Report on NIV and Standards for Refusing Applicants

Nizam Soofi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:53:16 +0000

A sensitive but unclassified report is made public by the Department of State’s (DOS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), which reviewed the nonimmigrant visa (NIV) adjudication process between November 2004 and February 2005 to determine how Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA’s) Section 214(b) is used to determine issuance and refusal. Additionally, the OIG also examined the merits of several elements of the visa adjudication process to determine whether they effectively protect the security of the U.S.

Readers may note the INA Section 214(b) provides a basis for the refusal of nonimmigrant applicants under the presumption that every alien is a potential immigrant until he/she establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application, that he/she is entitled to a nonimmigrant visa under Section 101(a)(15) of INA.

During review, the OIG discovered that visa processing has changed after 9/11 with increased emphasis on personal interview to determine eligibility. The report also indicated that sometimes interviewing officers’ denial of visas lacked clear understanding of and was inconsistent with the law, and therefore, better reference tools and improved training should be provided to refine officers’ knowledge. Finally, the OIG suggested five recommendations that would allow the Department and the interviewing officers address these main consular challenges.

For complete information, please click DOS OIG Report on Nonimmigrant Visa Adjudication and Standards for Refusing Applicants

USCIS Conducting a “Online Site Improvement Survey”

Nizam Soofi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:52:22 +0000

To further improve the look and feel of its website, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is conducting an “online site improvement survey” which will take “approximately 20-30 minute to complete.” The leading immigration law publisher, ILW.COM hopes that USCIS would be doing a service to the bar by taking the bar’s input in redressing its website. For making USCIS website increasingly well organized and user-friendly, readers are encouraged to share their opinion and ideas by writing to editor@ilw.com

For detailed information, please read: USCIS Conducting a “Online Site Improvement Survey”

Obama Administration to Allow Asylum for Battered Women

Nizam Soofi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:47:59 +0000

Providing a much needed relief to victims of severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse, the Obama administration has opened the passage for foreign women to receive asylum in the United States. The new policy represents a shift from earlier Bush administration stance in a protracted and passionate legal battle over the possibilities for battered women to become refugees. According to an immigration court filing by the administration, apart from complying with other strict conditions for asylum, abused women must show that they are treated by their abuser as subordinates and wide tolerance of domestic abuse by their home country. Additionally, they must show that they could not find protection from institutions at home or by moving to another place within their own native country. The administration laid out its position in an immigration appeals court filing in the case of a woman from Mexico who requested asylum. “This really opens the door to the protection of women who have suffered these kinds of violation,” said Karen Musalo, a professor who is a director of the Center of Gender and Refugees Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

For detailed information, please read: Obama Administration to Allow Asylum for Battered Women

ILRCs Immigrants’ Rights Programs

Nizam Soofi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:09:28 +0000

As part of its national programs “Defending Immigrants Partnership,” and “Immigrant Justice Network,” the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), a non-profit immigrants’ rights organization is educating and assisting indigent criminal defenders about immigration consequences of crimes. Through these programs, the ILRC claims, it is trying to build an organized effort to eliminate unjust immigration penalties for immigrants entangled in the criminal justice system and to end the criminalization of immigrant communities through legislative advocacy, public education, outreach, organizing, collaborating and media and messaging. To learn more about ILRCs programs, readers can log on to www.defendimmigrants.org and www.immigrantjusticenetwork.org.

For detailed news, please click ILRCs Immigrants’ Rights Programs

DHS Annual Report on Immigration Enforcement Actions in 2008

Nizam Soofi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:56:09 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published its Annual Report on Immigration Enforcement Actions in 2008 revealing some interesting facts regarding the apprehension, detention, return and removal of foreign nationals. The report states that the number of foreign nationals apprehended by the Border Patrol decreased 17 percent from 2007 to 2008. Overall, DHS has apprehended 792,000 foreign nationals out of whom 88 percent were natives of Mexico followed by Honduras. Further, DHS has removed 97,100 known criminal aliens from the U.S. and 811,000 foreign national accepted an offer to return to their home countries without a removal order. There has been an increase of 12 percent in the number of removal to 358,886 in 2008 from 319,382 in 2007. During 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a record 378,582 aliens, representing a 22 percent increase from 2007.

For complete information, please click DHS Report on Immigration Enforcement Actions in 2008

CRS Releases Report on Cuban Migration to the U.S.: Policies and Trends

Nizam Soofi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:47:44 +0000

Based on the notion that the change of leadership in both U.S and Cuba may provide opening for revisions in U.S. policy on Cuban migration, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a report titled “Cuban Migration to the United States: Policy and Trends.” Highlighting the twists and turns occurred over the past 50 years between U.S. and Cuba with regard to Cuban migration and the federal benefits for which they are eligible. It also provides analysis of migration trends, including data regarding refugee applications, unauthorized migrants, interdictions, and applications for Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status. The CRS reports that the immigration of Cubans to the U.S. has increased since 1995, with Cuba ranked fifth as a top immigrant-sending country-after Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines-in 2008. Nearly, 49,500 Cubans became LPRs in FY 2008.

For complete information, please click Cuban Migration to the United States: Policy and Trends

E-Verify Dos and DON’Ts for Employers

Nizam Soofi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:40:50 +0000

In order to provide guidance to employers regarding E-Verify, the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices in Department of Justice (DOJ) has published a pamphlet containing “Dos and Don’ts.” Interestingly, the pamphlet clearly says that employers should use E-Verify to verify employment eligibility of new hires and not for current employees. Further, employers may allow an employee who has not been issued a Social Security number to work throughout the period that the employee is waiting for his or her Social Security number to be issued. There are other aspects that are illustrated in the pamphlets, readers and employers are advised to go through the same thoroughly to stay informed.

For complete information, please click E-Verify Employer DOs and DON’Ts