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DHS Extends Flexibility in Requirements Related to Form I-9 Compliance

DHS announced that it has extended the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic by an additional 30 days. These flexibilities include prosecutorial discretion to defer the physical presence requirements associated with the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) under section 274A of the INA and an additional 30-day extension for NOIs served in March 2020. DHS also provided information regarding acceptable documents for Form I-9 verification of lawful permanent residents.

USCIS Approves H-1B Petitions of Plaintiffs Within Weeks of Class Action Lawsuit Being Filed

Within weeks of filing, USCIS reversed the prior petition denials in both plaintiffs’ cases. This was for market research analysis

USCIS Announces It Will Accept Refiling of Rejected Forms I-140 with E-Certification or Electronically Reproduced Signatures

After rejecting some Forms I-140 that included e-certified ETA-9089s or blue ETA-9089s with electronically reproduced signatures, USCIS announced that it will ask petitioners to resubmit their Form I-140 with either wet signatures or scanned copies of signatures and a copy of the rejection notice.

Houston Chronicle — Opinion: Cuban ICE Detainee Exposes Unsafe Texas Facilities, Pleads for Release to Help Battle Coronavirus

The Houston Chronicle features an op-ed by Roger Ernesto La O Muñoz, a Cuban asylum seeker who is currently detained in the Joe Corley Detention Facility in Conroe, Texas. As a college graduate with a degree in hygiene and epidemiology, he writes on behalf of 55 fellow detainees to send a message to the president, immigration judges, human rights organizations, and the American public that he and the other detainees find themselves “in a concentration camp with death orders from COVID-19.”

DOS Provides Visa Bulletin for June 2020

DOS posted the June 2020 Visa Bulletin. In addition to final action dates and dates for filing for family– and employment-based petitions, the bulletin includes notes on the DV category for the month of June and the DV category rank cut-offs which will apply in July.

Non-citizen U.S. troops have filed a class-action lawsuit over the naturalization process.

On April 24, 6 U.S. troops filed a class-action lawsuit after being blocked from an expedited naturalization process. To qualify for the expedited process, servicemen must provide Pentagon certification that they have served honorably. Previously, this certification was available one day after starting their service. In 2017, the Trump administration changed the requirement, making non-citizen troops wait 180 days to receive the certification. According to the lawsuit, the change in policy caused a 72% drop in military naturalization applications.

A federal appeals court has ruled that states cannot require proof of citizenship during voter registration.

On Wednesday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kansas cannot require proof of citizenship, such as an original birth certificate or passport, to register to vote. The court ruled against the state because it was unable to prove that the law was necessary to prevent voter fraud, especially since the law disenfranchised more than 30,000 legitimate voters.

A new Supreme Court decision makes it easier for the government to deport immigrants for crimes.

On April 23, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that found one permanent resident ineligible for cancellation of removal due to his past crimes. One issue in the case was the “stop-time rule.” The Supreme Court found that the rule was triggered when the immigrant committed a crime that made him inadmissible, though he had already been legally residing in the U.S. too long for the crime to trigger removability. This meant that the official “clock” of his residency was stopped just months before the 7-year milestone that would have made him eligible for cancellation of removal. The 5-4 decision was split along ideological lines.

U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrant parents have sued the federal government over a lack of coronavirus relief.

On May 5, a new class-action lawsuit was filed that contends that the CARES Act excludes and discriminates against many U.S. citizen children whose parents are undocumented. The lawsuit argues that since these children qualify for other federal public benefits, there is no logical reason they should be excluded from any relief from the stimulus package.

The Supreme Court punted an immigration-related case back down to the 9th Circuit.

On May 7, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the 9th Circuit should not have ruled on an immigration-related First Amendment issue, because the issue was not raised by either parties in the lawsuit. The lawsuit concerns one woman who was convicted of “encouraging” a foreigner to be in the U.S. illegally. Now, the case will go back to the 9th Circuit to be considered on the merits of the other arguments that the parties did raise