Immigration News

American citizens had their introduction to the Trump-era immigration machine Wednesday, when Customs and Border Protection agents met an airliner that had just landed at New York’s JFK airport after a flight from San Francisco. According to passenger accounts, a flight attendant announced that all passengers would have to show their “documents” as they deplaned, and they did. The reason for the search, Homeland Security officials said, was to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a search for a specific immigrant who had received a deportation order after multiple criminal convictions. The target was not on the flight.

After days of research, I can find no legal authority for ICE or CBP to requirepassengers to show identification  on an entirely domestic fight. The ICE authorizing statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1357, provides that agents can conduct warrantless searches of “any person seeking admission to the United States”—if, that is, the officer has “reasonable cause to suspect” that the individual searched may be deportable. CBP’s statute, 19 U.S.C. § 1467, grants search authority “whenever a vessel from a foreign port or place or from a port or place in any Territory or possession of the United States arrives at a port or place in the United States.” CBP regulations, set out at 19 C.F.R. § 162.6, allow agents to search “persons, baggage, and merchandise arriving in the Customs territory of the United States from places outside thereof.”

I asked two experts whether I had missed some general exception to the Fourth Amendment for passengers on a domestic flight. After all, passengers on flights entering the U.S. from other countries can expect to be asked for ID, and even searched. Barry Friedman, the Jacob D. Fuchsberg professor of law and […]

From ABC News

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to suspend some immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries — Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Libya — for 90 days, halt the refugee program for 120 days and suspend the admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely.

Since he signed the order Friday, at least 13 lawsuits have been filed around the country, including one from Washington state. Attorneys general in Virginia, Massachusetts and New York announced on Monday their intentions to intervene in existing federal suits filed over the past weekend in their states.

Here are the lawsuits filed as of Tuesday that challenge the executive order, naming Trump, the Department of Homeland Security, the border patrol and others as defendants. The Trump administration has denied that the order targets Muslims and that it is a ban.
Attorney Representing 2 Iraqis Detained at JFK Says Trump’s Immigration Order Is Unconstitutional
Protests Surge Across the Country Against Trump’s Immigration Order
President Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration Explained
Lawsuits Filed Tuesday
Chicago

Dr. Amer al-Homssi, 24, a medical resident at the University of Illinois at Chicago/Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, has been stuck in Dubai since trying to board a Chicago-bound flight on Sunday, according to his complaint. A Syrian citizen who has legal residency in the United Arab Emirates, he was taken by U.S. preclearance security officers to secondary screening at Abu Dhabi International Airport, where officers canceled his valid J-1 U.S. visa, citing the executive order. According to the complaint, the officers told al-Homssi there was nothing that could be done except to wait 90 days and then follow up with the U.S. Embassy. He risks losing his residency status in the UAE if he is not able to return […]

DACA

AILA National is working with the Obama administration to see if any form of relief is possible for those currently with approved DACA. In other words, there is an effort to explore the possibility of some pathway to continued relief/deferred action under DACA prior to the new administration taking power. It is highly unlikely anything will happen in this area.
AILA National requested expedited processing for DACA renewals and pending initial DACA applications.

USCIS has not released an official announcement regarding this request and will not because of the current political climate. However, USCIS stated to AILA National liaisons that DACA renewals and pending initial applications are their highest processing priority right now (in that order of priority).
AILA National states that first time applications should not be submitted, but renewal applications (for those that qualify) are highly recommended.
It is unclear what the  “window of opportunity,” for submitting renewals is. But submitting them by early December/mid-December, at the latest, is suggested

Release Date: October 24, 2016

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced a final rule published in the Federal Registertoday adjusting the fees required for most immigration applications and petitions. The new fees will be effective Dec. 23.

USCIS is almost entirely funded by the fees paid by applicants and petitioners for immigration benefits. The law requires USCIS to conduct fee reviews every two years to determine the funding levels necessary to administer the nation’s immigration laws, process benefit requests and provide the infrastructure needed to support those activities.

Fees will increase for the first time in six years, by a weighted average of 21 percent for most applications and petitions.   This increase is necessary to recover the full cost of services provided by USCIS. These include the costs associated with fraud detection and national security, customer service and case processing, and providing services without charge to refugee and asylum applicants and to other customers eligible for fee waivers or exemptions.

The final rule contains a table summarizing current and new fees. The new fees will also be listed on the Our Fees page on our website. Form G-1055 will not reflect the new fees until the effective date. Applications and petitions postmarked or filed on or after Dec. 23 must include the new fees or USCIS will not be able to accept them.

“This is our first fee increase since November 2010, and we sincerely appreciate the valuable public input we received as we prepared this final rule,” said USCIS Director León Rodríguez. “We are mindful of the effect fee increases have on many of the customers we serve. That’s why we decided against raising fees as recommended after the fiscal year 2012 and 2014 fee reviews.  […]

Tomorrow, DHS will publish in the Federal Register a final rule that will expand eligibility for provisional unlawful presence waivers to all individuals who are statutorily eligible for the unlawful presence waiver and who can establish extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR) spouse or parent.

This final rule, consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), expands the class of individuals who may be eligible for a provisional waiver of certain grounds of inadmissibility based on the accrual of unlawful presence in the United States. The provisional unlawful presence waiver (“provisional waiver”) process allows certain individuals who are present in the United States to request from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) a provisional waiver of these grounds of inadmissibility before departing the United States for consular processing of their immigrant visas – rather than applying for a waiver abroad after their immigrant visa interviews using the Form I-601, Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (“Form I-601 waiver process”). The provisional waiver process is designed to encourage unlawfully present individuals to leave the United States, attend their immigrant visa interviews, and return to the United States legally to reunite with their U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR) family members.