According to a recent article in the New York Times, one in five schools are requiring immigration related documents or immigration related information before the child will be accepted into the school program. The school districts defend their actions by stating that immigration status is only one factor in many that they consider. This new requirement is putting fear in the hearts of many undocumented families, because they worry that the school district will refer their information over to the immigration authorities if they are undocumented.
This new trend is disturbing because it appears to be unconstitutional. The US Supreme Court in 1982 held that all children residing in a district have the right to free education and equal access to education from grades kindergarten to 12th grade, regardless of whether they are legal in the US or not. The case that upheld this pro-immigration rights decision is Plyler v. Doe.
The Civil Liberties Union has recently taken action by sending letters to these school districts advising them that their practice may be unconstitutional. Only the Williamsville Central School District has not responded positively. The other school districts changed their registration requirements. The Williamsville Central School District, outside Buffalo, demands that a visa be supplied in order for the child to register. The Williamsville School District also states that they use the visa requirement as just only one of the requirement, not as the deciding factor.
Thank goodness that at least in 1982, the US was not anti-immigration, as shown by the above US Supreme Court case.
For more information, please refer to this direct link at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/nyregion/23immig.html?src=me

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has finally created an online tool to find detainees at any of the 250 detention centers throughout the US. The online tool can be accessed at https://locator.ice.gov/odls/homePage.do

Please check out my attorney publications section on our website at www.needimmigrationhelp.com for more details on how to use this online detainee locator tool. We have used it, and we have found it to be fairly reliable.

For immigration attorneys who have employment based cases with priority dates reaching back to 2004, the National Visa Center is now quickly issuing appointments for interviews with US Embassies for as early as August 4, 2010 and August 24, 2010. For my clients, these appointments have been set with the US Embassy in Damascus, Syria as well as US Embassy in Greece and other US Embassies throughout the world.
These new appointments have taken place because the Visa Bulletin for August 2010 moved the priority date to June 2004 for EB-3 categories excluding India and China. The EB-3 employment based category includes skilled workers (position requires 2 years experience and applicant has the requisite experience) and professionals (position requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and applicant meets the requirement).
We wish our clients success at their interviews!

Today, the American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center filed a lawsuit against DHS and USCIS on behalf of the American Immigration Lawyers Association alleging that their FOIA requests were denied in error. The lawsuit demands that the DHS and USCIS approves the requests for copies of the standards and procedures used by USCIS to determine which of the H-1B sponsors will be subjected to an audit and / or site visit under the H-1B visa program.

The USCIS is expected to conduct up to 25,000 site visits in 2010 alone of H-1B visa sponsors to ensure that they are complying with the H-1B visa rules. The USCIS has kept secret their review policies and how they determine which company will be audited or receive a site visit. The USCIS has outright denied the FOIA requests, and AILA is suing under the premise that President Obama’s stated policy is an open and transparent government policy.

All of the recent lawsuits happening are a result of USCIS’ recent enforcement of H-1B site visits and also of USCIS’ stricter H-1B eligibility guidelines. USCIS’ strict new policies are causing H-1B visas to be much less sought after than even in the year of 2007, for example. There has been an obvious decline in employers filing H-1B visas, possibly due to USCIS’ strict enforcement.

For more information, please go to http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/FOIA-LawsuitPressRelease-07-20-2010.pdf

The big selling point of President Obama’s campaign was that he is allegedly different from the status quo at the time, i.e. Former President Bush. But now over one year later, a look at the immigration enforcement numbers tells us that he is NOT so different after all. In fact, the immigration prosecutions under President Obama’s regime are higher than Bush’s immigration enforcement.

To begin, President Obama is sending 1200 National Guard troops out as we speak to help with enforcing our borders. In addition, even immigrants and illegal immigrants with minor criminal violations like driving offenses are being arrested and deported at record highs. Some have even called President Obama’s immigration policy to be a “Carbon Copy of Bush’s” immigration policy.

The reality is that now in the US, immigration enforcement is the new immigration reform of 2010.

For more information, you can refer to http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/07/obamas_immigration_enforcement_a_carbon_copy_of_bush.html

A recent article features the Franks, a married couple who immigrated here from London, England on an investor visa over 9 years ago. They qualified for the investor visa in the year of 2000 because they purchased a restaurant, called Laura’s Kitchen.
All extensions were granted, until recently when the California Service Center denied their E-2 visa extension petition stating that the business is now “marginal.” While the Franks admit that profits are down due to a bad economy, the USCIS decision has now turned their whole world upside down because the business they have been relying on since 2000 must be sold. They must also leave the US within 30 days, according to the USCIS decision.

In fact, the Franks have decided to move to Canada, according to the article, where investors are treated more justly. They have since been granted an additional 90 days on a visitor visa to remain in the US for the sole purpose of selling their business. It is disappointing that a couple who has done everything correct and tried to play by the immigration rules now must sell their family business and relocate to yet another country.

Unfortunately at my law office in Jacksonville, Fl, we are receiving phone calls from potential new clients telling us that they are having an extremely difficult time getting their investor visas extended, some for the same reason given to the Franks: Marginality. USCIS refers to the issue of marginality to state that a business must support not just the applicant and his family but also must be able to support other employees in order to qualify for the investor visa. A business in the US has 5 years to show that it is not marginal according to regulations. Before the 5 years, USCIS may refer to the business plan as one of the factors in determining whether the business is deemed marginal or not.

To read the article, please go to http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/punishing-those-who-play-by-the-rules_2010-06-27.html

On July 1, 2010, the Vital Statistics Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico started to issue new birth certificates to citizens of Puerto Rico. These new birth certificates are certified copies and are more secure to guard against fraud. This is urgently important for all Puerto Rican citizens filing petitions for their family members, as after September 30, 2010, all birth certificates issued to Puerto Ricans before July 1, 2010 will become Invalid.

If you already have a case open (i.e. pending) with USCIS and you have already submitted your birth certificate that was issued before July 1, 2010, you will be OK and will not need to re-submit a new birth certificate. Applicants may also continue to submit birth certificates that were issued before July 1, 2010 for cases that they file with immigration until September 30, 2010.

However, all cases filed with USCIS or any other immigration agency after September 30, 2010 will require a new certified birth certificate with an issuance date of July 1, 2010 or after by the Vital Statistics Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Further information can be obtained at http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=05e5b83235399210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

New certified copies of these more secure birth certificates can be obtained by mail at
http://www.prfaa.com/birthcertificates/ and for the Spanish translation see http://www.prfaa.com/certificadosdenacimiento

When the earthquake shattered Haiti in January of 2010, USCIS quickly made a provision for Haitians to apply for immigration relief by allowing them to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The deadline originally granted for Haitians to complete and file their TPS application was until July 20, 2010.

On July 12, 2010, USCIS announced that they have extended the deadline now to January 18, 2011, which provides Haitians with an additional 6 months or so to file their applications for TPS. A TPS application, if approved by USCIS, allows the applicant to receive an employment card and be able to legally work, drive and remain in the US for the duration of the employment card.

The USCIS filing fees for TPS are $470 per applicant and the length of the employment card is for an 18-month period. Only Haitians that were already in the US when the earthquake occurred are eligible for TPS. While some Haitians are skeptical and afraid to request TPS relief because they believe that USCIS will use their information against them in the future, others have applied and received their employment cards. So far, around 55,000 Haitians have applied for TPS relief. For more information on the newly released news, please see the article by the Associated Press at

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h3-xkjfd_KkYtFN4obYFedRnyKtAD9GTJEVO0

A TPS application must be made on Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, and on Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. Applicants must provide proof of their Haitian nationality as well as proof of their residence in the US on or about January 12, 2010.

The Visa Bulletin for August 2010 has just been released and finally we see progress for EB-3 employment based green cards. For EB-3 categories (professional workers, skilled workers and other workers), the priority date is now June 2004 (except for China and Philippines). If at first glance that date does not sound too good, keep in mind that the EB-3 priority date in the Visa Bulletin for July 2010 was August 2003.

You can locate the Visa Bulletin for the current month and older bulletins at http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html

It is well known among green card holders that when they get married to their spouses, they think that the process usually will take anywhere from 3-4 years. Now there is good news as shown in the August 2010 Visa Bulletin. The priority date for spouses and minor children of green card holders is March 2009. This means that if you have a green card and you filed the immediate relative petition form for your spouse on or after March 2009, your priority date is now current! This is certainly a lot faster than 3-4 years. For more information, please refer to the most recent Visa Bulletin issued for August 2010 at http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html

Because the Visa Bulletin date is for August 1, 2010, it is recommended to wait until August 1, 2010 to file the adjustment of status application.