A couple months ago, I wrote an opinion blog post titled “Why AILA’s ‘Justice Campaign’ Misses the Mark on Advocacy During the Trump Administration.” That post addressed the newly-created “Justice Campaign” of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), wherein it listed ways it plans to oppose the immigration policies of the administration of President Donald Trump. The post we will be examining is written by Anthony Drago, Jr., Esq., a fellow immigration attorney and active member of AILA. It was posted on AILA’s think immigration blog on June 30 and titled “Will Government Employees Show Some Moxie in the Immigration Struggle?” Although the post is interesting and provocative, it ultimately misses the mark on the best strategies for advocacy during the Trump Administration.
On June 28, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new aviation security measures for flights to the United States. It is important to understand that these aviation security measures are not immigration-related, and that they will affect both foreigners and U.S. citizens flying into the United States. In this post, we will briefly examine the DHS’s new aviation security measures.
On April 19, 2017, New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner submitted a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) objecting to the immigration arrest of two individuals as they were making required appearances in New Jersey Court for criminal proceedings. A spokesman for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stated that the ICE only arrests targets at courthouses after all other options have been exhausted. He added that tracking criminal aliens is resource intensive, and that in certain cases courthouses provide “the most likely opportunity” to locate a target and take him or her into custody”. Furthermore, he added that courthouse arrests are safer for agents because courthouses have metal detectors and other screening processes.
On June 21, 2017, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) posted the minutes of a meeting with the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) that took place on June 6, 2017 (see AILA Doc. No. 17062131 (6/21/2017)). In this post, I will examine in brief an update provided by the OFLC regarding the implementation of the provisions of President Trump’s April 18, 2017, Executive Order 13788 titled “Buy American and Hire American.”. Please see our full article on the “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order to learn in more detail about its immigration-related provisions.
On June 19, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States released a flurry of decisions as the term came to a close. In this post, I will examine in brief two interesting First Amendment cases that are not related to immigration law. The two cases are Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. __ (2017), and Packingham v. North Carolina, 582 U.S. __ (2017). Please follow our site closely for information on likely upcoming Supreme Court decisions that directly implicate immigration issues.
On June 16, 2017, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced that it had sworn in 11 new immigration judges. The 11 new immigration judges were selected by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The 11 new judges will serve on 10 immigration courts, with the Otay Mesa Immigration Court welcoming two new immigration judges.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reported on June 19, 2017, that several of its members have erroneously received Application Support Center (ASC) Appointment Notices from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). AILA explained that the biometrics notices were issued to AILA attorneys by the National Benefits Center (NBC), but did not relate to any individual clients of the attorneys. NBC informed AILA that it would provide updates as necessary.
On June 9, 2017, the United States Department of State (DOS) released the “Visa Bulletin for July 2017.” The July 2017 Visa Bulletin contains dates for filing and application final action dates for the family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visa preference categories in July of 2017. On June 13, 2017, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) determined that both family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visa beneficiaries must use the final action dates contained in the July 2017 Visa Bulletin. In this article, we will reproduce the relevant charts for family-sponsored and employment-based beneficiaries of approved immigrant visa petitions who are waiting to file for adjustment of status. This post will also include news and notes from the DOS’s July 2017 Visa Bulletin.
On June 16, 2017, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a precedent decision in the Matter of Deang, 27 I&N Dec. 57 (BIA 2017), in which it held that an essential element of an aggravated felony receipt of stolen property offense under section 101(a)(43)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is that the offender must receive the stolen property with the “knowledge or belief” that it has been stolen. However, Judge Garry Malphrus, who was a member of the three-judge panel considering the case, dissented from the opinion of the Board. Although Judge Malphrus’s dissent is not controlling – and the majority’s decision now constitutes binding precedent – it evinces that there may be members of the Board open to reassessing Matter of Deang in the future.
On June 1, 2017, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a 146-page report titled “Immigration Courts: Actions Needed to Reduce Case Backlog and Address Long-Standing Management and Operations Challenges.” The report focuses on backlogs in the processing of immigration cases at the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), and it details the dramatic increase in processing times at the EOIR over the past decade. The report makes 11 recommendations for beginning to address the issues. In this article, we will examine key points from the GAO report as well as its recommendations for the EOIR. In so doing, we will rely on the following two documents that we have uploaded for those who want to follow along.
