Posted on November 4, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
About 265,000 Salvadorans in the U.S. have Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which gives them temporary legal status and the ability to work. Most of them have been in the U.S. for more than 10 years, since Salvadorans were first offered TPS during the Bush administration. In the past few years, the Trump administration has attempted to end TPS for Salvadorans, and is currently litigating the end of TPS. The deal struck on Monday pushes the end date for Salvadoran TPS to January 2, 2021, even if the courts rule in the government’s favor and allow TPS to end.
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Posted on November 4, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
Over 500 flights were canceled in October, leaving refugees in limbo. Now, the moratorium on refugee flights has been extended to November 5, meaning that no refugees have been resettled in the U.S. in October. Though these refugees have already been through the vetting process and were approved to come to the U.S., the indefinite delays are causing problems, both psychologically and procedurally. Experts say forcing the refugees to continue to stay in camps in Egypt and Nigeria is “re-traumatizing.” Some unaccompanied minors have turned 18 during the month-long extension, meaning that they are no longer minors and have to wait in the refugee camps indefinitely. Some refugees have medical exams and security checks with looming expiration dates. Since the moratorium technically has an end date, flights will continue to be re-booked for the refugees.
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Posted on November 4, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
Effective immediately, USCIS has made Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, available for online filing. Acting USCIS Director Cuccinelli announced that this form is now the 8th available for online filing, and is part of the agency’s push to become paperless. Petitioners can also use the online portal to track their status, pay fees, communicate with USCIS, and respond to requests for evidence. The paper version of Form I-130 will still be accepted.
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Posted on November 4, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
Starting December 2, the premium processing fee will increase from $1,410 to $1,440 for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. The fee was last increased in 2018, and the increase is based on inflation. Premium processing is optional and allows petitioners to request 15-day processing.
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Posted on November 4, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
USCIS has updated editions of Form AR-11, Change of Alien’s Address Card; Form G-325A, Biographic Information (for Deferred Action); Form I-929, Petition for Qualifying Family Member of a U-1 Nonimmigrant; Form I-612, Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement; and Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal. The previous edition of each form will be accepted until varying dates in December.
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Posted on November 4, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
USCIS has updated fee waiver requirements
USCIS has published a new version of Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver. The new version has removed the use of means-tested public benefits as a factor. According to USCIS, the change was warranted because eligibility requirements for public benefits vary so much state-to-state. Under the new criteria, individuals can request a fee waiver if their annual household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or if they demonstrate financial hardship. In effect, the new criteria narrow who is eligible for a fee waiver.
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Posted on October 8, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
The White House released a document noting that President Trump is proposing a refugee ceiling of 18,000 for FY2020. Further, the president also issued an executive order instructing the federal government to settle refugees only in those jurisdictions in which both the state and local governments have consented to receive refugees under the DOS Reception and Placement Program. CNN reports that the proposed refugee ceiling would mark a “new historic low” and that the executive order could allow states and local jurisdictions to deny refugees entry.
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Posted on October 8, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
In a lawsuit challenging DHS’s expansion of expedited removal that was filed by the American Immigration Council, the ACLU, and the law firm of Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett LLP, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and issued an order blocking DHS from implementing its July 23, 2019, notice that significantly expanded the categories of persons eligible for expedited removal. In other federal court litigation news, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee issued a decision blocking a Trump administration regulation that would terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement and allow families to be detained for lengthy periods of time.
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Posted on October 8, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
Military.com reports on USCIS’s announcement that the number of places overseas where noncitizen service members and their families can be naturalized will be cut from 23 to four due to the agency’s closures of international offices. Noncitizen service members will now have to apply for naturalization at four overseas military bases or “hubs,” and USCIS officers will travel to each hub every quarter to provide naturalization services
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Posted on October 8, 2019 by Brian D. Lerner, Immigration Lawyer & Deportation Attorney
Surveillance Age
The New York Times Magazine reports on ICE’s quiet embrace of big data, profiling the agency’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants in a Pacific Northwest community. Analysis of government-procurement records, interviews, and documents obtained via public-records requests reveals new evidence of surveillance of detainees’ voice and video calls at ICE facilities and extensive proof that the agency relies on state DMV databases and information products like Thomson Reuters’s CLEAR, short for Consolidated Lead Evaluation and Reporting, to target immigrants.
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