Basics of Immigration Law: Part 1 – Immigration Court
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Senate Close to Pathway to Citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders
Despláce hacia abajo para ver la traduccion al español For months, President Biden and Senate Democrats have pledged to pursue a pathway to citizenship for DACA and TPS holders. A pathway to citizenship likely would give eligible immigrants the opportunity to file for lawful permanent resident sta...
New DACA Applications Blocked by Texas Judge
On Friday afternoon, a judge in Texas ruled that the DACA program was illegal. Despite the fact that DACA applicants do not have any formal legal status, the judge ruled that only Congress can create a program like DACA because it allows undocumented individuals to remain in the U.S. and apply for w...
New U-visa policy: immigration attorney explains what changes and what stays the same
Last week, USCIS issued a new policy on U-visas. The new policy requires USCIS to determine whether each pending U-visa and each newly filed U-visa is a “bona fide” case. If USCIS decides the case is “bona fide,” the filer (and any derivatives) will be eligible for a work permit while waitin...
Immigration Court Update: New ICE Memo Looks to Expand Prosecutorial Discretion
On Friday evening, June 4, 2021, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) finally dropped its long-awaited memorandum about its priorities for immigration court cases. In the memo, ICE recommitted to using prosecutorial discretion to reduce the number of cases at immigration courts. The ICE memo te...
Supreme Court decision opens doors for immigrants to possibly cancel their deportation
Today, the Supreme Court issued a decision, Niz-Chavez v. Garland, that will allow many individuals in immigration court to apply to cancel their deportation. The case was about a form of relief called Cancellation of Removal, which allows individuals in immigration court an opportunity to cancel th...
Naturalization: Tips From An Immigration Lawyer On Filing For U.S. Citizenship
For many, becoming a citizen is the last step in a long immigration journey. However, applying for citizenship is usually not a joyous occasion. We're here to help....
Green Card Public Charge Rule is Finally Dead
In swift succession, U.S. Supreme Court and federal court actions killed the public charge rule imposed by former President Trump. The rule required intending lawful permanent residents (also called green card holders) to prove they would not become reliant on government benefits as permanent reside...
BREAKING: Judge Blocks USCIS Fee Increases
On Tuesday, a federal judge in California granted a preliminary injunction, preventing USCIS from increasing filing fees that were scheduled to go into effect on Friday, October 2, 2020. This means that as long as the injunction is in place, USCIS fees will stay the same as they are now and not incr...
BY THE NUMBERS: USCIS FURLOUGHS WILL RESULT IN MASSIVE CASE PROCESSING DELAYS AND BACKLOGS
In about one week, USCIS plans to furlough roughly 13,400 of its 20,000 employees due to “budget shortfalls.” This is more than two-thirds, or 67%, of its workforce. The furloughs appear to be agency-wide, meaning no office or service center will be spared. The effects of the furloughs would gri...