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Updates

Georgia Anti-immigrant Law Faces Scrutiny

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In a recent hearing led by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash,
Georgia state attorney Devon Orland was pushed hard to defend the
state’s restrictive and controversial immigration enforcement
regulations. In the hearing, parts of which were published by the
Atlanta Journal Constitution, Thrash questioned the validity and
complexity of the legislation, and was concerned that each district
would translate and implement its own version of the enforcement law.
Below is part of the transcript of Judge Thrash’s comments and
perception of the state’s laws:

“You may have one county that says, okay, we don’t like all these
Hispanic children in our schools so we are going to make it really tough
on anybody that we suspect could be in this country illegally, and we
are going to arrest them and detain them until they leave our county –
except they can come here for two months to pick our Vidalia onions, and
we are not going to bother them then.”

And then we like the people down at the Mexican restaurant, like the
food there, so we are not going to bother the cook. And we are not going
to bother the guy that does the mayor’s yard work. They’re a nice
family, and we are going to leave them alone. But we are going to make
life so difficult for everybody else that they are going to leave –
except the ones we need to pick our crops or do yard work or wash the
dishes in the restaurant.

“I mean, you are not going to have 50 systems of immigration regulation.
In Georgia, you are going to have 159. Every county, every municipality
is going to decide what its immigration policy is going to be under
this law.”

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Updates

SC Legislature Approves New Immigration Enforcement Bill

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A new bill that would add two new processes to immigration enforcement
received final approval by the state’s legislative body. The bill would
require all of South Carolina’s police officers to check the immigration
status of their suspects and all South Carolina businesses to check the
immigration status of new hires through the E-Verify online employment
eligibility verification system. The state’s House approved the bill
Tuesday in a 69-43 vote. The bill has now been sent to Governor Nikki
Haley; her sources state that she will sign the bill.

“If Washington refuses to effectively support our law enforcement
officers by enforcing immigration laws, it is left up to the states to
stand up and do what is right,” said State Senator Bobby Harrell (R.,
Charleston). “That is exactly what South Carolina did today by making
sure our officers have the enforcement tools they need during this time
of federal indecision.”

This new bill expands on already existing legislation which, at the
time, was considered one of the country’s toughest immigration laws. The
original bill required all police officers to contact federal
immigration officials if they suspected someone was in the U.S.
illegally.

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Updates

New Gallup Poll Shows Americans Slightly Prefer Lower Immigration Rates

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According to data from a new Gallup poll, Americans continue to show a
slight preference for lower immigration rates. Gallup states that these
perceptions are similar to what was seen last year and remain in line
with poll data on the topic since 2002. Eighteen percent of polled
Americans, however, favored increased immigration, the highest amount of
Americans to state such an opinion since the question was first asked
by pollsters in 1965.

Gallup data also show that Democrats and Independents are divided fairly
equally between favoring decreased rates of immigration and maintaining
the current immigration levels. Republicans presented with a higher
preference for decreased immigration rates, but at a rate less than seen
in recent years.

View more results at: http://bit.ly/k0BsPe.

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Updates

Proposed Bill Would Make E-Verify Mandatory

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This week, a new bill was introduced in the House of Representatives
that would require all employers to use E-Verify to electronically
verify the immigration status of potential new hires. The new bill, the
Legal Workforce Act (HR 2164) would remove the use of the current
paper-based process, gradually replacing it with the use of E-Verify’s
online technology for employment verification.

“E-Verify is a successful program to help ensure that jobs are reserved
for citizens and legal workers,” said Rep. Lamer Smith (R-TX), the
sponsor of the bill. “Despite record unemployment, seven million people
work in the U.S. illegally. These jobs should go to legal workers.”

While Smith and others do support the proposed bill, it will assuredly
receive criticism from many, including the advocacy group, the Coalition
for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), who are already
speaking against the bill. Chirla notes a report by the Government
Accountability Office that stated E-Verify has multiple system errors
and is prohibitive to small businesses due to increased costs of use.

Categories
Global Pinoy

Fraud Victim or a Conspirator?

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There are many Filipinos who are in deportation proceedings before US immigration courts for having committed immigration fraud.  What is astonishing is that many do not even realize the severe consequences of their fraudulent actions.

When faced with a question about the use of a fraudulent or assumed name to enter the United States, there are those who respond in a manner that indicates no remorse in their actions. In these circumstances, one would think twice whether this individual in proceedings is a victim or a conspirator to the fraud.

Tammy recently graduated from college with a degree in Bachelors of Arts in Business Administration. As part of her graduation gift, her auntie introduced her to a travel agent who would be able to assist her in obtaining a visa to visit the US. Tammy’s auntie paid almost 200,000 pesos to this travel agent.  After a few weeks, Tammy was called by the travel agent and was informed to prepare to leave for the US. She was surprised because she did not have her passport yet and neither had she been to the US Embassy to apply for her visa. Still the travel agent, gave the time and date of Tammy’s departure.  She was told that her passport and visa would be given to her at the airport.

Tammy was advised by the Auntie to follow the instructions of the travel agent. At a designated place at the airport, she met the travel agent. Tammy was handed a Philippine passport with a US visa stamp. When Tammy looked closely, she discovered that the passport was not in her name but had her picture. The travel agent said that it was okay for Tammy to travel with that passport even if it is not her name.

Faced with the predicament of whether to proceed with her travel using the fake passport or just abandoning her plan to visit the US, Tammy decided to proceed with using the fake passport. She was able to enter the US and was given six months to stay as a tourist. At the end of the authorized six months, she decided to remain for good in the United States.

Tammy worked as a caregiver and was not questioned about her immigration status by her employer. After working for three years, she met Joel, a U.S. citizen, at her place of work.  Joel and Tammy dated for five months before they finally got married. Tammy gave birth to two wonderful children who are now ages 7 & 9.

A petition for an immigrant visa was filed by Joel for Tammy.  This petition was approved. However, Tammy’s application for the adjustment of her status to become a lawful permanent resident was denied. She was found inadmissible, or not eligible for an immigrant status because she entered the US with a fraudulent visa. An application for waiver was filed so that despite the fraud, she would still be allowed to obtain her immigrant status. The waiver was also denied and now Tammy is facing deportation proceedings.

During her hearing, Tammy related to the judge how she obtained her fraudulent passport. Tammy explained every detail of how she acquired her passport. She said that the travel agent “manufactured” the visa and that she was just a “victim” of fraud. Unfortunately, her response lacked credibility.

At the next hearing, Tammy had a completely different tone when asked about her fraudulent entry to the US. This time she cried and admitted her mistake. She begged for a second chance to have her waiver be considered favorably as her US citizen children and her spouse were everything in the world to her. Fortunately this time, the judge was swayed by her emotional grief and finally granted her a waiver of the fraud that she committed upon entering the US. Judgment was rendered giving her legal permanent resident status.

Extreme Hardship Waiver

An application for waiver of fraud may be filed when an individual has qualifying US relatives who will suffer “extreme” hardship. Qualifying relatives refer to a spouse or parents who are US citizens or green card holders. The court will take into account various factors in determining whether there are favorable factors to grant the waiver.

Considering the high standard imposed in meeting the elements of an approvable waiver, there is an increasing high rate of denial on these waiver applications. While the decision in the illustrated case of Tammy was granted favorably, there are many others similarly situated who are denied because of efforts by the US Department of Homeland Security to curb the use of fraudulent documents.

Not A “Normal” Course

The motivations for going to the United States vary. Unfortunately, there are some who skip the normal process of obtaining visas to the extent of engaging in misrepresentation. Whether one’s reason is to seek better economic opportunities or family unification or just plain avoidance of visa delays, the use of fraudulent documents to enter the United States is never an excuse and is obviously illegal. What is becoming a serious concern is that an applicant for visa may find this scheme a “normal” process without realizing the severity of the consequences of fraud.

False assurances that some unscrupulous “travel agents” give to travel applicants that it is okay to use assumed names and fraudulent travel documents is a cruel deception. One should avoid falling into these types of deceptions lest they be charged as conspirators and face severe consequences.

(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177 or 721 1963)

Categories
Updates

ICE to Limit Work Restrictions for Eligible F-1 Students from Libya

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U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced that it
will offer special relief to some F-1 students from Libya who have
experienced severe economic hardships because of the current civil
unrest in Libya. ICE states that this relief will only apply to students
who were lawfully present in the U.S. under F-1 status on February 1,
2011 (when the civil unrest began), and who are enrolled in an
educational institution that his certified by the Student and Exchange
Visitor Program.

Eligible students will be able to obtain employment authorization to
work in the U.S., work an increased number of hours during the school
term and, if needed, reduce their course load while still maintaining
F-1 status.

“We want to ensure that students from Libya, who were here when civil
unrest began, are able to continue their studies without the worry of
financial burdens due to the armed conflict,” said Louis Farrell, SEVIS
director. “The changes announced in this notice will allow eligible
students from Libya to obtain employment authorization so that they can
meet their basic living expenses while continuing to pursue their
education in the United States.”

Categories
Updates

Massachusetts Will be Required to Participate in Secure Communities Program, Federal Officials Say

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The federal government is going to force the state of Massachusetts to
participate in the Secure Communities program. The Secure Communities
program is a controversial program that tracks the names and
fingerprints of any arrested person through federal criminal and
immigration databases to check their citizenship status. Massachusetts
Governor Patrick Deval had sent a letter to USCIS on June 3 stating the
state would not participate in the program, because only one in four
people deported had been convicted of a serious crime.

Governor Deval’s rejection of Secure Communities follows in the
footsteps of New York and Illinois, who had also chosen not to
participate in the program. However, according to a USCIS
representative, Deval’s rejection of the program will do little to delay
the implementation of Secure Communities in Massachusetts.

Categories
Updates

Proposed Bill Would Allow DHS to Indefinitely Detain Immigrants

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A new bill, just filed by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), proposes to
give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to
indefinitely detain immigrants. If passed, H.R. 1932, the Keep Our
Communities Safe Act, would give DHS the power to detain and hold as
long as it deems necessary certain “dangerous” immigrants who are under
orders of removal but cannot be deported. The bill, which is
co-sponsored by Jeff Miller (R-FL) and Dennis Ross (R-FL) would do the
following, among other things:

(1) Remove key portions of two Supreme Court Decisions that stated an
immigrant cannot be detained for a period over six months, even in cases
in which the person cannot be deported.

(2) Give DHS the ability to detain immigrants for a range of offenses, including writing a bad check.

(3) Give DHS the ability to detain an immigrant for years without having
to conduct a bond hearing in front of an immigration judge.

Detractors of the bill comment that, if the bill is passed, it will be challenged.

Categories
Updates

New York Opts Out of Secure Communities Program

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week that his state will
no longer participate in the Secure Communities program. New York is the
second state to choose not to participate in this federal immigration
enforcement program. “There are concerns about the implementation of the
program as well as its impact on families, immigrant communities and
law enforcement in New York,” wrote Cuomo in a letter to the Department
of Homeland Security. “As a result, New York is suspending its
participation in the program.”

New York will review whether the Secure Communities program is
successfully meeting its goal to deport convicted felons, stated Cuomo’s
office in a press release issued this week as well. The statement also
commented that it appeared Secure Communities is not only failing in
deporting convicted felons, but is also “undermining law enforcement.”

Secure Communities is an information-sharing program between state,
local and federal enforcement agencies. It gives the FBI access to
fingerprints taken by local police; the FBI then shares this information
with Homeland Security.