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NEWS BYTES
Teodoro Maus, the Mexican consul general in Atlanta, has announced that he will leave the post on March 1, 2001, and maybe earlier if the new Mexican administration, which will be in place in December, appoints a replacement. Maus has said that he plans to stay in Atlanta and continue his work on behalf of the growing Mexican population in the area.
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After a three-month fight, an undocumented mother has won the right for her two children to attend school in Illinois. When she first attempted to enroll the children, school officials demanded that she present state identification, which, because of her status, she did not have. The mother was represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which helped secure an affidavit from her boyfriend stating that the children lived with him in the school district. According to MALDEF, while it is legal to require proof of residency within the district, the school cannot require state identification because that would have the effect of exposing the immigration status of those involved. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that children have the right to attend public schools regardless of their parent’s immigration status.
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A school in McAllen, Texas, a town on the Rio Grande, where Spanish is perhaps more widely spoken than English, is now the first in the country to offer classes in Mexican Sign Language. Contrary to common perception, sign languages vary tremendously, even when the same spoken language is being signed. For example, American Sign Language is nothing like the sign language used in England. Teachers in the new program hope that it will allow students to communicate with friends and family in Mexico.
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A Colorado rancher has been charged with mistreating workers hired under the H-2A visa program. The charges were filed by the Department of Labor, which enforces workers rights under the program. According to the charges, the workers, sheepherders from Peru, were beaten and not provided adequate food. The rancher has denied the accusations, saying that if they were true, there would be a criminal prosecution. If the Department of Labor is successful, the rancher could lose the ability to hire workers through the H-2A program.
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The Albuquerque City Council is considering a bill that would make the city an “immigrant friendly” city and would prevent the use of city funds to identify or apprehend undocumented immigrants. Supporters of the bill hope that if it passes, undocumented immigrants will be more willing to seek police assistance and medical treatment, which many currently avoid because they fear detection by the INS.
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Last weekend a migrant worker in central California was shot by a fellow worker while walking from the field to the camp where he lived. As a result of the shooting, the worker, whose name is not being released, will be partially paralyzed. Police say they do not know what motivated the shooting, but they do think that crimes against migrant workers are more common that popularly believed, in large part because many migrant workers are undocumented and therefore reluctant to report crimes to the police.
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A Berkeley landlord who is already facing criminal charges for his role in smuggling girls from India for cheap labor and sex is now facing a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of a girl who died in one of his apartments. Lakireddy Bali Reddy, who has extensive property holdings in the Berkeley area, came to the attention of the INS after the death of the girl by carbon monoxide poisoning. While the death was ruled accidental, it prompted an investigation that uncovered years of immigration law violations.
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This week a 100 year old great grandmother began a new life as a US citizen. Dolores Castro Garcia was born in Mexico and became a permanent resident of the US in 1946. When asked why she wanted to become a citizen after living in the US for so many years, she answered “Because American is a country where I could eat.” Garcia was widowed when her husband, a police officer, was shot in the line of duty. She and her six children came to the US where they worked as migrant workers until settling in the Chicago area in the early 1960s.
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A local chapter of the AFL-CIO in Houston is offering to teach immigrants how to file a claim against employers who do not pay promised wages. Immigrant workers are often hesitant to complain to authorities, and those who are undocumented are threatened with deportation if they complain. The assistance is just the latest in the union’s continuing effort to attract immigrant workers. Federal courts have ruled that undocumented immigrants have the right to sue, and the union is fairly sure that the issue of a person’s status will not come up in court because the employer would be admitting to knowingly hiring someone without authorization to work in the US.
Representatives of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the INS California Service Center met last month to discuss various policy matters. Among the important matters announced by the CSC are the following:
The CSC expects to see significant reductions in EB-5 processing backlogs soon.
The CSC reports that it is now adjudicating I-140s within a 90 day turnaround. This is a significant improvement since times were over a year in the recent past. The CSC released the following statistics on pending application.
I-140 pending figures as of 10/24/00
I-140 E11 (A) 869
I-140 E12 (B) 441
I-140 E13 (C) 1,514
I-140 E21 (D) 4,978
I-140 EB3 (E) 11,312
I-140 EW3 (G) 1,438
I-140 EW3 (G) 1,438
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Total pending 20,552
The CSC reports that it expects INS headquarters to release a new I-140 form in January. The CSC does not know when the current I-140 will be phased out.
The CSC addressed mergers and acquisitions issues. New I-140 cases will not be expedited simply because there has been a corporate change and an I-485 is pending. However, changes may be sent while an I-140 is pending including evidence of corporate changes. The CSC also indicated that it is its policy to terminate underlying I-140s when the CSC determines that the new company employing someone is NOT a successor in interest. Finally, the CSC indicated that it would consider a proposal to appoint an officer to oversee cases involving major corporate changes.
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Representatives of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the INS Headquarters Adjudication office discussed in August various policy matters. Among the important matters announced by the INS HQ are the following:
The INS intends to allow for concurrent filings of I-140 and I-485 applications before October 2001 and is expected to announce the change before December 31st this year.
The INS will soon issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to the outstanding provisions of the 1998 H-1b law.
The INS is beginning to explore the idea of processing Employment Authorization Documents together with K-1 fiancee petitions.
The INS is studying the merits of extending employment authorization to E, L and H dependents, but since the idea would require a change in the regulations, do not expect a change for quite some time.
The INS has indicated that it is moving forward on issuing a regulation that would extend the concept of “dual intent” to non-immigrant categories beyond the H-1B, L-2 and O-2.
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