Legalization

Adjustment of Status for Asylees (Ngwanyia Class Action)

Ngwanyia v. Gonzales was a national class action challenging the legacy Immigration and Nationalization Services’ (INS) failure to properly – and in a timely manner – grant lawful permanent statuts to individuals who had been granted asylum. When the suit was filed, more than 100,000 asylees had applied to adjust their status to lawful permanent residence but remained on a waiting list for an “asylee adjustment number” to become available. Many had been on the waiting list for years. The lawsuit alleged that, over the course of ten years, the immigration agency failed to use the full ten thousand asylee adjustment numbers made available each year and that, as a result, approximately 30,000 asylee adjustment numbers remained available to adjust the status of those on the waiting list.

CASE HIGHLIGHTS AND COURT DOCUMENTS

Proceedings in District Court

On March 4, 2002, plaintiffs filed a complaint asking the District Court for the District of Minnesota to find that all asylee adjustment numbers that had been made available in past years but had not been used remained available and to order the agency to use these numbers to adjust asylees on the waiting list. After denying the government’s motion to transfer the case to the District Court for the District of Columbia, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and subsequently granted plaintiffs motion for summary judgment. The government appealed this decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. While the appeal was pending, the parties settled the suit and, following notice to the class, the district court approved the settlement.Read more...

New York Immigration Achievement Awards

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USCIS Takes Steps to Improve Noncitizens’ Access to Legal Counsel

Released on Thu, Jan 19, 2012

Washington D.C. – During its nine-year history, issues have arisen with respect to restrictions on counsel by the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration agencies. Tuesday, in response to calls from the American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued immediate, comprehensive changes to their policies to ensure an appropriate role for attorneys in the immigration process.

Many noncitizens are forced to navigate the immigration process without representation because they cannot afford an attorney. But even persons who can afford one, or are represented by a pro bono attorney, have at times faced severe restrictions on their representation. This is particularly troublesome given the significant power USCIS officers wield. For example, they decide whether a noncitizen is entitled to stay in the U.S. or not. The assistance of an attorney well versed in the complexities of immigration law can help safeguard the rights of these noncitizens and ensure just outcomes.

By revising its guidance, USCIS has responded to some of the most serious access concerns. For example, the new guidance provides that an attorney generally may sit next to his or her client during an interview, may be permitted to submit relevant documents to the USCIS officer, and may raise objections to inappropriate lines of questioning. Read more...

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Fees

Mandatory Fees for All Applicants:

Individual Trainee or Intern Application Fee: $1,350

SEVIS Fee: $180*

Additional Fees (if applicable):

Dependent Fee (flat fee for all J-2 dependents): $400

Expedite Service (review within five or fewer business days): $550**

Host Site Verification Fee: $500***

Optional Sickness & Accident Insurance: $41 per person per month

Program Extension Fee: $300

Replacement DS-2019 (if original is lost or destroyed): $50

* SEVIS FEE

All J-1 training program participants are subject to a government fee to fund the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Proof of SEVIS fee payment must be submitted to U.S. consular officers during the J-1 visa consular processing. To facilitate this process, the International Exchange Center collects this fee and submits it to the US Government on behalf of the exchange visitor. Accepted participants will be provided a receipt. To learn more, please visit the SEVIS website.

** EXPEDITE SERVICE

Please note that expedite service means that the application will be reviewed within 5 or fewer business days.The start to finish processing of the application, which includes review, any revisions, completions, and webcam interview may take longer than the 5 day review period.

*** HOST SITE VERIFICATION FEE Read more...

Kirk Says U.S. Visa Restrictions Hobbling Business Efforts

Published on Mon, Mar 05, 2012

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the nation’s policy for issuing visas is hurting the economy by limiting tourism and blocking overseas buyers of American products from coming to the U.S. for training.

“We will engage on the visa issue, which is frankly crippling us right now,” Kirk said today in Washington. “We hear from business after business, ‘We go, we make these sales, and my customers can’t get a visa to come here to learn how to use the product.’ We are past-due to have a common-sense immigration policy, and we need to have visa reform as part of that.”

In January, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the nation needs to ease restrictions on immigrants who plan to open U.S. businesses, and create a separate visa for potential entrepreneurs.

Efforts at overhauling immigration laws are stymied in Congress, including a proposal to let temporary foreign workers enter the U.S. and help illegal immigrants advance toward citizenship. The debate has overshadowed the need to change the U.S. visa program, according to the Chamber, the largest business group.

Current laws make it difficult for people to enter the U.S. and start a business, according to a Jan. 25 report from the Chamber and the Immigration Policy Center of the American Immigration Council, a Washington-based nonprofit. Expansion of the visa program would also aid companies’ access to foreign- born graduates of U.S. universities, helping economic growth, the authors of the report said.

Speeding Visas

President Barack Obama on Jan. 19 gave the departments of Homeland Security and State 60 days to write a plan for speeding visa applications from China and Brazil. Obama’s order recommends cutting the process to three weeks from four months.

Visa-processing capacity in China and Brazil must increase 40 percent in the next year, according to the order.Read more...

Published in the Bloomberg

Fox Champions Discriminatory Bill That Would Leave Domestic Abuse Victims Unprotected

Published on Wed, May 16, 2012

An IPC report on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was cited in a Media Matters story:

Immigrants Are Highly Vulnerable To Domestic And Sexual Violence. From the Immigration Policy Center:Read more...

Published in the Media Matters

DHS Fails to Meet Target Immigration Goals

Published on Wed, Mar 03, 2010

More than one year into the administration of President Barack Obama, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) still must pursue some key changes in support of immigration reform to embrace Obama's intended immigration policy objectives, a policy group said Tuesday.

DHS must move forward in due process for illegal immigrants by creating an ombudsman at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to investigate complaints and keep its focus on detention reform at ICE, recommended the Immigration Policy Center in its report, The Challenge of Reform: An Analysis of Immigration Policy in the First Year of the Obama Administration.

Published in the Homeland Security Today

Romney Debuts a Lighter Touch on Immigration

Published on Fri, Jun 22, 2012

IPC Senior Policy Analyst Michele Waslin was quoted in a TIME article covering Romney's stance on immigration:

According to a State Department report from November 2011, in fiscal year 2012 there are 322,636 people in countries around the world awaiting approval to join legal permanent-resident family members in the U.S. Many others who are eligible already live here, according to Michele Waslin of the Immigration Policy Center, some of whom are undocumented and legally awaiting a change in status.

Published in the TIME

Anti-Immigrant Groups Pretend to Be Green

Published on Tue, Apr 20, 2010

Nativist groups have a history of trying to hide their anti-immigrant agenda under a green mantle. Back in the 90s, John Tanton tried to take over the Sierra Club and force them to adopt a position against immigration, but his tainted agenda rejected by truly green individuals. Well, if you can't join them, create your own group: Progressive for Immigration Reform (PFIR) is the latest Tanton Network creation, meant to trick progressive into backing hate.

Published in the Change.org

Andrea Guttin, Esq.

Andrea Guttin, Esq. is an attorney currently residing in Austin, Texas. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and holds a J.D. and an M.A in Latin American Studies. She would like to thank Diego Garcia‐Olano for creating the database and inputting arrestee data, without which any analysis would have been impossible.