Legalization

The Newsletter of the American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center

December 17, 2010

Our Work | Requests for Evidence | Quick Links | Donate

OUR WORK

Enforcement

Amicus brief seeks redress for H-1B employee arrested while extension request remained pending
El Badrawi v. DHS, No. 07-01074 (D. Conn.)

Immigration attorneys routinely file requests on behalf of employers seeking to extend the employment of nonimmigrant personnel.  But few may realize that ICE claims the authority to detain a nonimmigrant employee whose initial period of authorized stay ends before USCIS adjudicates a pending extension application filed on his behalf.  Indeed, the government has put forth precisely that claim in the case of a Lebanese national arrested and detained as an alleged H-1B “overstay.”  Condemning ICE’s arbitrary use of its enforcement authority, the LAC argued in an amicus brief that both federal law and practical considerations dictate that beneficiaries of pending timely filed H-1B extension requests are entitled to remain in the United States until those requests have been adjudicated. Read more...

RESOURCES FOR ATTORNEYS

The American Immigration Council’s strong association with the immigration law community means the International Exchange Center is both sensitive to attorney-client relations and uniquely suited to assist attorneys at every step of the J-1 process.

 Read more...

Bill Yates possesses over thirty-one years experience in immigration issues with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). He began his career as a special agent with the INS in Newark, New Jersey in 1974, and rose through the ranks to become the senior career official with USCIS.

His immigration career includes experience in a number of operations disciplines. He has performed adjudications, detention and removal, inspections, and investigations work for the INS and USCIS. He has supervisory and managerial experience in airport and seaport operations, district offices, regional offices, service centers and Headquarters. He has held a number of senior management positions including: Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, Director of the Vermont Service Center, Director of the Eastern Region, Deputy Executive Associate Commissioner for Operations, Deputy Executive Associate Commissioner for Immigration Services, and his final position at the time of his retirement, Chief of Domestic Operations for USCIS.

Mr. Yates played key roles in many INS and USCIS initiatives over the years, including the direct mail adjudications program, the creation of the Immigration Services Division of the INS, and the creation of USCIS as a component of the Department of Homeland Security. More importantly, he strove to find reasonable solutions for frequently unreasonable problems, to treat customers and employees with dignity and respect, and to correct errors in policy and interpretation by the government, including his own, because people matter.Read more...