A new USCIS online tool allows three-year DACA recipients to verify whether they need to immediately return their Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to USCIS. Effective this Friday, July 31, 2015, DACA grants will be terminated—and EADs declared invalid—for those recipients who do not return the erroneously issued three-year EADs.

DACA recipients should be advised the three-year work permit recall only applies to SOME individuals who received a card after the February 16, 2015, court order. If you received a letter or were contacted directly by USCIS regarding the recall of certain three-year work permits, you must IMMEDIATELY return your three-year work permit, also called an Employment Authorization Document, to your local USCIS office.

If you fail to return your card, USCIS will terminate your DACA and all employment authorizations effective July 31, 2015. Please carefully read the information USCIS sent to you or visit uscis.gov for details. New resources are available at uscis.gov including:

• A new online tool that three-year DACA recipients can use to verify whether they need to return their work permit
• A new quick facts Web page
• A fact sheet (also available in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese)

If you have not been contacted by USCIS and you received a three-year card after February 16, 2015, you should use the new online tool or call the USCIS Customer Service line at 800-375-5283 and select option 1 for English, then option 8 to verify whether you are affected BEFORE returning your card.

AILA and the American Immigration Council welcomed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Flores v. Johnson that should signal the end of the mass incarceration of children and mothers seeking asylum in the United States. Judge Gee found that the government materially breached the Flores settlement agreement, which requires that children in temporary custody be housed in safe, sanitary, non-secure, and licensed facilities. She granted the plaintiffs’ motion to enforce the agreement, and ordered the government to show cause why children and their accompanying parents should not be released.

Check out some of the ongoing litigation efforts against CBP and get inspired to bring your own challenge at:

www.HoldCBPAccountable.org

Recent updates to the website include:

• Frias v. Torrez et al. (5th Cir.)—The Fifth Circuit’s disappointing May 2015 decision reversing the district court and holding that a Bivens’ action was not available to redress the Border Patrol’s violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of an undocumented noncitizen.
• Doe v. Johnson (D. Ariz.)—A class action filed in Arizona challenging detention conditions in CBP facilities, where detained individuals are stripped of outer layers of clothing and forced to suffer in brutally cold temperatures; deprived of beds, bedding, and sleep; denied adequate food, water, medicine and medical care, and basic sanitation and hygiene items such as soap, sufficient toilet paper, sanitary napkins, diapers, and showers; and held virtually incommunicado in these conditions for days.
• Rodriguez v. Swartz (D. Ariz.)—A decision from Chief Judge Raner Collins denying in part Defendant Swartz’s motion to dismiss in this constitutional challenge to the cross-border shooting death of a sixteen-year-old Mexican boy.
• Brown v. Customs and Border Protection et al. (N.D. Cal.)—Court’s minute order denying Defendants’ motion to dismiss in a proposed class action challenging CBP’s pattern and practice of failing to respond to FOIA requests within the time frame required under the statute.
• Lopez-Venegas v. Johnson (C.D. Cal.)—More information on the class action settlement in Lopez-Venegas v. Johnson—a case challenging unlawful and coercive “voluntary returns” by ICE and Border Patrol in Southern California—including information on class membership application timelines and key contacts.

Do you have a question about immigration and nationality (I&N) records and research? Do you need help understanding an immigration or naturalization record you found? Marian Smith will be answering pre-submitted questions during a live webinar on Friday, July 31^st, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Send your question via email to cishistory.library@uscis.dhs.gov with the subject line “July Webinar Question.” If your question relates to a document you found, attach a copy of the document to the email. All questions must be received by Saturday, July 25^th!

UPDATE (July 14, 2015): During a stakeholder call on the evening of July 14, 2015, USCIS informed stakeholders of the following:

• Home visits to collect unreturned 3-year EADs, which were originally scheduled to begin on Wednesday, July 15, had been postponed until Thursday, July 16.
• The home visits this week will be treated as a “pilot” in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, and possibly San Francisco. Next week home visits will broaden in geographic scope.
• If the DACA recipient is not home, USCIS will not leave behind any written notice of the visit.
• If the DACA recipient is home and returns the EAD, a receipt will be provided as proof of compliance. DACA recipients who turn in their EADs at a USCIS field office will also be provided with a receipt.
• Letters that include the notice of USCIS’s intention to terminate DACA if the recipient does not return the 3-year EAD by the stated deadline are being sent to the G-28 attorney of record in addition to the DACA recipient.

El 14 de julio de 2015, USCIS anunció que completó el trámite de las peticiones H-1B sujetas a la cantidad máxima reglamentaria establecida para el año fiscal 2016 que no fueron seleccionadas por medio del método de selección al azar por computadora.

Anteriormente, el 4 de mayo de 2015, USCIS había anunciado que se había completado la entrada de datos de todas las peticiones sujetas a la cantidad máxima reglamentaria.

Si usted presentó una petición H-1B sujeta a la cantidad máxima reglamentaria entre el 1 y el 7 de abril de 2015, y al 20 de julio de 2015 no ha recibido una notificación de recibo o se le ha devuelto la petición, contacte a USCIS.

Denver, CO – In an historic ruling, a multi-million dollar federal class action lawsuit filed by nine federal immigrant detainees against private prison contractor The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO) received the green light to go forward on Tuesday. The lawsuit, filed by current and former immigrant detainees held in Aurora, Colorado, accuses GEO of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), and demands millions of dollars in damages for forced labor and unjust enrichment. This is the first time in history that a court has held that a for-profit immigrant detention contractor may be held liable for violating the TVPA.

“Today we get a little bit closer to holding accountable those companies that choose to violate the law and pad their profit margins on the backs of immigrant workers,” said lead attorney Brandt Milstein.

The plaintiffs allege that as a matter of policy GEO forces detainees to perform a sweeping array of janitorial and maintenance tasks under threat of solitary confinement in violation of federal forced labor laws. The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado allowed those claims to proceed. In addition, plaintiffs allege that GEO’s utilization of detainee labor to perform functions vital to the maintenance and upkeep of the facility results in unjust enrichment of the for-profit detention company. The Court allowed these claims to proceed as well.

“Federal Judicial recognition that the practices of America’s second largest private prison company could constitute forced labor is a tremendous victory for civil immigrant detainees nationwide,” said Nina DiSalvo, Executive Director of Towards Justice, an impact litigation non-profit that serves as co-counsel on this case. “The Judge’s decision allows us to address the systemic problems with GEO’s treatment of immigrant workers through the legal system.”

According to plaintiffs’ co-counsel Andrew Turner, “the Court recognized that being an immigrant in detention does not strip you of your basic human right not to be forced to work under threat of solitary confinement. This ruling is an important first step toward ending an unconscionable practice.”

“Using forced detainee labor is an integral tool in maintaining GEO’s profitability under its contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”),” said Nashville- based immigrants’ rights attorney Andrew Free. “GEO’s business model at these ICE facilities is to boost corporate profits by violating the law. The court’s decision today represents an important step forward in ending that morally bankrupt business model.”

“Even the largest corporations in the country must respect the rights and dignity of workers, even for those who are detained. GEO can no longer continue to profit off detained immigrant labor without facing the consequences,” stated co-counsel Hans Meyer, who also represented plaintiffs Alejandro Menocal and Grisel Xahuentitla Flores in their respective immigration cases.

The GEO Group is one of the largest private prison contractors in the world, and much of its revenue stems from U.S. immigration detention contracts like those at issue in this lawsuit. In 2013, The GEO Group, Inc. reported $1.52 billion in total revenues.

The case is Alejandro Menocal, et al. v. The Geo Group, Inc., No. 1:14-cv-02887-JLK (D. Colo.). The Complaint is here: https://bit.ly/1eDEQDb. The Court’s decision denying GEO’s Motion to Dismiss is here: https://bit.ly/1HecIjQ.

Nos sentimos entusiasmados de lanzar la nueva página Facebook en español y el nuevo hogar del nuevo blog en español Compás, que se ha movido de nuestro blog en inglés a su propio espacio en USCIS en español. Crearemos contenido nuevo y original en español exclusivamente en español para reafirmar nuestro compromiso de llegar a nuestros clientes de habla hispana.

Nuestra meta es compartir noticias e información general relacionadas con USCIS, así como historias y noticias únicas para nuestra comunidad hispana. Estamos comprometidos en fortalecer nuestra misión con nuestra nación y continuar brindando servicios a nuestros clientes. Es un momento dinámico en términos de inmigración para nuestra nación y reconocemos la necesidad de comunicarnos y compartir ideas e historias con nuestra comunidad hispana.

Agradecemos sus opiniones y esperamos que apoye estos esfuerzos a medida que mejoramos los servicios que les ofrecemos.

Following a new order by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in the Texas v. United States litigation, USCIS advised DACA recipients who received a three-year Employment Authorization Document (EAD) that the three-year EAD and DACA approval notice are no longer valid, and reminded recipients to return three-year EADs previously issued to them. The new July 7, 2015, order requires top immigration enforcement officials, including DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, to appear at a hearing in Texas on August 19, 2015, to discuss the 2,000 three-year EADs that were issued following the injunction on expanded DACA and DAPA.

For more information on this topic, please contact us.