Immigration News
Check out daily roundups of immigration-related news stories, read articles that quote and cite AILA and AILA leadership, and check out analysis from AILA members and leadership on the AILA blog.
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Get In The Line? What Line? The Tragic Tale of Employment Based Immigrant Visa Delays
I had a very upset client contact me this last week. He was angry . . . at the Visa Bulletin. He could not understand how, after the start of the new fiscal year, there was essentially no movement in the visa numbers. I tried to calm him by telling him that he just needed […]
BALCA–Just Say No
Over the course of the last year, AILA has been posting a series of BALCA decisions. These BALCA decisions routinely deny the labor certification appeal, even for minor, de minimis errors of the employer and/or counsel. An example of today's postings include the following: BALCA Affirms Denial Based
Lessons About Temporary Worker Programs and ImmigratioN Reform Gained From A Trip To Zacatecas, Mexico
By Deborah Notkin, AILA Past President Last month, I was honored to be invited to be a “judge“ at a program on migrant workers rights organized by the Centro de Derechos de Migrantes inZacatecas,Mexico.The organization is involved in seeking legal recourse for migrant workers, primarily enteri
Changing Practice Through FAQs . . . or Through Litigation?
I don't know if you noticed recently, but has DHS/DOS/DOL been “changing“ the law without actually changing the law? While this practice has been going on for a while (and some would argue that the decades of “liaison minutes“ were rule-making by meeting), recently it has has gotten out
Exit Monitoring “Daunting and Costly”? Remove the 3 and 10 Year Reentry Bars
In a front page story The New York Times reports today that the U.S. has no reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country after their visas have expired. Homeland Security officials counsel that with more than one million crossings a day, exit monitoring is a “daunting an
RFEs and the Nobel Prize
You know that things are bad in the world of RFEs, when members no longer believe that the receipt of a Nobel Prize will guarantee an EB-1 approval. One of our frequent Infonetters wrote that 3/4 of the the recent “U.S.“ Nobel Prize winners, were in fact immigrants. In response another Infonet
Getting To A “Truly Civil Detention System”
The problem with “Immigration Detention“ is that, at bottom, it requires the incarceration of immigrants for civil violations, whether or not they are dangerous criminals who would do the public harm.The point of immigration detention, so Congress has declared, is not to punish, but to ensure
Good, Let Them Die
What a horrible name for a post, but I am simply quoting the comment of DLG to an article published today by the Associated Press noting that the soaring number of deaths on the Southern Border so far this year. DLG's full quote is as follows: Good, let them die. Maybe if enough of them […]
Senator Grassley and H-1Bs–What’s the Deal?
You have to ask yourself, what is the deal with Senator Grassley and H-1B visas? Most of us have seen Senator Grassley's rather bizarre and factually inaccurate letter to Director Mayorkas, a mere two months into Director Mayorkas's term as Director of USCIS. The question we have to ask is why write
Immigration and The Media—A Public Forum, A Spirited Debate, and An Excellent Meal
Are they “illegal aliens“ or “undocumented noncitizens“?Are representatives of certain anti-immigrant groups credible media sources or racist hate mongers not to be quoted by credible print and electronic media?What is the role of responsible journalism in the public debate about our bad
RFE Hell and Increased USCIS Filing Fees
Dear Director Mayorkas: Last week in a speech you broached the subject of the possible need to increase filing fees because of a decrease in the number of applications received by USCIS this fiscal year. You also noted that there was over $100 million shortfall in your budget because of these decrea
Enough Is Enough
CNN has a journalistic obligation to dump Lou Dobbs and his campaign of hate against immigrants. It is unthinkable that a major network would permit someone to build a career based on fear and hatred of human beings.Why the double standard when it comes to immigrants? As Janet Murguia, the President
Due Process Restoration Now!
There has been a lot of talk recently about what might be included in an immigration reform bill. Will there be a legalization/amnesty/forgiveness of “lawbreakers“ rule? Will there be an expansion of employment based and family based immigrant visa numbers to solve the economically devastating
LIAR! What Does Health Care Have To Do With Immigration
During President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, Congressman Joe Wilson (R. SC), shouted “LIAR!“ when President Obama stated that the proposed health care plan would not cover “illegal aliens.“ Now, Joe Wilson said he should know this because he once was an imm
9/11/2001 and U.S. Immigration
It does not seem possible that eight years could have passed since that terrible day when the U.S. was attacked. 9/11 marked many lasting changes here in the U.S., but it has forever changed how the issue of immigration is viewed. Immigration through an enforcement only lens has led to an incredible
Have you Given Your Input to DHS Yet?
Right now, the DHS is in the middle of its Quadrennial review, where, apparently all areas that DHS works on are subject to public comment and discussion. If you go to this page you can comment directly on a variety of DHS, including immigration issues. We understand that these comments are given di
America’s Shrinking Immigration Advantage
Today's guest blogger is William Stock, member of AILA's Board of Governors and partner in the law firm Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer Employers who rely on foreign nationals to provide needed expertise in their workforce - from technical programmers to biochemists to wind turbine engineers - should
Vendors to the Federal Government Face E-Verify Mandate
Today's guest blogger is Kevin Lashus, Senior Attorney with FosterQuan, LLP in its Austin, Texas office. On 8/25/09, a federal district judge for the District of Maryland denied the US Chamber of Commerce's challenge to an amendment to the Federal Appropriation Regulation-originally mandated by a Bu
Senator Kennedy–An Immigration Hero
Much will be said about Senator Kennedy's passing over the next few days. My own personal experiences with the Senator were limited, but were nonetheless emblematic of what Senator Kennedy was to many-an Immigration Hero. My last opportunity to be with Senator Kennedy happened about 4 years ago, whe
Immigration Reform Would Boost US Economy
The Center for Trade Policy Studies issued a report which claims that an immigration reform program which included a legalization would save literally billions of dollars over the current policy of enforcement only. In Restriction or Legalization? Measuring the Economic Benefits of Immigration Refor
The Healthcare “Debate” and Immigration Reform
Unless you have had your head buried in the sand for the last thirty days, you are aware that America is having a national “Debate“ on healthcare reform. That is if you call a “debate“ yelling at each other, accusing the other side of the “debate“ of being a Nazi, a socialist, a bi
USCIS–H-1B Investigations Run Amok!
As many of our members know, the USCIS is like a Jekyll and Hyde creation. With one face, USCIS happily grants benefits, issues approvals, and welcomes people as citizens. With the other face UCSIS distrusts everyone, believes there is a lie on every application, and looks for ways to disqualify cle
This Is Not Immigration Reform
David W. Leopold President-Elect, AILA Unfortunately Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano seems more intent on continuing to target undocumented workers—the victims of a broken immigration system—rather than the bad-actor employers who attract them to the U.S. and then exploit them through l
State Legislatures–We need to pay attention
Today's report from the National Council for State Legislatures on the 2009 legislation related to immigration provides a stark view into the minds of local politicos on the issue of immigration: While national attention on immigration has declined, state legislatures are deliberating record levels
MPI’s Provisional Visa System—A Good Concept But The Devil Is In The Details
By Deborah J. Notkin, AILA Past President This month, Migration Policy Institute rolled out its immigration reform proposal entitled Aligning Temporary Immigration Visas with US Labor Market Needs: The Case for a New System of Provisional Visas. The report acknowledges the current misguided requirem