TRAC, a trusted agency that analyzes data published by the US Federal government, has found that Immigration Judges are denying substantially fewer asylum requests. In fact, denial rates have reached the lowest level in the last 25 years. In this time of immigration enforcement, we are happy to see good news for asylum applicants.

For example, in 1986, almost 9 out of 10 asylum cases were denied by immigration judges. That is a huge number of denials! However, during the first 9 months of year 2010, only 5 out of each 10 cases were denied by immigration judges.

TRAC has concluded that there are significantly fewer denials because more asylum seekers are using attorneys and also because there are fewer individuals applying for asylum.

TRAC has also noted that one of the big problems for applicants seeking asylum is that there are disparities between judges. For example, some judges approve more cases than others, etc.

To read the article, please refer to this direct link: http://trac.syr.edu/whatsnew/email.100902.html

Until recently, it was accepted by USCIS and ICE that Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests filed by immigrant applicants can take a while to get processed. It was not unusual for these requests to take 6 months or longer for immigrant applicants to obtain a copy of their file(s) from USCIS. Now, however, ICE is up to date on FOIA request appeals. They in fact have been burning the midnight oil to get caught up on FOIA appeals and have even made it a goal to keep current.

This new emphasis on FOIA request appeals being handled quickly by ICE, rather than USCIS, is to promote President Obama’s policy on having an “open government.” FOIA requests allow immigrant applicants to obtain a copy of their records from USCIS. From experience, we know that USCIS is allowed to withhold its own office notes and also documents relating to work performed by other government agencies, such as ICE. If an immigrant applicant is not satisfied with the copies he or she receives through the FOIA request as a result of incompleteness, he or she can file an appeal.

FOIA requests are often used by our law office to obtain a copy of a petition that a family member filed for a client of ours years ago and that we now need for the client to gain an immigration benefit, for example. While it is important for applicants to make copies of every document they send to USCIS, if the copy was not made or was lost, then filing a FOIA request is the proper way to obtain a copy from immigration. In our law office, we are sure to maintain client file copies for 10 years or more, to ensure that our clients for whom we filed applications will obtain a copy from us should they need one, and not through having to file a FOIA request.

The good news is that due to President Obama’s policy of having an open government, USCIS and ICE have listened and are working hard to make sure FOIA requests and FOIA appeals are handled in a more efficient manner. FOIA requests are an important tool that we use to protect the rights of our clients. We are happy that USCIS has decided to let ICE help in getting caught up so that the backlog can be decreased and even eliminated.

September 27, 2010

On or about September 24, 2010, ICE had arrested 32 individuals that fell into one of the following categories. The 32 individuals were arrested during a 4-day operation.
ICE arrested individuals who fell into the following categories:

*individuals with prior criminal convictions (see below)
*individuals previously deported who have re-entered the US
*individuals with a final order of deportation

Some of the criminal convictions referred to above were for crimes involving driving under the influence of alcohol, weapons violations, and assault and disorderly conduct.

What is interesting is that both the crimes of driving under the influence of alcohol and assault / disorderly conduct do not immediately meet the standard for crimes involving moral turpitude (CIMT). So we can assume that even some crimes that are not as severe as possession of a controlled substance, for example, can still cause ICE to arrest an individual and place him or her in removal proceedings.

If an individual is arrested, unless that individual has a final order of removal, he or she can request bond through the Immigration Judge during removal proceedings. If an individual has a final order of removal from previously being in removal proceedings, the standards for obtaining bond are more difficult but are still possible.

It seems that fewer illegal immigrants are entering the US these days. In fact, there were two-thirds (66%) less illegal immigrants that entered the US from 2007 until 2009 than there was in the years of 2000 until 2005. This decline has resulted in 8% fewer illegal immigrants currently residing in the US. There are now an estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants, as opposed to 12 million illegal immigrants in 2007.

Although the article did not cite any reasons for the decline, one of the possible reasons is the recession that we are now experiencing. Individuals historically have fled to the US for economic reasons, and since there is now a recession, there is less incentive for individuals to illegally enter the US. Another reason is that individuals are now finding new countries to relocate to, since other countries have more lenient immigration policies. For example, Canada seems to have an increase in the number of immigrants relocating there, as they have immigration programs that welcome investors and other individuals to their homeland.

More information can be obtained at
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=126

You read that correctly. Even in this environment where some people are saying we are facing a double dip recession, ICE has announced it will investigate 500 businesses this week alone for immigration related reasons.

Perhaps immigration and ICE need to consider that extreme immigration enforcement will do nothing but keep businesses from sponsoring immigrants. Or maybe that is their goal after all…

A new phone number has been added to allow individuals to check the date for the next immigration court hearing. There is already an existing phone number that individuals can call at 1-800-898-7180 to obtain hearing information and future court dates, if applicable. The 800 # also explains any previous court history for each alien number provided. It is an automated phone number.

The new phone number is 1-240-314-1500. The main difference with the new phone number is that to obtain information through the new phone number, individuals will need more than just the alien number. The system will ask for the date that the Notice to Appear or other charging document was issued. More information on how to obtain the date that the charging document was filed can be found at www.justice.gov/eoir/HowToFindChargingDocumentDates.htm. This new phone system will be effective on August 30, 2010. The 800 # listed above will remain in working condition as well.

While a new phone number for individuals to check future court dates would usually be welcome, in this instance the new phone number may cause problems. The new phone number requires information that many applicants do not have and cannot obtain. For instance, we routinely check each client’s alien number to ensure that they are not in deportation / removal proceedings and also to check whether they have been in the past. Under the current 800 #, all we need is the alien number, which most clients have available.

On the other hand, many clients do NOT have their notices to appear (if they are in immigration proceedings) and may not even know that a Notice to Appear has been issued on their behalf. As a result, if a client is not aware that he is now in removal proceedings, then it would be impossible for the client and his immigration attorney to check his case status, as we would not have the information needed to access the court hotline information. This is a big deal, as that client would then not be alerted that he has a court date coming up and he would miss that court date, resulting in the client being ordered removed from the US.

While we applaud the efforts to update the system, we are concerned that the new requirement of having the Notice to Appear issuance date can cause many clients to miss their court hearings for lack of knowledge of the court date. It has been our experience that many clients do not have copies of their Notice to Appear and do not know where to obtain one or if they even have one issued on their behalf.

As of August 06, 2010, there are 11,900 H-1B Master’s cap cases received. There is a 20,000 limit allowed for US earned Master’s degree cases for the year of 2010. The USCIS has also received 28,500 of the regular H-1B cap cases, of which there is a limit of 65,000 cases allowed to be accepted by USCIS for the year of 2010.

There is no doubt that there is a decrease in the numbers of employers who are using H-1B visas to bring or hire employees, possibly due to the increased H-1B audits being implemented by USCIS and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The decrease in the usage of H-1B visas can also be due to a poor economy.

The September Visa Bulletin has some good news for third category employment based green cards. The current priority date for the third category as of September 1, 2010 is now December 2004. The third category refers to skilled workers (2 years experience or more) and professionals (bachelor’s degree or equivalent is needed for qualification for the job offered). Other workers (less than 2 years experience needed for the job offered to qualify) are also under the third category for employment based green card sponsorship.

While the date of December 2004 sounds horribly delayed (we are now in August 2010), please note that last month (August 2010), the priority date was June 2004. The priority date in July 2010 for third category employment based green cards was August 2003. It is not uncommon in the past to see the date remain the same as time goes on. So we are seeing movement, which is why we say there is good news.

For a recent version of the visa bulletin, please go to www.needimmigrationhelp.com, under Useful Resources.

The Visa Bulletin for September 2010 has just been released, and we have more good news for spouses of green card holders. The current “priority date” for spouses of green card holders is January 1, 2010. This means that green card holders that applied for their spouses on or before January 1, 2010 will be current as of September 1, 2010. In other words, if they filed the form I-130 on or before January 1, 2010, they can now file the adjustment of status application, assuming that the spouse has not overstayed their visa in the US.

If the spouse is overseas, then the National Visa Center will quickly send the paperwork to the US green card holder spouse to complete the paperwork before the case can be sent to the US Embassy for an interview date to be set.

This is great news, as the old processing time for spouses of green card holders was about a 3 to 4 year wait. Now it looks like there is less than a 1 year wait. It is rare these days to get good news on immigration rules and procedures, so this is a nice change.
For a recent version of the Visa Bulletin, please go to www.needimmigrationhelp.com and click on visa bulletin under Important Resources.

On August 5, 2010, the National Sheriff’s Association stated that it supports Section 287(g) to be implemented on a national level. Florida is currently one of the states of many states that have already implemented Section 287(g). Section 278(g) allows local police officers to participate in identifying and removing criminal aliens from the US. Under Section 287(g), police officers are authorized and even required to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to alert them to all arrests for individuals that are not US citizens. Even if the individual is a green card holder, ICE will still be alerted that the individual has been arrested. It is then in ICE’s discretion what action they will take, which can include placing an immigration hold on the individual or placing them in removal proceedings.

For more information on Section 287(g), I have written an article reprinted in attorney publications on www.needimmigrationhelp.com. For more information on this recent news release, please go to http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=32821