Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
We Build the Wall is a private group supporting the president and his building of the barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. The group raised money to build a small section of private border wall. The National Butterfly Center, located near the planned wall, sued to stop its construction. On Tuesday, a Texas judge issued a preliminary injunction, blocking construction. In the order, Judge Keno Vasquez said that building the barrier could cause “imminent and irreparable harm” to the 100-acre wild butterfly habitat. The founder of We Build the Wall said he had not heard anything about the order, and that it was “more fake news.”
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Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
On December 2, USCIS posted updated editions to forms N-470, N-300, I-817, I-751, I-694, I-601, I-290B, I-192, I-191, I-129CW, and I-907. The new edition must be used immediately for Form I-907. The new edition must be used starting January 21, 2020 for Form I-817. The new edition must be used starting February 3, 2020 for forms N-470, I-751, I-601, I-290B, I-192, I-191, and I-129CW. The previous edition will continue to be accepted for forms N-300 and I-694.
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Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
The number of African migrants at the southern border in 2019 has more than doubled compared to 2018. The number has been increasing steadily since 2007, from 460 to 5800 each year. Activists have been concerned that this dimension has not been considered in the asylum debates. Africans from the Congo, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon have all come to the U.S.-Mexican border in large numbers, as well as black asylum seekers from Haiti and other places outside of Africa. These asylum seekers face violence and illness, but also additional challenges, like language barriers and discrimination, while on their journeys.
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Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
DHS had proposed a rule to expand biometrics at the border, including requiring facial recognition screening of all travelers to include U.S. citizens. On Thursday, DHS retreated from the idea, saying it has no plans to expand facial recognition to U.S. citizens. Privacy experts questioned the accuracy of facial recognition in general and have concerns that such an expansive system is susceptible to hacks or improper use of data. In response, DHS has decreased the amount of time it will retain photos from 14 days to 12 hours. Facial recognition is currently used in more than a dozen U.S. airports.
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Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was a 16-year-old asylum seeker who was taken into CBP custody. When he had a 103 degree fever and the flu, a medical professional said he should be monitored in the next two hours and taken to the hospital if his condition worsened, but instead he was left in his cell. He died and was discovered four hours later by his cellmate. CBP’s news release reports, saying he was found by staff during a welfare check and was checked on throughout the night, contradicts the cellblock video, which shows Carlos collapsing and writhing on the floor for 25 minutes before becoming still and undiscovered for four 4 and a half hours. CBP officials have not explained why the nurse’s recommendation was ignored, but reported that Carlos’s death is being investigated.
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Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
More judges will conduct asylum hearings via teleconferencing. The newest expansion has judges assigned to an adjudication center in Fort Worth, Texas. Like the tent facilities, this is closed to the public, making lawyers concerned about the transparency of the process. Access to the tent courts is closed generally, but CBP stated that it will be “assessed on a case-by-case basis when operationally feasible.”
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Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
USCIS announced online registration for the H-1B lottery. On December 6, USCIS announced that registration for the 2021 H-1B lottery will take place online. Employers who want to file cap-subject petitions must register online and pay the $10 registration fee. Employers will only need to give basic information on both the employer and requested worker. If selected by the lottery, the employer will then file a full petition. The initial registration period will be from March 1 through March 20, 2020.
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Posted on November 25, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
Forbes reports that U.S. consular officers are making it extremely difficult, and in some cases nearly impossible, for U.S. companies to transfer their employees from India to America on L‑1 visas. Companies say the extremely high rate of visa refusals is increasing company costs, wasting company time that should be spent serving customers, and making it highly unpredictable to conduct business and manage personnel.
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Posted on November 25, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on November 12 to compel the government to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Specifically, EFF is looking for information on “the number of individuals whose DNA had been collected, the accuracy of DNA matches, and the exact gene processing used to identify parent-child relationships.” The DNA testing used by the government claims to have results within 90 minutes, which has raised some questions on accuracy. Additionally, though the government claims that the DNA tests are voluntary based on consent forms, EFF has concerns about coercion. According to EFF, the consent forms claim that refusing a DNA test can result in family separation. Right now, the lawsuit is only about getting information under FOIA.
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Posted on November 25, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
The Trump administration issued a rule in mid-July that required asylum seekers who traveled through other countries on the way to the U.S. border to first seek asylum in those countries. In practice, this meant that those arriving in Mexico would need to seek asylum in Mexico first. Asylum seekers who had already presented at the U.S. border but were sent back to Mexico to wait were being processed under the new rule and denied the ability to apply for asylum. A federal judge in California ruled that the rule does not apply to asylum seekers who arrived at the U.S. border prior to the rule’s existence. If not for the “metering” policy the U.S. employs, those asylum seekers would have arrived in the U.S. before the rule went into effect.
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