 NEWS BYTES
INS Spokeswoman Eyleen Schmidt told a reporter for the Reuters News Service that the agency is planning next month to issue regulations next month that will “pin down exactly the amount of time” laid off H-1B workers will remain in status after their positions are terminated. Schmidt created controversy last month when she was quoted in a Wired News story saying that the INS was taking a relaxed view when handling change of status requests by laid off workers. Schmidt later claimed she was quoted incorrectly. ******** According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the local State Employment Security Agency in Cleveland, Ohio has been turning over the INS information on out of status individuals filing labor certifications. The INS reportedly has instituted at least one Notice to Appear for an applicant and an employer sanctions investigation against an employer. The incident appears isolated, but AILA is urging members to act with caution. ******** Almost 1,000 immigrants gathered last week at the State House in Boston, Massachusetts to urge the state to provide more funding for services. The gathering was part of the fifth annual Immigrants Day, which is intended to bring the concerns of immigrants to state representatives. One area where they sought additional funding is for interpreters for hospital emergency rooms.
********* The Labor Department has set up a phone line to report LCA faxback problems. The number is 877-872-5627. E-mail can also be used. The address is lcafax@doleta.tov. The DOL will ignore calls or e-mails regarding LCAS submitted after March 19th. *********
The lawsuit brought by 11 Hispanic immigrants against the owners of a chain of discount stores in New Jersey has been settled for $ 100,000. According to the suit, the workers were not paid a fair wage and were sometimes forced to work as many as 72 hours at a stretch. The workers also claimed that the employer recruited undocumented immigrants because they would be less likely to complain about violations of labor laws. Along with the settlement, the company has also agreed to comply with wage and hour laws and to post notices in English and Spanish explaining workers’ rights.
********* The Nebraska Service Center has announced a goal of 180 day turnarounds on I-485 petitions by Fiscal Year 2002. ********* The American Medical Association recently released a review of studies on immigration and tuberculosis. The conclusion is that public health funds would better be spent on providing care to people in the US than on trying to prevent people with TB from entering as nonimmigrants. At entry, few people have active cases of TB, and are unlikely to transmit it. While controlling the disease within the foreign born population is important, the review concluded that the best way to do this is to provide services to permanent residents. The review is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Louisville, Kentucky has created a community “language bank” of about 150 people who can perform interpretation services for recent immigrants who do not speak English. IN recent years, the non-English speaking population of Louisville, as in so many other Southern cities, has grown tremendously, and those who do not speak English have in many cases found themselves without service from hospitals, courts, businesses and the government. Those in the interpreter bank speak English and Spanish, Bosnian, Arabic, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian or Somali, among others.
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A recent report from the Census Bureau shows that the number of children enrolled in US schools during 1999 was as high as it has been since 1970. There were nearly 50 million students in elementary and secondary schools in the US. The report, titled “School Enrollment in the United States—Social and Economic Characteristics of Students,” also shows that the population of school children is more diverse than ever. Fifteen percent of students were Hispanic, and one in five students had a foreign born parent. Among white and black students, growth was primarily due to an increased number of births. Among Hispanic and Asian students, however, immigration was the primary cause of the growth. According to the report, 65 percent of Hispanic students had a foreign born parent, and 88 percent of Asian students did. While the report merely confirms for many educators what they already knew instinctively, it is hoped that the presence of the report will have an impact on education policy debates. There are serious concerns about crowding in schools, and the growing number of students who do not speak English. The report is available online at http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p20-533.pdf.
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Last week INS officials in Pennsylvania announced that 135 workers at a poultry processing plant had been arrested because they were undocumented immigrants. The arrests followed a yearlong investigation into Empire Kosher Poultry. All of the workers either have returned to their home country or are in deportation proceedings. The INS is investigating whether the employer knew the workers were undocumented.
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According to the State Department, it has issued visas to 3,000 of the 6,000 Nigerian winners of the 2000 diversity visa lottery. In an interview, the Consul General of the US Embassy there said that as many as 1,700 Nigerians may qualify for the new V visa.
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The Excalibur hotel and casino in Las Vegas was fined $ 20,000 as part of an agreement with the Justice Department for violations of I-9 rules. It will also provide about $ 30,000 in backpay to 22 workers who were fired when they couldn’t produce the documents demanded by Excalibur. The Justice Department began investigating the casino after receiving a complain from a Bosnian refugee that he was fired because he could not provide an employment authorization document, even though he had an I-94 indicating that he was authorized to seek employment. While employers must verify that a person is authorized to be employed, there are strict rules about the types of documents that they can request.
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The government of Vietnam has issued an official protest against the decision by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to grant refugee status to 24 people who fled Vietnam and are currently in Cambodia. According to a statement, the government considers it an interference in the country’s internal affairs, and believes the decision will encourage illegal border crossings and create instability in Southeast Asia. The US has offered to allow the group to resettle in the US.
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Two sons of Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy, who recently pled guilty to smuggling young women from India for sexual purposes, have been charged with beating and raping seven of the girls. Prasad Lakireddy and Vijay Kumar Lakireddy both entered pleas of not guilty.
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INS agents arrested 84 employees of Chesapeake Building Components in Maryland this week. They were working without INS authorization. The company says that it collected the necessary documentation on all the workers, but that the INS felt it was fraudulent. This is the second time workers at the business have been arrested for immigration violations. Thirty-five workers were arrested in October of 1999.
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As of the most recent State Department Visa Bulletin, which will be issued this week and available in our next newsletter, priority dates for the employment based second preference immigrants from India are current. In the past few months, the priority date advanced one full year. ********* A reporter from one of the nation’s leading newspapers is writing a story on immigrants who have had a status violation as a result of a merger or acquisition of an employer. If you have a story in this regard, please e-mail Greg Siskind at newsstory@visalaw.com.
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A reporter from the Seattle Times is interested in speaking with people working on H-1B visas about their experiences dealing with contract agencies and employers. People can speak confidentially or on the record. If you are interested, please send an email to seattlestory@visalaw.com.
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