Thursday, December 30, 2010

Immigrant Father of U.S. Marine Faces Deportation

The Washington Post published a story today on the possible deportation of an illegal immigrant father of a Marine in Kentucky. Juan Andres, a citizen of Guatemala, came to the U.S. as a teenager; he is now 41. Mr. Andres has five U.S. Citizen children, one of which is a Marine awaiting deployment to Afghanistan.

On December 9th of this year Mr. Andres was arrested after accompanying a friend to an immigration office in Louisville, Kentucky to act as a translator. An official in the office suspected Mr. Andres was not in legal status and he was arrested.

According to the immigration attorney of Mr. Andres, they are asking that his case go before an immigration judge. If he is granted a hearing, Mr. Andres will be seeking ten year cancellation of removal, in an attempt to become a permanent resident. Mr. Andres is currently in immigration custody awaiting a hearing.

To read the full story, please click http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/30/AR2010123002115.html

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Senate Fails to Pass DREAM Act

The Senate voted 55-41 against the DREAM Act on December 18, 2010. The unfavorable vote ended the hope of passing the bill this session. The bill fell five votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster on Saturday. Sixty votes were necessary for the bill to succeed.

Senator Richard Durbin, one of the main backers of the DREAM Act, has pledged to continue fighting for the bill. However, with the swearing in of a majority Republican senate in January 2011, the DREAM Act will face a steep uphill battle.

President Barack Obama estimated that the DREAM Act would have “cut the deficit by $2.2 billion over the next 10 years.” The bill offered as many as 11 million undocumented individuals a path to legal status through education or military service. An estimated 65,000 undocumented students will graduate from high school in the next year, who may have benefited from the DREAM Act.

Hundreds of undocumented students, who had risked exposure in support of the DREAM Act, held vigil in the Senate Gallery during the vote on Saturday. When the Senate failed to pass the bill, the students gathered in prayer with hope for a better future.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Questionable Rights in Removal Proceedings for Immigrants with Mental Diabilities

The Legal Action Center of the American Immigration Council issued a report recently on the treatment in removal proceedings of immigrants with mental disabilities. In contrast to the criminal justice system, there are no safeguards in removal proceedings for respondents with mental disabilities. To be sure, unreported numbers of noncitizens with mental disabilities are deported each year before anyone assesses their mental capabilities or psychological well-being.

As reported by the Legal Action Center, this is an alarming and urgent issue based on numerous reports of the mistaken deportation of U.S. citizens with mental disabilities. In a recent case before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the Legal Action Center argued that the current immigration laws do not provide sufficient protection to noncitizens with mental disabilities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had appealed this particular case after the immigration judge terminated removal proceedings when he determined that the respondent could not understand the charges against him, among other issues. After the Legal Action Center submitted its brief, DHS withdrew its appeal, and the BIA dismissed the case, leaving the Immigration Judge's decision as the final one.

The Legal Action Center is correct that the current immigration regulations provide no safeguards for immigrants suffering from mental incapacity. Specifically, there are no procedures in place for ensuring that these respondents receive a full and fair hearing. Although respondents in immigration proceedings are not afforded many of the rights that defendants in criminal proceedings receive - such as the opportunity to undergo a psychological evaluation - the discrepancy in treatment of those with mental disabilities should not be overlooked.

Red the Legal Action Center's report here.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

House Passes DREAM Act, Senate Vote Likely Today

By a 216-198 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors ("DREAM") Act, setting the stage for a vote in the Senate today.

The DREAM Act was drafted as a way to create a path to legal status for immigrants who were brought to this country illegally when they were under the age of 16. To qualify, the applicant would have to have lived in the United States for at least five years, obtain a high school or GED diploma, demonstrate that they are a person of good moral character, and attend college or serve in the armed forces for at least two years.

By most accounts, the DREAM Act faces an uphill battle in the Senate where it is likely to require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

To read the CNN article on the House vote, click here.

Friday, December 3, 2010

DREAM Act Would Reduce Deficit Over Ten Year Period

The DREAM Act, a bill under consideration by Congress which would create a pathway to citizenship for the children of undocumented workers who meet certain requirements, would reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over the next 10 years according to a Congressional Budget Office ("CBO"), and independent and nonpartisan agency. The deficit reduction would come as a result of the increase in revenues by having a larger pool of authorized workers.


The CBO report indicates that the longterm effects of the DREAM Act on the deficit are less clear and could potentially increase the deficit after 2020 when beneficiaries of the DREAM Act are eligible to become lawful permanent residents. But according to an article in the Huffington Post by Elise Foley, DREAM Act proponents argue that such longterm projections fail to take into account that beneficiaries of the DREAM Act will enter higher paying jobs over time and will thus increase revenue through paying more taxes.


The DREAM Act is expected to come up for a vote during the current lame-duck session.


To see the CBO report, click here.


First-Ever Fee Waiver Form from USCIS

Last week U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that on November 23, 2010, they introduced a standardized form for requesting waivers of the fees charged for immigration-benefit processing. Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, is now available for use.

Before form I-912 was introduced, USCIS received many concerns about not having a standardized form to request a fee waiver. The lack of a fee waiver form led to confusion about the criteria and standards used to approve the fee waivers. The new form identifies clear requirements and instructions.

For more information, please visit: www.uscis.gov