An article in the Washington Post shares the immigration story of Miguel Aguilar, who at age 11 fled his hometown in Mexico to escape escalating violence, and who now plays professional soccer for the D.C. United team. Two-and-a-half years ago, Mr. Aguilar was granted DACA, and is believed to be the first DACA recipient to sign a major league sports contract.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: DACA, deferred action, miguel aguilar | Leave a comment »
Forbes reports on the current state of the EB-5 investor immigrant program and reauthorization efforts, stating “it seems doubtful that anything more ambitious than a short-term extension of the existing EB-5 program will be passed before the September 30th expiration date. The only problem with a short-term extension is that it will place the fate of any renewal of the program right in the middle of the 2016 Congressional elections and the Presidential campaign.”
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: EB-5, eb5, investor visa | Leave a comment »
The Ninth Circuit held that the statutory criminal bar to judicial review, INA §242(a)(2)(C), does not strip the court of jurisdiction to review the denial of a procedural motion, such as a motion for a continuance, that rests on a ground independent of the conviction that triggered the bar. The court denied the petition for review, however, because it found that the Immigration Judge did not abuse his discretion in denying the petitioner’s motion to continue.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: 9th circuit, jurisdiction of appellate court, jurisdictional stripping, motion to continue, ninth circuit, Petition for Review | Leave a comment »
The Ninth Circuit granted the petition for review, holding that the petitioner was entitled to equitable tolling of his untimely motion to reopen, because his lawyer’s advice to pursue a form of immigration relief for which the petitioner was statutorily ineligible constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The court remanded to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) with instructions to grant the petitioner’s motion to reopen.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: BIA, board of immigration appeals, iac, ineffective assistance of counsel, motion to reopen, MTR | Leave a comment »
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued a security directive prohibiting use by the public of electronic devices, including cell phones, cameras, laptops, tablets, and MP3 players, in EOIR space, encompassing courtrooms, entrances/exits, corridors, conference rooms, and waiting areas. Attorneys or representatives of record, active members of a State Bar, and DHS attorneys representing the government in proceedings before the EOIR are permitted to use electronic devices in EOIR space for the limited purpose of conducting relevant court or business activities.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: cell phone, electronic devices, EOIR, Immigration Court | Leave a comment »
In a precedent decision issued today, the BIA held that where an applicant filed an asylum application before the May 11, 2005, effective date of the REAL ID Act of 2005, and, on or after that date, submitted a subsequent application that is properly viewed as a new application, the later filing date controls for purposes of determining the applicability of INA §208(b)(1)(B)(iii) to credibility determinations. The BIA further held that a subsequent asylum application is properly viewed as a new application if it presents a previously unraised basis for relief, or is predicated on a new or substantially different factual basis.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: asylum, Credibility Determination | Leave a comment »
Matter of D-M-C-P, 26 I&N Dec. 644 (BIA 2015)
(1) Neither an Immigration Judge nor the Board of Immigration Appeals has jurisdiction to consider whether asylum-only proceedings were improvidently instituted pursuant to a referral under the Visa Waiver Program.
(2) It is improper to deem an application for relief abandoned based on the applicant’s failure to comply with the biometrics filing requirement where the record does not reflect that the applicant received notification advisories concerning that requirement, was given a deadline for submitting the biometrics, and was advised of the consequences of his or her failure to comply.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: asylum, biometrics, IJ, Immigration Judges | Leave a comment »
The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied motions to dismiss Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and unjust enrichment claims in a federal class action lawsuit filed by nine federal immigrant detainees against The GEO Group, Inc., a private prison contractor, alleging violations for unpaid wages and forced labor. This is the first time that a court has found that a for-profit immigrant detention contractor may be held liable for violating the TVPA.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: slave labor, Student Visa, trafficking crime, unpaid wages | Leave a comment »
The State Department announced that the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, has resumed immigrant visa processing in Sudan for the first time in nearly 20 years. Starting in July 2015, applicants for all categories of immigrant visas will be able to interview and process their visas in Khartoum.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: Department of State (DOS), sudan | Leave a comment »
The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of a petition for a writ of error coram nobis, finding that the rule in United States v. Kwan—affirmative misrepresentations by defense counsel regarding immigration consequences of a conviction can constitute the basis for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim—survives Padilla v. Kentucky, is not controlled by Chaidez v. United States, and does not establish a new rule of criminal procedure. The court thus found that Kwan could be applied retroactively to support the petitioner’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim, and remanded for the district court to evaluate the merits of the petition.
Filed under: Immigration Attorney | Tagged: chaidez, coram nobis, ineffective assistance of counsel, ninth circuit, padilla, padilla vs. kentucky, vacating criminal conviction | Leave a comment »
Immigration Lawyer
Brian D. Lerner Immigration Attorney & Deportation Lawyer Blog 