Executive Branch
Controversy Over Deportation of Haitians Continues
BY ROYCE BERNSTEIN MURRAY, ESQ. Last week, CBS refused to display an advertisement on its Jumbotron in Times Square denouncing the deportation of Haitians because it was too controversial. Deportations to a cholera-plagued and earthquake-devastated country should be controversial, especially in light of DHS’s recent announcement that it would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for another 18 months and would expand the group of Haitians eligible for TPS. Going forward, Haitians who came to the U.S. after the earthquake no later than January 12, 2011 will be eligible to register for TPS. However, while the extension is a terrific humanitarian victory, DHS still intends to deport certain Haitians convicted of crimes, demonstrating some of the inconsistent policies that have plagued DHS’s handling of Haiti almost from the beginning. Read More
Administration Uses Executive Authority to Keep Educated Grads in U.S. Longer
By H. BOB SAKANIWA, AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYER'S ASSOCIATION As President Obama indicated in an immigration speech in El Paso, Texas, earlier this month, in a global marketplace, the United States needs the best and brightest to stay in our country to work, innovate and help create jobs for the benefit of all Americans. Well-educated, foreign-born professionals have made enormous contributions to our country, and we should do all we can to retain the next generation of these types of contributors. Just two days after President Obama put the topic of immigration reform back into the national debate, the administration exercised its executive authority to expand the number of science, technology, engineering, and math degree (STEM) programs that can be used to qualify foreign graduates to extend their post-graduate training. Read More
Senators Introduce Military Families Act
The week before the Memorial Day holiday, several senators honored U.S. military families caught up in our broken immigration system by introducing The Military Families Act. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the bill. Read More
SCOTUS E-Verify Ruling No Bellwether for Fate of SB1070
By Mary Giovagnoli and Melissa Crow Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding Arizona’s law requiring employers to use E-verify or risk losing their business licenses will, like all Supreme Court decisions, take some time to digest. What’s surprising, however, is how quickly some are already jumping to the conclusion that today’s decision signals how the Supreme Court might rule on SB 1070 when, and if, it finally makes its way to the Supreme Court. Read More
White House Immigration Blueprint a Starting Point
Speeches, even those delivered by the President of the United States, can be forgotten fairly quickly. Following the El Paso immigration speech from two weeks ago, the White House is attempting to sustain a buzz by sending other members of the President’s cabinet and White House officials out to give speeches and hold roundtables across the country to discuss immigration. The most lasting piece of this effort, however, is likely to be the immigration blueprint which was released along with the speech. The title, “Building a 21st Century Immigration System” recognizes that the system we have now does not work—and a new one must be built from scratch to meet the needs of our country today. Without comprehensive reform, pieces of the immigration system will remain unfixed, resulting in a system which still does not function Read More
More States Toss Costly Immigration Legislation in Final Days of Session
As many state legislative session wrap up for the year, more lawmakers are jumping ship on controversial enforcement measures targeting undocumented immigrants. Whether they are under pressure from business groups, conflicted over the bills’ substance, or realize that these measures will cost their state millions in legal challenges, implementation expenses and tourism revenue, lawmakers are not finding the same appetite for “get tough” enforcement legislation as they did last year. Read More
Obama Administration Seeks Balance Between Labor and Immigration Law Enforcement
Last week President Obama issued a blueprint for a twenty-first century immigration policy that highlighted, among other things, the need to promote accountability for employers who deliberately hire and exploit undocumented workers. The Administration’s recommendations for achieving this goal include a better employment verification system, more comprehensive anti-retaliation protections for workers, and a legalization program that requires the current undocumented population to get right with the law. Read More
DHS Announces Extension and Re-Designation of Temporary Protective Status for Haitians
Today, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the extension and re-designation of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Haitians currently in the United States. The extension would allow approximately 48,000 Haitian nationals—whose homeland was devastated by an earthquake in 2010 and is still plagued by disease and instability—to extend their TPS for an additional 18 months. Additionally, the re-designation would allow Haitian nationals who have continuously resided in the United States through January 12, 2011 (that is, who arrived up to a year after the earthquake) to obtain TPS. The 18-month extension and re-designation would begin in July, allowing Haitian nationals to live and work in the U.S. until January 2013. Read More
Immigrant Community Needs White House Muscle to Move Immigration, Politics and All
Plenty of people are calling this week's events—especially the President’s speech on immigration in El Paso—pure politics. And some are rightly criticizing Administration policies—such as record levels of deportations—as inconsistent with the broader vision of immigration and economic prosperity the President outlined in El Paso. But placed in a broader strategic context, the El Paso speech moves the President’s strategy for immigration reform forward by utilizing the messages and tools that carried Barack Obama into the White House and helped him win his signature healthcare reforms. Read More
President Obama’s Speech on Immigration: Campaign Politics or a Call to Action?
Today in El Paso, President Obama delivered his second major speech dedicated to fixing our broken immigration system. The President addressed some of the major obstacles to passing comprehensive reform—namely the “border-first” crowd’s repeated claim that the Administration hasn’t done enough to secure the border—by touting the record level of resources invested along the border. The President also framed the need for reform as an economic imperative, highlighting the benefits of reform for America's middle class and for America’s ability to compete in the global economy. But the major takeaway from the President’s speech today was the President’s call to action. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
