December 2007

News and Commentary written and edited by
Boyd F. Campbell, Attorney and Civil Law Notary

Published exclusively via the World Wide Web since 1994
© 2007 Boyd F. Campbell, All Rights Reserved

Immigration in the News (scroll to bottom for full text)
  Texas man sentenced for hiring illegal aliens
  Court orders delay on illegal worker rules
  Seeking Willie Horton
  Illegal-immigrant crackdown looms
  Senate turns thumbs down on Real ID
  Judge finds violations of government standards in U.S. detention system
  Microsoft moves software development jobs to Canada
  New Medicaid law hits Alabama's poor hard

    Make Your Voice Heard:  Your call today to support safe, sane, and secure immigration policy could make the difference. You may call the Senate switchboard to be directed to your U.S. senator -- (202) 224-3121 -- or to your representative in the House -- 202-225-3121.

LEAD STORY

Campbell named general counsel of Alabama Regional Center

    It has already been announced in The Alabama Lawyer magazine, but you may not have heard the news.  As of Dec. 3, 2007, I will work almost fulltime in the new offices of the Alabama Center for Foreign Investment, L.L.C. (ACFI), Alabama's federally designated, statewide Regional Center.  The offices are located in the RSA Union, 100 North Union Street, in downtown Montgomery.
    I have leased a nearby office in the RSA Union for my private law practice.
    On November 30, I sold my law offices in the historic Cottage Hill section of downtown Montgomery, so I face a short transition period that may result in short delays in providing legal services to my clients.  I am making every effort to make sure the transition goes smoothly and that my clients do not suffer inconvenience because of my move.
    This new work with the so-called "EB5" immigrant investor visa program is both exciting and challenging.  ACFI has already identified many qualifying investment projects scattered around Alabama that would be suitable vehicles for foreign investors interested in Immigrant Investor Pilot Program.  ACFI is a member in good standing of Invest in the USA, a trade association made up of Regional Centers and others interested in foreign investors.
    My partner, Ron Drinkard -- a former economic development banker for AmSouth, Southtrust, and Wachovia -- and I are working now to prepare our first Regional Center project, which is a manufacturing plant that constructs prefabricated, hurricane-resistant steel homes.
    I have notified my clients that I will continue to work hard on their cases, and I will continue to represent my corporate clients, some of whom I have represented for more than 15 years.  I will move my law office to the RSA Union and will continue to take select cases, but after more than 19 years of practicing law, I know my limitations.  Please do not be disappointed if I cannot immediately respond to your needs or take your case.  I will be making some referrals of new prospective clients to members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association whom I know and trust.
    I apologize for taking up so much space in the Immigration Law Update for this personal announcement, but there is so little immigration- or visa-related news right now that this seemed a good time to do it.

USCIS unveils new Form I-9

    On Nov. 26, 2007, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published a notice in the Federal Register to introduce its newly amended Form I-9, :"Employment Eligibility Verification."' Employers are required to use Form I-9 to verify the identity and employment authorization of newly hired employees. The amended Form I-9 contains an updated list of acceptable identity and employment authorization documents that reflect current federal regulations.
    As of November 7, 2007, the amended Form I-9 is the only valid version of the form. The Department of Homeland Security will not seek penalties against an employer for using a previous version of Form I-9 on or before December 26, 2007.

USCIS reopens comment period on proposed religious worker rules

    On November 1, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the extension and reopening of the public comment period for the proposed rule entitled "Special Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Religious Workers.''
    The proposed rule was initially published in the Federal Register on April 25. Written comments on the proposed rule were to be submitted on or before June 25 (a 60-day comment period) in order to be assured of consideration. USCIS has decided to accept late-filed comments and reopen the public comment period for an additional 15 days.
    Written comments on the proposed rule must be submitted on or before November 16. Comments received by USCIS after this date will not be considered.

New rule removes document requirement for H and L

    On November 1, USCIS published a rule in the Federal Register that affects H and L adjustment applicants returning from a trip outside the United States.
    The new rule removes the requirement that these H and L nonimmigrants present a receipt notice for their adjustment of status applications to avoid having such applications deemed abandoned. The purpose of this narrow change is to remove an unnecessary documentation requirement from the regulations that the Department of Homeland Security has determined causes an undue burden on H and L nonimmigrants.

Senate fails even to debate DREAM Act

    On October 24, the Senate failed to garner the 60 votes needed to move forward with debate on the DREAM Act (S. 2205). The 52-44 vote in favor of proceeding to debate on the DREAM Act was eight votes short of the 60 votes necessary for cloture. A successful cloture vote would have allowed senators to begin debating and amending the DREAM Act before voting on its final passage.
    Eight Democrats joined 36 Republicans to block the measure from moving forward, while 12 Republicans joined 38 Democrats and two Independents to vote in favor.
    The DREAM Act would have given an estimated 1.8 million immigrant children -- who are in the United States without the permission but broke no federal law -- a path to permanent resident status, but not their illegal alien parents.  State and federal taxpayers have already spent billions of dollars on their K-12 education, so supporters of the DREAM Act thought it would make sense to enable these children to attend college.

New rule establishes procedures for intercountry adoptions

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced October 4 the publication of an interim rule in the Federal Register to establish new administrative procedures for the immigration of children who are adopted by U.S. citizens and who come from countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.  The rule amends U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations relating to the immigration of adopted children to be in conformity with the convention, a treaty that the United States plans to ratify soon. USCIS invites public comments on the interim rule published in the Federal Register and currently is available for public review at www.uscis.gov.
    The interim rule is effective on November 3, 2007, though the actual filing of cases will begin when the United States becomes a party to the Convention, and the Convention has entered into force for the United States. The Department of State (DOS) is finalizing necessary steps for the Convention to enter into force.  DOS will announce the exact date that the Convention will enter into force for the United States and will do so about three months in advance.
    Each country that is a party to the convention has an officially-designated Central Authority. The Central Authority in the child’s country will ensure that intercountry adoption is in the child’s best interests and that the birth parents, if still living, have freely consented to the adoption. The Central Authority in the parents’ country will also ensure that the adoptive parents are suitable as adoptive parents, and that the proposed adoption will be recognized in the parents’ country.

2009 Diversity Visa Lottery Program registration

    Applications for the 2009 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery will be accepted between noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 3, 2007, and noon Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5) Sunday, December 2, 2007. Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted after noon EST on December 2, 2007.
    The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 provides for a class of immigrants known as "diversity immigrants." Section 203(c) of the INA provides a maximum of up to 55,000 Diversity Visas (DV) each fiscal year to be made available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
    The annual DV program makes diversity immigrant visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses selectees for diversity visas. The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the period of the past five years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.
    For DV-2009, natives of the following countries are NOT eligible to apply because they sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the period of the previous five years:
    BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PERU, PHILIPPINES, POLAND, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.
Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.

Requirements for DV Lottery entry

    To enter the DV lottery, you must be a native of one of the listed countries. See www.dvlottery.state.gov for list of countries by region whose natives qualify.
    Native of a country whose natives qualify: In most cases, this means the country in which you were born. However, there are two other ways you may be able to qualify. First, if you were born in a country whose natives are ineligible but your spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible, you can claim your spouse's country of birth provided both you and your spouse are on the selected entry, are issued visas and enter the United States simultaneously. Second, if you were born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but neither of your parentswas born there or resided there at the time of your birth, you may claim nativity in one of your parents' country of birth if it is a country whose natives qualify for the DV-2009 program.
    To enter the lottery, you must meet either the education or work experience requirement of the DV program.
Education or Work Experience: You must have EITHER a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform.
    The U.S. Department of Labor's O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience. For more information about qualifying work experience, If you cannot meet these requirements, you should NOT submit an entry to the DV program.

USCIS ombudsman issues report on 'name checks' and backlogs

    The USCIS ombudsman is responsible monitoring the performance of that federal agency has issued his annual report to Congress.  He confirms that FBI name checks, one of the security screening tools used by USCIS, may be the single biggest obstacle to the timely and efficient delivery of immigration benefits. The problem of long-pending FBI name check cases worsened during the reporting period.
    As of May 2007, USCIS reported 329,160 FBI name check cases pending.
    Approximately 64 percent (211,341) of those cases have been pending more than 90 days and approximately 32 percent (106,738) have been pending more than one year.
    There are now 93,358 more name check cases pending than last year, and 31,144 FBI name check cases pending more than 33 months as compared to 21,570 last year.
    USCIS customers continue to face lengthy and costly waiting periods for benefits.  Through USCIS employees’ dedication and leadership, there has been a substantial reduction in the backlog.  Unfortunately, the agency’s redefinition of the backlog raises questions about the significance of its backlog reduction efforts.  As of March 2007, there was a total backlog of 1,275,795 cases.  Regardless of how those cases are defined, whether under current USCIS control or not, they are cases that must eventually be completed.  A realistic plan must be established to address this issue.
    In FY 06, more than 10,000 visas were lost because of slow processing of EB (employment-based immigrant) cases, even though USCIS had an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 pending applications for employment-based green cards.  As of May 2007, the State Department estimated that 40,000 EB visas may be lost in FY 07 if USCIS does not increase the processing rate for green card applications.  The Ombudsman attributes the slow rate of adjudications to inaccurate statistics and inefficient USCIS management of its workload. The problem will become significant in the coming fiscal year if there is a dramatic increase in EB green card applications, and a significant backlog is likely to develop if this problem goes unaddressed.

USCIS reaches H-2B cap for first half of FY2008

    WASHINGTON— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Oct. 1 that it had received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of Fiscal Year 2008 (FY2008). USCIS notified the public that Sept. 27, 2007, is the “final receipt date” for new H-2B worker petitions requesting employment start dates prior to April 1, 2008. The “final receipt date” is the date on which USCIS determines that
it has received enough cap-subject petitions to reach the limit of 33,000 H-2B workers for the first six months of FY2008.
    Under current law, a “returning worker” who was counted toward the H-2B numerical limit during FY2004, FY2005 or FY2006, was exempt from being counted against the FY2007 H-2B cap. As of today, Congress has not reauthorized or extended the “returning worker” provisions for FY2008. Absent such reauthorization or extension, USCIS must count all petitions requesting H-2B workers for new employment with an employment start date of Oct. 1, 2007 or later toward the FY2008 H-2B cap.
    USCIS will apply a computer-generated random selection process to all petitions which are subject to the cap and were received on September 27, 2007. USCIS will use this process to select the number of petitions needed to meet the cap. USCIS will reject, and return the fee, for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected. USCIS will also reject petitions for new H-2B workers seeking employment start dates prior to April 1, 2008 that are received after Sept. 27, 2007.
    Petitions for workers who are currently in H-2B status do not count towards the congressionally mandated bi-annual H-2B cap. USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:
    • Extend the stay of a current H-2B worker in the United States;
    • Change the terms of employment for current H-2B workers and extend their stay; or
    • Allow current H-2B workers to change or add employers and extend their stay.

Diversity visa lottery for 2009 starts soon

    The Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually, drawn from random selection among all entries to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
    The DV-2009 Lottery begins at noon EDT on October 3, 2007, and ends at noon EST on December 2, 2007. Entries must be submitted online, electronically, via the Department of State's offiical DV Lottery website. Information and instructions for the DV-2009 lottery will appear on the travel.state.gov website as soon as available. Please check this webpage at a later time: CLICK HERE.
    Some websites try to mislead customers and members of the public into thinking they are official government websites. These websites may attempt to require you to pay for services such as forms and information about immigration procedures, which are free on the Department of State Visa Services website, or overseas through the Embassy Consular Section websites. The websites may also require you to pay for services you will not receive. These websites may contact you by email to lure you to their offer. The Department of State does not contact you via email. Please guard against sending personal information to these websites that might be used for identity theft.

Boyd Campbell on immigration reform

    I am frequently asked whether Congress will pass an immigration reform bill.  I don't think so -- at least not this year.  Next year is an election year, so I am speculating Congress will not give immigration reform serious attention until 2009, if then.
    What is happening is a rash of legislation in our state legislatures to fill the void left by Congress.  This will result in a polyglot of laws in all 50 states, many with provisions inconsistent with one another, which means that foreign nationals who move from one state to another will find a confusing crazyquilt of laws they must comply with.
    Congress may (and should) give serious consideration to employment-based visa programs, including H-1B and H-2B visas, which are exhausted often before they are even available, leaving U.S. employers without workers and international college graduates without jobs.  Congress also needs to allocate more employment-based immigrant visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services needs direct funding by Congress.  USCIS is addicted to user fees which increased dramatically on July 30 with no likelihood of increased efficiencies or faster case processing.
    In short, a comprehensive fix of our immigration system sorely needs Congress's attention, but it's not likely to happen anytime soon.

Economy loses billions due to border crossing delays

News from the American Immigration Lawyers Association

    A study prepared by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and California Department of Transportation found that delays crossing the northbound border cost the San Diego County economy over $2 billion per year. The Imperial Valley Association of Governments (IVAG) is currently finalizing a study with similar findings regarding the Imperial Valley and Mexicali region.
    Columnist Patrick Osio Jr. writes that the answer to these money-draining delays is to open more gates, expand existing crossings, and build new crossings. Osio says that funds for the projects have not been found, nor has any member of Congress been willing to push for them. Meanwhile, the 700 miles of double-layer border fencing called for in the Secure Fence Act of 2005 could cost more than $50 billion over 25 years, according to a December 2006 report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
    These studies illustrate the need for money to be spent improving efficiency and infrastructure in both rural and urban areas all along the U.S.-Mexico border, rather than just spending money to expand border walls.

DHS publishes new rule requiring employers to enforce immigration law

    On August 15, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a new rule that requires U.S. employers to enforce federal immigration laws.  The rule which is published in the Federal Register and is 14 pages long, creates a so-called "safe harbor" if employers follow federal rules upon receipt of a "no-match" letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
    The new rule requires employers to resolve discrepancies between their employee records and those of the SSA or DHS. Once the employer is put on notice by SSA or DHS of a discrepancy in Social Security number or immigration status information, the employer has 93 days to re-verify the information. If the employer is unable to correct the discrepancy within 93 days, the employer has two choices: either terminate the employee and risk lawsuits by employees or continue employing the worker and risk severe civil and criminal sanctions from DHS.     As the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commented on this proposed rule last year: "The EEOC is concerned … employers have incentives to take actions that violate Title VII and/or [the immigration law's] nondiscriminatory provisions."
    The final rule expands the definition of "constructive knowledge" to include the failure to take reasonable steps to address three situations: (1) an employee's request for the employer's sponsorship of the employee for a labor certification or visa petition; (2) receipt of a no-match letter from SSA; and (3) receipt of a notice from DHS (usually after an I-9 audit) that the employee's employment authorization documents presented in connection with completion of the I-9 form do not match DHS records.
    The final rule includes slight revisions to the June 2006 proposed "safe harbor" protocol in relation to SSA no-match letters and DHS notices, most notably extending from 63 days to 93 days the period of time an employer has to complete reconciliation of information when there is a discrepancy, and promises immunity from a constructive knowledge charge premised on such notices should the employer follow the procedure exactly as stated. While acknowledging that other actions taken by employers may constitute "reasonable steps" in the context of a "total facts and circumstances test," employers who fail to follow the protocol may not have the "safe harbor" from a finding of constructive knowledge in the event of a civil or criminal investigation.

Border security wins, Real ID loses in Senate

    On July 26, the Senate took action on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's appropriations bill, adding $3 billion in emergency spending for border security.
    The Senate voted against an amendment that would have provided $300 million to the states to implement the Real ID Act, which requires, among other things, secure, fraud-resistant driver's licenses.  The action was seen by some as a rebuke of support by the National Governors Association, which had endorsed the amendment during its recent annual meeting.  It was seen by critics of Real ID as a blow to DHS efforts to force states to comply with the Real ID Act.
    Among other things, the Senate bill would provide for 105 ground-based radar and camera towers and four unmanned aerial vehicles, 1,000 miles of barriers, and 23,000 additional border guards.

Congress passes Passport Backlog Reduction Act

    On July 18, the Senate passed the House amendment to the Passport Backlog Reduction Act of 2007 (S. 966) by unanimous consent, clearing the amended bill to be signed into law by the President.
    The original bill passed by the Senate on June 29 provided for the temporary rehiring of Foreign Service retirees to assist in reducing the current backlog in passport applications. The bill also allowed rehired workers to retain their retirement benefits.
    The version passed by the Senate on July 18 includes modifications passed in the House by voice vote on July 16. The amended bill contains additional language to allow rehired workers to assist in passport fraud investigations. It also shortens the period of authorization for rehires, moving up the expiration date from September 30, 2010, as proposed in the original Senate version, to September 9, 2008 in the House amendment.

Immigration reform dead

    On June 28, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on S. 1639 by a vote of 46-53, making it unlikely that immigration reform will be passed by Congress this summer. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid withdrew S. 1639 from the Senate floor, but reminded his colleagues that the 110th Congress is only six months into a two-year session and much work on this vitally important issue remains to be done.
    Because 2008 is an election year, it is also unlikely that we will see a serious attempt at immigration reform in Congress until 2009.

USCIS suspends premium processing for I-140 petitions

    On June 27, USCIS announced that effective July 2, premium processing will be temporarily suspended for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.

Suspension of premium processing for R-1 religious workers continues

    USCIS has announced that suspension of premium-processing service for aliens in a religious occupation (R-1) has been extended for another six months. The agency said in a released dated June 18 that it needs more time to determine whether it is possible to provide 15-day premium processing service for religious worker petitions.
    Premium processing service guarantees that USCIS will issue an approval notice, a notice of intent to deny, a request for evidence, or open an investigation for fraud or misrepresentation within 15 calendar days after receipt of a petition. USCIS said that it cannot reasonably assure that level of processing service in exchange for the petitioner's payment of $1,000, so a new 6-month suspension is in effect.
    USCIS initially suspended 15-day premium processing service for R-1 visa petitions on November 28, 2006.

USCIS officially designates Alabama Regional Center for EB5 investor program

    I am pleased to announce that USCIS officially designated the Alabama Center for Foreign Investment, L.L.C., as Alabama's Regional Center on June 11 for purposes of participating in the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, also known by its immigrant visa category "EB5" or the "employment-creation visa program."
    This designation represents a lot of hard work and a tremendous expenditure of time by ACFI's Director Ron Drinkard and me.  I will serve ACFI as General Counsel.  For more information about the Alabama Regional Center and the services it provides, CLICK HERE.

New USCIS rule increases user fees dramatically

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced a final fee structure that dramatically increases user fees for its services.  For example, the USCIS fee for filing an application for adjustment of status (the "green card") increases from $325 to $1,010 for alien applicants from 14 to 78 years of age.  The fee for filing an application for naturalization (citizenship) increases from $330 to $675.  The higher fees become effective July 30.
    An article published in The Washington Post on May 27 describes the situation as a federal agency "hooked on fees."
    "After peaking at more than 5 million applications in 2003, the agency's backlog stood at 1.1 million last summer after a five-year, $500 million reduction effort.  That includes 140,000 cases not awaiting action by another agency.
    "Citizenship and Immigration's troubles stem from the nation's 1986 amnesty.  Acting on the principle that citizenship is a benefit that immigrant, not taxpayers, should pay for, Congress required immigrants to cover the cost of citizenship examinations, then about a tenth of (the agency's) budget.
    "But what started as a reform became an addiction.  Hooked on fees, Congress allowed the growth of a Turkish bazaar of levies, through which immigrants now pay 90 percent of the agency's budget.  They subsidize even non-paying applicants such as refugees, asylum seekers and U.S. military members.
    ...
    "'We were really operating a Ponzi scheme,'" said [William] Yates, who retired last year after 31 years at the agency. "'The money that current applicants were paying, we were using to adjudicate older cases.'"
    By resisting a direct appropriation for USCIS, Congress is dooming the agency to failure and insuring a broken immigration system.  I've said it many times:  Most Americans have no idea how difficult and expensive our government makes it to do things the legal way.  No wonder some U.S. citizens and immigrants don't want to put up with the system.

Senate wants to harness U.S. employers with employee work eligibility

    I have preached this for quite some time now.  I have told U.S. employers on this page that Congress wants to require employers to verify employment eligibility of their workers on the one hand while it fails to provide enough work visas on the other.  The federal government has failed to monitor the immigration system, so now Congress wants you to do it.
    Welcome to our new post-911 world where the federal government can't find Osama bin Laden but it can shut your business down for hiring someone from south of the border who just wants to work but can't get a work visa.
    The draft immigration reform bill in the Senate (see below) has unveiled the Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS), which would require every employer in the United States to verify the employment eligibility of their workforce -- immigrants and U.S.-born workers -- through EEVS.  The big questions are:  Will it work?  And how many U.S. citizens is it going to put out of a job?
    The EEVS program in the draft immigration bill falls far short of providing for strong due process, anti-discrimination measures, and privacy protections. The most troubling provision is the requirement that guest worker and legalization programs -- which cannot be implemented until EEVS (including the use of "secure" documentation and digitized photographs that do not exist) is in place.  So it is very probable that the focus will be on getting EEVS going as quickly as possible, rather than on creating an accurate system that works without adversely affecting currently authorized U.S. workers.
    Also, the bill does not address current weaknesses (that we are already aware of) in the current electronic verification system (the "Basic Pilot program"), which has been in existence since 1997 and has been plagued with problems, including inaccurate databases (a 15 percent error rate in the Social Security database alone), flawed design, and employer misuse of the program.  Only about 16,000 employers nationwide currently participate in the Basic Pilot program, but a federal mandate requiring its expansion to mandatory use by more than 7 million employers that will affect 160 million workers will be inordinately complicated and probably logistically impossible in the best of all possible circumstances.
    Explain this to me:  Why have conservatives in Congress become supporters of federal mandates?
    If you are an employer with plenty of time to deal with the federal government running your business, fine.  Urge your senators to vote for the bill.  But if you believe that Congress has no business telling you who you can hire when it will not provide work visas for your immigrant employees, call your senators and urge them to kill EEVS as currently proposed.  The telephone number is above.

Senate reaches accord on immigration reform

    The Senate negotiators announced May 17 that they had reached bipartisan agreement on immigration reform that would provide a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented aliens and improve U.S. border security.
    The plan, which has the support of the Bush administration, would base eligibility for legal immigration on "family ties" and a points-based merit system, said Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, chief sponsor of the legislation.
    "This agreement is the best possible chance we will have in years to secure our borders, bring millions of people out of the shadows and into the sunshine of America,'' Kennedy said.
    Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain stood at Kennedy's side, along with senators of both parties, including Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter and California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.
    A key provision of the immigration reform bill would give illegal immigrants in the United States a chance to attain permanent residence (the so-called "green card") after eight years.  To qualify, they would be required to speak English and not have committed a crime.  The bill also calls for an increase in border patrols and a government crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Temporary protected status extended

    On May 2, 2007, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his decision to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for eligible nationals of Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador by an additional 18 months.

New poll indicates Americans support legalization of aliens here illegally

    A new CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll shows overwhelming support for a legal avenue to allow aliens illegally present in the United States to get legal status if they have a job and pay back taxes.
    The poll of 1,218 adults conducted nationwide from April 10-12, asked the question:  "Would you favor or oppose creating a program that would allow illegal immigrants already living in the United States for a number of years to stay in this country and apply for U.S. citizenship if they had a job and paid back taxes?"
    Seventy-seven percent of those polled responded favorably to that statement, while 21 percent were opposed, with 2 percent "unsure."

USCIS says H-1B visa cap reached for FY 2008

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 3 that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2008 (FY 2008). USCIS will use a random selection process (described below) for all cap-subject filings received on April 2, 2007 and April 3, 2007. USCIS will reject and return along with filing fee(s) all petitions received on those days that are not randomly selected.  The cap on master's level H-1B visas is fast approaching.

Cap Procedures

    In keeping with USCIS regulations, USCIS will use the following process to handle H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2008 cap:
    • USCIS has determined that as of April 2, 2007, it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the FY 2008 H-1B cap and has set the “final receipt date” as April 2, 2007.
    • In keeping with its regulations, USCIS will subject H-1B petitions received on the “final receipt date” and the following day to a computer-generated random selection process.
    • USCIS will reject all cap-subject H-1B petitions for FY 2008 received on or after Wednesday, April 4, 2007.
    • USCIS will reject and return along with the filing fee(s) all cap-subject H-1B petitions that are not randomly selected.
    • Petitioners may re-submit petitions on April 1, 2008 when H-1B visas become available for FY 2009. This is the earliest date for which an employer may file a petition requesting FY 2009 H-1B employment with a start date of October 1, 2008.
    As of late Monday afternoon (April 2), USCIS had received about 150,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions. USCIS must perform initial data entry for all filings received on April 2 and April 3 prior to conducting the random selection process. In light of the high volume of filings, USCIS will not be able to conduct the random selection for several weeks.
    In order to fully utilize its data entry and initial processing capacity, USCIS may choose to distribute filings received at one service center to other service centers for data entry. In the event that USCIS exercises this option, petitioners may receive receipt notices or other correspondence from a service center other than the one to which the H-1B submission was sent. USCIS advises employers that there is no need for concern should that occur and that there is no need to contact USCIS.

Cap-Exempt Petitions

    As directed by the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of aliens with U.S.-earned masters’ or higher degrees are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas. USCIS does not yet know how many of these petitions it has received as those petitions are mixed with the cap-subject cases received on April 2 and 3. USCIS will make a future announcement regarding the “final receipt date” for these petitions.

Current H-1B Workers

    Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers do not count towards the congressionally mandated H-1B cap. Accordingly, USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:
    • Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States.
    • Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers.
    • Allow current H-1B workers to change employers.
    • Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.
    USCIS also notes that, in addition to the cap exemption for aliens with U.S. earned master’s degrees discussed above, certain H-1B petitions are exempt from the cap. Those petitions are not affected by this release.

H-1B visa craziness

    Like many of you, we have been very busy here for the past two weeks preparing H-1B visa cases for filing with the appropriate Service Center by March 30, which was allowed by USCIS -- the April 1 start date for processing having fallen on Sunday.
    There has to be a better way to do this.  Congress needs to allocate enough H-1B visas so our clients and their alien beneficiaries will not feel so pressured at this time of year.

H-2B visa cap reached

    In an announcement dated March 23, 2007 and released March 26, 2007, USCIS states that, as of March 16, 2007, it received a sufficient number of H-2B petitions to reach the cap for the second half of fiscal year 2007. Petitions received after March 16 will be rejected.

USCIS provides guidance on filing Form I-130 abroad

    U.S. citizens, including members of the armed forces, who live abroad, may resume filing Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with an American embassy or consulate in countries where there is no U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) international office.
USCIS international offices will continue accepting I-130 petitions from U.S. citizens who live in the country where the USCIS office is located, without interruption.
    In addition consular officers and USCIS officers overseas will also accept petitions from individuals who do not live abroad in cases involving true emergency situations, such as life and death or health and safety, or where allowing overseas filing would be in the national interest, such as facilitating the processing of petitions filed by U.S. military stationed overseas who are pending imminent transfer on orders.
    The Department of State will generally consider a U.S. citizen who has been living outside the United States for at least six months as “residing overseas” for purposes of accepting Form I-130.
    U.S. citizens traveling outside the United States temporarily, who actually live in the United States, must file their I-130 petitions with the appropriate service center in the United States, according to the instructions on the I-130 form.

Citizenship Promotion Act would alleviate fee increases

News From the American Immigration Lawyers Association

    On March 7, Senator Barak Obama (D-IL) and Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced the Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007 (S. 795/H.R. 1379). The bill would authorize U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to request and receive appropriations to make up the difference between fees charged to applicants and the full resources needed to fund operations and infrastructure.
    By authorizing such appropriations, the Citizenship Promotion Act would alleviate the need for substantial fee increases recently proposed by USCIS and prevent mounting costs from becoming a barrier to citizenship.
    Original cosponsors of the Citizenship Promotion Act include Senators Bingaman (D-NM), Menendez (D-NJ), and Salazar (D-CO), and Representatives Abercrombie (D-HI), Grijalva (D-AZ), Honda (D-CA), Pastor (D-AZ), Reyes (D-TX), Schakowsky (D-IL), and Solis (D-CA).

DHS issues proposal for states to enhance driver's licenses

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposal on March 1 to establish minimum standards for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards in compliance with the REAL ID Act of 2005.
    DHS-proposed regulations set standards for states to meet the requirements of the REAL ID Act, including security features that must be incorporated into each card, verification of information provided by applicants to establish their identity and lawful status in the United States, and physical security standards for locations where licenses and identification cards are issued.
    As proposed, a REAL ID driver’s license will be required to access a federal facility, board federally regulated commercial aircraft, and enter nuclear power plants.  Because states may have difficulty complying before the May 11, 2008, deadline, DHS will grant an extension of the compliance deadline until December 31, 2009.
    DHS said it would make available up to 20 percent of a state’s Homeland Security Grant Program funds to help implement REAL ID, but did not say whether those funds would cover the cost of implementing the department's federal mandates.

USCIS clarifies filing of relative petitions at foreign posts

    On February 27, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) advised that anyone who filed a petition for alien relative (Form I-130) with an American embassy or consulate since July 2006 does not need to re-file the petition. USCIS is working with the Department of State (DOS) to process those petitions.
    In January, DOS announced that certain requirements of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which was enacted in July 2006, precluded DOS from accepting new alien relative petitions.
    U.S. citizens who live abroad may continue to file new petitioins with a nearby USCIS international office.
    USCIS expects to issue instructions for new filings in the near future and will provide updated information once the details have been finalized with the Department of State. Petitioners traveling overseas who actually live in the United States must file their I-130 petitions with the appropriate USCIS service center in the United States.

Better than a Super Bowl TV commercial

    I saw the following advertisement for an immigration law seminar in Immigration Law Daily, a publication of Immigration Lawyers on the Web, and thought it was just too good not to share with you.  So here is an excerpt.
    "Immigration-law representation and practice management have never been more difficult.  The ever-changing law is mind-bogglingly complex, agency regulations are either indecipherable or nonexistent, and the bureaucratic response is typically confused, nonsensical or unforgiving.
    "Media bloviators befuddle, inflame and frighten the public about America's 'Broken Borders'. ICE conducts unannounced raids of employers and sweeps of the hapless alien parents of U.S. citizen children.  USCIS launches a new website that spits out more error messages than answers.  CBP snares both overstays and legitimate travelers alike who apply for admission at ports of entry. The DOL's buggy PERM program perplexes long-time and new practitioners.  DOS and DHS are hamstrung by delays in FBI security clearances.  The AAO rubber-stamps USCIS denials while pretending to be impartial. The State Department reports monthly quota backlogs that move at a chelonian pace. Future H-1B hopefuls are stuck like insects in amber while awaiting April 1 and October 1.  A newly reconstituted, Democrat-controlled Congress is set to attempt a grand resolution on comprehensive immigration reform legislation with President Bush.
    "Meantime, today's clients are more demanding and panic-stricken than ever because the stakes for them have never been greater.
    "With all that is riding on the work of today's immigration lawyers, are you and your law firm ready for the minefields and IEDs that lie ahead?"
    I don't know that I am, but everything you read above is so true.

Immigration in the News

Texas man sentenced for hiring illegal aliens

    A Texas man was sentenced Oct. 5 in federal court for hiring illegal aliens, according to John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
    Francisco Sandoval, 47, of Garland, Texas, was sentenced to two years of probation. Sandoval earlier forfeited to the government a 1998 Ford Econoline van and $1,124 that had been seized by law enforcement officers.
    On April 4, Sandoval pleaded guilty to hiring 10 illegal aliens as part of a pattern or practice of hiring illegal aliens for employment in his telephone directory distribution business. Sandoval used illegal aliens to distribute telephone directories in various locations throughout the U.S. Sandoval was in the process of transporting the illegal aliens through Missouri on Interstate 44 when he was arrested on May 31, 2005.

Court orders delay on illegal worker rules

    On Oct. 1, a federal judge in San Francisco yesterday extended for 10 days a temporary ban on a central measure in the Bush administration’s campaign to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
    After a two-hour hearing, the judge, Charles R. Breyer of Federal District Court, strongly suggested that he was leaning against the government in the case.
    The ban further delayed the start of a rule, which establishes steps an employer must follow after receiving a notice from the Social Security Administration, known as a no-match letter, reporting that an employee’s identity information does not match the agency’s records.
    According to the rule, originally scheduled to take effect Sept. 14, if the employee cannot clarify the mismatch within 90 days, the employer would be required to fire the worker or risk prosecution for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Those immigrants often provide false Social Security numbers when applying for jobs. - Excerpt from an article written by Julia Preston and published October 2, 2007, in The New York Times.

Seeking Willie Horton

    So now Mitt Romney is trying to Willie Hortonize Rudy Giuliani. And thereby hangs a tale -- the tale, in fact, of American politics past and future, and the ultimate reason Karl Rove's vision of a permanent Republican majority was a foolish fantasy.
    Willie Horton, for those who don't remember the 1988 election, was a convict from Massachusetts who committed armed robbery and rape after being released from prison on a weekend furlough program. He was made famous by an attack ad, featuring a menacing mugshot, that played into racial fears. Many believe that the ad played an important role in George H.W. Bush's victory over Michael Dukakis.
    Now some Republicans are trying to make similar use of the recent murder of three college students in Newark, a crime in which two of the suspects are Hispanic illegal immigrants. (Rep.) Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) flew into Newark to accuse the city's leaders of inviting the crime by failing to enforce immigration laws, while Newt Gingrich declared that the "war here at home" against illegal immigrants is "even more deadly than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan."
    And Mr. Romney, who pretends to be whatever he thinks the G.O.P. base wants him to be, is running a radio ad denouncing New York as a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants, an implicit attack on Mr. Giuliani.
    Strangely, nobody seems to be trying to make a national political issue out of other horrifying crimes, like the Connecticut home invasion in which two paroled convicts, both white, are accused of killing a mother and her two daughters. Oh, and by the way: over all, Hispanic immigrants appear to commit relatively few crimes -- in fact, their incarceration rate is actually lower than that of native-born non-Hispanic whites.
    To appreciate what's going on here you need to understand the difference between the goals of the modern Republican Party and the strategy it uses to win elections. - Excerpt from commentary written by Paul Krugman and published in The New York Times on August 24, 2007

Illegal-immigrant crackdown looms

WASHINGTON — With the failure of immigration legislation in Congress this year, federal officials are planning a new crackdown on illegal immigrants that would force businesses to fire them or face stiff penalties. But the effort also could cause serious headaches for millions of U.S. citizens.
    In the coming days, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to issue a rule outlining how businesses must respond when they receive notice that there are discrepancies in a worker's tax records.
    Many businesses simply ignore such notices now. Under the new rules, employees would have a limited time to contact the Social Security Administration to correct the information, or face termination.
    The rule would transfer more responsibility for enforcement to companies — part of a Homeland Security effort to break through the complacency that some officials say the corporate world has about illegal workers.
    The initiative follows warnings by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that his department would toughen enforcement if efforts to overhaul the flawed immigration system failed. The discrepancies detected in Social Security employment records can sometimes flag illegal workers on the job.
    However, the planned crackdown has provoked concern because many of the errors are benign: misspellings or incorrect birthdates in records of citizens or legal immigrants. There are errors in the records of an estimated 12.7 million U.S. citizens alone, and workers rushing to correct these discrepancies could swamp Social Security offices, much as new travel regulations have paralyzed government passport facilities this year.
    And businesses are complaining about bearing the burden of enforcing a flawed immigration system.
    Despite such opposition, the Bush administration is pressing forward. Officials say the new rule will provide clarity for companies that have said they didn't know what to do when the Social Security Administration sent letters indicating inconsistencies in a worker's records. The administration also sees these "no-match" letters as a way to target illegal immigrants and employers of those who make up Social Security numbers or use other people's.
    In 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, the Social Security Administration sent 8.1 million letters to workers at their home addresses, asking them to resolve differences between the information Social Security has on file and what is shown on their employers' W-2 forms. If no home address is available, the letter is sent to the worker's company. The agency sent 1.5 million of these letters in 2005. Officials will also write to a business if it has more than 10 employees who trigger a no-match.
    In a December 2006 study to examine the accuracy of Homeland Security's existing program of voluntary employer verification, Social Security's inspector general estimated that 17.8 million records on file had inconsistencies, including those of 12.7 million native-born citizens, 250,000 foreign-born citizens and 4.8 million noncitizens - a category for legal immigrants. - Excerpt from an article written by Nicole Gaouette and published by the Los Angeles Times on August 3, 2007

Senate turns thumbs down on Real ID Thumbs Down

    Border security got an extra $3 billion, but Real ID spending took a hit, in Senate action on the Homeland Security Department fiscal 2008 appropriations bill yesterday.
    The Senate passed the DHS spending bill with an amendment by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to add $3 billion in emergency spending for border security.
    The money would pay for 105 ground-based radar and camera towers and four unmanned aerial vehicles, expected to be part of the department's Secure Border Initiative Network border surveillance network. It also pays for 23,000 more border guards, 300 miles of vehicle barriers and 700 miles of border fencing.
    Before Senate passage, the White House threatened a veto in objection to the spending levels in the bill. House and Senate spending bills for DHS also must be reconciled before a final budget is adopted.
    In addition, despite urging from governors to provide federal funds for the Real ID Act of 2005, the Senate voted against an amendment that would have allocated $300 million for implementation of the act.
    The amendment was offered as part of the fiscal 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) in what he termed a down payment toward the $11 billion price tag for Real ID over five years.
    "This is a massive unfunded federal mandate on the states," Alexander said in a floor statement on July 25. "Some in Washington have a bad habit of taking credit for an idea and then sending the bill to the states and letting the governors worry about how they will pay for it. That is why to date 17 states -- including Tennessee -- have passed legislation opposing the Real ID Act. I believe Congress has the responsibility to find the money to pay for this or repeal it."
    The National Governors Association expressed support for federal funding of Real ID at its annual meeting last weekend.
    "If Congress is truly committed to transforming Real ID into a reasonable and workable law that actually increases the security of our citizens, it must commit the federal funds necessary to implement this federal mandate," the NGA said in a statement. "The nation's governors urge senators to support Sen. Lamar Alexander's efforts to begin funding the mandates imposed by Real ID." -- excerpt from an article written by Alice Lipowicz and published in Washington Technology, July 27, 2007.

Judge finds violations of government standards in U.S. detention system

    LOS ANGELES -- In a nationwide review of legal rights for immigrants in federal detention, a federal judge has found serious violations of the government's own standards relating to detention conditions.
    U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Morrow examined never-before-released reports regarding conditions at more than 200 immigration detention facilities and found widespread problems, including lack of access to telephones, attorneys, and legal materials, faced by thousands of immigrants seeking asylum or pursuing legitimate claims to legal residency. The court reviewed thousands of pages of government reports assessing conditions at facilities nationwide, as well as similar reports by a United Nations office and the American Bar Association. These reports showed that detained immigrants from all nations faced similar problems.
    "The government's treatment of immigrants betrays its promise of fairness and due process," said Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center, who served as lead counsel in the case. "The government should not deprive immigrants in detention of basic due process rights, such as meeting with lawyers, reading law books, and making phone calls to family members."
    The judge's findings came in a ruling, finalized on July 26, that upheld a nationwide injunction to protect Salvadoran immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. The National Immigration Law Center, ACLU of Southern California, and ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project had opposed the government's request to end the court-ordered injunction, which requires the government to treat people in immigration detention fairly.
    Judge Morrow ruled that substantial evidence showed "a significant number of violations of critical provisions of the injunction dealing with detainees' access to legal materials, telephone use and attorney visits." The court also found that despite the end of the civil war in that country, immigrants from El Salvador continue to have legitimate asylum claims, and that they, like all immigrants, must be provided basic due process.
    The ruling follows recent reports by the DHS inspector general and the Government Accountability Office showing similar problems in immigration detention.

Microsoft moves software development jobs to Canada

    REDMOND, Wash. -- Amid challenges getting enough foreign programmers admitted into the U.S., Microsoft plans this fall to open a development center in Canada.
    The new software development center will open somewhere in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area and will be "home to software developers from around the world," Microsoft said in a statement.
"The Vancouver area is a global gateway with a diverse population, is close to Microsoft's corporate offices in Redmond, and allows the company to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S.," Microsoft said.
    The announcement of Microsoft's Canadian plans follows the failure of an immigration bill that would have expanded the number of foreign high-tech workers that could have come to the country each year under so-called H1-B visas.
    High-tech companies have been pushing hard to get Congress to increase the number of visas they are allotted. In separate Capitol Hill appearances, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made a strong plea for unlimited H-1B visas, while a Google executive credited the company's success to foreigners and called for expanded ability to hire them.
    But so far, a broader feud has killed two attempts by the U.S. Senate to overhaul the immigration system, including a bump in the H-1B quota from a base level of 60,000 to at least 115,000. Silicon Valley wasn't pleased with all of the bill, but it was also counting on passage of amendments that would provide greater assurances that green cards for permanent residency come through and create new exemptions for foreigners with advanced degrees.
    Now companies are left to hope that their congressional allies will pass standalone bills, severed from the larger immigration debate, to accomplish those tasks. Although a number of senators have indicated support for the tech industry's goals, others have taken an arguably more measured approach, proposing bills aimed at curbing H-1B abuse while upping the quota.
    Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said that while the immigration issue was a factor, the company would be opening the center in Vancouver even if it were not for the immigration challenges. That said, Vancouver is particularly attractive since it is a short drive from Redmond, Wash., but not bound by U.S. immigration policies.
    "It does help us address that challenge we have in the United States of hiring very qualified people, many of whom are graduating from schools in the U.S., but who cannot acquire the necessary documentation to work in the U.S.," Gellos said.
    Microsoft plans to start with a couple hundred workers, but is looking for a spot "with room to grow," Gellos said. "We haven't finalized the actual facility or the site yet," he said. "Once we get an indication of where we can do the center, that will help us to clarify the numbers." - Excerpt from an article published by CNET News.com on July 5, 2007.

New Medicaid law hits Alabama's poor hard

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Using a new law aimed at illegal immigrants, Medicaid has removed more than 5,000 people from its aid rolls in Alabama, but only 115 of them are Hispanic, The Birmingham News reported Sunday.
    More than 5,000 people have lost their Medicaid coverage for failing to provide a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship, according to data from the Alabama Medicaid Agency.
    Children were the largest group affected: 2,081 black children and 1,213 white children were removed from Medicaid.
    "This was a predictable consequence," U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, told The News. "I felt that, if we tried to apply a requirement of paperwork and documentation, a lot of people who weren't going to have it were senior citizens and low-income minorities."
    The new law was part of the Deficit Reduction Act, which Davis voted against.
    In Alabama, 527,400 people were subject to the new requirement. Some Medicaid recipients, including disabled adults and children and foster children, were exempt from the rule.
    Hispanics comprised 6 percent of the Medicaid rolls affected by the new rule, the newspaper reported, but they accounted for 2 percent of the patients dropped from Medicaid.
    Black Alabamians comprised 48 percent of the affected group and accounted for nearly 60 percent of the 527,400 who dropped.
    A 2005 Inspector General's report found most states don't verify the citizenship status of those applying for Medicaid, creating an opportunity for illegal immigrants to join the government health-care program.
    However, Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Carol Steckel said she did not believe the state had a large problem with illegal immigrants fraudulently signing up for benefits.
    "I've only had one identified that's gotten on that shouldn't have," Steckel said. -- Excerpt from an article first published in The Birmingham News and distributed by The Associated Press on May 28, 2007.

    HERE IS OUR WARNING AGAIN:  Your friends, relatives, and co-workers are good sources of bad information about immigration and nationality law and federal administrative procedures.  If you really want to know what to do about an immigration or visa situation, please consult a qualified immigration lawyer.  If you don't know one, please call the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Lawyer Referral Service in Washington, D.C., toll-free, at 1-800-954-0254.  AILA's Lawyer Referral Service cannot assure you that you will get the best immigration lawyer, but you should be able to get competent legal help and guidance.  Remember:  CIS considers every petition or application filed as a legal case for adjudication under the federal Administrative Procedures Act and federal regulations.  When people help themselves or others by filling out forms and filing them with CIS, they are filing a legal case before an administrative agency of the federal government for adjudication.  If the case runs into trouble or is denied, the alien and his family members rarely know what to do next or how to get the legal matter resolved.  Some visa applicants have monthly telephone bills that are larger than any fee they will ever pay to a qualified immigration lawyer.  For information about how to hire and work with an immigration lawyer, click on the following link: Why Hire an Immigration Lawyer?   Also, don't forget to check out our web links to other helpful (and FREE) information: CLICK HERE

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