On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire. The Court also included the letter that Justice Kennedy will submit to President Donald Trump, notifying him of his decision. Although the Court has confirmed that Justice Kennedy will retire, his retirement will not become effective until July 31, 2018.
On June 26, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States released its decision in Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. ___ (2018). Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch, authored an opinion reversing the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to enjoin the entry restrictions (“travel ban”) against nationals of seven countries contained in President Donald Trump’s Presidential Proclamation 9645 (Sep. 24, 2017).
On June 21, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin recalling approximately 800 incorrectly printed Employment Authorization Documents that were issued in conjunction with the Form I-589, Application for Asylum and Withholding of Removal. These defective Employment Authorization Documents were granted by USCIS asylum officers. The reason for the recall is because they “contain a production error that transposed the first and last name of the individuals receiving the [Employment Authorization Documents]. All affected cards were mailed to recipients in April and May of 2018.
On June 7, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a story about its assisting the Department of Justice (DOJ) in obtaining a conviction in an asylum fraud case.
On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Department of State issued an adoption alert strongly recommending against the adoption of children at this time from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On June 18, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a news release announcing its publication of data on the criminal histories of requestors for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Along with the news release, the USCIS included the statistics. In this post, we will briefly examine some of the notable statistics of the criminal histories of DACA requestors.
On May 31, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began receiving H2B petitions under the temporary final rule that increased the numerical H2B cap through the end of the current fiscal year (FY-2018) by only 15,000. On June 11, 2018, the USCIS announced that it had received H2B petitions for more than 15,000 beneficiaries within five days of allowing filing under the extension. Thus, the USCIS used a random lottery to select enough petitions to meet the H2B cap for FY-2018. The H2B lottery was completed on June 7, 2018. The USCIS began issuing notifications to petitioners that were selected in this H2B lottery on June 11, 2018.
On June 11, 2018, the Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), L. Francis Cissna, told the Associated Press in an interview that the USCIS is preparing to launch an office to pursue denaturalization cases. Director Cissna stated that the USCIS is hiring several dozen new lawyers and immigration officers to staff its new office. These lawyers and officers will review cases of individuals who were previously deported and subsequently used fake identities to procure Green Cards and, subsequently, naturalization.
On June 13, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) stated that its “California Service Center is experiencing a delay in initial data entry for Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence.” As a result of the delay, Form I-751 petitioners who filed their petitions with the California Service Center “may experience a delay in receiving a receipt notice for a Form I-751…” Petitioners will receive receipt notices once their Form I-751 data is entered into USCIS. The USCIS expects that petitioners will receive these receipt notices by early July.
On June 8, 2018, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced the swearing in of three new immigration judges on that same day. The three new immigration judges were appointed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In this post, we will list the new immigration judges, the immigration courts on which they now serve, and biographical information about each of the new judges with reference to the EOIR news release.
