For Immediate Release
Legal Brief Filed by 224 Groups Pushes High Court to Hear Landmark Immigration Case, Texas v. U.S.
December 1, 2015

 
November 19, 2015
Washington D.C. - Friday, marks the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s announcement of his executive actions on immigration, which at their heart, are first steps towards common-sense reforms to an outdated immigration system.

USCIS has published an update to Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. The new edition is dated 11/04/15. (Previous editions dated 02/13/15, 05/27/08 or later, also accepted.)

Washington D.C. – Ben Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council, responded to the announcement that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staff will expand the agency’s camera review with the following statement: "Today's decision to not broadly implement body-worn cameras is a significant step backwards for CBP. For an agency that has significant problems with transparency and accountability, the excuses provided to not move forward in a bold and comprehensive way will only

The regulations for persons who are inside the United States say: Refusal of entry is not considered to constitute a “removal” and does not incur the five-year bar on admissibility under INA §212(a)(9)(A).

We have just been told about a wonderful project at St. James School in Falls Church, Virginia (suburb of Washington, DC).  They have an elementary school class  that is collecting postcards from around the world.  While the classmates are asking their friends and family to send them from remote outposts (with an AILA colleague's law school classmate's child in the class, that's how I heard about it), we couldn't help but think that a small diversion could result in some incredible postcards

WASHINGTON — President Obama will ask the Supreme Court to clear the way for his long-delayed immigration overhaul, administration lawyers said Tuesday, setting up another high-stakes legal contest in the nation’s highest court over the fate of one of the president’s signature achievements.

This USCIS draft policy memo provides guidance on the role and use of interpreters who appear before USCIS during certain interviews conducted in domestic field offices. This draft memo does not apply to asylum, credible fear, reasonable fear, or refugee interviews, or interviews conducted at a USCIS overseas office, among others. Further, it does not apply to translators. Comments are due by December 21, 2015.

FAMILY-sponsored categories (potential monthly movement)

Will USCIS consider PIP for DOD contractors, although not specifically included in the memo on PIP, as some contractors have security clearance, may be employed in the interest of national security, and may be restricted from non-essential DOD travel?
USCIS local will not entertain PIP pursuant to the Military PIP November 2012 policy memorandum for DOD contractors’ immediate relatives.

Provisions of the INA authorizing detention of noncitizens:

Human Rights Watch and CIVIC are teaming up to document cases in which individuals in ICE detention received inadequate medical care and we're writing to see if you can help us.

AILA's LGBT Working Group and the DOS Liaison Committee are seeking examples of cases in which visa applicants have been subjected to extended tuberculosis (TB) testing after identifying as HIV positive.

I wanted to alert everyone on the list to the new draft USCIS “extreme hardship” guidance. The comment period ends soon, and I’d urge everyone to comment.  Some suggestions for commenting are below, but I’m sure you can think of other possible comments: The draft guidance provides that the following can be “factors and considerations for extreme hardship:”

Washington D.C. - Today, the Senate rejected the motion to proceed on Senator David Vitter’s (R-LA) “Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act” (S. 2146). The bill is an enforcement-only approach to immigration that would punish cities and states that adopt community policing policies that work to make communities safer and increase communication between police and their residents. The procedural vote required 60 Yea votes to begin debate on the bill; the motion failed 54-45.

Undocumented immigrants—including those with DACA—who entered the country illegally cannot easily get lawful status, even if they have a family member who can sponsor them for permanent residence.

On Friday, the United States Department of Justice urged U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez to deny plaintiffs a temporary restraining order in a putative class action lawsuit over abrupt changes in the 2015 October Visa Bulletin to green-card eligibility requirements. The government states the move on behalf of the plaintiffs is not warranted and that the plaintiffs have not shown that they will be irreparably harmed if the restraining order is not granted as well as cannot show

You filed your immigration case, you paid all the fees. If USCIS asked for it, you responded to their request for evidence (RFE). You got your interview.

The State Department recently updated its travel.state.gov website to include Spanish translations of information regarding the immigrant visa (IV). Of the more than 467,000 IVs issued by DOS in 2014, approximately 147,000 were given to applicants in countries in which Spanish is either the official or national language.

We understand that individuals seeking to file adjustment of status applications must use the “Final Action Dates” chart for determining when they can file, unless USCIS determines that there are enough immigrant visas available to support the filing of additional adjustment applications, in which case the “Dates for Filing” chart may be used. According to the October Visa Bulletin, “USCIS has determined that [the “Dates for Filing” chart] may be used … this month for filing applications for