February 2008

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

Published exclusively via the World Wide Web since 1994
© 2008 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

    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

USCIS orders field offices to adjudicate I-485 applications

    On Feb. 4, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ordered field offices to adjudicate applications for adjustment of status pending more than 180 days.  The agency had previously required that FBI name checks be completed before taking action on such applications.
    In response to a determination by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to bring USCIS policies in line with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), USCIS has revised its policy in accordance with the IG's guidance.
    "Where the application is otherwise approvable and the FBI name check request has been pending for more than 180 days," said a memo written by Michael Aytes, Associate Director of Domestic Operations, "the adjudicator shall approve the I-485, I-601, or I-698 and proceed with card issuance.  The FBI has committed to providing FBI name check results within this timeframe."
    The policy is also likely to resolve a few hundred federal lawsuits around the country dealing with this very issue.  My clients have filed at least six during the past few years.

USCIS sets time restriction on reapplication for EAD

    USCIS has updated information on its website to inform customers that an I-765 Application for Employment Authorization to extend an EAD may not be filed earlier than 120 days prior to the expiration of the original EAD. USCIS has informed AILA liaison that any I-765 application for an extension EAD received on or after Jan. 29 that was filed more than 120 days from the date of expiration, will be denied as filed too early. An application for replacement of an EAD that was lost, stolen, or mutilated, or that contains incorrect information may be filed at any time.

H-2B visa cap reached for second half of FY2008

    On January 3, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had received enough petitions to exhaust the second and final allocation of 33,000 H-2B visas for Fiscal Year 2008.  January 2 is the "final receipt date" for new H-2B worker petitions requesting employment start dates prior to October 1, 2008.
    USCIS will reject petitions for new H-2B workers seeking employment start dates prior to October 1, 2008 that arrive after January 2.  USCIS will apply a computer-generated random selection process to all petitions which are
subject to the cap and were received on January 2. 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.
    Petitions for workers who are currently in H-2B status do not count towards the congressionally mandated bi-annual H-2B cap.
    This news further underscores the failure of the U.S. immigration system for employers and is one signal that demand for labor in the United States is still very strong.

Suspension of premium processing for R-1 petitions extended

    On January 4, USCIS announced that suspension of premium processing services for religious worker (R-1) visa petitions will be extended until July 8.  A previous six-month suspension was announced on June 18, 2007.
    The Premium Processing Service provides faster processing of certain employment-based petitions and guarantees a 15-calendar day processing time.  USCIS needs additional time to assess whether it is possible to provide this level of service for nonimmigrant religious worker petitions. Due to the complexities with adjudicating R-1 visa petitions, USCIS cannot reasonably ensure a level of processing service within 15 calendar days.
    On April 25, 2007, USCIS proposed significant revisions to its regulations related to the special immigrant and nonimmigrant (R-1) religious worker visa classifications.  USCIS is currently considering comments on the proposed rule and promulgating the final rule. The proposed rule suggested steps to eliminate fraud in the religious worker program and discusses concerns addressed in an August 2005 Benefit Fraud Assessment conducted by USCIS’ Office of Fraud Detection and National Security.  That assessment revealed potential vulnerabilities in the religious worker program.

New appointment system installed at U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez

    As of December 17, immigrant visa applicants seeking to file an application for waiver of inadmissibility (Form I-601) with the USCIS field office in Ciudad Juarez can now use the Teletech Call Center to make an appointment. The change from the pilot InfoPass program is a result of agreement between USCIS and the Department of State to try to improve customer service through more timely appointment scheduling.
    The Teletech Call Center located in Mexico is the same system used by the Department of State for scheduling nonimmigrant visa interview appointments at U.S. consulates in Mexico. Customers will pay a small fee to use the Teletech Call Center and have the option of either calling direct, using a credit card or purchasing a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to access the system and make an appointment.
    Appointments made through the call center must be scheduled at least three business days after the date of an immigrant visa interview. Customers may schedule appointments using the numbers listed below.
    Direct calls from México: 01-900-849-49-49 (12 pesos/min.); from the United States: (900) 476-1212 ($1.25/min)
    Credit card calls from Mexico: 01-477-788-70-70 ($57.50 pesos/call); from the United States:  (800) 919-1754 ($7.00 USD/call)
    Personal Identification Number (PIN) calls:  Banamex Bank purchase: ($10.00 USD); Phone Purchase: 01-800-112-25-00 (24 hours for PIN activation)

Campbell named general counsel of Alabama Regional Center

    As of Dec. 3, 2007, I have been working 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, and encountered some delays in providing legal services to my clients.  I made every effort to make sure the transition went smoothly so my clients do not suffer inconvenience because of my move.  However, I changed telephone carriers, so my office telephone number had to "migrate" to the new carrier, a process that should have taken a few days.  Instead it took a few weeks!
    This new work with the so-called "EB5" immigrant investor and job-creation 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 with hardy plank siding.
    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 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.

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.

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