U.S. District Court Issued a Decision Finding DACA Unlawful
On Sept. 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a decision finding DACA unlawful and expanding the original July 16, 2021 injunction and order of vacatur to cover the Final Rule. However, the court maintained a partial stay of the order for “all DACA recipients who received their initial DACA status prior to July 16, 2021.” For these individuals, renewals will continue to be possible. USCIS has indicated as follows:
Accordingly, current grants of DACA and related Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) remain valid until they expire, unless individually terminated. In accordance with this decision, USCIS will continue to accept and process DACA renewal requests and accompanying applications for employment authorization under the DACA regulations at 8 CFR 236.22 and 236.23, as it has since October 31, 2022. We will also continue to accept initial DACA requests, but in accordance with the District Court’s order, we will not process initial DACA requests.
Please contact our office if you have any questions or concerns with this recent court ruling.
New Biden Administration Memo Gives ICE Attorneys More Discretion and Flexibility in Immigration Removal Proceedings
On May 27, 2021, the Biden Administration issued a new prosecutorial discretion memorandum informing ICE attorneys that they have they can use their discretion to consider dismissing cases for immigrants who have been longtime permanent residents, are pregnant or elderly, have a serious health condition, or have been in the US from a young age, the documents state. The memorandum has not yet been made public, but its existence was reported by Buzzfeed on June 4, 2021.
COVID-19 Update Regarding Our Office Policies During the Pandemic
As city and state governments are shutting down businesses and public spaces to prevent the spread of COVID-19, our office will continue operating as an essential service. However, for the safety and well-being of our clients, staff, community, and country, we will be taking necessary steps to minimize human to human contact whenever reasonably possible. When possible, we strongly encourage our clients to setup a teleconference or video conference instead of traveling to our office. We have been communicating with international clients via Skype and FaceTime for years, and we have the experience and capabilities to do this effectively and efficiently. When it is necessary to come to our office, we ask that you bring only essential people with you to minimize human contact. We will be limiting the number of people in our waiting room to reduce exposure to our staff and clients. My staff and I are following the CDC's recommendation to stay six feet away from other people when possible, and when you arrive at our office we will be doing everything possible to maintain a distance of six feet from our clients. To limit the community spread of COVID-19 it is important for all of us to assume that we potentially have the COVID-19 virus, and we must act accordingly at all times until this pandemic subsides. We wish you all well.
Trump Administration Moves to Restrict Immigrants Who Use Public Benefits
Here is a good read on the Trump Administration's new proposed rules regarding creating more restrictive rules for immigrants who use public benefits. At the moment, this is just talk about proposed rules. If you have questions, call our office. You can read more about it here.
Attention Legal Permanent Resident Petitioners
Big news for Legal Permanent Residents who are petitioning for spouses or children under the age of 21. The U.S. Visa Bulletin's 2A category will be "current" in July 2019 for the first time in a number of years. For the last few years the "wait time" has averaged between 2-4 years. According to the State Department’s Charlie Oppenheim, there will be no wait for spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents as of July 1, 2019. This means that if you can get your family processed while the 2A category is current, there is no wait time--only processing time. We do not know how long this will last, so contact my office soon if you believe this update might impact your case.
Trump’s Travel Ban Is Upheld by Supreme Court
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has upheld the recent version of President Trump's travel ban. Contact us if you have questions. Obviously this is going to impact many people from the designated countries: North Korea, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Venezuela. You can read more about the travel ban and the Supreme Court's Decision here. The Court held that the Trump Administration is supposed to carve out exceptions to the ban, including for those with family and strong ties to the United States; however, many cases at the consulates are getting stuck for long, indefinite periods of time in "administrative processing." If you or your family are experiencing problems, contact an immigration attorney.