On January 19, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in Trump v. Hawaii, one of the challenges to Presidential Proclamation 9645. more commonly known as the third version of the “travel ban.” This order means that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case this term – possibly in March – and likely issue a decision by June. It is important to note that the travel restrictions in Presidential Proclamation 9645 are currently in effect in full due to the Supreme Court having previously stayed two separate injunctions against the restrictions.
On January 17, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the new poverty guidelines. These new poverty guidelines became applicable on January 13, 2018. In the immigration context, the HHS poverty guidelines are applicable both in the public charge context and in the fee waiver context.
On December 11, 2017, the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) announced that Jankhana Desai was sworn in as a new Immigration Judge for the Los Angeles Immigration Court. The investiture ceremony for Immigration Judge Desai took place on December 8, 2017. Jankhana Desai was appointed to the Los Angeles Immigration Court by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Submitted by Eliza Grinberg on January 16, 2018 - 4:29pm
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the Texas Service Center will begin processing Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker petitions for L nonimmigrant classification on February 12, 2018. The Texas Service Center will share the L nonimmigrant petition workload with the California Service Center. As of February 12, the Vermont Service Center will no longer process any L nonimmigrant petitions.
Submitted by Eliza Grinberg on January 15, 2018 - 8:08pm
Back on October 3, 2017, we posted a blog about civil denaturalization charges being brought in three cases against individuals who were ordered removed before obtaining legal status and naturalization under different identities. The charges came as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) “Operation Janus,” which investigated approximately 315,000 cases where fingerprint data was missing.
On January 13, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has resumed accepting requests for renewal under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in response to a court order. The USCIS explained that “unless otherwise provided … the DACA policy will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017.” This post examines the news and what it means going forward.
On January 8, 2018, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirsten Nielsen announced that she would terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for El Salvador. However, Secretary Nielsen opted to delay the termination of El Salvador TPS for a period of 18 months in order to ensure an orderly transition. Accordingly, the TPS designation for El Salvador will terminate on September 9, 2019.
Submitted by Eliza Grinberg on January 12, 2018 - 9:43pm
On January 10, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed James McHenry as the permanent Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). McHenry had been serving as Acting Director since May 30, 2017.
On January 9, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) stated to a news outlet by stating that it “is not considering a regulatory change that would force H-1B visa holders to leave the United States by changing our interpretation of section 104(c) of AC-21, which provides for H-1B extensions beyond the 6 year limit.” Furthermore, the USCIS added that any suggestion that it was considering such a change was “absolutely false.” In this article, we discuss the news, the story on the issue over the past two weeks, and what we can learn from it.
On January 10, 2018, Judge William Alsup of the United States District Court for the District of Northern California issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In this post, I explain what the injunction does and what it may mean going forward.
