Got Immigration? The World’s Best Damn Blog About U.S. Immigration

We hear about the border all the time.  Border this.  Border that.  Border border border.  It turns out that the border is changing – at least as far as U.S. Customs and Border Protection is concerned.  The New York Times (in another excellent article by the Times’ immigration guru Nina Bernstein) reports that CBP routinely conducts immigration checks of Greyhound Buses and Amtrak Trains that aren’t all that close to the border – and that definitely aren’t close to that border we all hear so much about, the border between the U.S. and Mexico.  Repeat Greyhound and Amtrak passengers that might not immediately appear citizen-like enough to CBP have even learned to bring their U.S. passports or other immigration documentation on trips within the Northern United States – a sad comment to me on the way in which the federal government conducts immigration investigations.  I expect this sort of round ’em up mentality from places like Arizona, but the federal government should know better.  CBP, investigate based on solid leads and concrete evidence, and keep the border where it belongs, at the edges of our country.

Mexican TV star Fernanda Romero is being accused in federal court of entering into a sham marriage in order to secure a green card.  Check out this article on cnn.com about Ms. Romero’s trials and tribulations.  I like how the article states, “Romero sat directly in front of jurors, holding hands with co-defendant Kent Ross, the Los Angeles musician she allegedly paid $5,000 to marry her so she could get a U.S. work visa.”  NO CNN – I’m pretty sure she didn’t apply for a work visa through Mr. Ross, rather for a green card, which is a work visa in a very legalistic and theoretical sense but not in the sense CNN means.  This article should serve as a warning to all those people out there thinking of doing what Ms. Romero allegedly did – DON’T MARRY SOMEONE FOR A GREEN CARD!

Stories have been appearing in newspapers in Texas about deportation proceedings that are mysteriously being terminated for no apparent reason.  According to an article in the Dallas Morning Star, ICE is simply focusing on more important things right now – namely, removing criminal aliens.  Although I’d love to believe that this is the reason, it sounds a tad too disingenuous to me – especially knowing the deportation-happy folks at ICE as well as I do.  I know that ICE Director John Morton has stated over and over that he wants to devote more of his agency’s limited resources to removing criminal aliens, but once ICE gets an undocumented anyone in its web, it seldom lets go so easily.  So far, this phenomenon is limited to Texas, but I’d be very interested to see if it spreads to other parts of the country too.  Interestingly, ICE also came out with a memo a few days back about requesting that pending applications with USCIS be expedited if they would give someone in removal proceedings a means of immediately gaining status.  Could these two developments be part of a new and larger trend?  Stay tuned for updates.

All of you know Orange County, California, right?  Beaches, mansions, surfing, Vietnamese food, and now…immigration detainees.  The OC will soon be home to two immigration detention facilities, one in the city of Orange and the other in an unincorporated area near Irvine.  The L.A. Times reports that the County signed a deal with ICE that will bring an estimated $30 million per year and help save jobs in the Sheriff’s Department – both critically important in light of the County’s current financial position.  Of course, not everyone is happy that the OC’s financial salvation means an influx of over 800 deportable aliens, most of whom supposedly “high risk” detainees.  C’mon though, folks – the federal government has money, and state and local governments need money – this seems like a real no-brainer to me.  With all this money flying around, I just hope that the County and ICE don’t forget the bigger picture here - creating a decent and humane facility for people caught up in America’s deportation system.

Another brilliant idea from our government: the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), a.k.a. the Immigration Court, has decided to change its user-friendly phone system.  Before, attorneys (or anyone, for that matter) were able to call a hotline, punch in an A-number, and find out that client’s next hearing date, whether he or she had already been deported, whether the asylum clock started to run, and much more.  As of this week, however, interested parties need to know (1) the Respondent’s A-number and (2) the date shown on their Notice to Appear (NTA).  Although this purportedly complies with federal privacy laws, it’s sure to make the lives of most immigration attorneys much more complicated than they need to be.  Many times, we simply don’t have access to NTAs, which means that we won’t have access to the EOIR’s handy phone system either.  Worse yet, the government sometimes doesn’t even issue an NTA immediately after detaining a foreign national, which means that the government can prevent attorneys and family members from finding out critical information about someone’s immigration court case if it so chooses.  Attorneys are in the process of trying to fight this change, which will hopefully produce some positive results.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress of our struggle.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about immigration and crime – indeed, the supposed link between illegal immigration and criminal activity in Arizona became the driving force behind passage of that state’s infamous immigration law, SB 1070.  What is really going on in Arizona, though, and who exactly is this crime wave affecting?  An excellent article in my local paper, the LA Weekly, sought to answer that very question.  According to “Seized,” the majority of the victims of immigrant-related crime are immigrants themselves – and vulnerable immigrants at that.  Although Phoenix has indeed become the kidnapping capital of the U.S., the people being kidnapped are usually undocumented immigrants that have paid thousands of dollars to be smuggled into the United States, and who find themselves caught up in an extortion racket that often ends in their own deaths.  Hmmm…so what would laws like SB 1070 do to help this situation?  They would target the very people that are being victimized, making it less likely that they would report these crimes to the police and allowing criminals to operate with impunity under the collective nose of law enforcement.  I don’t call that smart public policy, Governor Brewer – do you?

I was so happy to see that finally – after months of complaints – USCIS leadership is going to do something about some of the outrageous denials coming out of its California Service Center.  According to an article in the L.A. Times, USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas is looking into a dramatic spike in denied O and P visa petitions, which are intended for aliens  of “extraordinary ability” and entertainment groups/culturally unique performers, respectively.  The article states that even the White House and Congress have gotten wind of the stench coming out of Laguna Niguel, which I’m sure has been embarrassing for a Director that has vowed to change and humanize the way America’s immigration benefits agency works.  Whatever the reasons, I’m just glad that something is going to happen.  I’ve seen way too many artists and entertainers apply for O-1 visa extensions, only to be told that they no longer have the same level of “extraordinary ability” they apparently had when USCIS originally approved their petitions.  Such bad behavior prevents truly talented people from bringing their services to this country, which is really in no one’s interests.  Ali M – do your thing, and make the process of petitioning for an O or P visa as transparent and consistent as possible.

Good article in today’s NYT about an apparent ICE policy of not deporting undocumented students.  Although ICE’s official position is still “no policy change – we just have other priorities,” immigration attorneys and others in-the-know don’t seem to know any undocumented students that have actually been removed from the United States, which seems to indicate the existence of a very specific policy on ICE’s part.  This issue is especially relevant right now in light of the DREAM Act, pending legislation that would legalize undocumented students that have a certain number of years of residence in the United States and no history of criminal activity.  The Obama Administration has refused to “officially” grant a moratorium on student deportations, choosing instead to push for passage of the DREAM Act, but it seems that John Morton has created a sort of de facto moratorium anyways, at least for now.  What shocks me most from this article is the righteous indignation of some Republican Members of Congress, who are appalled – yet again – by those liberal do-gooders in the White House.  According to the article, Rep. Brian Bilbray (R) of California, Chairman of a House immigration caucus said that “[t]he administration appears to want to pick and choose what laws they will follow and which ones they don’t…they are trying to legislate from the White House.”  Oh give me a break - Rep. Bilbray, are you really that stupid?  With 12 million potential deportees, and a complete lack of funding and resources, do you think it’s a good use of ICE’s time to go after kids in school?  Morons like Rep. Bilbray only show why the DREAM Act is so important: left to certain elements of Congress, young people that did not choose to come here and that have the potential to build his country up and make a positive contribution would be unceremoniously given the boot instead.  We need firm legislation in place now to prevent that from ever happening.

AILA’s Infonet published a statement today from the labor union that represents ICE employees expressing “no confidence” in ICE Director John Morton and ICE Office of Detention Policy and Planning Assistant Director Phyllis Covens.  The gist of the American Federation of Government Employees’ statement is that ICE, through Director Morton and ODPP Assistant Director Covens, has foisted a policy of selective immigration enforcement on the American public that amounts to a general amnesty, and that the nation would be better served by tougher leadership at the head of the agency.  Never mind that, under President Obama through Secretary Morton, removal of non-citizens is at an all-time record high (60% higher than during George Bush’s last year in office) - the ICE rank and file feel that the agency is being too soft on the undocumented, and are demanding change.  Although some of the points raised in the union’s statement are absolutely ridiculous (“ICE Detention Reforms have transformed into a detention system aimed at providing resort-like living to criminal aliens”), others are salient.  Among the more interesting points: agency mismanagement has resulted in trained ICE officers performing largely clerical tasks, ICE officers are restricted from making street arrests – which I don’t think would be very good, but I’m sure is necessary on occasion, and there is no uniform national ICE policy, which leads to a lack of consistency and no accountability whatsoever.  I always love seeing the inner-workings of our government, and if this letter is indicative of reality, there are definitely some major problems in the way ICE is run – which can only hurt detained immigrants in the end.

The United States Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico was closed for several days over “security concerns.”  I had originally heard that the Consulate was simply reevaluating security protocols, but based on several updates over the past few days, it looks like there might have been either a direct threat to the Consulate or a whole lotta violence in Ciudad Juarez.  This closure resulted in the cancellation or postponement of numerous visa interviews and added a lot of unnecessary pressure to an already dangerously overburdened consular post – although the Consulate probably had little choice in the matter.  As of today, the Juarez Consulate is open for business, although it’s hard to imagine “business as usual” in the face of such a miserable security situation.  Mexico’s pseudo-civil war has been slowly destroying the country and killing its citizenry, and now has even started preventing people from leaving the country altogether.  The way things have been going, this recent closure in Ciudad Juarez might be the first of many to come for U.S. Consulates in Mexico.